killtown
9-11 + Rice Calls Bush
Thu Oct 9 04:26:24 2003
64.140.158.40

About six blocks from the school, a news photographer overheard a radio transmission. Press Secretary Ari Fleischer would be needed on arrival to discuss reports of some sort of crash. The radio also said that Mr. Bush had a call waiting for him at his holding room in the school from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Mr. Fleischer told the press what Ms. Rice told the president - a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. Nobody knew how serious the situation was.

Bush entered a Booker classroom at about 9 a.m. Two rows of students, about 16 in all, sat facing their teacher. They started to run through their reading exercises. At 9:05, Chief of Staff Andrew Card entered the room, leaned over, and whispered in Bush's ear. Those words would turn out to alter the course of a presidency.

Since then, much of the nation has seen on television the exact moment when their commander in chief learned that a second plane had struck New York - and that the situation was thus one of stunning terrorism, and not a terrible, isolated accident.

The two White House reporters who had been allowed to accompany Bush to the school thought they detected a distinct change in demeanor.

"The president's face became visibly tense and serious," reads the report they released to other media. "He nodded."

Bush seemed a bit distracted, but he picked up eye contact with the students and at least feigned interest in their reading exploits. He smiled when they finished.

"Really good," he said. "These must be sixth-graders."

As he left the room, the president skirted questions about the situation in New York. He'd talk about that later, he told reporters.

The schedule called for the president to speak after leaving the classroom, but he didn't appear for about a half-hour. When he did, he delivered a terse message to the nation - confirming what millions already knew. Somber, he called the strikes an "apparent terrorist attack on our country." He then departed for Sarasota-Bradenton Airport, where Air Force One was waiting.

At the airport, guards made the pool of reporters drop their gear for a security sweep, although they had just gone through a similar check at the school. Even some White House stenographers had their equipment investigated. After boarding, the plane made a hasty departure - wheels up at 9:55 a.m. Nobody - not the flight crew, not the Secret Service, not White House aides - knew where they were going.

Secret Service agents wandered back to the press cabin to watch the World Trade Center disaster on TV. The New York field office of the agency was in the building, one said. Reporters noted that they were able to pick up a signal from the same TV station ("Fox channel 47 from somewhere," the reporters noted) for quite some time.

"On that, we guessed that Air Force One might be flying in circles, or at least not moving very far," says the report, written by Judy Keen from USA Today and James Carney from Time.

* * *
FULL STORY:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0917/p1s1-usgn.html

After Bush is told about the first WTC plane crash outside the school, he then enters the school and goes into a holding room and talks with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice via phone... "The president ducked into an empty classroom and called his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and asked her to keep him informed." -ABC (9/14/01)

"When he arrived at the school he had been whisked into a holding room: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice needed to speak to him. But he soon appeared in the classroom and listened appreciatively as the children went through their reading drill." -Time.com (9/12/01)

"About six blocks from the school, a news photographer overheard a radio transmission. Press Secretary Ari Fleischer would be needed on arrival to discuss reports of some sort of crash. The radio also said that Mr. Bush had a call waiting for him at his holding room in the school from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Mr. Fleischer told the press what Ms. Rice told the president - a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. Nobody knew how serious the situation was." -CS Monitor (9/17/01)

"The president entered a holding room at the school and picked up a secure telephone to speak with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice at the White House. She was sitting in her office, watching live coverage of the stricken north tower as it belched black smoke into a cloudless sky.
'There's one terrible pilot,' Mr. Bush muttered.
Turning to Mr. Card, he speculated that the pilot must have suffered a heart attack. Mr. Bush, who had yet to see the TV images, drafted a statement pledging federal assistance." -Washington Times (10/07/02)
Now here's where it gets tricky. It is not known exactly what time Bush enters the classroom. Sometime shortly after 9am - Bush enters Sandra Kay Daniel's 2nd grade class...

FULL REPORT AND LINKS:
http://thewebfairy.com/killtown/sawplane.html



Was Bush complicit with the 9/11 attacks?
Click photo to enter.

What Did Bush See and When Did He See It?

by Stephanie Schorow
The Boston Herald
October 22, 2002

(You will have to look up this article at their archives, http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/  )

Will you ever forget the moment you first heard about the Sept. 11 attacks?

That moment will be a marker for a generation, the moment the world changed. For an earlier generation, the marker was hearing that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. For this generation, it will be how and when they heard about the first plane striking the World Trade Center. Memories of that moment remain posted on the Web, fodder for future historians.

Which is why, ever since the one-year anniversary, various Web citizens have been puzzling and arguing over President George W. Bush's recollection of the first moments of Sept. 11. E-mails and Web sites drew my attention to transcripts posted at www.whitehouse.gov .

Here is a section, verbatim: President Bush was at a town meeting in Florida in December, 2001. A third grader asked: "How did you feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?''

"THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Jordan. Well, Jordan, you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. (On Sept. 11, Bush was visiting the Booker Elementary School to promote literacy programs.) And my Chief of Staff, Andy Card - actually, I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower - the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident.

"But I was whisked off there, I didn't have much time to think about it. And I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my Chief of Staff, who is sitting over here, walked in and said, `A second plane has hit the tower, America is under attack.' ''

- (Posted at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011204-17.html )

Think about that. Bush's remark implies he saw the first plane hit the tower. But we all know that video of the first plane hitting did not surface until the next day. Could Bush have meant he saw the second plane hit - which many Americans witnessed? No, because he said that he was in the classroom when Card whispered in his ear that a second plane hit.

Was Bush's comment a simple mistake? Maybe. But here's what Bush said in January 2002 at a town meeting in Ontario, Calif. posted at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020105-3.html :

"Q: What was the first thing that went through your head when you heard that a plane crashed into the first building?''

"THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Well, I was sitting in a schoolhouse in Florida. I had gone down to tell my little brother what to do, and - just kidding, Jeb. (Laughter.) And - it's the mother in me. (Laughter.) Anyway, I was in the midst of learning about a reading program that works. . . . I was sitting there, and my Chief of Staff - well, first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. And something was wrong with the plane, or - anyway, I'm sitting there, listening to the briefing, and Andy Card came and said, `America is under attack.'

"And in the meantime, this teacher was going on about the curriculum, and I was thinking about what it meant for America to be under attack. It was an amazing thought. But I made up my mind that if America was under attack, we'd get them.''

Again, the question: How could the commander-in-chief have seen the plane fly into the first building - as it happened?

The Web has spun dozens of theories - some quite bizarre - about why Bush made these comments - you can get a sense of some at http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/completetimeline . You can also see a Booker School-produced video of Bush at the school at sites like: http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/2002/06/12_BookerLinks.html . It catches the moment when Card whispered in Bush's ear.

Perhaps Bush saw a replay of the second plane hitting the second tower, but simply remembers the hit as the first plane. Or maybe he did see the second plane hit - and then went on to read to the children. It's not conspiracy - just confusion. But it's confusion on a grand scale.

I ask again: Will you ever forget how you heard about Sept. 11? And what do you think of Bush's comments?

Read the transcripts and think about it.

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