9/11: Bush In-Actions, page 1

8:46 A.M. Flight 11 hits the north tower, 1 World Trade Center

At 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.

On National TV, Mayor Rudy Guliani states that he immdiately knew it was an attack by a commercial airplane and suspected Osama bin Laden.

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?

9:05 A.M. Bush is fully involved in the reading lesson with the second-graders and the goat story. His chief of staff Andrew Card, whispers into his ear, "A second plane has hit the World Trade Center. America is under attack." He says nothing in response, but continues with the goat story after a brief pause. The US Commander in Chief continues DOING NOTHING for as long as 20 minutes.

Bush's actions that morning. The excuses they put forward are absurd:

He was "gathering his thoughts." [Could you imagine a fireman saying he was gathering his thoughts for 27 minutes while people burned in a building? A field commander gathering his thoughts for a quarter of an hour as an enemy fired upon his battalion?]

"The President felt he should project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening." [Bush could know what's happening by sitting there and reading about a goat for 5, 10 or 20 minutes? This is MUCH worse than the Reagan WHite House run with fortune teller directions!]

"He didn't want to scare the children." [The children didn't mind seeing buildings blown up or people jumping from the 6,000 degree fires, but OH how a president excusing himself from a goat reading could cause major psychological harm! And, we TRUST this man to protect us and make competent decisions?]

Who Was Responsible for What on the Day of September 11, 2001? When called by NORAD, Bush failed to respond in a way designed to save lives.

The time required from the notification to scramble to one of these planes being airborne and at top speed is about 12-15 minutes. F-15 (Eagle): From Air Force fact sheet: "The F-15 Eagle is an all-weather, extremely maneuverable, tactical fighter designed to permit the Air Force to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat." This plane can reach an astounding maximum speed of 1,875 mph. "The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multi-role fighter aircraft. It is highly maneuverable and has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack." The craft can go from zero to 500 mph in about 2 minutes. Its top speed is about 1,500 mph, while its typical cruising speed is nearly 600 mph. In other words, if a plane had been scrambled from Andrews, just 10 miles away as the crow (or F-16) flies, it would have been able to engage Flight 77 within 15 minutes from the time the call came in.

Where does the buck stop in the BuSh White House?