April Gallop, a career Army officer who was working inside the Pentagon on 9/11 has brought a civil lawsuit against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney and former US Air Force General Richard Myers claiming there was sufficient time to order an evacuation.
Gallop also contends in the lawsuit that there was motivation for officials to allow the attack to happen, citing that Cheney and Rumsfeld were major sponsors for The Project for a New American Century.
The FAA notified NORAD of a hijacked plane, specifically American Airlines Flight 77, at 9:24am and the Pentagon was struck at 9:43am, which would have allowed almost 20 minutes for officials to warn employees working in the Pentagon.
Raw Story :
(The lawsuit)alleges they engaged in conspiracy to facilitate the terrorist attacks and purposefully failed to warn those inside the Pentagon, contributing to injuries she and her two-month-old son incurred.
"The ex-G.I. plaintiff alleges she has been denied government support since then, because she raised 'painful questions' about the inexplicable failure of military defenses at the Pentagon that day, and especially the failure of officials to warn and evacuate the occupants of the building when they knew the attack was imminent" said Veale in a media advisory.
Gallop also says she heard two loud explosions, and does not believe that a Boeing 757 hit the building. Her son sustained a serious brain injury, and Gallop herself was knocked unconscious after the roof collapsed onto her office.
From the lawsuit:
The defendants' purpose in aiding and facilitating the attack, and the overall object of the conspirac(ies), was to bring about an unprecedented, horrifying and frightening catastrophe of terrorism inside the United States, which would give rise to a powerful reaction of fear and anger in the public, and in Washington. This would generate a political atmosphere of acceptance in which the new Administration could enact and implement radical changes in the policy and practice of constitutional government in our country. Much of their intention was spelled out prior to their coming into office, in publications of the so-called Project for the New American Century, of which defendants Cheney and Rumsfeld were major sponsors. There they set forth specific objectives regarding the projection of U.S. military power abroad, particularly in Iraq, the Persian Gulf, and other oil-producing areas. They observed, however, that the American people would not likely support the actions the sponsors believed were necessary, without being shocked into a new outlook by something cataclysmic: "a new Pearl Harbor". By helping the attack succeed, defendants and their cohorts created a basis for the seizure of extraordinary power, and a pretext for launching the so-called Global War on Terror, in the guise of which they were free to pursue plans for military conquest, "full spectrum dominance" and "American primacy" around the world; as they have done.
Gallop is hoping for "discovery" of facts behind the attacks and if the case moves forward, subpoena power would potentially allow more information concerning the events of September 11th to come to light.
Considering the victim's family members who pushed for the formation of the 9/11 Commission state that 70% of their questions are still unanswered, this could be a very welcomed development.