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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

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To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (186996)9/26/2001 4:00:45 PM
From: Thomas A Watson  Read Replies (2) of 769670
 
Schundler: Clinton Military Cutbacks Left Twin Towers Defenseless

efore devastating military cutbacks were implemented under the Clinton
administration, New York City had air defenses that could have prevented
the second of two attacks on the World Trade Center last week, New Jersey
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler charged Saturday.

"Up until a few years ago we had an F-16 fighter wing here in New Jersey
that would be capable of intercepting one of those planes that crashed into
the World Trade Center," he told WABC Radio's John Gambling.

"They decreased the number of wings that were available to do that. So the
result was that the closest fighter wing that had the capability to
intercept one of those planes was in Massachusetts."

Two F-16s had scrambled out of Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod after World
Trade Center Tower 1 was hit, but they didn't arrive in New York airspace
until 15 minutes after United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into WTC Tower 2.

"They couldn't get here in time," Schundler said. "And that's why the
second plane flew into the World Trade Center."

The unexpected collapse of Tower 2, the first to do down, was likely
responsible for the majority of deaths at the scene - catching hundreds of
police and fireman, as well as thousands of office workers who had been
told to stay put and wait for evacuation orders, completely unaware.

Schundler pinned the blame for eliminating the air defenses that could have
saved Tower 2 squarely on the Clinton administration.

"The federal government in the last eight years cut down the resources," he
told WABC. "That's just a statement of fact."

Schundler was responding to a report in Saturday's New York Times, which he
said distorted his earlier comments to make it appear as if he was blaming
his own state for the military cutbacks.
newsmax.com
tom watson tosiwmee
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