8:55 As he arrives at a Sarasota elementary school, Bush is informed by senior advisor Karl Rove that a “small twin engine” plane has struck the WTC
9:00 Bush is advised, via telephone, by National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice
She knew the real story.
9:05 Bush is advised by Chief of Staff Andrew Card of the second plane striking the second WTC tower, while Bush is reading to children in a classroom
Two planes into the towers. Bush keeps reading. Remember, we are under attack.
9:30 Bush excuses himself from classroom to make a statement that a “terrorist attack on America has occurred.”
Why on earth did Bush wait 25 minutes to do something? To not disappoint the children? Please. Our Nation was under attack. Surely he could have said duty calls.
You pose an interesting question. I always assumed he waited in order to not alarm the children - the alternative would have involved him jumping up, yelling “gotta go!” - but one never knows, I suppose. I do recall watching the moment Andrew whispered the news in his ear…he remained calm, but I thought I saw a glimmer of fear behind his eyes. I won’t comment as to whether I’m a Bush supporter or nay, but I thought he handled that (early) moment of the crisis well.
That timeline gives almost no in-depth information about what was happening. I suggest you go over this one.
Neither timeline has any information about whether Bush was given all the info about the attacks. The one I linked to specifically raises questions about that point.
This may have been a worthwhile thread on 9/12, but now? If FDR spent the first hour after Pearl Harbor wetting himself and crying like a baby, does it make a bit of difference?
There are plenty of constructive topics for debate and criticism about W’s presidency, but this is not one of them. WTF is the point beyond another pathetic Bush-is-bad/dumb/cowardly circle jerk? What should he have done? What would you do? Leap into action, shove everyone out of the way, personally pilot Air Force One all the way to Kabul, jump out and kick Osama’s ass?
He’s the Chief Executive, not a damn action figure.
at the very least he should have thought he may have been a target too. By staying he might have put those children in danger. His itenary was not a state secret.
It goes to show at the least bad judgement. At the most knowledge.
It’s not like he could undo anything. It’s not like he could stop the planes from flying into the buildings by smiting them down with his mighty fist.
It was done. All he could do was hurry to the nearest TV and watch it like the rest of us.
And the children in danger? Pshaw. Everywhere he goes, every time he goes anywhere he puts innocents in danger.
Of course, you’re not really concerned about the children, are you? No, I think you just want to score some more cheapo points Reeder-style like you always do.
Well I think you don’t understand how information flows during a crisis.
From the second link
and
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8:46 a.m. Flight 11 slams into the north tower, 1 World Trade Center. Investigators believe it still had about 10,000 gallons of fuel and was traveling 470 mph. [New York Times, 9/11/02] Approximately 2662 people are killed on the ground between this crash and the crash of Flight 175. [AP,8/19/02]
[/QUOTE]
When this happened there were conflicting reports(the small plane report). It took the agencies involved a while to figure out exactly what was happening.
It took Bush 25 minutes to do something because no one really knew what was going on. Note, between the time that the air traffic controlers figured out a plane was hijacked and the time the last plane hit ONLY 43 mintues passed. That is not a lot of time.
We’d have to assume a massive conspiracy (Bush knows the planes will hit, puts on blank face, continues to read stories to kids) to criticize his actions that day.
Assuming the above is false, he handled the situation well, and this is why the tape was broadcast - if he had lost it, we would never have seen the footage. Putting that scene out there was all about PR - but it was only successful, IMHO, because GWB kept his shit together. Again, I’ll choose to remain silent as to support overall, but it’s hard to dispute the fact that those few seconds influenced his score with the American people.
Bush was in no danger at Booker Elementary. Booker HS, maybe. I don’t know what he could have done at another location that he couldn’t do right there. Strange, I remember criticism of Bush because he went to some AFB on the 11th. I guess he should remained chained to his desk in the Oval Office.
I have very little respect for Mr. Bush, and I certainly disagree with much of his policy. I wish Bill Clinton could have been elected to a third term and been our president on 9/11.
HOWEVER…
I don’t get criticisms such as this OP. Watching the events unfold on 9/11, and then reflecting back on those events now, I don’t have much of a problem with the way the president handled things in those first few hours and days.
I didn’t see fear or a “deer-in-the-headlights” look in his eyes as Card whispered in his ear that morning. I did see some small amount of shock, but I think he did a good job concealing his thoughts and feelings at that time (as he should have). I believe he was correct to continue his appearence with the children because I don’t think he could have done much about the situation if he had immediately bolted from the room. His main priority at that moment, before national TV crews, is to maintain calm-- and he did that just fine.
It is really not up to Mr. Bush to decide if his or the young students lives are in danger in a situation like that. It is up to his security detail instead. God help us if our nation was unable to react to a crisis with out the immediate micro-managing of the president.
Some of the people who accuse the president of UNDER-reacting that morning in the Florida classroom also accuse him over OVER-reacting later that day when Air Force One flew to the center of the country to secure the president at a military base. They argument goes that he should have returned to D.C. and he acted like a big chicken heading to safety in Nebraska (or wherever). Again, I think this a security decision and to hell with appearences.
Look, there are SO MANY legitimate and important things to criticise Mr. Bush about. Keep your eye on the ball, OK?
I’m extremely critical of Bush around Iraq, but the OP is silly and pointless, on a number of levels.
There is absolutely jack squat George Bush could have done between 9:05 and 9:30 that would have made a lick of difference.
The OP knows jack squat about what the Secret Service decided at the time in terms of protecting Bush. Perhaps they were searching Air Force One for bombs, or waiting for the all-clear from the airport. Who knows?
Reeder, I don’t think you fully comprehend the confusion that takes place at times like that. You’re assuming, without evidence, that Bush was fully appraised of the situation at 9:06. My memory of the event was that at 9:06 nobody knew what the hell was going on, and knowing government bureaucracy, I’ll bet dollars to your dimes they didn’t know either.
I’m sorry, but your OP is pointless and has been discussed on this board DOZENS of times before, all with essentially the same result; there’s really nothing there to bitch about. Maybe he should have reacted in 17 minutes rather than 24, but really, so what? The result of the minor delay was nothing. There was no adverse consequence.
Right about now I wouldn’t be surprised to see Reeder’s opposites step in and point out that Dubya could have done it, but he didn’t want to show off his true, divine-bestowed power.
It’s amazing, isn’t it? He’s become a one-trick pont even faster than **december **and Susanann. It’s gotta be some kind of record. At least december was subtle about it, and he took his time. And the other, well, Thick as a Brick leaps to mind…
