Our Battle-Tested Wartime President

August 17 2004
Counterbias.com
Marc Krug

George Bush often proclaims himself to be an able commander in the war on terror. But should the American people want proof of just how able he is, they need look no further than the quality of leadership he displayed on the day that war started — September  11, 2001.

For on that day they would see a man hampered by ineptitude, hamstrung by indecision, preoccupied with self-protection, and beset by the sort of consummate timidity that ill befits a Commander-in-Chief.  They would also see a man who would not let the truth get in the way of a good story.

But what Americans needed to see on that day was a President who was adept, decisive, selfless, honest, and courageous. For on September 11, they would have to endure a disaster without precedent: the first major terrorist attack on American soil.

At four seconds short of 8:47 AM, United Airlines Flight 11 crashed into Tower One of the World Trade Center, setting off an explosion sufficient to blow away the face of a mountain. It entered the mostly glass structure between the 93^rd and 98^th floor; none of the 1,344 people above the 91^st floor got out alive.

At that precise moment, Mr. Bush was over a thousand miles away, just outside Sarasota Florida, sitting in the back of his specially modified, armor-plated Cadillac limousine, complete with bullet-proof glass. He was en route to the Emma E. Booker Elementary School where he would be visiting a class of second graders for what was essentially a “photo op.”

At about 8:53 AM, seated in a separate car in the presidential motorcade, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer took a call. “Oh my God, I can’t believe it,” he exclaimed. “A plane has just hit the World Trade Center!” Fleischer said to alert others in the car as to what had just happened.

Around 8:58, when the motorcade had come to a stop, Fleischer, along with Advisor Karl Rove and photographer Dan Bartlett, briskly stepped over to Bush to tell him about the horrendous plane crash. “The President was surprised,” according to Fleischer. “He thought it had to be an accident.”

Remarkably, Bush did not immediately reach back into the limousine for the secure, STU-II phone to make a non-interceptible call to the Secretary of Defense, or the Administrator of the FAA, or the Director of the CIA, or any members of the National Security Council. Instead, at approximately 9 AM, he entered the school and slipped into a vacant classroom. There he used an unsecured phone to make one call to his national security advisor, Condoleeza Rice.

Unbeknownst to Rice, the United States had already gone to full “battle stations” alert; hundreds within the Pentagon, NORAD, and the FAA already knew this. But Bush was totally unaware of this fact since he chose to make only the one phone call.

Also known to many in the Pentagon, NORAD, and the FAA was that several fighter planes had already been scrambled to intercept three airliners suspected of having been hijacked. For these hijacked planes to be shot down, however, the President would have to order it. But since Bush’s sole communicant was the singularly unaware Rice, he was not now asked to give that order. The pilots in those jets could do nothing.

His single phone call over, Bush emerged from the vacant classroom somewhere around 9:03. At 9:02:54, a second plane, United Flight 175, plowed straight into Tower Two of the World Trade Center. In addition to the damage the plane did upon initial impact, its nearly full fuel tanks created a horrendous fireball followed by a deadly explosion.

Bush would later make claims about all these events that would be difficult to believe as well as to understand. On two separate occasions, he said that he 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 ‘There’s one terrible pilot. It must have been a horrible accident.’ ’’ You will also find this account on the official White House web site.

But no video of the first crash was yet on the air; Bush could not have seen the first plane hit Tower One. Video of that crash would not make its appearance until later in the day. The only crash he could have seen that early was the second. But if Bush saw the second crash, the question becomes, why didn’t he know it was more than pilot error? What is the likelihood of two pilots accidentally hitting the two towers of the World Trade Center within 16 minutes of each other? Furthermore, as the Guardian put it, “Why is it obvious that an elementary school would have a TV set in the corridor?”

Nevertheless, at 9:04 Bush instantaneously made an executive decision. He would partake of the priorities of insignificance and go ahead with the photo opportunity.

And thus did the President of the United States enter Sandra Kay Daniel’s second grade classroom to address the assembled seven year-olds. For the first two or three minutes, the class went through a reading drill. When the drill was over, the eager students reached into their desks for The Pet Goat, the book they intended to read before the President.

It was precisely at this moment, 9:06 AM, that Bush’s Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, entered the room. Walking up to the President, Mr. Card leaned over and spoke into Bush’s ear: “A second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack.” Regardless of whether he’d really seen it before on television, the President now knew of the second plane crash. He also knew bad piloting was not behind it all and that America was now the object of enemy assault.

Amazingly, aside from displaying alternating looks of dismay, disbelief, bewilderment and incomprehension, Bush initially did nothing.

He asked no questions of Card. He did not ask who the attackers were, whether there might be more attacks, or what military plans had been taken against them. He did not ask to speak to anyone — the Secretary of Defense, the Vice President, or the Director of the CIA.

More surprisingly, he did not stand up, excuse himself, and leave the room to find a phone and become involved with, much less lead, America in defending itself against this attack. Instead he sat there, motionless, for a minute or two.

Then the Commander-in-Chief, uncomfortably compressed into a chair designed for a seven year-old, made another executive decision. He reached for his copy of The Pet Goat and began to read along with the class.  

This bizarre tableau went on for some seven minutes. When the exercise ended, Bush launched into compliment mode. “Hoo” he said, “these are some really good readers. Very impressive. Thank you all so much for showing me your skills. I bet they practice, too. Don’t you? Reading more than they watch TV. Anyone here do that?” As the hands went up, one need not wonder how Bush would have answered that question had it been asked of him.

Amazingly, Bush seemed in no particular hurry to leave the classroom. He stopped to answer a few questions, posed for a few pictures, talked to the teacher, and waited for the press to leave — a process that took about six minutes. To anyone unaware of what Card had just told him and what he had been told earlier, Bush seemed as if he hadn’t a care in the world. He did, however, tell the principal, Gwen Tose-Rigel, that he would not be able to hold his press conference in the library as scheduled, that he was needed back in Washington immediately.

At this point, Bush sauntered down to the library, stopping first in an adjacent room where his staff gave him a quick update. From that room, he called Rice again. He then called Cheney, who had already been taken down into a bunker beneath the White House. Another hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was at that very instant headed toward Washington, possibly toward the White House. It would later crash into the Pentagon at 9:37 AM.

At 9:29, Bush arrived at the library where he said there would be no press conference and that he must leave. About 9:35, Bush stepped into his limousine and joined the motorcade headed for the Bradenton Airport, some 3 and ½ miles away.

At almost the same moment, national operations manager Ben Sliney made a decision from the FAA control center in Herndon, Virginia. He was told that 11 planes in the air could not be reached and hence, might likely be hijacked. Among these 11 was the errant flight 77, heading directly towards Washington at “lightning speed.” Sliney acted. At 9:35, he ordered that all commercial and private planes in the U.S. already on the ground remain there.

Unfortunately, at that moment there were 4,452 planes still in the air.

At 9:57, Air Force One would also be airborne. But before it took off, Sliney made another decision, in part motivated by the Pentagon crash. This time, he ordered every plane in the air to land as soon as feasible, regardless of its destination, something that had never been ordered before. On his first day on the job, Sliney had already made history, all before 10 AM. The President’s plane, along with military aircraft, would not be subject to this order.

As reporters on Air Force One later remarked, the plane flew in long, lazy circles for quite a while, not really going anywhere. Suddenly the plane banked sharply; at Bush’s order — with Cheney’s prodding — it began its trip to Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, Louisiana. While talking to Cheney from the plane, Bush also gave the “shoot down” order, but said that Cheney would have the final decision whether or not to execute it.

Bush would not be going back to Washington immediately as he promised the elementary school principal. Nor would he be following the example of Lyndon Johnson, who bravely returned to the nation’s capital late on November 22, 1963, after the Kennedy assassination. Johnson had landed near D.C. despite stories that the U.S. Government was about to be overtaken by the Russians who had missiles aimed at Washington. Once on the ground at Andrews Air Force Base, Johnson gave a short speech, bringing a much needed modicum of consolation and solace to a shattered nation.

As to why Bush decided not to return to Washington but rather to hopscotch America, the press was told that Air Force One and the President himself had been threatened in a message delivered by someone who knew the airline communication codes. But this threat proved to be a fabrication. CBS reported “the call never happened”; on the next day, the Washington Post ran the headline “White House Drops Claim of Threat to Bush.”

At 11:45, Air Force One arrived at Barksdale Air Force Base. Here Bush was met by a multitude of men in flak jackets carrying automatic weapons as well as a group of armored vehicles that surrounded the plane. Bush was immediately taken in a blue Caravan to Building 245, the headquarters of the Eighth Air Force. As he traveled the short route, Bush could see several signs displaying in large black print “DEFCON DELTA,” the highest state of military alert.

Bush was then taken to a secure location several stories underground. There he wrote out on a napkin a short speech that he later taped. When it was broadcast at 1:30, millions of Americans saw the President for the first time, four hours after the traumatic catastrophes that had earlier punctuated the morning. But by 1:30, Bush would be back on Air Force One, destination initially undecided.

The speech, all 219 words of it, did not go over well. According to Washington Post reporters Dan Balz and Bob Woodward: “When Bush finally appeared on television from the base conference room, it was not a reassuring picture. He spoke haltingly, mispronouncing several words as he looked down at his notes.” Writing for the mainstream USA Today, Judy Keene said that Bush “looked grim. His eyes were red rimmed.” As an administration official would later admit, “It was not our finest moment.”

But the lackluster speech was not all that the press was criticizing. Many reporters were asking when Bush was coming back to Washington. Presidential aide, Karen Hughes, currently at the FBI, was asked by reporters where Bush was and when he might be returning. By way of reply, she turned around and walked out of the room. Tim Russert, host of Meet the Press, remarked that the nation was now absent the leadership of its President at a most critical time. Even the London Daily Telegraph weighed in: “If he stays away, he could be accused of cowardice.”

Once the destination had been decided, Bush was heading in the opposite direction from Washington, this time to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha Nebraska. Accompanying his plane were two F-16 fighters. Offutt was chosen partly because it was the home of the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM), the successor to the Cold War mainstay, the Strategic Air Command (SAC). The other reason for choosing Offutt was its two-story command center, located three stories below ground — a place from which World War III could be fought.

Bush was taking as few risks as possible where his safety was concerned.

Landing at Offutt Air Force Base at 2:50 PM, Bush was met by an eight-car motorcade. Within 15 minutes, Bush was ensconced within Offutt’s command center, a cavernous space with a multitude of desks, a large screen showing the status of military forces all over the world, and a distinctly unmistakable Dr. Strangelove ambience.

Shortly thereafter, using teleconferencing screens, Bush began a meeting with his top aides in Washington. Perhaps the most pertinent question, considering the day’s events, was Bush’s query to CIA Director George Tenet: “Who do you think did this to us?” Tenet answered immediately but tentatively: “Sir, I believe it’s al-Qaeda. We’re doing the assessment, but it looks like, it feels like, it smells like al-Qaeda.” Bush responded sharply, “Get your ears up.” The meeting ended shortly before 4:30 PM.

Aside from the short, 219-word taped speech, the American people had by this time neither heard nor seen their President all day, nor did they know where he was. For this, Bush was receiving criticism even from the Right. William Bennett, former Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan and drug czar under George Bush Senior, stated  it was imperative that George Bush return. “This is not 1812. It cannot look as if the President has been run off,” which, in essence, he had been, “or it will look like we cannot defend our most important institutions,” which, in essence, we could not.

By this time, 4:30, nearly every Government office building, including CIA and NSA headquarters, as well as the White House offices and the halls and offices of Congress, had long since been evacuated. Nearly all federal workers had been sent home. Washington began to take on the look of a ghost town, with the exception of those still fighting the fires at the Pentagon.

At this point, the only problem preventing the President’s return seemed to be a commercial jetliner traveling from Spain to the U.S. It was giving off an emergency signal. From over a loudspeaker at Offutt came a voice directed at Bush, “Do we have permission to shoot it down?” Bush replied: “Make sure you got the I.D. You follow this closely to make sure.” As earlier with Cheney, Bush was transferring the final “shoot down” decision to someone else.

But it turned out the alarm was simply a mistake. Following orders, the airliner turned around and landed. The day had passed without a single innocent plane being shot down from the sky.

Bush was informed that it had landed, and now — with nearly the entire Western Hemisphere virtually free of aircraft of any sort — he returned to Air Force One, leaving Offutt for the flight back to Washington. He was escorted by two F-15 fighters and one F-16. Landing uneventfully at Andrews Air Force Base, Bush took the traditional helicopter flight to the White House.  It was now 7 PM.

At 8:30, Bush spoke live to the public, talking for only five minutes; he did not give that much better a speech this time than he did the first. Most found it largely lacking in substance and his manner largely devoid of any quality that gave the listener comfort.

What was most notable in this speech were the words: “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor him.” It was the start of the Bush Doctrine that would eventually evolve into, “You’re either with us or you’re against us,” a philosophy that would eventually help alienate many of America’s friends and nearly all of its traditional allies.

Around 9 PM, Bush met with his full National Security Council; an hour later he met with his top advisors. Bush and his advisors had already decided bin Laden was behind the attacks. Tenet reportedly said that al-Qaeda and the Taliban were one and the same. That this was a vast oversimplification was beside the point: the justification for invading Afghanistan was already in place.

So apparently was the justification for invading Iraq. Only hours later, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld asked that plans for just such an invasion be drawn up.

Before retiring that night, Bush wrote in his diary, “The Pearl Harbor of the 21^st century took place today.” Somehow America would have been better served that day had there been someone closer to Roosevelt’s caliber in the White House.