By TERENCE HUNT
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...88.htm&sc=1110
WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney repeatedly authorized U.S. fighters to shoot down hijacked airliners as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks unfolded but his orders did not reach military pilots until the last of the four planes had already crashed, the commission investigating the terrorist attacks said Thursday.
Cheney at one point believed incorrectly that his orders had resulted in the shoot-down of a couple aircraft.
The commission's report documented a day of confusion and miscommunication at the White House, Pentagon, the Federal Aviation Administration and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
President Bush, at an elementary school in Florida to talk about education, was initially told that a small, twin-engine plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. He thought it was a case of pilot error. At the White House, Cheney was wondering ``how the hell a plane could hit the World Trade Center'' when he saw on television the second aircraft strike the South Tower.
When it became clear that the nation was under attack, Bush decided to continue his remarks to a classroom of second graders. ``The president told us his instinct was to project calm, not to have the country see an excited reaction at a moment of crisis.'' Fifty minutes later, he was on Air Force One as it climbed into the sky with no certain destination. The objective was to get into the air as fast as possible and decide where to go, the commission said.
Cheney, in an underground bunker at the White House, held a series of telephone calls with Bush. He asked the president to decide the rules of engagement for combat planes being scrambled over Washington. Bush said he authorized that hijacked planes be shot down.
Cheney's command post received word at 10:02 a.m. that a plane, presumably hijacked, was heading for Washington. It was United flight 93 which crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside at 10:03 a.m. But the White House was unaware of the crash and was told the plane was still bearing down on Washington.
Sometime between 10:10 a.m. and 10:15 a.m., a military aide said the aircraft was 80 miles out and Cheney was asked for authority to shoot down the plane. He issued the order, the commission said. Minutes later, the military aide reported that the plane was 60 miles out and Cheney again was asked for authorization. Again, he said yes.
White House deputy chief of staff Joshua Bolten, at the conference table with Cheney, suggested that the vice president contact Bush and confirm his authorization. Cheney called the president and got the confirmation, the commission said. Cheney's group received word that a plane was down in Pennsylvania, and people in the conference room wondered if it had been shot down at Cheney's direction.
About 10:30 a.m., officials with Cheney began receiving reports of another hijacked plane, five to 10 miles out. Cheney issued yet another order to engage the aircraft but it turned out to be a Medevac helicopter.
In most cases, the commission said, the chain of command in authorizing the use of force runs from the president to the secretary of defense and from the secretary to military commanders. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was briefed by Cheney at 10:39 a.m. that he had been authorized by Bush to instruct fighters to shoot down hijacked planes.
``And it's my understanding they've already taken a couple of aircraft out,'' Cheney told Rumsfeld, according to the commission. Rumsfeld replied, ``We can't confirm that. We're told that one aircraft is down but we do not have a pilot report that they did it.''
06/17/04 11:42