Time: Bush and 9/11: What We Need to Know

[Killarney]

http://www.time.com/time/election2004/columnist/klein/article/0,18471,600843,00.html

George W. Bush's most memorable day as President was Sept. 14, 2001, when he stood in the rubble of the World Trade Center, holding a bullhorn in one hand, his other arm slung over the shoulder of a veteran fire fighter from central casting. Bush was pitch perfect that day—the common-man President, engaged and resolute. This is the image the Bush campaign is probably saving for the last, emotional moments of the election next fall. It is the memory the Republicans want you to carry into the voting booth. It is why the Republican Convention will be held in New York City this year. And it may also be why the White House has been so reluctant to cooperate with the independent commission investigating the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

....

[RT Atlanta]

1. thoughts

I am glad to see this question getting some attention in the "mainstream" printed press. Hopefully this article will lead to some more public discussion on the networks (for the sheeple who get their "news" through that medium).

[coloradodem2005]

2. well they are forgetting one thing.

"Looks like I hit the trifecta."

[Mountainman]

3. I wish all news shows in the country would ask these same questions on air

I would think that some news agency, reporter or newspaper would understand that covering for this administration is having detrimental effects on our country. Never mind your political bent, we are in trouble economically, defensively, ecologically and socially. If Bush gets four more years the damage will be almost insurmountable. Yet the American people don't know as much about their own country than does the average European.

[porkrind]

11. Reporters are probably scared

that they might get the "Wellstone" treatment. :scared:

[blm]

4. This piece is just AWESOME. Send to your local papers.

I swear they would never notice on their own.

[Octafish]

8. There's a Pulitzer in it.

All it takes is for one news organization -- not reporter -- news organization to get the willpower to bell the cat. Until then: Hey! They give out Pulitzers for covering this stuff up, don't they? From the article:

...Finally, there are the questions about the President's actions immediately after 9/11. Specifically, why did he allow planeloads of Saudi nationals, including members of the bin Laden family, out of the U.S. in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks? Who asked him to give the Saudis special treatment? Was he aware that the Saudi Arabian government and members of the royal family gave money to charities that funded al-Qaeda?...

[H2O Man]

5. It was a great article.

Actually TIME has accurate and insightful articles on a regular basis. It belies the notion that the "mainstream" press is all covering up the sins of this administration.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. People should know Bush was, at the least, asleep at the wheel:

"It is easy to cast blame in hindsight. Even if Bush had been obsessed with the terrorist threat, 9/11 might not have been prevented. But the President's apparent lack of rigor—his incuriosity about an enemy that had attacked American targets overseas and had attempted an attack at home—raises a basic question about the nature and competence of this Administration." He was no hero on 11/14/01, or in the months before, or any day after, and his administration has failed us on terrorism, as on everything else.

[eridani]

7. What the 9-11 families are asking

A sampling

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/021804A.shtml

5. U.S. Navy Captain Deborah Loewer, the Director of the White House Situation Room, informed you of the first airliner hitting Tower One of the World Trade Center before you entered the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. Please explain the reason why you decided to continue with the scheduled classroom visit, fifteen minutes after learning the first hijacked airliner had hit the World Trade Center.

6. Is it normal procedure for the Director of the White House Situation Room to travel with you? If so, please cite any prior examples of when this occurred. If not normal procedure, please explain the circumstances that led to the Director of the White House Situation Room being asked to accompany you to Florida during the week of September 11th.

7. What plan of action caused you to remain seated after Andrew Card informed you that a second airliner had hit the second tower of the World Trade Center and America was clearly under attack? Approximately how long did you remain in the classroom after Card’s message?

14. Your schedule for September 11, 2001 was in the public domain since September 7, 2001. The Emma E. Booker School is only five miles from the Bradenton Airport, so you, and therefore the children in the classroom, might have been a target for the terrorists on 9/11. What was the intention of the Secret Service in allowing you to remain in the Emma E. Booker Elementary School, even though they were aware America was under attack?

[FreakinDJ]

9. I liked the way the TIME editorial phrased the questions

Truthout.org is relieing too much on a predetermined outcome of the questioning. Basicly the same thing we have been accusing the Bush inteligence machine of in the lead up to attacking Iraq.

Times approach covered a much broader, less deniable avenue of questioning. One the common John Q. citizen could understand and elaborate on. Basicly lead the horse to water and let him do the rest.

The Bush machine has dismissed us "Conspiracy Theorist" and "Bush Haters". It would be be much wiser for all of us here at DU stop expecting the commission to align their questioning and some thing that could end up an embarrassment to them

[proud patriot]

10. This is a great article

:thumbsup:

[Stephanie]

12. Bush's most memorable day as President* was Sept. 11, 2001 - HE WAS AWOL

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9:03 a.m.: A second hijacked airliner, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston, crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes. Both buildings are burning.

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9:30 a.m.: President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, says the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."

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9:43 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, sending up a huge plume of smoke. Evacuation begins immediately.

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9:57 a.m.: Bush departs from Florida.

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http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack /

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At 12:39 word is that Bush has landed at a base near Shreveport, La. Incredibly, at 12:51, there is footage of a Taliban news conference by one Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel. It is difficult to absorb that Arafat and the Taliban have weighed in before Bush. Five minutes later ABC reports that in Shreveport "the president looked grim. His eyes were somewhat red." The only hard information is that there are no national security people traveling with the president. ABC's Peter Jennings, breaking protocol for news anchors, says forcefully that the country needs words from its president in Washington.

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1:08: More than three hours after the second tower collapsed. A taped message from President Bush. But the sound isn't transmitting, and the image is jerky. Then the image goes backwards. Then it goes off.

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2:35: Guiliani live again: "The number of casualties will be more than anyone can bear."

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3:30: Confirmation that Bush has landed at the Strategic Air Defense Command base near Omaha, Neb. ABC's Ann Compton, traveling with the president, is on the phone to Peter Jennings, whose inflection says it all: "Annie, can you hear me? What are you doing in Nebraska?"

When he asks where Bush is, she replies, "He disappeared down the rabbit hole, Peter."

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3:48: For the first time an administration official, White House counsel Karen Hughes, gives a live statement: "The president, vice-president, and speaker of the House are all safe." It is astonishing that this late in the day the White House has nothing more to say.

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At 6:41, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld gives a live press conference -- nearly nine hours after the towers collapsed, a cabinet-level official finally speaks.

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8:31: Nearly 12 hours after the attack began, 10 and a half after the towers collapsed, President George W. Bush reads a speech live from the Oval Office.

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http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-10-05/cols_ventura...

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