The efficient Sinéad Sweeney, in Ireland, has long been far more valuable to us than a mere assistant. Moss McCarthy of LED Technology rescued us from more than one computer crisis. Martina Coonan helped out on the last lap, when every hour was precious. Pauline Lombard and Ann Dalton put up with our demands yet again. We thank, too, Ger Killalea, who keeps the office functioning, and Jason Cairns, who cheerfully turns his hand to anything under the sun.
The Eleventh Day would not exist without the initial interest and backing of our publishers at Random House. Group president Gina Centrello and Ballantine publisher Libby McGuire in New York, and Transworld’s Bill Scott-Kerr in London, kept us going along a bumpy trail.
Our editors, Mark Tavani and Simon Thorogood, were there for us in the final months with skill and good judgment. Where they saw clutter, they pointed the way to clarity. Our agent, Jonathan Lloyd, also reads everything we write with a keen editorial eye—a bonus for us—for he is himself a former publisher. He has steadied us, once again, with his combination of common sense and uncommon good humor.
We thank our good friends and neighbors, who have been endlessly supportive. Our neglected children heroically put up with the neglect—though one has asked, “When are we going to be a family again?”
The Eleventh Day is dedicated to our steadfast friends Chris and Gaye Humphreys—who know why—and to Angela Amicone, who turns ninety-six this year. Angela has been teaching children to read since 1940, and has no intention of giving up now.
Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
Ireland, 2012
NOTES AND SOURCES
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN NOTES AND SOURCES
AP Associated Press
BG Boston Globe
CF Files of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, held at the National Archives, Record Group 148. Cited documents are listed here, as they are at the Archives, by folder name, box [B] and team [T] numbers. Many documents were supplied to the authors by an independent researcher, and others obtained on line via www.scribd.com or directly from the Archives.
CO Website of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, archived at http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/about.html
conv. conversation
corr. Authors’ correspondence
CR Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, NY: W W. Norton, 2004
FBIIG Review of the FBI’s Handling of Intelligence Information Related to the September 11 Attacks, Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice, November 2004
FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
int. interview (by authors unless otherwise noted)
INTELWIRE FBI documents sourced in the notes of the 9/11 Commission Report, obtained by Intelwire under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and available on its website, www.intelwire.com
JI Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 107th Congress, 2nd Session
KSM SUBST Substitution for the Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Defense Exhibit 941, U.S. v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Cr. No. 01-455-1, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
LAT Los Angeles Times
MFR Memorandum for the Record of 9/11 Commission staff interviews, available on National Archives website, http://www.archives.gov/legislative/research/9-11/commission-memoranda.html
NARA National Archives and Records Administration
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce
NTSB National Transportation Safety Board
NYT New York Times
OBL Osama bin Laden
TF Oral histories of 503 first responders conducted by the Fire Department, City of New York, archived by The New York Times at http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/met_WTC_histories_full_01.html
WP Washington Post
WSJ Wall Street Journal
PREFACE
1 memorial: NY Daily News, 8/20/01, NYT, 6/10/09, www.wtcsitememorial.org, www.national911memorial.org/site, int. Michael Frazier for National September 11 Memorial and Museum
2 disease: AP, 6/24/09.
3 tens of thousands: Documenting the number of dead in any conflict is difficult, fraught as such figures are with political ramifications. Americans in particular, given the lingering specter of the Vietnam War, are sensitive to rising casualty counts among servicemen and women. Nor does any military readily accept responsibility for civilian casualties. The issue is further complicated by determining which deaths qualify as having been the result of war—does one, for example, include deaths due to disease or starvation—conditions brought about by conflict? In citing the figure of many tens of thousands of dead, the authors have relied on casualty counts from the U.N. Assistance Missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the websites icasualties.org and iraqbodycount.org.
4 graves/remains: AP, 4/1/09, www.911research.wtc7.net, Israel National News, 2/1/08, NYT, 2/23/08, MFR 03009720
5 Riches: NYT, 11/5/02, 4/21/08, www.NY1.com, 4/17/08, NY Post, 4/13/02
6 McIntyre: AP, 5/19/06, Independent on Sunday (U.K.), 10/7/07
7 Dillard: Arlington historian Thomas Sherlock to authors, 9/11/09, WP, 5/26/07, NY Observer, 6/20/04
8 Breitweiser: Kristen Breitweiser, Wake-up Call, NY: Warner, 2006, Preface, 110, 240.
9 Martin: WP, 11/2/06, Newsweek, 12/25/06, transcript, 9/12/01, FBI 265D-NY-280350, report, 9/12/01, FBI 265D-NY-280350-CE, courtesy of INTELWIRE. Though Martin suffered serious injuries early in the first hijacking, it is probable that a First Class passenger—Daniel Lewin—was the first to die. See Ch. 1, p. 15.
10 safe to breathe: “EPA’s Response to the World Trade Center Collapse,” Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 8/21/03, 4
11 Riches ill: www.NY1.com, 4/17/08, www.sohoblues.com, citing Time
12 “dead or alive”: CNN, 9/17/01
13 backtrack: press release, 3/13/02, www.whitehouse.gov
14 Obama: NY Post, 2/7/09
15 Zubaydah: NY Daily News, 9/10/06, & see later refs.
16 Dillard questions: CNN, 3/28/04, ACLU statement, 12/12/08
17 Breitweiser testimony/questions: testimony, 9/18/02, JI, Breitweiser, 100–, int. Kristen Breitweiser, St. Petersburg Times, 8/12/05
18 CIA/two hijackers: see later refs.
19 kept secret: Bob Graham with Jeff Nussbaum, Intelligence Matters, NY: Random House, 2004, 228, 231
20 Breitweiser/Obama: NYT, 6/24/09
21 Commission Final Report received: Philip Shenon, The Commission, NY: Twelve, 2008, 415–
22 Kean/Hamilton: NYT, 12/8/07 & 1/2/08, www.rawstory.com, 12/24/07, International Herald Tribune, 12/8/07
23 Kerrey: Newsweek, 3/23/09, Air America radio, 3/2/08
24 Cleland: Salon, 11/21/03, NYT, 10/26/03
25 “first draft”: CBC transcript, 8/21/06
26 CBS poll: www.angus-reid.com/polls, www.alternet.com, 9/16/06
27 Scripps poll: Scripps Howard News Service, 11/23/07
28 Zogby poll: Zogby International, Aug. 2007
29 sixteen thousand: Reuters, 9/10/08, www.alternet.com, 9/16/08
30 Iraq/attacks: NYT/CBS News polls cited at www.angus-reid.com
31 Angus Reid poll: released 3/17/10, www.angus-reid.com
32 criticism: (senators) Lincoln Chaffee, Mark Dayton, Mike Gravel, Patrick Leahy, Charles Schumer
33 (representatives) Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney, Ron Paul, Curt Weldon
34 (governor) Jesse Ventura
35 (deputy attorneys general) R
oy Andes, Philip Berg, Donald Bustion
36 (state legislators) Peter Allen, Peter Espiefs, Karen Johnson, Barbara Richardson, Charles Weed, Suzi Wizowaty
37 (public officials/diplomats/engineers/officers) see https://patriotsquestion911.com
38 Texas candidates: “Texas GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Questions Government Involvement in 9/11,” Fox News, 2/12/10, “Shami Questions US Involvement in 9/11 Attack,” KTBS TV, 2/14/10
39 CIA/FBI: e.g., letter to Congress regarding the 9/11 Commission Report signed by twenty-five military, intelligence, and law enforcement veterans, 9/13/04, National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
40 Freeh: WSJ, 11/17/05, CNN, 11/30/05
41 Mondale: int. Minnesota, “We Are C.H.A.N.G.E.,” 2/3/08, www.youtube.com
42 Clark: This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC News, 3/5/06
43 Graham: ints. Bob Graham, Salon, 9/9/04, Graham with Nussbaum.
44 300,000 pages: corr. Kristen Wilhelm, 2011. Only some 35 percent of the Commission documents held by the National Archives had been reviewed for release as of April 2012. Of the documents reviewed, 15 percent remain classified, largely under national security and privacy restrictions. The remaining 20 percent, some 300,000 documents, are available to researchers.
Part I: ATTACK
CHAPTER 1
1 recognized: Martin Gilbert, Israel, London: Black Swan, 1999, 189
2 day in 1938: Robert Lacey, The Kingdom, NY: Avon, 1983, 262
3 40,000 planes: Jane Garvey testimony, 1/27/04, CO
4 Rosenzweig/Mladenik/Gordenstein/Theodoridis/Iskandar/Filipov: “DOJ Documents Requests #35–13,” B13, T7, CF, “AAL Misc. Folder—AA11 and AA77,” B18, T7, CF
5 Cuccinello: eds. Der Spiegel magazine, Inside 9–11, NY: St. Martin’s, 2001, 37
6 Gay: AP, 9/25/01, Raytheon press release, 9/10/07
7 Morabito: Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), 10/20/07
8 Berenson: Richard Bernstein, Out of the Blue, NY: Times Books, 2002, 171
9 Angell: People, 5/17/04
10 Lewin: BG, 9/12/01.
11 five young men: BG, 9/13/01. Some have raised questions about the identities of the hijackers. The issue will be covered in Ch. 14 and its related notes.
12 Ogonowski: Bernstein, 110–, James Ogonowski remarks at Safety Awards Banquet, 9/11/02, “Ogonowski Legacy,” Public Radio International, 9/13/02.
13 5:00 A.M.: Unless otherwise indicated, all times in this book are rendered as the times in use by civilians on the U.S. East Coast on the day in question (i.e., EDT)—as opposed to the times used by the military or the aviation industry, or in other time zones
14 McGuinness: website of Cheryl McGuinness (widow), www.beautybeyondtheashes.com
15 “turn-around”: MFR 04016228, 2/10/04
16 take off due: CR, 2
17 cleaners/fuelers: “FBI 302s of Interest Flight 11,” B17, T7, CF, “FBI 302s Arestegui,” B10, T7, CF
18 flight attendants: “FBI 302s Homer Folder re Kathleen Nicosia,” B10, T7, CF
19 “organized”: NYT, 12/9/01
20 backup: “FBI 302s Arestegui,” B10, T7, CF
21 joked: Cape Cod Times, 9/14/01
22 sick/standby: “FBI 302s Arestegui,” B10, T7, CF
23 odd incident: Staff Report, “The Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security,” note 22, CF, MFR 04020636, 2/2/04, MFR 03007050, 8/15/03, Miami Herald, 9/22/01
24 Filipov/“suspicious”: “DOJ Documents Requests 35–13,” B13, T7, CF
25 Howland: “FBI 302s Cockpit and American and Hijacker,” B11, T7, CF
26 profiling system: CR 4, MFR 04018154, 11/24/03, Staff Report, “The Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security,” 2, 77, CF, John Raidt comments, 1/27/04, CO
27 crutch: BG, 11/10/01
28 “sweating bullets”: World Net Daily, 9/21/01
29 last to board: MFR 04020636, 2/2/04
30 greeted by Martin/final checks: “FBI 302s Arestegui,” B10, T7, CF
31 seating: CR, 2, BG, 9/13/01
32 Sweeney call: NY Observer, 2/15/04, FBI 302 Michael Sweeney, 9/21/01, INTELWIRE
33 switch off phones: “FBI 302s Arestegui,” B10, T7, CF
34 pushed back/takeoff: Joseph Gregor, “Air Traffic Control Recording,” NTSB, 12/21/01, CR, 2, 4
35 “severe clear”: Lynn Spencer, Touching History, NY: Free Press, 2008, 3
36 air-to-ground exchanges: Gregor, 2–, & see FAA Memo, Full Transcript: Aircraft Accident AA11, New York, NY, 9/11/01, “Boston Center, Shirley Kula,” B3, T8, CF
37 “a brief unknown sound”: “Summary of Air Traffic Hijack Events, Sept. 11, 2001, FAA,” Report on Investigation of 9/11 Commission Staff Referral, Dept. of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Appendix 3
38 Ong to Reservations: quotes attributed to Ong & nature of her call come from FBI 302 of Vanessa Minter, 9/12/01, FBI 302 of Craig Marquis, 9/16/01, & “Charlotte to Director,” FBI 265D-NY-280350-CE, 9/13/01, “Flight Call Notes,” & Transcript of 9/11 Telephone Calls, “AA Phone Calls,” B13, T7, CF, FBI 302 of Nydia Gonzalez, 9/12/01, “FBI 302s—Knife and American Flight 11,” B11, T7, CF, FBI 302 of Winston Sadler, 9/13/01, INTELWIRE, Nydia Gonzalez testimony, 1/27/04, CO.
39 “sterile cockpit”: The interjection appears on the transcript but is only partially audible on the tape version as heard by the authors
40 Lewin dead?: Lewin was an American-Israeli citizen who as “Daniel Levin” had served in the Israel Defense Forces as a member of Sayeret Matkal—in its Unit 269, which specializes in counterterrorism (FBI 302 of Anne Lewin, 9/21/01, “Flight Calls Notes,” B13, T7, CF, UPI, 3/6/02, ints. Tom Leighton, Marco Greenberg, Ha’aretz, 9/15/06).
41 man in 10B: Ong also identified the passengers in Seats 2A and 2B as hijackers, while her colleague Sweeney—whose call was not recorded—is variously reported as identifying hijackers in 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, 9G, 10B, and 10C. 2A, 2B, and 10B were indeed the assigned seats of three of the five Arab passengers traveling. (Ong re 2A/2B: Transcripts of 9/11 Telephone Calls, “AA Phone Transcripts,” & Charlotte to Director, FBI 265D-NY-280350-CE, 9/13/01, “Flight Call Notes,” B13, T7, CF; Sweeney re Seats: FBI 302 of Michael Woodward, 9/14/01, & of James Sayer, 9/13/01, “FBI 302s—Olsen,” B10, T7, CF)
42 Sweeney/Woodward call: Quotes attributed to Sweeney & nature of her call come from CR, 453n32, FBI 302 of Michael Woodward, 9/14/01, & of James Sayer, 9/13/01, “FBI 302s—Olsen,” B10, T7, CF, Staff Report, “The Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security,” 14, CF.
43 borrowed card: The calling card was provided to Sweeney by another flight attendant, Sara Low—who also passed information on the hijackers’ seat location to colleagues (NY Observer, 6/20/04, AP 3/5/09, ABC News, 7/18/02).
44 keys: CR, 5, 453n26, FBI 302 of Michael Sweeney, 9/21/01, INTELWIRE, John Farmer, The Ground Truth, NY: Riverhead, 2009, 109
45 “no warning”: NY Observer, 6/20/04
46 “refrain”: Staff Report, “The Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security,” 81, CF
47 not panicky/“static”: ABC News, 7/18/02.
CHAPTER 2
1 data processor: (Chuck Allen), eds. Der Spiegel, Inside 9–11, 46–
2 steelworker: (Joe Libretti), Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins, Grand Illusion, NY: Harper, 2006, 245
3 construction workers/composer: (Juan Suarez & “Artie” & composer Jim Farmer) Bernstein, 199
4 student: 9/11: Dust & Deceit at the World Trade Center, documentary, www.dust.org.
5 8:46 A.M.: 8:46 A.M. is the generally accepted time of the impact on the North Tower. Scientists measuring seismic data at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at the New Jersey Palisades, twenty-one miles from New York City, initially—in 2001—calculated the impact time as 8:46:26. In 2005, they adjusted the estimate to 8:46:29. The 9/11 Commission, meanwhile, relied on the flight path study for Flight 11 provided by the NTSB, reckoning the impact time as 8:46:40. (Similar discrepancies appear in times given
for the subsequent crash into the South Tower.) While too complex to detail here, several plausible explanations have been offered for this anomaly. Though minimal, the discrepancies have been used by critics of the conventional account to bolster the notion that—in addition to the planes—explosives were used in the attacks on the Twin Towers. The differing timings supplied by the seismic station, the critics claim, reflect explosions in the towers before the impact of the airplanes. That theory does not hold, however, because the seismic data reflect only a single event. Had there been first an explosion, then an impact, the seismic instruments would have registered two events. They did not (“Seismic Waves Generated by Aircraft Impacts and Building Collapses at World Trade Center,” by Won-Young Kim et al., www.ldeo.columbia.edu, “Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the WTC Disaster,” NCSTAR1–5A, NIST, 22–, CR, 7, 454n39, “Seismic Proof—9/11 Was an Inside Job,” by Craig T. Furlong & Gordon Ross, www.journalof911studies.com, “On Debunking 9/11 Debunking,” by Ryan Mackey, 5/24/08, 79–, authors’ corr. Dr. Won-Young Kim & NTSB’s Ted Lopatkiewicz, 2009).
6 Rubenfien: Leo Rubenfien, Wounded Cities, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2008, 32–
7 Naudet: David Friend, Watching the World Change, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006, 185–
8 Naudet image: 9/11, documentary film, Jules & Gedeon Naudet et al., CBS Television, 2002
9 Allen: eds. Der Spiegel, 48, Chuck Allen profile on LinkedIn.com
10 Gartenberg: WABC (NY), 9/11/01, videotape on www.youtube.com, eds. Der Spiegel, 89
11 93rd and 99th floors: CR, 285
12 10,000 gallons: “Visual Evidence, Damage Estimates, and Timeline Analysis, Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster,” NIST, released April 2005, liii
13 Fireballs: CR, 285, 292
14 “The windows”/“I just didn’t”: Friend, 188, Naudet documentary, Jim Dwyer & Kevin Flynn, 102 Minutes, NY: Times Books, 2005, 280
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