Rumsfeld Decisively Available in Stray Plane Incident

That WaPo story that made it sound like Donald Rumsfeld was ready to take lethally decisive action when that runaway Cessna invaded White House airspace two weeks ago? The Pentagon would like to reassure you that, no, Rumsfeld didn't actually authorize military planes to shoot down the aircraft if necessary. He simply "made himself available" to give such authorization, if such authorization was needed. First, we're guessing, he wanted to bring in Hans Blix to inspect the plane. Then maybe a little Security Council debate. In situations where an unknown plane is just two minutes away from crashing into the White House, you don't want to act too rashly. Good call, Rummy!— GREG BEATO

 No Order to Down Stray Plane, Pentagon Says [NY Times]

 Military Was Set To Down Cessna [WaPo]

 Pentagon Lies About Cessna Shootdown [Sploid]