"...I felt really proud that they were up there to protect us..."

[SoCalDem]

These were the words of a firefighter who barely escaped with his life Tower2 ..He outran the dust and debris, and as he emerged into the clear, he heard planes, looked up and said .."They're OURS..."..

I AM a cynic, but after the collapse of the WTC, and the loss of most of his fellow firefighters and all of their equipment, WHY ON EARTH WOULD HE NOT SAY....

"Where the hell were you guys BEFORE the death and destruction?"..Protect is NOT react.. and even in their reaction, the US military did nothing but fly around "making a presence".. They did not PREVENT or PROTECT..

Of course Aaron Brown and all the other sycophants rarely comment on the "WHY DID IT HAPPEN?..WHO screwed up?"..

The US Government's main job is to protect us from attack... The unanswered and unasked questions are the IMPORTANT ones.

[opihimoimoi]

1. "We never thought they would use airplanes as Bombs" Conny Rice

The National SECURUTY ADVISOR? said this??? Good Grief.

After the warning no less.....

She was in over her head...as it turns out, they all were and still is.

They are rookies trying to act like pros.....

and we pay the price....as usual.....

Come, we go drink.....

[A Simple Game]

2. What would be interesting to hear is what the firefighter

may have to say now.

[SoCalDem]

3. That's what he JUST did say.. He's a koolaid drinker, I fear.

He was interviewed for Aaron's Fog and Pony show..

edit.. was gonna change Fog to Dog (as i intended) but I decided to leave it:)

[A Simple Game]

5. Hard to believe his eyes still are clouded after 4 years.

[tanyev]

4. Gee, if our blithering leader hadn't sat frozen with fear and indecision

for half an hour in an elementary school, maybe some of our planes could have gotten there in time to actually do something.

[brandxj]

6. not too sure

30min would have been enough to make a decision on what actually was going on....assuming you mean shoot down the airliners.

[tanyev]

7. Maybe not, but he DIDN'T EVEN TRY.

[billbuckhead]

8. In 30 minutes the Canadian Air force could have got there

They weren't playing Dick Cheney's war games like our air force was

[brandxj]

9. i don't think

anyone in the first 30 min knew exactly what just happened....at least not enough that they would be willing to shoot down passenger planes...just my thoughts...i take more time thinking about what socks to where let alone to shoot planes out of the sky

[SoCalDem]

10. A fire chief is HEARD on the tapes saying.. GET THE ARMY HERE

NOW. This is right after Tower ONE was hit,, They DID know on the ground that we were under attack..

There was mass chaos..because of yet another governmental screw-up..this time local.. The on-the-ground communications SUCKED..and they KNEW it prior to the WTC attacks. The Hero-of-the-hour, Rudy was ultimately in charge, as mayor, of the allocation of funds to the fire/police..

Had our president announced after Tower 1 was hit.. "We are under attack, CLEAR the entire area". there would have been very few deaths in Tower 2, because the building could have been evacuated in one direction, and the first responders could have spent their efforts trying to get as many out of the lower floors of Tower 1 as they could, instead of running back and forth..not really knowing what had happened or might happen.

[tanyev]

11. Our Glorious Leader already knew of the first hit before he went into the

classroom. Reason enough to cancel the photo-op, if you ask me. But I shall momentarily give him the benefit of that doubt. The footage of Andrew Card leaning down and whispering to him was when he was informed of the 2nd hit, at which point even I knew that America was under attack. The Leader chose to stay in a classroom of children for another half an hour, doing nothing, and theoretically even endangering those children.

[Bridget Burke]

12. Yes, but it's the President's job to know what is happening.

He chose to continue with a photo op after the thing had begun. After the first collision, anyone with half a brain or half a heart was distracted from their daily routine. He did NOTHING until he fled Florida in a blind panic.

If he had paid any attention to the earlier security warnings, the whole thing might have been prevented. But the fallout of 9/11 allowed him to become a "popular wartime president," push through the Patriot Act & invade at will.

Bush probably can't even find his socks. No doubt, every outfit is laid out for him by servants. Can he tie his shoes?

[ljm2002]

13. Pffft

Oh please. He knew the first plane had hit one of the WTC towers before entering the classroom. He knew, or should have known as Commander In Chief, that several planes were hijacked and flying off course. There can have been no doubt that a coordinated effort was going on. Once one of the towers was hit, there was simply no excuse for our commander in chief and our military not taking action to try and do something about what was happening. In fact, given that they knew there were several airliners hijacked and off course, they should have been doing something long before the first tower was hit. Certainly he should never have even gone into that classroom with such a situation developing.

Regardless of your assessment, that "no one knew" what was going on, or that 30 minutes was not enough time to figure it out -- how does that translate into, "so it's okay to go ahead and just sit there and do nothing for 30 minutes as the attack continues". Every minute counts in situations like this. Perhaps he could have used that 30 minutes to, oh let me think, FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT JUST HAPPENED AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT? Just a thought.

No, Bush's inaction that morning was clearly criminal dereliction of duty. And that is absolutely the best spin you can put on it.