U.S. Transportation Secretery Norman Mineta has announced his resignation. This in itself is not big news; he was the longest-serving Transportation Secretery in U.S. history. It was just his time. Now there are only two members left in Bush's original cabinet: Defense Secretery Donald Rumsfeld and Labor Secretery Elaine Chao.
It is of note that Mineta was Bush's only Democrat in the cabinet, and that that cabinet post is considered a second-tier post. In other words, Mineta was somewhat distanced from the president, although they got along well. Mineta played ball. You can consider him objective.
That's why Mineta's status as a 9/11 puzzle piece - albeit a small one - is worthy of inspection. Mineta was present in the Presidential Emergency Operating Center, underneath the White House, with Vice President Dick Cheney and then-National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice during the 9/11 attacks. A snippet from Mineta's 9/11 commission testimony seems to suggest that Cheney was ordering his subordinates to NOT shoot down Flight 11. Click the link. It's worth a peek. Maybe it's on to something, maybe it's not. But just take note of it, m'kay?
Meanwhile, here are some far more convincing puzzle pieces to consider. It's a basic slideshow simplifying 9/11 for beginners. Just don't stop with the slideshow. Keep digging for clues on your own.
Here's hoping Norman Mineta stays alive a long, long time.
