US News
Pentagon suspected of deception in 9-11 investigation
By DPA
Aug 2, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - The commission set up to investigate the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks suspected that Pentagon officials were untruthful in describing the military's response, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The US government is conducting two investigations into whether officials misled the commission about the effectiveness of the Pentagon's response to the hijackings, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the debate.

Inspector generals in the Pentagon and Department of Transportation are investigating the allegations and could soon issue their reports.

'We to this day don't know why NORAD (North American Aerospace Command) told us what they told us,' Thomas Kean, who chaired the commission, was quoted as saying.

The commission believes military officials provided inaccurate information about how quickly US air defences reacted to the hijackings and that jet fighters were in position to shoot down United Flight 93 if it threatened Washington.

The commission found evidence that showed the military did not have any of the hijacked airliners in its sights and began pursuing the flight pattern of American Airlines flight 11 long after it crashed into the World Trade Centre.

Two officers at NORAD had told the commission that it began tracking Flight 93 12 minutes before it was officially known to have been hijacked. But the commission found NORAD was not aware of the hijacking until after the plane crashed in Pennsylvania.