Via Froomkin:
"Q Three last very short questions. What was the most wonderful moment in your terms of being President so far, and what was the most awful moment?
" THE PRESIDENT: The most awful moment was September the 11th, 2001.
" Q The famous picture when somebody gave you the information?
" THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that. I think, like all of us, it took a while for the -- it was more than a moment. It was the event and the aftermath. On a situation like that, it takes a period to understand exactly what was going on. When somebody says, America is under attack, and -- you've got to fully understand what that meant. And the information coming was haphazard at best for a while. We weren't sure if the State Department got hit. I'd heard the White House had got attacked. Of course, I was worried that -- my family was here.
" And so I would say the toughest moment of all was after the whole reality sunk in and I was trying to help the nation understand what was going on, and at the same time, be empathetic for those who had lost lives.
" The best moment was -- you know, I've had a lot of great moments. I don't know, it's hard to characterize the great moments. They've all been busy moments, by the way. I would say the best moment was when I caught a seven-and-a-half pound large mouth bass on my lake. (Laughter.) "
* update: Damien has some thoughts about the sep11 nonsense in the comments. he's grumpy.
3 comments:
Once again we have the theory of "Bush as dolt".
Yeah, we know he's dumb, but not that dumb: " I'd heard the White House had got attacked."
(There were no reports at any stage claiming the WH had been attacked that I'm aware of).
Why would he, five years later, repeat this glaring falsehood? Answer: because he's willing to appear as a dolt if it sustains the fiction that the nature of the attacks emerged slowly (they didn't) and that the admin was confused (they shouldn't have been, they'd been intercepting wayward or unresponsive aircraft for years).
"...it takes a period to understand exactly what was going on. When somebody says, America is under attack, and -- you've got to fully understand what that meant. And the information coming was haphazard at best for a while."
More spin. (Hell, I watched the whole thing live from 8.50 - 8.55 am US time here in Australia. I saw the second impact live - and so did half the world. Who the hell was confused?)
Bush was aware from about 8.30 am that a commercial airliner had been hijacked -four reporters independantly record this. He was aware of the first crash (8.46 am AA11 Nth Tower) before entering Booker Elementary School when he brushed off requests for comment from reporters.
Bush’s limousine contained advanced communications systems connecting him to all defence agencies. And Richard Clarke in his book, Against All Enemies, records that the Secret Service monitored FAA radar screens in real time. The idea that air attacks by al Qaeda were unexpected is also total bunkum. George Tenet had briefed Bush (Aug 6) that UK Intelligence had said expressly that Al Qaeda intended to use aircraft as weapons against targets within the US. (This was right before Bush took off for a months holiday in Texas).
At 9.03 Flight 175 struck the south tower and at 9.05 Andrew Card approached Bush and (allegedly) whispered: “A second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack”. (We don't know what he really said. Video records him speaking for 1.7 secs. and you can't say that phrase in 1.7 secs. So he made it up.) Bush then does his goat book routine, answered a question on education policy, staged briefly for a photo session with a school staff member and waited till all journalists had left the room before exiting to take phone calls with Cheney and Rice at 9.30. (He had been scheduled to stay till 9.30 and, as he says, he "likes to be on time".)
Bush was later asked what he was thinking at the time when Andrew Card spoke to him at 9.05: "I was concentrating on the program at this point, thinking about what I was going to say [about the plane crash]. Obviously, I felt it was an accident. I was concerned about it, but there were no alarm bells."
This was the second plane to crash that morning into one of the twin towers. Bush had been told about the first plane before entering the school and he has now (9.05) just been told about a second plane crash. These comments by him are simply outrageous. No intelligent adult would consider plane crashes into both of the twin towers as being accidents - especially given the previous intelligence warnings. [More of the spin "I am a dolt, nothing sinister here." see also here.]
“What were the effects of President Bush’s presence at Sarasota during the crisis and his delayed departure on public perceptions?”
(1) The public formed the view that the 911 events unfolded to the authorities only from 8.48am onwards (when in fact they had been identified as early as 8.15am).
(2) If the President thought only a small plane had accidentally flown into the north tower, then that was probably what the authorities initially thought as well. (also, untrue).
(3) If the security services had allowed the President to remain in an unsecured location till 9.30am as they did, then there must have been a general confusion across all government agencies as to the nature of the events that were unfolding (untrue, unless some exceptional circumstances prevailed - such as simultaneous military exercises, or simulated hijackings that confused FAA and NORAD officials - and, in fact, this is what appears to have occurred).
Imagine now if President Bush had not entered Booker Elementary School on hearing of the 8.48 crash but had proceeded to Air Force One and taken charge of the crisis.
Would Defense Secretary Rumsfeld have remained uncontactable till 9.41am?
Would any explanation by him along those lines have been accepted by the American people?
What explanation would NORAD have been able to provide for not getting any defence aircraft airborne, especially against Flight 77?
We need to understand that the practical effect - intended or otherwise - of President Bush’s extended stay at the elementary school till 9.30am was to give credibility to the later unsatisfactory explanations for the failure of US air defences on 911.
The FAA was blamed for the fighter intercept failure on 9/11. This was a bucket job to cover for NORAD. In fact, the FAA competently brought all US aircraft to the ground without fuss after the attacks. By far the best read on this is D.R.Griffin.
For anyone wanting to know what happened on 9/11 they should look closely at the war games and the effects on the FAA radar. Flight 93 had its radar blip disappear a few minutes before its crash and Flight 11's radar blip persisted for 30 minutes (!) after its crash.
The theory of "Bush as dolt" is endlessly appealling. He's dumb alright - like a snake. And he likes to "feed the trolls".
thnx
i've updated to the post
No big deal. Most people know the 9/11 details above. But the few who don't may believe the 'confusion' spin that Bush continues to push. It's just a background summary for interested readers.
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