Reply #22: I think the point of the original post is that it's amazing that nobody

[AP]

wanted to talk to Bush about what to do while he was on AF1.

Even if there were only 4 planes, and they were all down by the time Bush was on AF1, nobody would have known that, and Bush should have been on the phone constantly, talking to all sorts of people, digesting what was going on, coordinationg responses, and asking for intelligence.

If you're saying that Cheney knew there were only 4 planes, and knew it was over, that's another thing. But the fact is, any other president in the same situation (even Reagan with alzheimers) would have been on the phone, would have been making calls, and would have been demanding calls from Cheney and everyone else as they got information.