I might be wrong about this, but wasn't Bush flying around the country on 9/11 like a coward?

[swayne]

From Florida, Lousiana, Nebraska and Washington DC all in the same day? Running from Al Qaeda threats?


Is my memory failing me?

[thelordofhell]

1. Yep

Bush was a wimp

[lob1]

2. That's what I remember.

He was staying quiet in case they were after him.

[madaboutharry]

3. I recall that as well.

He didn't address the nation until later on the following day. I always wondered if he had some kind of a breakdown

[tammywammy]

11. There want the ability to broadcast from AF One during 9/11

The planes have since been upgraded. That's why Bush didn't speak to the nation until that evening.

[tanyev]

18. He did speak to the nation from the elementary school in Florida.

And if they really thought he was a target, they should have never stayed at the school that long and they shouldn't have dragged a bunch of teachers and students in to provide a backdrop while he spoke.

[exboyfil]

28. Moore has the countdown from the time the second plane hit

A real leader would have been up and on his feet going to his mobile command center immediately. Bush just sat there. It was pathetic.

Flying around was ok though. That seems to be SOP for such an emergency. That is what Air Force 1 is designed for - to be a mobile command center difficult to target. Cheney bunkering down was ok as well, but Bush should have been able to broadcast from Air Force 1 without giving his location away. If Air Force 1 can't do that then we are all screwed.

[loli phabay]

41. i would say that protocol was to keep him were he was until the SS had cleared the route etc

sop has always been to stay in situ if you have a secured area rather than break cover and make yourself an easier target. I would have been more concerned if they had of just jumped up and started running. Also im pretty sure that the getting to air force one and jumping around was also part of the security protocols.

[exboyfil]

42. He is the commander in chief

At the very least he moves to a secure room and starts making calls to discuss options. For some reason I just don't see Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Ford, Truman, Carter, papa Bush or Nixon sitting there. Not sure about Reagan, Clinton, or Obama since they have no military experience. The president is not a china doll - the buck stops with him especially in cases of national emergency. I can't believe how ill prepared we were - what if it had been a strategic attack? Giving that planes are being used as weapons and we have little or no domestic ground to air resources, keeping him at a known fixed location seems riskier than an immediate move.

The movement with the plane was ok - it was a variant on a response to a strategic engagement. Not being able to broadcast from the plane though - now that is unforgivable as well.

[loli phabay]

43. no an immediate move is very dangerous unless you are under an active threat in your location

there is nothing better for an attack than flushing your opponent out into the open on an adhoc basis regardless of the plans in place, the SS would have been bricking it and trying to secure the route to the aircraft ahead of schedule and concerned that there was an ambush set up on route. If you are in a secure location and you have an idea of whats in the sky above you i would stay until i was ready to move and not be rushed into a possible ambush. I agree with the plane not having the communications suite it needed but you live and learn.

[exboyfil]

45. So what is the role of the President when we are under attack?

What are we protecting if that individual is not immediately evaluating the situation and making the tough decisions (in this case the decision on whether to shoot down domestic aircraft)? I agree with you that flushing ahead of security is a risk, but sitting there listening to a story about a goat???

It would be interesting to draw up various scenarios and what should the responses should be:

1. NORAD detects Russian ICBM readiness activities, launch plumes - stay or go.
2. Encroachment by Russian bombers into U.S. airspace.
3. Simultaneous assassination attempts on VP and Sec Def.
4. Homemade nuke set off in Washington, DC.

[loli phabay]

47. well a leader has to trust what his security are telling him, and i would say they told him to stay

until the situation was confirmed and the route secure, if your principal is smart then they listen to you as you are the expert on this stuff and if they are dumb or cocksure then they dont and you all end up dead. If it was me i would have kept him there as i had the room secured and the area around it and id be moving assets into place ie fighter escort, getting the plane spun up, getting security along the route and securing the exit of the building etc.

[HangOnKids]

48. "well a leader has to trust what his security are telling him"

How very cowardly. A leader LEADS, but you know that don't you.

[loli phabay]

49. not cowardly its called smart, a leader trusts his guys and realises they are experts and listens to

them, do you really think a president should just ignore his detail.

[Shrike47]

4. To be fairish, nobody knew if there were going to be more attacks.

I'm sure the Secret Service had something to do with running him around trying to keep him safe.

[lpbk2713]

15. Air Force One had TV broadcast facilities

Shit-for-Brains was too busy soiling himself to bother with any of that "leadership" stuff like calming a troubled country. He was too frozen with fear to move from that chair in the elementary school classroom for seven minutes. He had to be forced out of there by his handlers. And Cheneyburton wasn't any better. He was cowering with fear in an "undisclosed location" .

[ProgressiveEconomist]

39. It was late afternoon by the time 'Mommy' Karen Hughes came out to

make the first White House statement to the public. Meanwhile, Rudy Giulani filled the power vacuum GW Bush had opened up since the attacks begain early that morning:

From http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a355karenhughes#a355karenhughes :

"Complete 911 Timeline:

3:55 p.m. September 11, 2001: President Bush Said to Be at Undisclosed Location
White House adviser Karen Hughes briefly speaks to the media and says President Bush is at an undisclosed location, taking part in a video conference. This is possibly the only in-person media appearance by any Bush administration official since the attacks and until a news conference by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld at 6:40 p.m. (CNN, 9/12/2001)

[emilyg]

38. You are right.

[former-republican]

5. It would be standard

SOP for the SS to do that and keep a president safe .

I could make a list of 100 terrible things he did to our country.

And it wouldn't take me long but this issue doesn't register on my care meter.

[jp11]

17. Agreed.

Not knowing the scope of the plot there are plans for the president and while they do get a say in what they do that only works when their SS protection listen to them. Right after a threat is made or happening is not when the SS listens to the president about what they want to do.

[LaydeeBug]

6. That's strategic and what the Secret Service would do for ANY president...

He also wan't aboard the 747 commonly referred to as AF1. (any plane is AF1 if POTUS is on it, that's why I said that). He was in a fighter jet with two other fighter jets flying cover.

Daddy was a pilot in 'Nam. September 11th is his birthday. We watched that happening as it happened...not through video, but through the air traffic control records as they were being broadcast and talked about by reporters. He landed first in Nebraska.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

33. He was in a fighter jet?

And he went to Nebraska first?

I guess all those reporters that were with him when he landed in Louisiana lied...

[former9thward]

37. I don't know what that poster is thinking.

He was on his normal AF1 jet. A fighter jet does not have the communication abilities required for the president on a long flight. When AF1 took off it originally had no military escort but soon it was joined by a series of fighter jets. He did go to Barksdale Air Force Base Shreveport, LA first before Nebraska.

[jobycom]

7. A drunk coward.

He stopped in Alexandria, La to do a "My fellow Americans" speech. His cheeks were rosy, his speech slow and deliberate. I think the reason they hid him was to give him time to sober up.

[Tom Ripley]

57. That's also the reason it "took several hours to drive him back from Camp David" after the...

Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
As if Camp David does not have broadcast capabilities, but is instead a rustic log cabin lit by kerosene lamp.

[tammywammy]

8. Not because he's a coward.

You can dislike Bush all you want, but during an attack like what happened on 9/11 the President's safety and security is of the utmost importance.

Since they didn't know where the next attack could come from, security wise the best place for the President is on Air Force One.

Since 9/11 Air Force One has been updated so that the President can broadcast from it to speak to the Americqn public.

[elleng]

27. Thanks. Right, tammy.

We overuse 'coward,' imo.

[Avalux]

9. As others have noted, that was standard procedure for any president.

There were too many unknowns; best to keep him in the air and moving.

[HangOnKids]

51. I just threw up on my keyboard

This is on DU? REALLY?

[librechik]

10. not at all. He was flying around the country like a hero

If a hero was yellow and had wings like a chicken

great photo ops for the next election!

[tanyev]

12. Only after he used a bunch of kids and teachers as a human shield/photo op.

[russspeakeasy]

16. NAILED IT...FUCKING COWARD.

[bluedeminredstate]

46. Blows his initial reason out of the water

They always said he sat there for 20 minutes with his thumb up his ass so he wouldn't frighten the kids in the room. Then they hauled them out for backdrop while he told the nation we were under attack! Yeah, not frightening at all... WTF???

[RagAss]

13. He was always in a plane when the shit hit the fan...9/11 and Katrina !

Taking in the view from 30,000 feet.

[Cleita]

14. Yes, he was.

He apparently was afraid to go to the White House to begin with. He extended his vacation into one of the longest ones in Presidential history, then he went to Florida to visit Jeb and read books to school children. That's when the planes hit and then he flew all over the place because he was still afraid to go back to the White House.

I wonder what he knew?

[trackfan]

19. They tried to make that one go down the memory hole.

I'm glad people remember. I seem to remember Bill Clinton actually touring the devastation before Bush, who was hidden away like a chicken shit coward for a few days.

[Liberal In Texas]

20. Yeah, saw AF1 landing at STRATCOM south of Omaha.

It was curious seeing a jetliner in the distance as everything had been grounded for quite awhile.

[sad sally]

21. What did the Commander in Chief do with the knowledge that the United States was under attack?

There are many questions that deserve answers. So many pieces of the puzzle do not fit. Simply by reading the mainstream media reports, we can see that mere incompetence doesn’t explain what happened to Bush on that day. For instance, it makes no sense that Bush would listen to a story about a goat long after being told the US was under attack, and even after the Secret Service decided to immediately evacuate him from the school. It defies explanation that Air Force One’s fighter escort took two hours to appear. And it is mind-boggling that there are seven different versions of how Bush learned about the first crash.

http://www.historycommons.org/essay.jsp?article=essayaninterestingday

[cr8tvlde]

22. I have the photo of a clueless POTUS sitting in an elementary classroom

with an upside down Goat Book...whispered to by an Aide, pausing with no facial response, and with the smoking towers in the classroom television...etched in my memory.

Holy Sh## .. it was the Decider-in-Chief. To this day, I don't think he knew...but Cheney already in his bunker and maybe Rice certainly did. Better to have grownups at the Controls.

[RevStPatrick]

23. That was probably the only thing he ever did...

...that I thought was the right thing for him to do.

Even though I couldn't stand the man, I don't want my president to be a target during attacks on the country. The aftermath would have been so much worse than it was if they had "taken him out."

[liberalmuse]

24. Yes, like a fucking coward.

I don't care what the excuses are - I don't see President Clinton or President Obama doing this, no matter what SS "protocol" was. They would stay and comfort the nation, not be concerned with their own asses by flying around the country from bunker to bunker. George W. Bush is an inept coward, and behaved abominably in the months before and on 9/11.

[SoFlaJet]

25. And then they sold the two pictures

of him looking out of the AF1 windows like a crackhead waiting for the cops on a hotel room binge for $150 for the pair-disgusting

[Lint Head]

26. Like?

He is a certified coward.

[samsingh]

29. yes

[KansDem]

30. It was the GW Bush 9/11 Tour

[center][font size = "4"]GW Bush 9/11 Tour

[font size="1"]Sarasota, FL : Barksdale, LA : Offutt, NE : Washington, DC
[font size="2"]Gettin' Out of Harm's Way!
[/center]

[silvershadow]

31. He wanted to see the carnage from the air...just like Katrina. nt

[davidn3600]

32. In such a situation, the Secret Service automatically does this

If the country is under attack, they will get the president airborne until the situation is assessed.

That's been the standard procedure even during the Cold War. The fear during a nuclear attack isn't just the president's life, but that communication would be severed from wherever he is hiding out. Being airborne he would be assured to be able to communicate with NORAD or other leaders.

[tanyev]

36. Considering that they already knew about Plane 1 on their way into the school,

doesn't it seem odd that they let him proceed with the classroom photo-op, and then remain at that pre-publicized location until 9:35?

[cynatnite]

34. I hate the fuckwit, but that was done for security purposes...

They would have done it if it had been a Dem in the WH.

You're memory is correct, but your interpretation is wrong.

[byeya]

35. Yes and the CIC could tell the SS to fuck off, the country, who elected him, needs him at

a critical time.

[cecilfirefox]

40. Let's be fair, the Secret Service made that call to protect the President, no one knew what might

happen next.

[ThoughtCriminal]

44. It's not the time on AF1 that disturbs me

it was the time in the classroom and at the school afterward.

How did they know that the school would not be a target? (In the days that followed WH falsely claimed that Bush was a target)

This was a pre-announced and scheduled event. If Al-Queda had wanted to target Bush, all they had to do was check the schedule. But, I think they sort of knew that Bush was going to be very useful to their objectives.

I think like the whole WH staff and the DOD, the SS sort of had their heads up their ass that morning. As soon as it was clear that we were under attack, they should have cleared the POTUS out of there AND evacuated the school grounds.

[Stinky The Clown]

50. "like" a coward?

He defines the term.

[orpupilofnature57]

52. After the smirk.

[DinahMoeHum]

53. He looked absolutely clueless in that school photo. . .

. . .like he didn't know WTF to do.

I never thought it was about cowardice - it was more like incompetence.

[DemzRock]

56. I thought it was more like...

Oh, was that today? Sheesh! I almost forgot.

[ELI BOY 1950]

54. i think he was at an elementary school in Seattle

he gave a talk to the kids...after being told a plane hit the WTC...he continued
speaking to the kids until he was told a second plane hit...lets make sure he is the last bush to hold this office.

[liberal N proud]

55. To be fair they did what they were supposed to do

Once he was finished reading MyPet Goat, they did take him to safe zones and keep him moving so no one would know where he was in the event he was targeted.

They would do that no matter who was President.

My contention is the time he spent continuing to read when he should have been swept away.

[RKP5637]

58. What struck me was the look on his face when they interrupted him and told him. He

just had that deer in the headlight look. He just sat there with that dumbfounded look on his face. It was not IMO a look of leadership at all. Flying around in the plane, I don't know, probably security protocol. But out of it all, the look on his face was what concerned me the most.

[Politicalboi]

59. Yes, and he was cowering with children

If 9/11 was truly a foreign terrorist attack. He stayed at a public school for like 40 minutes more putting the children in danger. If they were really concerned about his and the children's safety, Bush should have been taken out of the school. It was printed in the paper days before where he was going to be. The school was close to an airport. But for some reason a school seemed to be the safest place to be with other planes unaccounted for. LOL! When I say 9/11 is a joke, I don't mean to disrespect the dead. I disrespect the living who don't care to investigate the silly acts our big bad ass government did do on 9/11.

How did they know they were safe? Why did Bush take the time to address the entire school? Why didn't the Pentagon protect DC or itself? Why as tax payers, do we only get to see a blur video attack on the Pentagon, and are satisfied when they tell us tough shit. Nothing to see here.
Anyone who wants to see more are "conspiracy nuts".
These questions don't involve 10 stories a second collapse with no resistance. These are questions that should be answered.