Bush Denies 'Slow to React' Claims over 9/11 Attack

[UpInArms]

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3335563

President George Bush took his re-election campaign directly into America’s living rooms today, giving a prime time television interview with his wife Laura.

Mr Bush admitted that his first term in the White House had left him with “a lot of explanations” to give.

But he was unrepentant about his decision to go to war in Iraq and his strategies in the struggle against international terrorism.

<snip>

During the one hour interview in California, Mr Bush admitted that there had been questions about his style of leadership over the last four years.

“I have got a lot of explanations to give on what I have done,” he said.

...more...

none of the "explanations" seem very satisfactory to me :puke:

[goforit]

1. You are pathetic!!

[HarveyBriggs]

2. I can imagine him saying ...

"Why that seven minutes I froze up and listened to 'My Pet Goat' was nothing compared to the time I froze up in fighter pilot school and damned near got a lot of people ki ...., uh, ..."

Harvey Briggs

[soothsayer]

3. i'm watching the dumbass lie now. First he sez Andrew Card told him

America was under attack, so he sat there and collected his thoughts. Figured he'd just "wait for this part of the program to end" so he could say goodbye and thank the teacher. THEN he goes on to say "but as soon as I realized America was under attack" that he went into action right away.

BUT...card had TOLD him america was under attack. I guess he was thinking "squirrel" like the funny sig pics here.

ALSO...I heard on Howard Stern today that not only did he sit there like an ass for 7 minutes, but he did a TWENTY MINUTE PHOTO OP afterwards! Is this true????

[Stephanie]

4. Bush 9/11 Timeline

From an old thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1199702

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9:03 a.m.: A second hijacked airliner, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston, crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes. Both buildings are burning.

+++

9:30 a.m.: President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, says the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."

+++

9:43 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, sending up a huge plume of smoke. Evacuation begins immediately.

+++

9:57 a.m.: Bush departs from Florida.

+++

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack /

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

12:39, word is that Bush has landed at a base near Shreveport, La. Incredibly, at 12:51, there is footage of a Taliban news conference by one Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel. It is difficult to absorb that Arafat and the Taliban have weighed in before Bush. Five minutes later ABC reports that in Shreveport "the president looked grim. His eyes were somewhat red." The only hard information is that there are no national security people traveling with the president. ABC's Peter Jennings, breaking protocol for news anchors, says forcefully that the country needs words from its president in Washington.

+++

1:08: More than three hours after the second tower collapsed. A taped message from President Bush. But the sound isn't transmitting, and the image is jerky. Then the image goes backwards. Then it goes off.

+++


2:35: Guiliani live again: "The number of casualties will be more than anyone can bear."

+++

3:30: Confirmation that Bush has landed at the Strategic Air Defense Command base near Omaha, Neb. ABC's Ann Compton, traveling with the president, is on the phone to Peter Jennings, whose inflection says it all: "Annie, can you hear me? What are you doing in Nebraska?"

When he asks where Bush is, she replies, "He disappeared down the rabbit hole, Peter."

+++

3:48: For the first time an administration official, White House counsel Karen Hughes, gives a live statement: "The president, vice-president, and speaker of the House are all safe." It is astonishing that this late in the day the White House has nothing more to say.

+++

At 6:41, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld gives a live press conference -- nearly nine hours after the towers collapsed, a cabinet-level official finally speaks.

+++

8:31: Nearly 12 hours after the attack began, 10 and a half after the towers collapsed, President George W. Bush reads a speech live from the Oval Office.

+++

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-10-05/cols_ventura.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[soothsayer]

7. well, if he sits there for 7 minutes (until ten after nine)

and then does a 20 minute photo op, he can then do his press conf at 9 thirty.

[frylock]

10. between 8:55 and 9:00 a.m. (bush knew)

Just after the WTC crash, the beepers of politicians' aides are going off with news of the first WTC crash as Bush arrives and enters Booker Elementary School. According to photographer Eric Draper, standing nearby, Bush advisor Karl Rove rushes up, takes Bush aside in a corridor, and tells him about the calamity. Rove says the cause of the crash was unclear. Bush replies, “What a horrible accident!” Bush also suggests the pilot may have had a heart attack. (Daily Mail, 9/8/02) Dan Bartlett, White House Communications Director, also says he is there when Bush is told: “(Bush) being a former pilot, had kind of the same reaction, going, was it bad weather? And I said no, apparently not.” (ABC News, 9/11/02) One account explicitly says that Rove tells Bush the WTC has been hit by a large commercial airliner. (Telegraph, 12/16/01) However, Bush later remembers Rove saying it appeared to be an accident involving a small, twin-engine plane. (Washington Post, 1/27/02) In a later recollection, Bush recalls that it is chief of staff Andrew Card who first warns him and says, “ ‘Here's what you're going to be doing; you're going to meet so-and-so, such-and-such.’And Andy Card says, ‘By the way, an aircraft flew into the World Trade Center.’ ” (Washington Times, 10/7/02) Says a reporter who was standing nearby, “From the demeanor of the President, grinning at the children, it appeared that the enormity of what he had been told was taking a while to sink in.” (Daily Mail, 9/8/02) (“Shortly before 9:00,” Daily Mail, 9/8/02, “just before 9:00,” Telegraph, 12/16/01)

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a855beepers

[TomNickell]

19. Bullshit.

Bush knows all about it, so he sits and looks like a friggin' idiot? Then spends 12 hours looking like a scared idiot?

Right.

[TahitiNut]

32. The only question in my mind is: Did the collapse of the towers ...

... exceed expectations?

As far as I'm concerned, the only reason DimSon sat there like a cow-flop is because he was waiting for it to play out. In other words, the very fact he used children as human shields is because he knew he was safe there - in Florida and surrounded by kids. (al-Qaeda has never targeted children.)

I don't believe the total collapse of the towers was necessarily foreseen.


Coincidence theorists probably still believe in the Easter Bunny.

[frylock]

35. i wonder the same thing myself..

which pretty much blows the "no way would our govt. murder 3000 americans (yeah, right)" theory out of the water.

[leesa]

36. What's your point? Still got your head in the sand, I see.

[TankLV]

42. He choaked - he's proven he's unfit to be President..

He's a liar, and a criminal.

He let it happen on purpose, at a minimum.

[frylock]

11. between 8:55 and 9:00 a.m. (bush knew pt. ii)

Just after Bush arrives at Booker Elementary School and is briefly told of the WTC crash, he is whisked into a holding room and updated on the situation via telephone by National Security Advisor Rice. (Christian Science Monitor, 9/17/01, Time, 9/12/01) Rice later claims, “He said, what a terrible, it sounds like a terrible accident. Keep me informed.” (ABC News, 9/11/02) School principal Gwen Tose-Rigell is then summoned to a room to talk with the President: “He said a commercial plane has hit the World Trade Center, and we're going to go ahead and go on, we're going on to do the reading thing anyway.” (AP, 8/19/02 (D)) One local reporter notes that at this point, “He could and arguably should have left Emma E. Booker Elementary School immediately, gotten onto Air Force One and left Sarasota without a moment's delay.” (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 9/12/01 (B))

[TomNickell]

20. Bullshit, pt ii.

All bullshit, all the time.

This is one of the most completely dumb arguments in the whole Conspiracy Hobbyist worldview.

And that's a tough league.

[psychopomp]

30. I call bullshit on your bullshit

Just where have you been for the last three years? Maybe you oughta go back.

[frylock]

34. well hey, thanks for playing!

really appreciate your insight and wisdom. By "bush knew", I meant that he knew about the first plane before he even SET FOOT in that classroom. The whole seven minute thing is BULLSHIT, because it was more like an HOUR. But why waste my time trying to edumacate an obvious Coincidence Hobbyist like yourself? I am curious to know what research you have done on the subject, aside from listening to what the TV box tells you. I'm no expert, but I've read 6 books on the subject, and can't wait for the release of Paul Thompson's excellent timeline.

[Tight_rope]

13. And let's not forget that at 10:30pm he goes to bed like he always does!

[CarolynEC]

5. Don't know if it was 20 minutes...

... but there was Dubya on stage getting some face time before he ever got aboard Air Force One.

And on stage with him, serving as an endearing backdrop, were... a bunch of children from the school. He was so concerned with their well-being, that he dragged them out as props while he talked about America being under attack, the danger and uncertainty, the calamity, the...

Well. I'm just glad those kids weren't traumatized by any sudden moves during the reading of "My Pet Goat."

:grr:

[calimary]

16. Yes. Michael Moore has talked about it, and included it in "Fahrenheit

9/11." Yes. ANOTHER TWENTY MINUTES. Imagine how many people jumped from the top of the towers in that time. Imagine how many firefighters had NOT waited all that time before mobilizing - at risk to, and ultimately sacrificing, their lives. And he sat, and then hung around glad-handing people.


BASTARD!!!!


He's got A LOT more than explaining to do to the American people. A LOT. He'll NEVER be able to explain it all in ANY satisfactory manner. EVER. And if he thinks THAT'S bad, wait til he's standing outside the Pearly Gates, having to explain it to St. Peter...

[skypilot]

25. Yes, it IS true.

Here is a photo of him at that photo op surrounded by the schoolchildren
and pretty much confirming his location for the terrorist.

[dennis4868]

29. Yes....

true...he took pics with school members after reading the all important MY PET GOAT!

[Roy]

6. explanations....

“I have got a lot of explanations to give on what I have done,” he said.

Karen and Connie are thinking up some for me as we speak.
I'll come back and read'em to ya if ya want.

[Shallah Kali]

8. It wasn't just 7 minutes - it was at least 15 minutes of speechmaking

deciding what to tell the media and then gave a speech before he left the school - see timeline here:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/23/1090464863279.html

Quote
At 9.05am, Bush was still reading to the children in Florida when his chief of staff whispered in his ear: "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack." For the next five to seven minutes, Bush sat in his chair reading with the children as the media's phones and pagers rang incessantly. Bush told the commission he "felt he should project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening". He finally got up and left just before 9.15. He saw the television news, he spoke to Cheney and Rice in Washington, his FBI director, Robert Mueller, and the New York Governor, George Pataki. But neither he nor anyone on his staff contacted the Pentagon.

Instead, Bush and his staff spent the next 15 minutes deciding what he should say to the media. "The focus was on the President's statement to the nation," the report found. Despite being in contact with the White House situation room, the President and his staff in Florida had no idea two other hijacked planes were still in the air. His staff were still making plans to fly him back to Washington.

-----

Bush has claimed to be worried about scaring the children at that school yet made his speech about the terrorist attacks right in front of them:

http://www.boston.com/news/packages/underattack/globe_stories/0912/Bush_vows_a_ruthless_manhunt+.shtml

Quote
''Today we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country,'' Bush said at 9:30 a.m. to the stunned gathering of children, parents, and teachers at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla.

-----

Photos of his speech plus a few showing the audience reaction

http://www.sarasota.k12.fl.us/emma/9.11.01/photogallery7.html

[Stephanie]

9. Why on EARTH did they pose those children behind him?

That's just SICK, it's DISGUSTING.

[Tight_rope]

14. Aww yes...a picture of the wonderful children with Dimpson!

[Tight_rope]

15. Pictures speak "A Thousand Words"!

[Spazito]

22. Interesting!

The meme is that he didn't leave the classroom immediately because he didn't want to frighten the children yet here is a photo of him with those same children making his speech about the US being attacked. I guess he got over the concern about scaring them eh! bush's explanation for his lack of action is disproven by this very photo, imo.

[bpilgrim]

12. will our WHORE media SINK THEIR TEETH into this story

3 years over due :argh:

peace

[teryang]

17. Another meme change- whatever happened to...

"I don't have to give explanations- I'm the president"

[sendero]

18. "I've got a lot of excuses to make....

... and I've got my best people working on them."

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

21. I thought he told Woodward

that he didn't owe anybody explanations but that people owed them to him.

[Purrfessor]

44. Can you say FLIP-FLOP?

n/t

[gasperc]

23. they knew two planes were hyjacked in the limo on the way to booker

the instant we saw the second plane hit EVERYONE in the World knew it was terrorism. And if WE ALL KNEW THAT TWO PLANES WERE HYJACKED then alot of us would have realized a big terrorism attact was under way.

[ilovenicepeople]

33. I would bet my soul(as damaged as it is)

That they knew about the hijacking the day before it happened.:tinfoilhat:

[skypilot]

24. "I was trying to understand exactly what it meant"????

I am trying to understand exactly what THAT means. THE COUNTRY IS UNDER ATTACK. Only a fucking idiot such as himself would get a PDB titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the US" and then sit there trying to "understand exactly what it meant" once we were being attacked. He's fucking lying as usual. And there's also the fact that he DID NOT wrap up the reading lesson with the children and then go take care of business. He still hung around that school and addressed the nation from the school library while those children surrounded him. I think it was pretty fucking stupid to go on television and pretty much confirm your location for the terrorist. Idiot!

[Rose Siding]

26. Guess Larry didn't ask why he went into the class in the first place

WTC, known terrorist target gets hit by "some bad pilot", Bush is the only one in govt that doesn't realize the severity.

ME as pres:

Card: a plane hit the WTC this morning

ME: Call blah blah now- let's get that before I go in here with the kids where I could be hung up for awhile.

[CarolynEC]

27. It all returns to the usual question now...

Is JK going to make use of these facts?

Everyone here has outlined the scenario and pointed out its implications in clear, compelling language.

(In some cases, a bit too "compelling" for use by a presidential candidate, it's true.)

But the fact remains that this material is perfectly suited for driving the point home to Joe and Jane Average Voter that Bush is UNFIT TO LEAD.

Will JK make use of it? Dunno. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

Maybe Dem_Strategist is still hanging around, and could shed some light on the matter for us.

[Jack Rabbit]

28. This reminds of that time in basic training

This reminds me of that time in basic when one troop started falling asleep during one of the many presentaitons to which were were subjected in one large room or another.

The drill sergeant snapped in good drill sergeant style, "Wake up! You don't fall asleep during my training!"

To which the hapless, sleep-deprived private replied, "I wasn't sleeping, drill sergeant. I was just dozing off."

“I had just been told by (Chief of Staff) Andrew Card that America was under attack and I was collecting my thoughts,” he explained.

When told of the September 11 attacks, Bush reamined seated in a photo op. He reamined so for seven minutes. But he wasn't slow to react. He was just collecting his thoughts.

Go to sleep, Frat Boy. I mean, just doze off.

[bpilgrim]

40. he who HESITATES is LOST

as my old football coach used to say... thats when i was 12yo

peace

[jmcgowanjm]

31. Smoking Gun: SecretService must protect Prez at all costs

No one supercedes SS in time of Crisis.
SS has Crit Links to WH, NORAD, et al.

SS stood down.

[ElementaryPenguin]

37. Bingo!

So did NORAD. Methinks Herr Cheney might know a little something about this (as would Herr Scumsfeld).

[robbedvoter]

38. Thanks Michael moore for bringing this debate back to order (again)

a little reminder, courtesy of Symbolman:
http://web.takebackthemedia.com/geeklog/public_html/staticpages/index.php?page=20040606205339801

[lumpy]

39. Most little kids have

"got a lot of explanations to give on what I have done" He certainly does have a lot of explaining to do, but then maybe his god speaks through him. You know, that god called Buck.

[jackieforthedems]

41. Or To Anyone Else Either

Or to anyone else either who has half a brain.

[RedSock]

43. after pet goat bush posed for pictures

and it was reported by a writer for the washington times. !!!

from an article i wrote with paul thompson:

******


When Bush finally did leave, he didn't act like a man in a hurry. In fact, he was described as "openly stretching out the moment." (Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism - From Inside the Bush White House, by Bill Sammon, 10/02, p. 89) When the lesson was over, Bush said to the children: "Hoo! These are great readers. Very impressive! Thank you all so much for showing me your reading skills. I bet they practice too. Don't you? Reading more than they watch TV? Anybody do that? Read more than you watch TV? (Hands go up) Oh that's great! Very good. Very important to practice! Thanks for having me. Very impressed." (Transcribed from Booker video, Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism - From Inside the Bush White House, by Bill Sammon, 10/02, pp. 89-90) Bush still continued to talk, advising the children to stay in school and be good citizens. (Tampa Tribune, 9/1/02, St. Petersburg Times, 9/8/02 (B)) One student asked Bush a question, and he gave a quick response on his education policy. (New York Post, 9/12/02)

The only source to describe what happened next is Fighting Back by Bill Sammon. Publishers Weekly described Sammon's book as an "inside account of the Bush administration's reaction to 9-11 (and) a breathless, highly complimentary portrait of the president (showing) the great merit and unwavering moral vision of his inner circle." (Publisher's Weekly, 10/15/02) Sammon's conservative perspective makes his account of Bush's behavior at the end of the photo-op all the more surprising. Bush is described as smiling and chatting with the children "as if he didn't have a care in the world" and "in the most relaxed manner imaginable." White House aide Gordon Johndroe, then came in as he usually does at the end of press conferences, and said, "Thank you, press. If you could step out the door we came in, please." A reporter then asked, "Mr. President, are you aware of the reports of the plane crash in New York? Is there anything...", But Bush interrupted, and no doubt recalling his order, "DON'T SAY ANYTHING YET," Bush responded, "I'll talk about it later." But still the president did not leave. "He stepped forward and shook hands with (classroom teacher) Daniels, slipping his left hand behind her in another photo-op pose. He was taking his good old time. ... Bush lingered until the press was gone." (Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism - From Inside the Bush White House, by Bill Sammon, 10/02, p. 90)

Think about that: rather than rush out of the room at the first chance, Bush actually stayed until after all the dozens of reporters had left! Having just been told of a Pearl Harbor-type attack on US soil, Bush was indeed "openly stretching out the moment." But he still wasn't done. Bush then turned to principal Tose-Rigell, who was waiting to take him to the library for his speech on education. He explained to her about the terror attacks and why he had to leave. (Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism - From Inside the Bush White House, by Bill Sammon, 10/02, p. 90) Finally, he went to an empty classroom next door where his staff was based. (ABC News, 9/11/02) Given that Bush's program was supposed to end at 9:20, he left the classroom only a couple of minutes earlier than planned, if even that. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 9/16/01)

********


Sammon also refers to Bush as the "Dawdler-in-Chief"!!!

URL:
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html

[jackieforthedems]

46. Response

Isn't that something? To this day I still think he was stalling purposely, making sure that Osama nailed all of the targets so that we could be dragged into this so-called war just for business pals' profiting.

[TEXASYANKEE]

45. Again, the man makes NO sense.

But Mr Bush said: “This country has got to be very careful on destroying life to save life.”

So tell me, why are we in Iraq again????