This just in from WaPo:

Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public rather than a reflection of the fog of events on that day, according to sources involved in the debate.

Suspicion of wrongdoing ran so deep that the 10-member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, according to several commission sources.

For more than two years after the attacks, officials with NORAD and the FAA provided inaccurate information about the response to the hijackings in testimony and media appearances. Authorities suggested that U.S. air defenses had reacted quickly, that jets had been scrambled in response to the last two hijackings and that fighters were prepared to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93 if it threatened Washington.

In fact, the commission reported a year later, audiotapes from NORAD's Northeast headquarters and other evidence showed clearly that the military never had any of the hijacked airliners in its sights and at one point chased a phantom aircraft -- American Airlines Flight 11 -- long after it had crashed into the World Trade Center.

Interesting. NORAD standing down fits nicely into the LIHOP ("Letting It Happen On Purpose") 9/11 theory as listed by Nicholas Levin--whom the wingers and their deluded enablers are now pursuing for thoughtcrime.

And, oh yeah, the 9/11 Commission decided not to pursue the matter criminally, and punted it to the Transportation Department's Inspector General. I used to say, "Pass the popcorn," but given that the authoritarian death cult that is the Republican party can get away with anything these days, I don't say that anymore...

NOTE Remember that the FAA supervisor who destroyed the same-day taped record of the 9/11 events? That detail would fit in nicely with a story about 9/11 and NORAD but oddly, or not, the story doesn't mention it.