Bush's actions the day of 9/11

[indie_voter]

I know this isn't a topic which will get much traction, but I don't understand why?

I was talking with somebody regarding my concerns about Bush's actions the 15 minutes after he learned about the second attack on the WTC, mainly that he did nothing.

He didn't ask one question of Card, he hardly missed a beat and continued reading to grade school kids.

First I had to defend myself against charges I was blaming Bush for the attack.

His inaction doesn't have to be one of design, but of ineptness.

I can't imagine Reagan,Bush Sr. or Clinton sitting there, not asking ONE question after told of the SECOND plane hitting the towers.

People claim "we were all taken by surprise".

Well Bush isn't "all of us", he is the PRESIDENT. Wasn't he briefed of possible dangers to this country, was there no plan in place for attacks on our soil?

Rice refuses to testify under oath in front of the commission, why? Bush won't meet with the full panel, why?

To protect their hides I am sure. They don't want their ineptness to be shown to the world.

Why doesn't this country hold him accountable for his behavior that day?

Why are these concerns "silly" and "petty" as I was told I was?

I just don't understand.

[ComerPerro]

1. I agree, and the really disturbing thing is

Why is he seen as a "bold, decisive leader" ??

As for your question, of why did he just sit there and not react?

He knew it was coming.

[bacchant]

17. That's because

our mighty leader wasted no time in punishing those responsible... poor Afghani peasants. Miraculous isn't it? We were completely taken by surprise, yet they knew instantly where to take retribution.

We've been had. The only thing more frightening than their heinous crimes is the willing participation of the American people. God help us all.

[oldleftguy]

2. Cowards react in predicable ways.

:puke:

[Carni]

3. I have watched that tape a number of times

I too, don't understand why more is not made of his actions that day.
Couple his performance with the fact that the head of the Whitehouse situations room was on that trip with him (WHY?) and that she claimed in an interview that she told her resident she believed the FIRST plane crashing into the WTC was a terrorist attack.
Doesn't make too much sense that he even kept the appointment to read to the kids does it?

[freeforall]

4. I will NEVER believe...

that the * government didn't know this was coming.

[Lisa]

5. Show that person this excerpt:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=34856

"Whether or not my husband’s plane was shot down," the widowed Mrs. Homer said, "the most
angering part is reading about how the President handled this."

Mr. Bush was notified 14 minutes after the first attack, at 9 a.m., when he arrived at an elementary
school in Sarasota, Fla. He went into a private room and spoke by phone with his national security
advisor, Condoleezza Rice, and glanced at a TV in the room. Mrs. Homer’s soft voice curdles when she
describes his reaction: "I can’t get over what Bush said when he was called about the first plane
hitting the tower: ‘That’s some bad pilot.’ Why did people on the street assume right away it was a
terrorist hijacking, but our President didn’t know? Why did it take so long to ground all civilian aircraft?
In the time between when my husband’s plane took off and when the second plane hit in New York
<9:02 a.m.>, they could have turned back to airfield."

* * *

If the widow of one of the people killed is concerned about Bush's reaction (or rather, lack of it) on that day -- I don't see any reason why your patriotism should be questioned for asking the exact same thing!

By the way, I went to school with Mrs. Homer, and you can reassure your respondent that she is by no means a crackpot or out to grind a political axe. And as you point out so well, Bush of all people should be BETTER prepared than most of the population to act. He does have those daily security briefings ... he did serve as a pilot in a "homeland security" capacity ... and he claimed he could do the job.

Another argument that I've heard used is that "he didn't want to frighten the kids". Well -- if he suspected that he was a target (as his staff claimed) -- he shouldn't have hung around the school for some time after, even holding a press conference with those kids there in the room, while he talked about planes being crashed and people being killed. And every parent I've talked to about this has been able to think up, on the spur of the moment, at least 2 ways he could have slipped out without disappointing or scaring the children. (My favorite is: "I have to go pee! Teacher, may I be excused?")

You are NOT "silly" or "petty", indie_voter. I admire your bravery in standing up to someone who is showing those very characteristics, in resorting to personal attacks when faced with a reasonable question.

[indie_voter]

16. Lisa, thank you!! (e)

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Not only did Bu$h do nothing

even when he knew without a doubt a terrorist attack was in progress. Neither did Rummie, Gen. Myers, Tenet and other key people in the chain of command. Every single one either ignored the events for as long as possible, that is until after the Pentagon was hit, or reacted totally inappropriately.

Keep in mind that unlike the average Joe, all of these people from Bu$h down had access to a lot more information than the rest of us. They knew that al Qaeda was planning a big attack. They knew about Project Bojinka and that terrorist were planning to turn passenger jets into missiles and fly them into buildings. They very likely knew when the first plane hit, that other hijacked planes were in the air.

So don't worry, there is nothing silly or petty about this issue. However, most people don't want to deal with it because it would require them to open their eyes and see that the real terrorists are the ones in charge that day. The ones who pretended they didn't know what was going on while they watched 1000's of people die so they could implement their political agenda.

[info being]

22. And to think that our only alternative is people like Kerry...

who voted along with these terrorists and helped enable their wet dreams.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. Bush's actions on 9/11 were shameful...

There's no defense of the argument, "we didn't want to frighten the children." None.

Bush was on a publicized trip - all one would have to do is check the WH website to know exactly where he was on 9/11 - and could've been a target. Despite this, he sat in the elementary school, not knowing whether an airliner was screaming to his location. They were concerned about frightening the children but not concerned about their lives being in danger.

And, why didn't he return to Washington immediately? By noon, every aircraft was down on the ground. What possibly could they be frightened about at that point? Terrorist geese? He should've been in Washington no later than 1pm ET that day. There's no legitimate reason why he wasn't.

[mopaul]

8. we can't handle the truth

about many things. but particularly this 9-11 thing.

i know exactly what happened, and i know exactly why, and i keep it to myself for the most part, because when i suggest that it was a deliberate, military/political operation, designed to produce exactly the effect that it did, i get the funny looks and comments about my sanity.

bush sat there and did nothing AFTER THE SECOND PLANE HIT THE SECOND TOWER. i knew intantly what happened...and i said it to myself, aloud. "this is a terrorist attack, this is a bushco operation, they wanted a war, and here's there excuse".

then, he continued to just sit there. if i had been the president at that moment when the second plane hit, i'd have jumped up and started screaming orders as i left the classroom and immediately go into super hyper overdrive, and i damn sure wouldn't have sat there and continued reading to children in a photo op.

it was all so obvious, yet it has an unreal, unbelievable quality to it. some of us see it. some of us honestly don't see it. and then, there are the really worrisome ones.....those who refuse to see it.

[Atman]

9. In Memorium

[ljm2002]

10. Why indeed...

I continue to wonder why the video from the Booker Elementary School has not been shown on national TV. Because if it was, a lot more people would have the same questions. It clearly demonstrates him to be guilty of incompetence and dereliction of duty -- and as I've said before, that's the very *best* face that can be put on it.

Remember, he *wanted the job of President*, which includes the responsibility of being the nation's Commander In Chief. Yet when the horrific 9/11 attack occurred, there he sat, doing nothing and letting events continue without any response from the most fearsome military ever assembled on Planet Earth, whose sworn duty is to protect its citizens. Where was the chain of command? Who was giving orders while he sat in that classroom? Could there have been a different outcome for the second tower and the Pentagon if he had sprung into action when hearing of the first plane hitting? And oh, by the way, why was the directory of the White House Situation Room there with him at Booker Elementary, having accompanied him to a supposedly routine photo op? These are questions begging to be asked out loud, and begging for answers.

The wide dissemination of that video would be devastating to Bush and crew, because there simply is no positive spin you can put on it. It *has* to escape its Internet cage, where only policy wonks and news junkies see it. I wonder if Aaron Brown has seen it? It might be interesting to point him to a copy -- do they still have a link to it from Buzzflash?

[RedSock]

11. so many questions

http://complete911timeline.org/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html

An Interesting Day:
President Bush's Movements and Actions on 9/11
By Allan Wood (me!) and Paul Thompson

At approximately 8:48 a.m. on the morning of September 11, 2001, the first pictures of the burning World Trade Center were broadcast on live television. The news anchors, reporters, and viewers had little idea what had happened in lower Manhattan, but there were some people who did know. By that time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the National Military Command Center, the Pentagon, the White House, the Secret Service, and Canada's Strategic Command all knew that three commercial airplanes had been hijacked. They knew that one plane had been flown deliberately into the World Trade Center's North Tower; a second plane was wildly off course and also heading toward Manhattan; and a third plane had abruptly turned around over Ohio and was flying back toward Washington, DC.

So why, at 9:03 a.m. - fifteen minutes after it was clear the United States was under terrorist attack - did President Bush sit down with a classroom of second-graders and begin a 20-minute pre-planned photo op? No one knows the answer to that question. In fact, no one has even asked Bush about it. ................

[libertad]

12. I'm not sure he was taken by suprise. He sure didn't act suprised.

That is the part that I question. Wouldn't you politely excuse yourself IMMEDIATELY and take care of business in a situation like that? First of all, if the only words he had time to whisper were "We've been attacked" or "We are under attack" or whatever it was, there would be so many scenarios going through your mind that you'd need to get the details immediately in order to respond in an appropriate manner.

[Papa]

13. I dont think the Public realizes that Bush knew about the 1st plane

when he went to that school. I didnt know this myself until a year later. So he was informed of the 1st plane hitting the World Trade Center before he sat down with those children.

Another poster mentioned the fact that Condi, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, and others did nothing after the 1st plane hit. Weren't they able to draw the conclusion we were under attack after all the warnings they were getting? Hey, we're going to be attacked. It's coming soon. Might have something to do with planes. Warnings for months. Then a plane hits the WTC . Why couldnt they make the connection that these warnings materialized and this is the 1st strike?

I can not get my head around this. Why didn't they jump into action?

I think Im leaning more towards let it happen on purpose than incompetence.

[nostamj]

14. if you haven't read "An Interesting Day" by Paul Thompson...

you really should. a moment-by-moment account of * on 9/11. stunning!

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

[HootieMcBoob]

15. It proves at the very least

that he's not running the show, that he's nothing more than a figurehead/puppet and not a very good one at that.

From there it can snowball into the totally incompetent theory right on up to the LIHOP or MIHOP theories.

Any way you look at it the guy is a MISERABLE FAILURE! How they can trumpet this decisive leader BS over and over is both laughable and very sad. They know that most people are more than willing to just lap up whatever swill they feed them. They have nothing but contempt for the citizens of this country.

My personal opinion: Criminal Swine.
:nuke:

[historian]

18. the similarity between papa and chimp

1n 1991 the us ambassador waw approached by hussein who asked whether the USA had any opinion on the Iraqi Kuwait. She responded NO - an open invitation to invasion.
Chimp reading to kids is similar - he knew it was coming, kept his foul mouth shut.
Where the similarity? Both benefit from wars (oil and ammunitions) and both had their ratings in the toilet which were immediately raised the moment the assault was on.

[jackstraw45]

19. "That's some bad pilot"

Bush, AFTER speaking to his National Security Advisor, AFTER the first plane hit...

THE SAME NSA who still has her job....

Bush said, in typical poor taste, "That's some bad pilot."

And people wonder why we hate that man?

[sunnynair]

20. Coincidence

Bush Senior Met With Bin Laden's Brother on 9/11

Paul Joseph Watson

Comment: Despite studying September 11 for two years solid, one fact I only just discovered is that George W. Bush's father was meeting with Osama bin Laden's brother, Shafig bin Laden, in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Washington, on the morning of 9/11. They were on Carlyle Group business just a few miles from where hijackers supposedly acting on behalf of Osama bin Laden would fly a plane into the Pentagon.

Recall that the chief financier of the so-called hijackers, Pakistan's Chief Spy General Mahmoud Ahmad, was meeting with Bush administration officials the week before 9/11. He also met with Bob Graham and Porter Goss on the morning of the attacks, who would later go on to head the first 9/11 investigative committee.

http://www.propagandamatrix.com/new_revelations_on_911

The Bush senior/bin Laden meeting was reported on by CBC. See http://www.propagandamatrix.com/021103fifthestate.html

This was also reported by the London Observer. See the last paragraph at http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,738196,00.html

"On 11 September, while Al-Qaeda's planes slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Carlyle Group hosted a conference at a Washington hotel. Among the guests of honour was a valued investor: Shafig bin Laden, brother to Osama."

[info being]

21. I agree with you

I think this topic met with silence or worse because it sort of undermines our entire existance during the past 2+ years. Its hard to get people to see that they're entire belief system is flawed, built upon one illusion after another.

[sunnynair]

23. What to make of this

FBI AND US SPY AGENTS SAY BUSH SPIKED BIN LADEN PROBES BEFORE 11 SEPTEMBER

[sunnynair]

24. Mind boggling

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/progs/newsnight/attack22.ram

[proud patriot]

25. I want Mass Protests on This issue

Stop The Cover Up !

[ElementaryPenguin]

26. Bush had to wait! Card told him the plane to hit D.C. was delayed!

That flight was delayed 20 minutes at the gate - throwing off the timing of everything! Accordingly, Chimpy had about 20 minutes to kill! Look at the tape. Card probably said "Tower two's hit - but the D.C. plane is 20 minutes late - sit tight!"

[reservoir dogs]

27. They knew about 9/11 in 98'

I was watching the new and it said the Clinton administration had the information, but it wasn't paid attention to.

[Bridget Burke]

28. The Clinton Administration got quite a bit of information...

About terrorists & acted on it. They told the incoming regime that it was an important concern but Bush, et al., dropped the ball.

The ongoing investigation needs to call the present & future president & vice president to testify. In public, under oath. Clinton & Gore are intelligent, well-spoken men who can explain their actions. After the questions Clinton was forced to answer about his sex life, I'm sure he'll have no problems talking about his job.

Then Bush & Cheney can take their turn. But, wait! Bush has already said he'll speak to two members of the commission. In private. For one hour only.

Who has something to hide? I think it's your boys.

[underpants]

30. Well OBVIOUSLY Clinton knew of EVERYTHING in his administration

So the supposed fact that someone's first name and telephone number were not acted upon HAS to be his fault for attacks that occurred 8 months after he had left office.

Clearly

:eyes:

OF course the same information was also available during the BUSH administration but that is overridden by the fact that the single greatest failure of national security happened (I believe the expression is) "on his watch". This one didn't happen half a world away but just up the east coast that must be why when Georgie was asked what he was doing running to his hole in Nebraska he said, "Trying to get out of harm's way".

[underpants]

31. He did ask a quesiton "Was it the terrorists?"

Odd to ask that but that is supposedly what he said. Oh then he had to run off to his hideyhole in Nebraska to "get out of harm's way".

[Sparkle]

33. Although you're tombstoned but I'll answer anyway...

Yes, he and his people had the info. It was passed on to the new administration. What year did 9/11 happen and who was in the WH at the time?

Next.

[DoYouEverWonder]

34. Yes they had the information

and with that information, they convicted the 3 al Qaeda terrorists who did the first WTC bombing in 1993. Guess you weren't paying attention?

[RBHam]

35. WTC I was an NWO Black Op - planned build up to WW III

Save Your Children
by Tad Hinnenkamp '00
http://www.stolaf.edu/orgs/pjrn/apr00bombing.html

On February 26, 1993, the World Trade Center in New York City was bombed. Six people were killed and more than one thousand were injured. When the smoke had not yet cleared, a five-headed monster who ate children was the culprit. It's name was "Islamic Fundamentalism." Terror struck this land of freedom as parents threatened that the "Islamic Fundamentalism" monster would get them if they did not say their prayers. And to top it off, the man pulling the strings of this monster was none other than a blind doctor who preached Islam. In the end, 12 monsters were convicted, all of Arab descent.

Here are some of the facts in the Trade Center Bombing. Fact. There was secret U.S. government complicity in the bombing. The FBI probably utilized an informant, Ehmad Salem, as an "agent provocateur" (which is illegal). Salem is a former Egyptian Army officer who was the "star witness" against Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman, whom the FBI says was the ringleader in several bombing plots, including the World Trade Center. Salem was an associate of Rahman and was secretly recording his conversations and selling them to the FBI. But Salem was also recording his conversations with the FBI. There is a growing belief that some of the four men convicted for the World Trade Center Bombing may be victims of a government cover up. The government's case was circumstantial at best, with no evidence or motive linking the accused with the bombing.

Fact. Either Salem constructed the bomb plot with those he later set up, with the U.S. government and FBI being innocent but stupid for failing to prevent the bombing due to Salem's unreliability (despite his close collaboration with the Bureau agents for over a year), or the informant Salem organized the bomb plot under FBI and District Attorney "supervision" as part of an entrapment setup (Salem recorded FBI agents telling him to use real explosives instead of fake ones). With the evidence, it seems the latter is more likely. Salem probably befriended certain individuals, possibly some of the convicted, and convinced them that his intentions to bomb the World Trade Center were actually sincere and he convinced them to become involved. The bomb went off and Salem sold out his accomplices while selling more information to the FBI (he was getting a lot of money for this information). The FBI had to protect him and their relationship, so they utilized him against the real target of the FBI, Dr. Rahman.

Although Dr. Rahman was not found guilty of the bombing (they had absolutely no evidence), they did find him guilty of "seditious conspiracy to oppose the U.S. government by force and violence." This was actually never proven in court, but based solely on the testimonies of ridiculously paid FBI informants. As ex-Attorney General Ramsey Clark stated, "Sheikh Rahman committed no crime and the United States knows it...the United States wants to falsely label him as a terrorist."

more...

Mossad Linked To WTC Bomb Suspect
by Robert I. Friedman
The Village Voice
August 3, 1993
http://physics911.org/net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=49

Excerpt:
But according to Kol Ha’ir, a highly regarded Hebrew-language weekly in Jerusalem, Ajaj was never involved in intifada activities, or with the PLO, or Hamas. Citing court papers and other sources, Kol Ha’ir says that far from being a political activist, Ajaj was actually a small-time crook who was arrested in 1988 for counterfeiting U.S. dollars. Ajaj and two other members of his counterfeiting ring ran a printing press in an Arab cemetery outside East Jerusalem, housing their equipment in the same building where religious Muslims wash corpses before burial. When Israeli police raided the cemetery, they arrested Ajaj, who was holding some $100,000 of bogus U.S. currency. Another gang member was carrying an antiquated pistol.

Ajaj was convicted for counterfeiting and sentenced to two-and-one-half years. It was during his prison stay that Mossad, Israeli’s CIA, apparently recruited him, say Israeli intelligence sources. By the time he was released after having served just one year, he had seemingly undergone a radical transformation. The common crook had become a devout Muslim and hard-line nationalist. Soon after, he was arrested for smuggling weapons into the West Bank, allegedly for El Fatah.

more...

[alarcojon]

29. Very troubling

I agree that Bush's actions on that day were very unusual. He knew about the plane hitting the first tower BEFORE he entered the school. Either our entire government, starting at the top, is massively incompetent, or we have ourselves LIHOP or MIHOP.

Why has Bush never been asked about this? Why do we have to read about it in The Nation or in the great links cited above?

[jpak]

32. Someone should make a campaign commercial

with the 9/11 timeline and Bush's reactions that morning.

Show him reading The Pet Goat superimposed on the times of the hijackings and plane impacts.

and especially show his reaction to Card's statement "Mr. President - America is under attrack"

and let him squirm....