Why did the AP Repeat The Same Error Over and Over and Over Again?

Make that...and Over! Not only did the Associated Press make mistakes on the morning of September 11th, 2001, which exacerbated response problems and compounded the terror, they made one big mistake over and over and over and over again. Four times AP reported a car bomb having gone off outside the State Department that morning---at 10:35am, at 10:42am, at 11:03am, and again at 11:11am, a span of 36 minutes, before they let the matter drop without a retraction.

The first three reports were news banners, and contain only this item. This means no mitigation or circumstance would force them to make the report. The third report was fleshed out with an attribution, if you can call this level of anonymity, imprecision and illiteracy fleshed out:

"Car bombing outside of State Department-- The State Department was evacuated Tuesday due to a possible explosion or fire amid a rash of explosions in New York and Washington.

"A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident appeared connected with the two plane crashes at the World Trade Center, an explosion at the Pentagon and the evacuation of the White House.

"'Something has happened at the State Department,' the source said. "We don't know what yet. We hear it might have been a plane.""

I can't possibly do the quote justice. To get the full effect, listen to the portentous tones of Mike "Buck" Buchanan, the CBS News9 co-anchor bad boy, as he histrionically intones something has happened...we hear it might have been a plane! When I first heard it I thought it had to be a joke but it's not. Fast forward to (30:32)

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Buchanan doesn't even try to read things right---or maybe he has other excuses. He doesn't say, "the State Department was evacuated due to a possible explosion or fire, he says "the State Department was evacuated after a possible explosion or fire," probably because "due" was too passive and he knows his audience. (30:34)

He doesn't say what the AP wrote: "The FBI has evacuated the White House after they received what they said were "creditable threats" against the White House." He says,

"Again, the White House has been evacuated after the Secret Service received a credible threat of a terrorist act against the Presidential mansion and residence, again the Secret Service has received a credible threat of a terrorist threat."

Saying Secret Service for FBI is an odd mistake for someone with a long career reporting in the city of titles and acronyms. It may be Freudian---or Fraudian. But saying 'terrorist act" for "terrorist threat" is simply actionable.

At 10:25am (31:39 in the tape) Buchanan says,

...we just got this from the Associated Press, a car bomb explodes outside the State Department. being attributed to senior government officials again a car bomb has just exploded outside...

to attribute, even anonymously, is a step up from the mere "reports that a car bomb has exploded outside the US State Department in Washington." Buchanan is comingling his AP reports.

But the real problem begins when you meld the CBS and AP timelines together. Mike Buchanan appears to have been reading these AP reports on air from ten to 30 minutes before the Associated Press issued them.

If the tape segment from archive.org begins at 9:54am and Buchanan first references the car bombing at the State Department at a point 30:34 minutes into the segment, that means he is telecasting at 10:25am, or ten minutes before the first of the four AP reports is timestamped, and almost 40 minutes before the version he's reading, attributing the report to an anonymous senior government official, was issued.

Now put this in the context of the second tower collapsing at 10:30am, along with a 10:44am AP report that a hijacked airplane was heading for Washington, (erroneous though it was) and I'd fairly put Washington was the equal of New York in the terrorized department.

Perhaps this makes sense from a spy-master management perspective, as it compromises the principle players so and provides leverage. Or maybe I got it backwards, and Buchanan was reading rogue AP reports. It certainly sounds like it! Sending out repeated versions doesn't provide cover by confusing the issue as much as it draws attention to it, and as so it has after all these years. Since I'm not Karen Hughes---thank God---I'll trust that is the explanation.

The White House and State Department Timeline

9:52am - Terrorist threats made against the White House

10:35am - Car bomb explodes at State Department
There are reports that a car bomb has exploded outside the US State Department in Washington.

This is the fifth explosion in an hour and a half in a spate of major terrorist attacks on the United States.

10:42am - Car bomb explodes at State Department
There are reports that a car bomb has exploded outside the US State Department in Washington.

10:44am - Hijacked plane heading for Washington
Another hijacked aircraft is on its way to Washington.

11:03am - Car bombing outside of State Department
The State Department was evacuated Tuesday due to a possible explosion or fire amid a rash of explosions in New York and Washington.

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident appeared connected with the two plane crashes at the World Trade Center, an explosion at the Pentagon and the evacuation of the White House.

"Something has happened at the State Department," the source said. "We don't know what yet. We hear it might have been a plane."

11:11am - Thousands feared dead in US terror strikes
Thousands were feared dead today after terrorists launched an astonishing and brutal attack on the American nation, demolishing the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center and striking at the heart of the US military machine.

Suicide bombers seized three airliners and crashed them into the WTC and the Pentagon in Washington, a car bomb blew up outside the State Department in the US capital. There were reports that a fourth plane had also been hijacked.

Can you believe the following explanation for two full-site evacuations? This is the military headquarters of the free world??!!

"The second and third full site-clearing evacuations were ordered based of reports of unidentified aircraft heading toward the Pentagon. One occurred at about 2:00 p.m. on September 11, and the other around 10:00 a.m. on September 12. In both cases, the Arlington County ECC was notified by the control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport of “inbound unidentified aircraft.” The ECC properly notified the Incident Command of each and Chief Schwartz ordered evacuations. It was later determined the incoming aircraft were “friendly.” One carried Attorney General John Ashcroft and the other, FEMA Director Joseph
Allbaugh. Operating only on the information that “an unidentified aircraft is 10 minutes out and heading this direction,” the Incident Commander had no option but to order full evacuations."

from the Arlington County After-Action Report Annex A, Page A-30

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Now don't miss (31:58) Frank's big Howard Beale moment, "Hold on just a second!" It's so Mama Rose!