Akkam’s Razor

Atrios points to a little piece of opening commentary from the trial of Osama Bin Laden’s driver that contradicts the accepted folklore behind Flight 93.

“If they hadn’t shot down the fourth plane it would’ve hit the dome,” Stone, a Navy officer, said in his opening remarks.

The tribunal’s chief prosecutor, Col. Lawrence Morris, later explained that Stone was quoting Hamdan in evidence that will be presented at trial. Morris declined to say if the “dome” was a reference to the U.S. Capitol.

“Virtually no one knew the intended target, but the accused knew,” Stone said.

United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania. U.S. officials have never stated it was shot down although rumours saying that abound to this day.

I’ve always maintained that the explanation we received is in conflict with the facts, eyewitness observations, recorded history and timelines, and the military’s most probably response to an incident of this type (and not because ZOMG 9/11 was an inside job! but more I hope they don’t realize how incompetent we are).  The folklore, replete with heroic acts of self-sacrifice, final goodbyes, touching and rousing soundbites, and portrayals on both TV and film, is too “mom, apple pie, and baseball”.

Would anyone take issue of taking down a hijacked airliner, one likely to take lives beyond those on the plane should they strike a building, particularly a high value target like the White House or the Capitol?  Of course not!  But would some take issue with a willful propagandistic rewriting of history?  Of course they would.

The facts as they are put fighter aircraft at the scene, and the governmental notations of the day seem to imply Dick Cheney giving permission to shoot down any airlines (and then later asking Dubya for permission to do same, after the fact.  Surprisingly, the survivors of those who died were allowed to hear the recordings, but suspiciously, the three final minutes were missing.  The fact that so little data, such as complete flight data recorder information, complete audio cockpit recordings, and other official reports have been made available, certainly leads one to wonder how much of the story we truly know.

PS.  Not a truther, at all.

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