Sunday, Jul 20, 2008
Bush's reaction is literally up in the air, as the world tunes in for an official -- and unofficial -- response from the government.
Sep 11, 2001 | It was to be a day for presidential leadership. On education, that is. That was the schedule. That was the message of the day.
He wasn't supposed to end the day with an address denouncing the "evil, despicable acts of terror," acknowledging the nation's "quiet, unyielding anger," promising that the U.S. "will make no distinction" between those behind Tuesday's horror "and those who harbor them." No, he was supposed to talk about testing and teachers and local control, not paraphrasing Psalm 23's reminder that "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me."
But on his way from the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort to Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., Tuesday morning, President George W. Bush was told that when he arrived someone would be on the phone for him.
There was. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. She had some news. A plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.
But Bush's day continued as scheduled. Initial reports speculated that the crash had been an accident. In Mrs. Sandra Kay Daniels' classroom, the president -- seeming happy to see the 16 or so assembled children -- shook some hands, introduced Education Secretary Rod Paige to everyone. They sat down and Bush listened to some reading exercises.
At around 9:05 a.m. EDT, White House chief of staff Andrew Card came in and whispered in Bush's ear. The president's mood changed. He left the room. At around 9:30 a.m. he came out and gave a statement.
"Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country," Bush said. He had spoken with Vice President Dick Cheney, New York Gov. George Pataki and FBI Director Robert Mueller, he said. He had "ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families, and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act."
"I, unfortunately, will be going back to Washington after my remarks," Bush said.
But he didn't. Air Force One took off at around 9:55 a.m., but back in D.C., the White House was being evacuated; law enforcement was concerned that there were still attacks to come and perhaps even other planes on kamikazi missions. So upon the advice of the Secret Service, Air Force One was to land elsewhere. Though Bush's political advisors wanted him back at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to project reassurance and command to the American people, they were overruled.
In the noon hour on CNN, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah -- a member of both the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees -- said that he had just been "briefed by the highest levels of the FBI and of the intelligence community."
"They've come to the conclusion that this looks like the signature of Osama bin Laden, and that he may be the one behind this," Hatch said -- more than six hours before administration officials told reporters that they were "confident" bin Laden was probably behind the attacks. This wouldn't be the work of Iran, Iraq or Libya, Hatch said, since those nations' leaders "know of the massive response that we'd have to bring down on them." Hatch then called for assistance to anti-terrorism forces in Afghanistan, where bin Laden is said to be in hiding.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., joined CNN, too. Cautioning that "it will take some time to determine" who launched the attacks, McCain said that "unwarranted, unprovoked attacks against innocent American citizens is clearly an act of war, and one that requires that kind of national response and international response."
What kind of response? Hatch had a suggestion. "We're going to find out who did this, and then we're going after the bastards," he said. "It's that simple."
Other politicians soon took to the airwaves. A flurry of politicians with comments and opinions. From Arizona, former Vice President Dan Quayle repeated to MSNBC that "this was an act of war against the United States." Declared by whom, he did not know. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., decried the failure of the American intelligence community to anticipate these attacks. He told CNN's Kate Snow that he had been evacuated from the Capitol earlier in the day by policemen who told him that they feared a plane was headed toward the Capitol.
Reporters on Air Force One, meanwhile, had no idea where they were headed. The plane had taken off at 9:55 a.m. but it didn't seem to be going anywhere. Glued to a TV on which they watched the horrific images come in one after another -- live footage of the second World Trade Center tower collapsing, reports that a plane crashed into the Pentagon -- the reporters assumed that Air Force One was circling around the same spot since the signal stayed so strong. Just before 11 a.m., the plane started increasing its elevation significantly. It was heading west.
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