A lot of fighters were in the air Wednesday. Why?

I've sent this to Josh & Co., the NY Times and my local paper. So far, only a lame response from the Times about a NORAD exercise in D.C., which I had told them about.

Here are the facts:

1. On Wednesday around noon, one or more military jets, very likely fighters, scraped the deck in my neighborhood of St. Louis. I say "very likely" because I was on the phone and did not go outside to see them. However, no aircraft other than news choppers ever visit the south side of St. Louis. And none but military jets would dare fly so fast or so low that I said a quick prayer for what I initially presumed to be a commercial jet rapidly losing altitude. But there are no commercial flights over my neighborhood. This was definitely one or more fighters making multiple passes within minutes at roaringly low altitude over a heavily populated area. My area.

2. A friend in California told me he was speaking with a good friend in Simi Valley when the same thing occurred there Wednesday.

3. A reporter?editor? in the NY Times' Washington bureau by the name of Will Bardenwerper told me last night that he had seen unusual military jet activity near his neighborhood in northern Virginia on Wednesday and Thursday. He promised to pass along the information in this email to Times defense reporters.

4. Bardenwerper and friends interpreted the D.C. activity as evidence of nothing more than the following report, which makes no mention of a coast-to-coast "exercise." SOMETHING put fighters in the air well beyond Washington, D.C., but the Times had no explanation for it.

September 17, 2008 - 4:23am
WASHINGTON - If you see and hear military aircraft overhead Wednesday and Thursday, it's just an exercise.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command starts conducting a two-day exercise in the D.C. area Wednesday.

The exercise, a series of training flights, is designed to hone NORAD's intercept and identification operations.

Civil Air Patrol and Coast Guard helicopters will participate in the exercise. The training flights were occur during late night and early morning hours.

In the event of inclement weather, NORAD will run the exercise on the next clear day until the exercise has been completed.

5. NPR's studio in Washington D.C.'s Newseum was nearly evacuated Wednesday during broadcast of "Talk of the Nation," after an alarm repeatedly and audibly sounded during the show. The host received an "all clear" just before he was about to abandon the studio and turn over the broadcast to NPR in New York.

6. The U.S. embassy in Yemen was bombed early Wednesday morning.

7. Russia prepared Wednesday morning for what became the first successful test of its Bulava ICBM (5 MIRVs and 6,200-mile range) from a submerged submarine.

8. The U.S. economy came close to melting down as the Dow lost another 450 points Wednesday.

9. President Bush, as far as I am aware, was not seen in public Wednesday. He made no address to the nation until Thursday.

10. All military fighters and bombers were grounded on Sept. 14 for a "review of procedures."


I don't suggest that every point above is connected. But I do suggest there were unusual military flights in many locales across the country on the same day. So what the fuck happened Wednesday? Have you seen low-flying fighter jets in your area recently? Please leave a comment if you did.

For Pete's sake, recommend this so we can get additional reports if there are any. NO ONE has put two and two together on this. I can find nothing on the web.