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I-Team: Docs Show Cuban Shoot Down Was Expected - cbs4.com (http://cbs4.com/iteam/brothers.rescue.cuba.2.1337438.html - broken link)
"I knew by the tone of their voice and they way that they called that something was wrong," said Janet Ray Weininger who was there at Homestead Air Force base when news first came in about the shootdown in February, 1996.
Weininger was, at the time, the wife of the commander of the F-16 Air Force Reserve squadron at Homestead Air Force base. She took the first call after the shootdown and handed the phone to her husband.
"They said we were all watching the radar that day," said Weininger.
Days later she got permission to go on base and spoke with Florida Air Florida National reserve pilots who had scrambled into their F-15 fighter jets ready to intercept the Cubans.
The pilots shared with Weininger their frustration as they sat on the runway waiting for orders to take off.
"We (the F-15's) had launched earlier and that afternoon we were noticing how the Cubans were flying we could see the Brothers to the Rescue and that something's wrong," Weininger recalls the pilots telling her. "We (the F-15's) need to launch."
But the opposite orders came from unknown people in Washington. The F-15's were ordered to stay on the ground. And they were not allowed to intercept the Cuban MIG's.
"One of the guys said to me if they would have let us launch maybe we could have saved both of them," Weininger told the I-Team.
Though US military jets had scrambled to intercept Cuban MIG's since at least 1992 and even had scrambled earlier the very day of the shootdown, no jets ever took off from Homestead Air Force base. In fact, no jets took off from any other US military base at all to meet the threat posed by the MIG's.
"Jeffrey Houlihan who was senior radar operator (with US Customs in California), spoke with an individual who was at Homestead Air Force Base (who was) literally slamming his hand on the table demanding they let the planes go and the gentlemen told him that we want to go," said author Matthew Lawrence. "They said 'We're fighter pilots. It's what we do, but we were told not to leave (the runway at Homestead).'"
"They (the pilots in the F-15's) were there. They were the one people that could have saved these boys (in the Brothers to the Rescue planes)," said Weininger. "And they would have (saved them.) And they wanted to."
But the pilots never got the chance.
Despite the fact that military officials watched the shootdown on several different radar installations around the country, even as far away as California, and despite the fact two more MIG's chased Basulto's plane to within 3 minutes downtown Key West, the records show that no United States military jets ever scrambled to intercept the Cubans.
"They were helpless and their hands were tied and they couldn't do their job," Weininger said of the US military pilots.
The CBS4 I-Team contacted representatives for former President Bill Clinton, his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright and his National Security Advisor Sandy Berger as well as Clinton's former Energy Secretary and diplomatic envoy Bill Richardson, who is now the Governor of New Mexico.
All declined to speak with us about this part of our history.
Many other government documents related to the shootdown remain secret to this day.
But the classified documents, now declassified, which the CBS4 I-Team did obtain makes clear that at least some high ranking officials in the US government knew that a shootdown was possible if not probable.
And those documents demonstrate that this tragedy might have been averted had someone in the United States government taken more concrete action before it was too late.
Oh chielgirl, check the date of the article. These documents were recently declassified and they're reporting not only what was on the declassified documents, but witnesses' statements regarding the deaths of several Americans. People made a big deal of declassified audio tapes of Nixon over 30 years after the fact. This was more recent and details released showed that the decision by someone in the administration led to not only the deaths of American citizens, but a foreign nation's armed fighter jets within 3 minutes of a US city but still would not allow our nation's jets to take off.
I-Team: Docs Show Cuban Shoot Down Was Expected - cbs4.com (http://cbs4.com/iteam/brothers.rescue.cuba.2.1337438.html - broken link)
"I knew by the tone of their voice and they way that they called that something was wrong," said Janet Ray Weininger who was there at Homestead Air Force base when news first came in about the shootdown in February, 1996.
Weininger was, at the time, the wife of the commander of the F-16 Air Force Reserve squadron at Homestead Air Force base. She took the first call after the shootdown and handed the phone to her husband.
"They said we were all watching the radar that day," said Weininger.
Days later she got permission to go on base and spoke with Florida Air Florida National reserve pilots who had scrambled into their F-15 fighter jets ready to intercept the Cubans.
The pilots shared with Weininger their frustration as they sat on the runway waiting for orders to take off.
"We (the F-15's) had launched earlier and that afternoon we were noticing how the Cubans were flying we could see the Brothers to the Rescue and that something's wrong," Weininger recalls the pilots telling her. "We (the F-15's) need to launch."
But the opposite orders came from unknown people in Washington. The F-15's were ordered to stay on the ground. And they were not allowed to intercept the Cuban MIG's.
"One of the guys said to me if they would have let us launch maybe we could have saved both of them," Weininger told the I-Team.
Though US military jets had scrambled to intercept Cuban MIG's since at least 1992 and even had scrambled earlier the very day of the shootdown, no jets ever took off from Homestead Air Force base. In fact, no jets took off from any other US military base at all to meet the threat posed by the MIG's.
"Jeffrey Houlihan who was senior radar operator (with US Customs in California), spoke with an individual who was at Homestead Air Force Base (who was) literally slamming his hand on the table demanding they let the planes go and the gentlemen told him that we want to go," said author Matthew Lawrence. "They said 'We're fighter pilots. It's what we do, but we were told not to leave (the runway at Homestead).'"
"They (the pilots in the F-15's) were there. They were the one people that could have saved these boys (in the Brothers to the Rescue planes)," said Weininger. "And they would have (saved them.) And they wanted to."
But the pilots never got the chance.
Despite the fact that military officials watched the shootdown on several different radar installations around the country, even as far away as California, and despite the fact two more MIG's chased Basulto's plane to within 3 minutes downtown Key West, the records show that no United States military jets ever scrambled to intercept the Cubans.
"They were helpless and their hands were tied and they couldn't do their job," Weininger said of the US military pilots.
The CBS4 I-Team contacted representatives for former President Bill Clinton, his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright and his National Security Advisor Sandy Berger as well as Clinton's former Energy Secretary and diplomatic envoy Bill Richardson, who is now the Governor of New Mexico.
All declined to speak with us about this part of our history.
Many other government documents related to the shootdown remain secret to this day.
But the classified documents, now declassified, which the CBS4 I-Team did obtain makes clear that at least some high ranking officials in the US government knew that a shootdown was possible if not probable.
And those documents demonstrate that this tragedy might have been averted had someone in the United States government taken more concrete action before it was too late.
Clinton never had the stomach for a fight. We were attacked by al Qaeda seven times during his administration starting with the 1993 attack on the WTC. Each time he talked about retribution but did little, and he certainly did nothing to prevent future attacks. In the end, he simply punted to Bush Jr.
They've got half the air assets in the US arsenal in that state. You know what Reagan would have done, and you'll notice they waited until he was gone to try something like that.
This is why you never, never ever vote for a Democrat!
But the classified documents, now declassified, which the CBS4 I-Team did obtain makes clear that at least some high ranking officials in the US government knew that a shootdown was possible if not probable.
True, the Brothers to the Rescue were warned by the US gov't about the possibility of being shot down and knew the dangers when they repeatedly invaded Cuban airspace over a 2 year period to drop leaflets on Havana.
True, the Brothers to the Rescue were warned by the US gov't about the possibility of being shot down and knew the dangers when they repeatedly invaded Cuban airspace over a 2 year period to drop leaflets on Havana.
That's why I wrote the title of the topic the way I did. Agreed, they were stupid to do fly overs of a communist country in which it's leader puts people to death for less than this. However, as Commander in Chief, you don't allow the armed fighter jets of a foreign nation violate your nation's air space uncontested by leaving your own fighter jets on the runway. Within 3 minutes of our nation's land means they were within striking distance before any US jetfighter could get airborne.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,329 posts, read 54,389,283 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by momonkey
Clinton never had the stomach for a fight. We were attacked by al Qaeda seven times during his administration starting with the 1993 attack on the WTC. Each time he talked about retribution but did little, and he certainly did nothing to prevent future attacks. In the end, he simply punted to Bush Jr.
They've got half the air assets in the US arsenal in that state. You know what Reagan would have done, and you'll notice they waited until he was gone to try something like that.
This is why you never, never ever vote for a Democrat!
Cool! Let's play the blame game
You notice al Qaeda waited 'til Bush was in office to pull off the air attacks on the WTC and Pentagon.
This is why you never, never ever vote for a Republican.
Nice symmetry there, eh?
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