On September 11, when Bush arrived at the Booker School shortly before 9:00 am, it is believed he already knew that the first plane had hit the first WTC. He was told that there was an urgent call from Condi Rice. He went into the school and took the call.
As National Security Adviser, Rice knew -- she had to have KNOWN -- that 3 planes had been hijacked, one had hit the WTC, one was mere minutes from hitting the other WTC tower and a third plane was heading towards Washington. The Pentagon had known about the 3rd plane about 10 minutes BEFORE Rice's call.
When Bush came out of the school a few minutes later, he said he would continue with the reading/photo-op.
Q: What did Rice talk to Bush about?From an article I co-wrote:
Booker principal Gwen Tose-Rigell was waiting for Bush outside the school. "The limousine stops and the president comes out. He walks toward me. I'm standing there in a lineup; there are about five people. He walks over and says he has to make a phone call, and he'll be right back." (MSNBC, 09/02, Telegraph, 12/16/01) The phone call was with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. From a room with secure communications, Rice updated Bush on the situation. (Christian Science Monitor, 9/17/01, Time, 9/12/01) The fact that Bush immediately said he had to make an important call strongly suggests he was told about the situation while in the motorcade. But some accounts have Andrew Card saying to Bush as he gets out of his limousine, "Mr. President, you really need to take this phone call," thereby implying that Card knows what's going on, but Bush doesn't. (St. Petersburg Times, 9/8/02 (B))
As National Security Advisor, Rice had to have had as much information as anyone. By the time she spoke to Bush, she must have known that three planes had been hijacked and that the country was under attack. We know very little about the conversation - only that Rice later claimed, "(Bush) said, what a terrible, it sounds like a terrible accident. Keep me informed." (ABC News, 9/11/02) One reporter noted: "
Bush did not appear preoccupied (after the phone call) … There was no sign that Rice had just told (him) about the first attack (on the World Trade Center)." (Cox News, 9/12/01 (B)) Tose-Rigell was then summoned to a room to talk with Bush: "He said a commercial plane has hit the World Trade Center, and we're going to go ahead and go on, we're going on to do the reading thing anyway." (AP, 8/19/02 (D))
One local reporter notes that at this point, "He could and arguably should have left Emma E. Booker Elementary School immediately, gotten onto Air Force One and left Sarasota without a moment's delay ... But he didn't." (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 9/12/01 (B)) The only possible excuse is that Bush was completely clueless as to what was happening. Sure enough, at a press conference on the evening of 9/11, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was asked by a reporter, "And then this morning, when Andy Card told him about the first accident, was Andy Card or Condi Rice or any of those aware of the hijackings? What did they know when they --" Fleischer cut in and replied, "No, at that point they were not." (Knoxville News Sentinel, 9/11/01) So supposedly, 15 minutes after the first crash, none of Bush's aides, not even Rice back in Washington, DC, knew a thing about the hijackings that had been reported to NORAD 20 minutes earlier? This simply is not plausible.
LINKS to all sources:
http://complete911timeline.org/main/essayaninterestingday.htmlSpread the word -- Rice MUST answer this question!!!!!!!!
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