A historic day in the life of President Bush (9/10/06): photographic remembrance of 9/11/06

WhiteHouse.gov ^ | 9/10/06

[Wolfstar]

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: President and Mrs. Bush, and the American people, begin observances of the 5th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks. Excerpt from the AP story by JENNIFER LOVEN, as published on Yahoo News a short time ago.

Bush, wife lay wreaths at ground zero

NEW YORK -- President Bush and his wife Laura stood in somber silence on Sunday after laying wreaths at the ground zero site where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood. They honored the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks on a tour that will take them to all three sites of devastation on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Bushes set floral wreaths adrift in ponds of water that mark the former location of the north and south towers. They uttered no words, and walked hand-in-hand on the floor of the cavernous pit, after a slow procession down the long, flag-lined ramp from the street level four to five stories above.

The Bushes then attended a service of prayer and remembrance at nearby St. Paul's Chapel.

The 240-year-old Episcopal church, across the street from the site, escaped damage and became a center of refuge for weary rescue workers.

They were the first stops of nearly 24 hours of observances at the three sites where terrorists wrought death and destruction and transformed his presidency. Nearly 3,000 Americans were killed in the attacks.

On Monday, the anniversary, he was to visit with firefighters and other emergency workers at a firehouse in lower Manhattan; attend a ceremony at the field in Shanksville, Pa., where one of the hijacked planes hurtled to the ground; and participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon.

He also was to speak to Americans during a prime-time address Monday night from the Oval Office.

Accompanying the president and first lady at ground zero were New York Gov. George Pataki, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Rudy Giuliani, who was New York mayor at the time of the attacks.

September 11, 2001, presidential pre-attack timeline, and a little known incident that may have been a foiled assassination attempt...

The President flew to Sarasota, Florida, on September 10th. He stayed at the Colony Beach Resort located on a coral island in the Gulf of Mexico off Sarasota. After a private dinner with his brother, Florida governor Jeb Bush, other Republican politicians and activists, the President went to bed around 10:00pm.

Surface-to-air missiles were placed on the roof of the resort (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 9/10/02), and an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) plane circled high overhead (Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism—From Inside the Bush White House, by Bill Sammon, 10/02, p. 25). The Secret Service does not make public its detailed security practices, so the public record does not clarify if this type of protection was standard for presidents at the time, or whether security was increased because of possible threats on the life of President Bush in particular. However, an incident the following morning suggests it was due to threats.

On the morning of September 11, President Bush awoke a little before 6:00am. About a half-hour later, he took a four-mile job around a nearby golf course accompanied by a reporter friend and his Secret Service detail.

At about the same time GWB was getting ready for his jog, a van carrying several Middle Eastern men pulled up to the Colony’s guard station. The men said they were a television news crew with a scheduled “poolside” interview with the President. They asked for a certain Secret Service agent by name. The message was relayed to a Secret Service agent inside the resort, who hadn’t heard of the agent mentioned or of plans for an interview. He told the men to contact the President’s public relations office in Washington, DC, and had the van turned away. (Longboat Observer, 9/26/01)

The Secret Service may have foiled an assassination attempt. Two days earlier, Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, had been murdered by a similar ruse. Massoud's assassination is widely believed to have been timed to remove the Taliban’s most popular and respected opponent in anticipation of the backlash that would occur after the 9/11 attacks. (BBC, 9/10/01, BBC, 9/10/01 (B), Time, 8/4/02, St. Petersburg Times, 9/9/02)

After his jog, GWB showered, then sat down for his daily intelligence briefing around 8 a.m. While the President was being briefed, the planes that would be hijacked began taking off. American Airlines Flight 11 was first, leaving Boston’s Logan Airport at 7:59 a.m. The others soon followed, except for United Flight 93, scheduled to leave at 8:01, but which was delayed on the runway for about 40 minutes. Around the same time the Flight 11 hijackers were stabbing passenger Daniel Lewin (about 8:20) the President’s briefing ended and he prepared to leave the Colony. Accounts of when his motorcade left for Emma Booker Elementary School vary from 8:30 to 8:39. He arrived at about 9:00am.

The first media reports of Flight 11’s crash into the World Trade Center began around 8:48, two minutes after the attack happened. The President was informed either during the motorcade trip to the school or as he stepped out of the limousine (reports and recollections vary). The President later recalled what he was thinking at the time: “I was concentrating on the program at this point, thinking about what I was going to say [about the plane crash]. Obviously, I felt it was an accident. I was concerned about it, but there were no alarm bells.” At 9:03, at the same time the program at the elementary school started, Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Chief of Staff Andrew Card was in a nearby room when he heard the news of the second attack. He waited until there was a pause in the reading drill to walk in and tell the President. The children were getting their books from under their seats to read a story together when Mr. Card came in (Daily Mail, 9/8/02) and whispered to the President: “A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack.” Accounts vary between 9:05 and 9:07am as to when this historic moment occurred.

WOLFSTAR'S NOTE RE TIMELINE: Accounts of the specific timing of events always vary somewhat during and after emergencies. People use different instruments to note the time -- different watches or clocks, many of which run somewhat fast or somewhat slow.

In addition, as any criminal lawyer knows, human memory is notoriously unreliable for retaining details, particularly of shocking events. This is why eye witnesses to crimes are rarely believed without corroborating physical and circumstantial evidence.

Leftist enemies of President Bush have tried viciously to use the slight discrepancies in different accounts of the timeline that morning to paint a portrait of President Bush as clueless, inattentive, negligent, even cowardly during those first minutes and hours of and after the attacks. So I have deliberately started the above timeline with the little-known probable assassination attempt earlier that morning to make it as clear as possible why the President could not simply dash, willy nilly, from the school to wherever. The Secret Service first had to have a plan of action as to where to take the President to ensure not only his safety, but continuity of government given that the nation's capitol city was also under attack, over 3000 planes were still in the air at the time, and no one knew how many more were being hijacked.

For those who are interested in a straightforward, contemporaneous, totally non-political timeline, here's a good one from CNN's archives. It was posted at 12:27 PM EDT (1627 GMT), September 12, 2001.

HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT TRANSCRIPTS: Unless otherwise noted, all transcript links are to the official WhiteHouse.gov web pages, most of which also contain video and audio links to the events.

Sept. 11, 9:30am EDT, Remarks by the President After Two Planes Crash Into World Trade Center, Emma Booker Elementary School, Sarasota, Florida. (In addition to the transcript, this page only contains an audio link.)

Sept. 11 (time not recorded on WH web page), Remarks by the President Upon Arrival at Barksdale Air Force Base

Sept. 11, 1:47pm EDT, Press Briefing to the Pool By Ari Fleischer aboard Air Force One en route to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska

Sept. 11 (time not recorded on WH web page), Press Briefing by Karen Hughes, Counselor to the President, at National FBI Headquarters

Sept. 11, 5:30pm EDT, Press Briefing to the Pool By Ari Fleischer aboard Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base

Sept. 11, 7:15pm EDT, Press Briefing by Attorney General, Secretary of HHS, Secretary of Transportation, and FEMA Director

Sept. 11, 8:30pm EDT, Statement by the President in His Address to the Nation

VIDEOS: Caution...these are not for the faint of heart and probably are not suitable for very young children.

This is an excellent but heart-wrenching video set with tragic irony to Ray Charles' tune "What a Wonderful World."

A compilation of news clips.

Other videos can be found here.

[RobFromGa]

9-11: Aftermath
By RobFromGa
Dedicated to President George W. Bush

A country-
Attacked.
Grieving, caring, angry.
United.

An enemy-
Jubilant.
Murdering, celebrating, hating.
Jihad.

A President-
Determined.
Considering, planning, reacting.
Vision.

A military-
Professional.
Training, fighting, liberating.
Patriots.

A fifth column-
Biased.
Spinning, distorting, lying.
Partisan.

Our country-
Unsure.
Some worrying, whining, blaming.
Some praying, supporting, hoping.
Divided.

Our enemy-
Hopeful.
Watching, striking, destabilizing.
Waiting.

The President-
Strong.
Leading, deciding, pre-empting.
Confident.

The enemy-
Scared.
Running, hiding, dying.
Defeated.

Our country-
Normal.
Working, living, loving.
United.

Our world-
Peaceful.

Through strength.

Again.

[Wolfstar]

And so we come to today and the start of 5th anniversary commemorations...

The President and First Lady arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York this afternoon.

At about 6:00pm EDT, the President and First Lady arrive at the South Street heliport in lower Manhattan.

Late this afternoon, President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush are escorted by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, New York Gov. George Pataki, second from right, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as they walk down the ramp to ground zero past the reflecting pool at the footprint of the south tower of the World Trade Center, Sunday Sept. 10, 2006 in New York.

[Wolfstar]

The first couple as they prepare to lay wreathes in the reflecting pool.

[TexasTransplant]

You guys/gals are quick!

[Wolfstar]

[Wolfstar]

A military escort, left, stands at attention as President and Mrs. Bush observe a moment of silence after laying a memorial wreath in a pool of water at Ground Zero today.

[Wolfstar]

Our George and Laura hold hands as they walk through the site of the World Trade Center in New York today.

[Wolfstar]

After their visit to Ground Zero, the President and First Lady attended a service at historic St. Paul's Chapel, which is diagonally across the street from the WTC site. President George Washington, who was inaugrated in 1789, worshiped at St. Paul's during the two years that New York City was the nation's capital. St. Paul's was built from 1764 to 1766 as a "Chappell of Ease" of Trinity Church (at the head of Wall Street) to serve parishioners who resided amidst the wheat fields and countryside north of the city. Today, St. Paul's Chapel is Manhattan's oldest public building in continuous use, and its only remaining colonial church.

Only yards from the World Trade Center site, the old chapel escaped any serious damage on Sept. 11, 2001, and it served as a place of refuge throughout the recovery and clean-up period.

[Wolfstar]

President Bush kisses Jane Vigiano during a memorial service to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks of September 11, 2001. Mrs. Vigiano lost two sons, a police detective and a firefighter.

This photo needs no caption.

[A Citizen Reporter]

You won't take any flak from me, I've been thinking the same thing this day, as I watch the footage from 5 years ago. I'm so very happy to have such a man at this time. And I'm so very grateful to him AND HIS FAMILY, for taking all the flak from our enemies.

[Wolfstar]

President Bush greets firefighter Bob Beckwith, who stood with GWB atop a smouldering fire truck at Ground Zero just days after the attacks, as Mrs. Bush walks to take her seat during a memorial service at St Paul's Chapel today. The President clearly has never forgotten the people he met in the days immediately after the attack, and I'd wager he keeps in touch with a number of them.

[Wolfstar]

People visit the Flight 93 Temporary Memorial just outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, September 10, 2006. Tomorrow the President and First Lady will visit the site, and will end their rememberances at the Pentagon later in the day.

[OldFriend]

Be safe, my FRiend.

[RobFromGa]

You have done an amazing job on this thread, thank you very much, this one goes into the bookmarks...

[Wolfstar]

The 2nd grade class of Washington Elementary School in Canton, Ohio, wrote a poem and sent it to the President. This is the photo that accompanies the poem on the WH website:

From: Second Grade Class at Washington Elementary School in Canton, Ohio
To: President George W. Bush
Subject: 2nd Grade "Heroes" poem

Dear Mr. President,

Mrs. Konigsberger's Second Grade Class
Washington Elementary School
Canton, Ohio

"HEROES"
Inspired by "Ground Zero Heroes"
Dedicated to our heroes nationwide

H is for . . .
   your helping hands and huge hearts,
   the hours of hard work, the headaches,
   the heartaches, the heroic acts you do,
   and the honor you bring to our country.

E is for . . .
   your effort and unending supply of energy,
   the excellence in the example that you set,
   the eyes that look up to you and look to
   you for help, and for the encouragement you
   give to everyone every day.

R is for . . .
   the real life role models that you are,
   your quick response for help and rescue,
   for reassuring, recovering, and returning
   without the promise of a personal reward.

O is for . . .
   all you do for others, overcoming fears,
   your occupation of helping and saving,
   your obvious dedication and bravery,
   and your outstanding commitment to bettering
   our world.

E is for . . .
   each time you endanger your life to help,
   exceeding expectations and going the extra
   mile, for the hardships you endure in your
   experience, and the education and enrichment
   you provide.

S is for . . .
   the service and the standards you set for
   society, the many selfless acts,
   the sacrifice, the lives you save,
   the sadness you see, and all of the small
   things that seem to go unnoticed.

[Wolfstar]

ALL CLEAR!

[Wolfstar]

Hi onyx, my friend. I'm glad you were first on this very special thread. :)

[Wolfstar]

Thunderstorm...but I'm here anyway!

You'll probably think I'm nuts, but I love thunderstorms.

[snugs]

Wonderful job

[Kaslin]

Wasn't that Louis Armstrong who sang "What A Wonderful World?" I love that song btw