You know how everybody can remember what they were doing on 9/11?

[linazelle]

What do you think Bush will be able to say about his memories that day? I think he will be able to say this:

I was told that a plane hit the WTC on the way to a school visit. When I got to the school, I was told a second plane had hit the WTC. I kept reading a story on goats for nearly twenty minutes...

In contrast, I remember being in my office with co-workers pacing, televisions and radios turned on, the day was a loss. How unnatural can Bush's calm be in a situation like that? It's damning.

[w13rd0]

1. I was in a politics chatroom...

...and another forum. I kept transcripts, kept two tv stations on, news, recording...i've got transcripts of everything. some very interesting stuff...

[_Wayne_]

2. Any president would have done the same thing

This is a lame argument to discredit Bush. Criticize him for countless other things, but in this situation, Bush did what any president would do.

[w13rd0]

5. bullshit...

...Bush sat there like a stoned monkey while Cheney issued shoot-down orders on Flight 93.

[aquart]

7. You couldn't have said that with a straight face.

Here's what a real President would do.

1. Not show up at the school.

2. Go immediately to a secure location with the maximum of available information.

3. Keep informed. Find out current casualty estimates.

4. Ask why the bloody hell no jets have been scrambled to intercept and escort the hijackers.

THAT's what any President would have done. Except one who thought only in terms of providing himself an alibi.

[HawkerHurricane]

9. O, please.

Any President worth his salt would have TAKEN COMMAND. Bush didn't. No statement, no nothing for 8 hours? Air Force One has tv production facilities, he could have been on the air from Air Force One within minutes of saying he wanted to.

I lost all respect for Bush when I heard that President Clinton made it from Australia to New York City by commercial air (which was shut down for several days, remember?) faster than Bush or Cheney could using the USAF.

[Cleita]

11. You had respect for Bush before then?

I didn't. He seemed to have no shame in the way the election was decided. An honest man would have demanded that there be no doubt that he had won before assuming office.

[HawkerHurricane]

15. Ok, I lied.

I didn't have any respect for him. I didn't trust him, he lied about Gore and he lied about Florida, and he lied about his whole campaign. But I was willing to 'rally around the leader' after 9/11... Until I found out he had disappeared for 8 hours (which I didn't find out for a while... like I said before, I was out to sea and didn't have good communications).

[Cleita]

17. Whew.

Thanks for the 'splanation.

[interceptor]

20. HH,

I usually won't counterpost you, but obviously you weren't near CIC that day ;) With NCC down, NCA goes airborne (as they did) and we had good comms. That's a normal response and you should know that. I have no idea what you mean by "I was at sea and didn't have good communications." Were you not IT-21 capable there yet?

I took the deck and went back to sea. Life kind of sucked for a while, that's what I recall.

[HawkerHurricane]

27. Heh.

Just because CIC and Radio Central have good comms doesn't mean that the rest of the crew has any contact with the outside world.
Yes, we had a internet connection... But it only takes one switch to cut us off from the outside world if the Captain/Commodore/Admiral so desires. And they did, off and on, for the following 4 days it took us to get to San Diego. And even with the internet, we had a slow link and spotty coverage. It took me months, literally, to put together what George did in the hours and days after the first attack.

[interceptor]

48. Partially true

Incoming e-mail is never shut off under ****. Just outgoing. ;) We each received at least a dozen e-mails a day from people in CONUS, but I was lucky being the PAO so I could still send outside. (I got to answer all the worried from home questions to the ship's e-mail.) I don't know about PACFLT INMARSAT connections, but LANTFLT and the Med have really good footprints nowadays. If you're on a DD, DDG or CG it sucks with where they put the friggin antenna, but FFG's and of course the amphibs/big decks never have to worry about it. And regardless, your ship still had GCCS-M, so "where is the President" isn't a question ;)

By good comms, I meant to NCA aboard Air Force One. No, my ship wasn't talking to them directly, but he was talking to the CINC's as they were called at the time. "W ran" is tinfoil hat - NCA going airborne for this kind of situation is completely normal although we can't talk much more about it than that. He (or whoever would have had NCA) had no communications to the military while NCC was down, but going to Air Force One or NECAP puts us back online. He did take command, although you might not have seen it in your spaces.

Like I said, I usually won't counterpost you cause you write really well, but that one's not true :) Us snipe's are good about Ref A ya know!

[dweller]

10. "Criticize for countless other things" ?

and give him a pass on this???

3,000 dead, all the surviving families, all the unanswered questions, the blocked investigation, the stalling, the health of the workers in the streets in the days after...

how do you sleep at nite?
The only thing lame is your defense of the *moron that knew, even at the time this tragedy was occurring and as well before, THAT DID NOTHING at the time, nothing since but cover his ass, and you have slurred many decent Presidents before him. Not all, but many.

yah, Reagan may have acted the same, most likely Poppy Bush too.

dp

[lovedems]

12. I don't think any president would've been playing hide n go seek

in Air Force 1 the entire day. I think the president would've gone back to the oval office to take care of business. This is why he went AWOL, he is a chicken shit cowboy.

[Skittles]

23. WFT ??????????????????????

after being warned in August about hijacked planes targeting builings, he goes on VACATION, then on 9/11 he KEEPS READING A KIDDIE BOOK when he hears the news? THIS is what you think ANY PRESIDENT would do??????????????????

[ignatius]

50. Don't forget, he was actually put on a SHIP in July while in

Italy for the WTO meetings because of such a high increase in terror warnings. Hello,Mr. Prez, anybody home up there??

His behaviour that morning was appalling, at the very least he jeopardized the lives of those school children if indeed the attacks had been done outside of the evil cabal...which I always believed it was our government.

The man is a sick fraud of a human being, unfit to shovel horseshit, let alone be the "leader" of the free world.

[LunaC]

28. Hahahahahahaha

Stop it.....stop it.....yer killin' me!

[PVnRT]

34. Eh?

No, any other president (including his father) would have immediately stopped what was going on, told everyone what happened, hold a quickie press conference, then get flown to some secure location to get briefed and then address the public with details.

Bush freaked out like a deer in headlights. How oh so presidential.

[SpiralHawk]

37. Wayne, it's clear you have never been in command of public safety

of involved in it in any way.

A commander must take command. That's how these systems operate. No direction from the top -- no protection for the people.

GW Bush failed miserably and pathetically in the hour when the country needed him.

He had over 45 minutes, and he and his staff could not even muster a pop gun to defend the nation's capital and the Pentagon.

That is shameful. Pathetic. Inexcusable.

In any other situation -- police, fire, whatever -- Bush would be immediately removed for dereliction of duty.

Reading a frikking children's book on goats. Pathetic. He's the goat.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[linazelle]

3. Bush can't even get through a press conference without nervous tics and

we are supposed to believe he sat calmly through the most horrific attack on our country in decades. Bush knew.

[sendero]

4. I had purchased a...

... projection tv, and they delivered it that morning. I turned it on and the scene of the plane hitting the towers was being shown over and over.

[Frank Rose]

6. I remember where I was, what is strange is....

I didn't know where gw was for about 8 hours. On a side note about that terrible day, I didn't feel a sense of perspective nor comfort until I saw Clinton on TV. Rudi did a good job, but when gw finally got sober and made a statement, I felt there was such a disconnect. When Bill made a statement (and I don't even remember what he said) I felt a lot better. That is the difference.

[Philostopher]

13. I was here at DU mostly, that day ...

Glued to the LBN forum. I found out what happened when I went to my volunteer slot at a local animal shelter; I put in my two hours and came home and immediately signed on DU.

You know who made me feel the most like the world was back on its axis again? Peter Jennings. He was asking tough questions that day, unlike most of the rest. He was the only one I heard anybody mention, later, had the nerve to ask something along the lines of 'where the hell is the President? Last I heard he was flying west from Florida -- where is he?' That and the hundred times I'd already read it from people here at DU at least made me feel like I wasn't alone in wondering.

[calimary]

19. I was watching CNN (which was left on from the night before when we

dozed off in front of the TV). I wasn't watching Jennings, but I remember some female reporter saying "WHERE is the president?" And by then we were hearing from other people who did show up, and Rudy Giuliani. I'm no Giuliani fan but it was telling to see him there at the command post, fielding questions, trying to pass along any information he had, while the story was still so new and so fluid, and so much was unconfirmed, and DAMMIT, he was THERE! He was present and accounted for. While the First Chickenshit was flying all over the Sun Belt looking for a place to hide. So Rudy Giuliani can be there all day at the camera/mike stand, even when he didn't have anything to report. And WHERE WAS GEORGE?

Remember the "president" in "Independence Day" - who not only was "there," but climbed into a fighter jet to do something about it, personally? WHERE WAS GEORGE?

Remember Ted Kennedy thundering that at the Democratic Convention - about shrub's dad? WHERE WAS GEORGE?

Maybe we should haul that one back out for the next convention...

[Catherine Vincent]

21. Yeah, when Peter Jennings said "where in the hell is the president?"

there were a lot of repukes that were offended with that question, like, "how dare Peter Jennings question Bush's whereabouts?!"

I thought, good for you Peter Jennings!

At that time I was posting on the NYTimes boards and was still criticizing pResident Dumbya and the right wingers were furious with me. They thought I should just shut up since our country was under attack. Well, I told them tough shit....and continued to berate their unelected leader. I was called all sorts of names. It really pissed them off. Those wingers really thought everything would be forgiven and everyone would just love Bush. Hahahha!!!!! Another thing, when I heard Congressman Weldon (I think that's his name) on C-span that night yaking about this terrible tragedy, I was glad that I did continue to criticize chimpy. Because Weldon was practically blaming President Clinton for this. That made me so god damn mad I wanted to throw a chair at my tv. Everytime I see that jackass on tv I think of what he did that night on C-Span.

[linazelle]

18. That's what was most perplexing to me...Bush's absence...he hid like a

coward. I remember later wondering too, where Bush was. He showed no leadership whatsoever and I felt totally unprotected.

[Ronnie]

35. Anybody looking at us from outer space...

...would have thought our leaders were network news anchors.

[HawkerHurricane]

8. I was out to sea...

We had left Hawaii just the day previously, we had our 'tigers' on board for the trip home to San Diego... I was in shock. I have relatives in New York, and a Uncle who missed his train and therefore missed being under the WTC when the first plane hit... I wanted vengance, hot and fast... I wanted someone to blame, a target to hit, and said so in emails... One freeper relative answered my email by suggesting I nuke Bagdad, so I asked if he had info that Saddam was to blame; he told me it didn't matter, he should be punished anyway. I later found out that he was a regular visitor to the PNAC web site and agreed with them, and that 9/11 was the excuse needed to 'get Saddam'. I told him he was a fool. Shows you what I know.

[dweller]

14. You know

one Hell of alot more than some, as noted above.

dp

[lovedems]

16. I was at the eye doctor and had to listen to painful story on the radio.

It was maddening and I just remember being so terribly confused.

[Skittles]

22. what's REALLY damning

is that EVERY AMERICAN doesn't know about Dubya's actions . . er. . INACTIONS on Sept 11. Try this experiment - ask a few people what they remember about what the president did on that day. It's pathetic.

[Cleita]

24. I remember that questions were asked on TV.

But no one said he was missing. We all wondered too, and many an anchor was left hanging with a 'deer caught in headlights' look on their faces. It was all swept under the rug the next day. If Rudy G. hadn't taken over the TV screen at that time, Bush really would have stood out like the all time stooge of Presidents forever.

[flaminbats]

25. I was asleep at a friend's house...

his loudmouth idiot buddy comes running in and screams "some giant helicopters just blowed up the the twin towers!"

Thinking this was complete bullshit, I said "leave me the hell alone! I don't care if the nukes fall..I'm tired."

He looked kinda pissed and walked out, usually he didn't get offended..which is why I still remember it. I didn't think about it until the following day when I picked up the paper...and ohh shit!

Even though he was wrong about "a helicopter blowing up" the towers, I still owed him an apology. Even idiots have the right to be upset and concerned..

[Draven]

26. I'd have to agree with what you wrote

Although, we gotta add that he did NOTHING after that and all he did was run around like a chicken with its head cut off. :grr:

[Minstrel Boy]

29. And what will the kids in the Florida classroom say, years from now,

when asked what they were doing on 9/11?

"I was at school, hearing a story about a goat. Oh, yeah - the President was reading it to me."

[truthspeaker]

30. AWOL in 1973, AWOL in 2001

[laruemtt]

31. i was home where

i work doing medical transcription. hubby called from school and told me to turn on the tv, just turn on the tv. his niece was working for NYPA on the 65th floor of the south tower. she got out but we didn't know until that evening. just shock for weeks. we had just been there a couple of weeks before eating lunch at gandhi's restaurant in greenwich village in the shadow of the towers. i was born in brooklyn. haven't been back since.

[lostnfound]

32. I'd just had a delightful conversation about motherhood with other mothers

an absolute treasure of a moment, having just returned to work a week prior after maternity leave with my first & only child..

Then joy turned to shock, stunned to learn of the first tower's collapse, and immediately I began crying because I thought 'how many children lost one or even BOTH of their parents in this tragedy?'

[radwriter0555]

33. I woke our roommate, and called my best friend. It was just 6am here

and we were GLUED to the teevee and watched the second plane hit. Then my best friend called me and said that she bet that a building in DC would be the next target.

We didn't move a muscle that morning that wasn't about the event. I dropped my kid off at school, and went to a friend's workplace for a meeting, when I saw him, I started sobbing.

But bush read a story to some kids like he knew he was safe.

[nostamj]

36. bush's behavior that morning

is one of the most damning elements of the 9/11 story.

he never should have continued with the photo op after learning of the MULTIPLE hijackings and first strike in NYC.

he should have instructed SOMEONE in NYC to evacuate the South Tower immediately since he (and his closest advisors) knew that this was *most likely* the terrorist assault that they had been warned about. 100s of lives were lost in the South Tower because of this utter failure (inc. Kristen Breitweiser's husband).

the SS should have moved him into a secure location on the FIRST strike. the fact that they didn't move him after the SECOND strike crosses the border into utterly INSANE behavior.

this puppet sat, not even curious about what 'we're under attack' fully meant. the puppet sat and listened to a goat story... waiting for someone to pick up the strings... no one even thought that protecting the "POTUS" was important...

[GregW]

38. Remember the BS story about terrists planning to shoot down AF1?

Which is why he had to run so far and so long

:eyes:

The most disgusting, putrid, nauseating event for me was when the RNC started selling pictures of * on his 'escape' from FL for a fundraiser. Talk about profiting from terrorism.

:puke:

[ProfessorGAC]

39. I Was At The Airport

I was waiting for a flight to Atlanta. They announced an indefinite delay. No reason given.

Then, someone said that the plane had hit the WTC. The lady in the news shop (very small airport) had a TV, so i went back through security. She had the news on and it was smoking and burning. About 15 seconds after i got there, the second plane hit the other tower. I immediately thought "This is not an accident".

They then announced that everything was grounded in the U.S. for an indefinite period of time. So, i went back to my car, went back to work.

But, they had the place locked down. (FEMA, IEMA, and the country sherriff's office requested it). Nobody in, nobody out until futher notice.

So, i went home and watched everything on the news.
The Professor

[ProdigalJunkMail]

40. I was in NYC on business

up near Times Square. I remember looking south and seeing the billowing smoke and starting to walk in that direction...on of my compadres had a radio and announced that plane had just hit one of the towers...a few minutes later the other plane struck and we didn't so much hear the explosion as feel it...we were a couple of miles out...

TheProdigal

[Loonman]

41. I was kicking Repuke ass hard in the Newsmax Forums

Then the internet grinded to a halt.

[flaminbats]

42. I always feel guilty whenever something like this happens.

Naturally I feel sad for the families, and upset about the future of the nation.

But I often feel guilty about my inability to accept the reality of what is happening as it occurs. When the Challenger exploded, my sister and I were shopping for a TV in K-Mart. Everyone was gathered around one of the TV sets. I knew about the coming shuttle flight, and had kept my sister along with others I knew who were interested..updated on the goals of the mission.

My sister asked loudly, "isn't that the Space Shuttle?" Always eager to get out of the crowded store, I just glanced at the screen and said "No it looks like a huge fireball."

At this moment everyone in that part of the store turned and just silently stared at us. I wasn't sure why until later, but I really thought they might kill us! I then quickly rushed us to the checkout line and then out of the store. It wasn't until later..as with 9/11, when the greatest impact of the loss of human lives and the tears really hit me. ;(

[SpiralHawk]

43. I was dreaming that 9/11 morning, that I had purchased 'put' options

on American Airlines. I dreamed that I would make millions of dollars from the 9/11 tragedy and the deaths of over 3,000 human beings.

And I dreamed that no one in the federal government would ever ask about me and my "deal" and that the President and his allies would ensure that no one ever asked me any "questions" about my 9/11 financial bonanza.

Was that a Sweet Dream? Or was it a Nightmare?

[Bandit]

44. They don't call him bunnypants for nothing.

Amazing how President Clinton made it to NY before anyone from the Bush* Administration and President Clinton was in Australia and all airlines were grounded. Imagine what it would have been like if we had a real president at the time.

[BattyDem]

46. I was sick, so I was home in bed ...

I got a phone call from my mother telling me that the WTC was hit by a plane. I was thinking ... "WTF?" I assumed it was a small plane, then I turned on the TV and I saw a huge hole in the tower with black smoke pouring out of it. I couldn't believe my eyes! That's when I saw the second plane hit and I went numb.

I live just outside of NYC. After the towers collapsed, I heard police cars and fire engines zoom by on their way to help with the rescue efforts and I heard fighter jets flying over my house. I thought it was an air raid ... it was frightening.

I've never been a Rudy Guiliani fan, but I am so grateful that he was there on that day. He took command of the situation. He tried to calm us and keep us informed. He behaved like the leader of the country and in fact he was, because there was absolutely no leadership coming from Washington. :mad:



edited for spelling

[skypilot]

51. small plane

I think Bush, Rumsfeld and Dick Myers have all said at some point that when they found out about the first crash they thought it was a small plane, however, they also say that they got to a TV at some point so, just like you, they must have seen the destruction the crash caused. There is no way they could have thought that this damage was caused by a small plane. And even if the plane had been small it could still have been loaded with explosives. Are we supposed to believe that no one thought of this? Also, did any of them watch the coverage long enough to hear the reporters saying that people were leaping to their deaths? How could any of them have just gone on with their day as usual after hearing this? I don't buy any of their bullshit stories.

[KFC]

47. Hardly damning

If you believe in any complicity. He would have had a plan - would have immediately jumped up and "taken control".

His actual actions that morning reveal he had no idea what was going on. Not a first for Bush.

[SpiralHawk]

52. Totaly damming

Damn incompetent
Damn irresponible
Damn dereliction of duty
Damn dumb.

[SpiralHawk]

53. Totally damming

Damn incompetent
Damn irresponible
Damn dereliction of duty
Damn dumb.

[SpiralHawk]

54. Totally damning

Damn incompetent
Damn irresponible
Damn dereliction of duty
Damn dumb.

[nomatrix]

49. The Secret Service

didn't escort him out, immediately. I thought that was weird.

Minstrel Boy- you have very good souces.
It was posted on another thread that days/weeks before 9/11 the FBI searched for bombs in the WTC.
I couldn't find a link for it, have you?

In a search for it I found this, which is a very well written.

In a personal account posted at FreeRepublic (sorry) a very detailed story of someone who was in WTC 2. In her account #197 at 10:58 she say,

"At this moment the NYPD came in and told everyone to evacuate because there are three more hijacked planes in the air which have yet to be accounted for, plus it was believed that there were bombs planted all throughout the city, set to go off every 30 minutes"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/981966/posts

For all of you who continually argue against explosives in any of the WTC buildings, why are you so sure there wasn't?

[latebloomer]

55. oh, and he and Pickles had a good chuckle

about something or other that evening, I remember reading, and then had a great night's sleep.

I don't think I slept right for weeks.

[skypilot]

56. They heard something go bump in the night...

...or something. Anyway, we are supposed to believe that they went downstairs to investigate by themselves. Where the hell are the Secret Service? This was just another bullshit story where we're supposed to picture George and Laura tiptoeing around the White House in bathrobes and fuzzy slippers with a baseball bat or something. Yeah, right.

[Malva Zebrina]

57. Does it strike anyone as odd that this happened

and we all know it on DU, yet no one has seen fit to call the AWOL commander in chief on this lie--and that no one has seen fit to call this ignoramus of a "war" president on his lie to kill thousands of innocent people.

Why is not anyone calling him on these lies? Here he is, an evil, stupid man, sending almost 500 of our soldiers to their deaths and those deaths are in agony deaths, in the worst possible scenarios, and no one calls him on it?

How come? That is what I want to know. Where is everyone? Where are the Americans, the occupants of the land of the free and the home of the brave and the righteous Christians? Why is NO ONE calling this stupid punk on his lies?

I simply do not understand .