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Article: National Guard fighters raced after 2 airliners.(The Dallas Morning News)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- September 14, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON _ Air National Guard fighter jets scrambled in a desperate but vain attempt to intercept two of the hijacked airliners that brought terror to New York and Washington, a senior Pentagon official revealed Friday.
Offering previously undisclosed details of the military's reaction to the terror attack, Maj. Gen. Paul Weaver, director of the Air National Guard, acknowledged that if the F-15s and F-16s had caught up with the hijacked passenger planes, their mission might have been futile.
"What does he do when he gets there? You're not going to get an American pilot shooting down an American airliner," Weaver said. "We don't have permission to do ...