TIMELINE

Extracted from Cheryl Seal's Smoking Gun

7:59: American Airlines flight 11, a Boeing 767 takes off from Logan Airport in Boston with 92 people, headed for Los Angeles.

8:01: United Airline Flight 93, a Boeing 757, bound for San Francisco, is delayed for 40 minutes on runway, with 45 people on Board.

8:13: Boston Ground control loses contact with Flight 11. First red flag for Flight 11.

8:14: United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767, takes off from Logan for Los Angeles with 65 passengers.

8:17: American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757, leaves Dulles in D.C. headed for Los Angeles with 64 passengers.

8:20: Flight 11 reaches the Hudson River in NY and stops transmitting its IFF signal. Second Red flag for Flight 11. Had Bush put the airlines on high alert after August 6 when he received the warning, there is no doubt at all that these warnings would have evoked a very different response ... if, indeed, the hijackers had even gotten that far (under a high alert, they very well may have been apprehended at the airports).

8:24: Hijackers on Flight 11 accidentally broadcasts warning to the passengers over its radio: "Everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet." Third Red Flag for Flight 11.

8:25: Boston air traffic controllers notify other air traffic control centers of hijacking. Why wasn't NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) notified at this time?

8:27: Flight 11 heads south toward Manhattan; flight attendant Betty Ong calls American Airlines reservations and reports that two flight attendants had been stabbed and a passenger had had his throat slashed. She identifies the seat numbers of the hijackers. Fourth red flag for Flight 11 — this one a BLOODY RED and wildly waving, yet it will be about 10 minutes AFTER THIS before NORAD is notified.

8:33: Last transmission from Flight 11: Hijacker is heard telling passengers not to move.

8:38: Boston Air Traffic control notifies NORAD that Flight 11 has been hijacked.

8:42: Flight 175 is hijacked. It begins to make a U-turn over New Jersey, reading for its northward assault on Manhattan.

8:42: Flight 93 takes off from Newark International Airport, headed for San Francisco.

8:43: FAA notifies NORAD that Flight 175 has been hijacked.

8:44: Two F-15 eagles are ordered scrambled out of Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod. If NORAD had been notified (or was it?) at 8:27, when the plane was obviously hijacked and heading to NYC, an F-16 from Otis or Griffis would have been about 10 minutes from Manhattan at this point. In addition, since the WTC was high on the list of known targets, and since some of the warnings to Bush indicated airplanes could be used as "bombs," the WTC should have been given an alert and the building evacuated. If evacuation had started at 8:30, there would have been no one in the upper floors when the first plane hit and the loss of life would have been minimized.

8:45: Flight 11 strikes WTC's north tower at the 80th floor.

8:46: Flight 175 stops transmitting beacon signal.

8:52: Two F-15 Eagles take off from Otis. If F-15s had been scrambled from Otis at 8:27 they would now be in a position to engage the hijacked Flight 175 headed for the WTC.

9:00: United Airlines learns that Flight 93 flying over western PA may be in process of being hijacked.

9:00: Flight 77 makes U-turn and heads back for Washington. This is when the FAA should have notified NORAD, and NORAD should have ordered F-16s into the air FROM ANDREWS. If they had, by 9:15 F-16s may have been in a position to deflect Flight 77 AWAY from DC altogether.

9:02: Flight 175 strikes the WTC at the 60th floor.

9:16: FAA informs NORAD that Flight 93 may have been hijacked.

9:17: Federal Aviation Administration closes all airports.

9:24: FAA notifies NORAD that Flight 77 is hijacked.

9:24: NORAD orders three F-16s scrambled from Langley. The timing here is absolutely diabolical. It is EXACTLY not enough time for either a jet from Langley, which will be 10 minutes too late, or one from Andrews, which would have had just about 3 minutes between reaching the airspace over D.C. and dealing with the incoming Boeing 757. That Langley was chosen indicates a FEAR that in that 3 minutes a good pilot from Andrews just might have succeeded in aborting the disaster, despite the split second time frame.

9:25: Air traffic controllers notify Secret Service as Flight 77 makes dramatic maneuver just south of the Pentagon.

9:29: Bush, at Booker Elementary school, says an "apparent terrorist attack" under way. No orders are given to evacuate any buildings in D.C., or even to urge residents and workers to seek shelter.

9:40: Three F-16 Fighting Falcons take off from Langley. They reach Washington by 9:55, moving at 550 mph — the trip takes 14 minutes. The time from Andrews to D.C.: under 2 minutes. The time from Bolling: almost instantaneous. Not only is this a tragedy for the victims of the Pentagon, it was unspeakably cruel to those pilots, who, thanks to their delayed orders, have to live with the crushing feeling of having been 15 minutes too late. Here is a description of Andrews from its website: "Training for air combat and operational airlift for national defense is the 113th's primary mission. However, as part of its dual mission, the 113th provides capable and ready response forces for the District of Columbia in the event of a natural disaster or civil emergency." Yet Bush chooses Langley.

9:43: Plane crashes into Pentagon — a full 40 minutes after being reported hijacked and the likelihood of its being used as a weapon of mass destruction obvious. You will notice that now, everything seems to start happening — it seems as if everything were put on hold until the Pentagon was struck.

9:45: White House evacuated.

9:57: Bush leaves Florida.

10:05: South Tower of World Trade Center collapses.

10:08: Armed agents deployed around White House.

10:10: Pennsylvania plane crashes; part of Pentagon collapses.

10:13-10:45: Federal buildings in D.C. evacuated.

10:28: North Tower collapses.

10:46: Colin Powell heads for D.C. from Latin America. Again, notice that Powell is in Latin America, Bush is in Florida, Ashcroft in Missouri, and Rumsfeld in the part of the Pentagon most remote from the impact point.

1:04: Bush speaks from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

1:27: State of emergency declared in D.C.

1:44: Warships from VA are deployed to protect coastline.

2:00: Bush at Offutt AFB in Omaha NE; this is not revealed until almost 4:00 pm. Also at Offutt that day from 8:00 a.m. on are several CEOs — at a "charity event" that just happens to be held at a SECURE AIR FORCE BASE? And it just happens that several of the CEOs WOULD HAVE BEEN at the WTC had they not been at Offutt.

6:54: Bush back in White House.

8:30: Bush addresses nation.