From
"Fifty-nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11" by Dave Kopel, we hear this "beauty"
Gwendolyn Tose'-Rigell, the principal of Emma E. Booker Elementary School, praised Bush's action: "I don't think anyone could have handled it better." "What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?"...
1) Bush was ENDANGERING those kids by not evacuating the school immediately.
* Bush is a top terrorist target
* Bush's location on 9/11 was all over the news since Sept. 7th
* America is under attack.
* There is an International Airport within 5 miles of the Booker Elementary School.
2) Any first grader knows the President is a busy man
By being a parent, I am sure the average 6 year old would not be scared if the President had to leave "for a phone call". Also I know any parent would rather have his kids scared than under deadly danger.
Don't they do any fire drills at Booker elementary ?!!? Does Booker Elementary teach kids and teachers to stay calm reading in a classroom - instead of evacuating the school - during a fire ?
3) Bush knew about the first attack before entering the classroom
Why didn't he delay his photo op until he saw what was going on ? When told about the second plane he shouldn't have been surprised, he knew - or should have known- terrorists were targeting planes. And having been a pilot shouldn't Bush have asked himself: "Gee, isn't there something a President needs to authorize during an attack on America's skies ?"
4) Bush himself has said: "I knew I needed to act.
I knew that if the nation's under attack, the role of the Commander-In-Chief is to respond forcefully to prevent other attacks from happening"
5) Bush's quick action could have saved 200 lives on the Pentagon
Jets can go pretty fast, there was enough time for jets to intercept the pentagon flight and the last flight. But an order from Bush was the only way to authorize any jets to fire on a civilian plane
1) Bush was ENDANGERING those kids by not evacuating the school immediately.
With all due respect for the eminent principal of the school, there is something she completely forgot: Did she think about that there could be planes heading towards the school bent on killing the president ? Any attack on Bush would have killed her and the kids too, despite Bush's "calming effect".
* Bush is a top terrorist target
* Bush's location was all over the news the day before.
* America is under attack. It is very reasonable to expect that the attackers will try to hit our President and CinC at his last known public location: The Emma E. Booker Elementary School
* There is an International Airport within 5 miles of the Booker Elementary School. A kidnapped plane could take less than 7 minutes to reach Bush and the kids.
Apparently no one from the Secret Service os the school noticed Bush was sitting there with a
bulls eye on his head and the kids around him as the "collateral damage".
Any responsible adult, particularly one with military training, should have reacted faster and evacuated the school.
Bush left 40 minutes later and LEFT W/O EVACUATING THE SCHOOL. Leaving THE KIDS IN DANGER at the school with terrorists potentially targeting it, as it was his last known location. Rigell, the eminent school pricipal did not issue any orders to evacuate the school either.
As Jared Israel observed in september 2002 (1.5 years before Moore's movie)
Rigell has, without a doubt, been a long time fan of the President. Right after 9/11 she offered this account of Bush's action:
"there was just a slight hesitancy in him, just a slight pause and then he continued. That was presidential."
It was presidential because "he continued"? Continued to do what? Continued hanging out with a bunch of school children even though his visit to the Booker was a publicly advertised event? Even though any terrorist wanting to kill him knew where to find him? Even though planes were being hijacked and flown into buildings and there was an international airport five miles from the Booker School? So that a terrorist, with foreknowledge of his planned visit, could have hijacked a plane from the local airport and flown it into the building killing him and all those very impressive young readers?
"Continued" to sit there doing nothing when it was his job to be conferring with the top military brass, and had been his job ever since the first plane was hijacked at 8:20?
2) Any first grader knows the President is a busy man
A simple "the President has an important phone call" excuse would not generate any panic and would allow Bush to leave the classroom to deal with the attack.
Evacuating the school could have been done after that, camly and w/o panic. Fighter jets could have been scrambled to guard Naples air space meanwhile.
3) Bush knew about the first attack before entering the classroom
This statement from Bush shows how he knew of the first plane even before entering the classroom, yet chose to get into the classroom without a single question to his NSA or NORAD or FAA or anyone else:
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well -- (applause) -- thank you, Jordan.
Well, Jordan, you're not going to believe where -- what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. And my chief of staff, Andy Card -- well, actually I was in a classroom, talking about a reading program that works. And it -- I was sitting outside the -- the classroom, waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower of a -- of a -- you know, the TV was obviously on, and I -- I used to fly myself, and I said, "Well, there's one terrible pilot." And I said it must have been a horrible accident. But I was whisked off there, I didn't have much time to think about it. And I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my Chief of Staff, who is sitting over here, walked in and said, "A second plane has hit the tower, America is under attack."
Why didn't Bush excuse himself before even talking to the kids ? Why didn't he call his National Security Advisor to see what was going on ?
4) Bush himself has said "I knew I needed to act."
PRESIDENT BUSH:...And so, I got on the phone from Air Force One, asking to find out the facts. You've got to understand, Jordan, during this period of time, there were all kinds of rumors floating around. Some of them were erroneous. Obviously -- for example, there was a news report saying that the State Department had been attacked. I needed to know what the facts were. But I knew I needed to act. I knew that if the nation's under attack, the role of the Commander-In-Chief is to respond forcefully to prevent other attacks from happening.
In his own words, Bush only took action almost an hour after Andrew Card whispered whatever he whispered in Bush's ear.
How do Bush's own words say this ?
He couldn't have been "on the phone from Air Force One" until around 10:00 AM Eastern time because that's approximately when Air Force One taxied down the runway to depart Sarasota-Brandenton Int'l Airport.
Which was almost an hour after Andrew Card whispered whatever he whispered in Bush's ear.
Which was also almost an hour after the FAA took the very extreme measure of closing the air corridor between Cleveland and New York. And which was an hour and 15 minutes after the Secret Service went on emergency open lines with the Federal Aviation Administration. Not to mention that it was one hour and 40 minutes after the FAA says they knew Flight 11 had been hijacked out of Boston. And by that time all the other attacks had happened.
5) Bush's quick action could have saved 200 lives
Another thing Rush and the pundits conveniently ignore is that until 9/11 the President was the only one in US with authority to order the downing of a civilian plane (). And Bush took at least 40 minutes to issue that order. Meanwhile, flight 77 hit the pentagon and killed 700 people.
Quick action by FAA and NORAD and Bush on 9/11 would have stopped 3 out of 4 planes on the air, before they hit the second tower, the Pentagon and crashed on Pennsylvania. (
*)
To prove that Bush could have saved the Pentagon(#5), let's examine the sequence of events:
9:05 a.m.: Andrew Card walks up to Bush .. Card whispers in his ear "A second plane has hit the World Trade Center. America is under attack." Bush .. keeps listening ... for at least 7 minutes, and perhaps as long as 18 minutes....
Now the only airliner left in the sky with its IFF transponder signal off -- has just made a 180 degree turn over southern Ohio / northeastern Kentucky and has been heading directly back to Washington D.C. Why didn't the two F-15's from Otis that were 71 miles from NYC and the WTC, immediately redirect to intercept the only dangerous airliner now in the sky, American Airlines Flight 77? These two F-15's had 34 minutes to reach Washington D.C. before American Airlines Flight 77 hits the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. No planes are sent to Washington DC, even though controllers know flight 77 is off course heading towards it and that flights 11 and 175 have just crashed against the WTC
There is no way this should have happened. What of course should have happened, was as soon as the secret service found out about United Airlines Flight 175 impacting the WTC (now knowing it was a "terrorist" act), they would have immediately grabbed Bush and brought him to an undisclosed location. There is no way the secret service leaves Bush in a place (Emma E. Booker Elementary School) where everyone knows he is. [Thus endangering the President and the kids who are sitting just a couple of feet from Bush]
Why hasn't NORAD scrambled any fighters to protect Washington D.C. by 9:05? How could they not have? Two airliners have already hit the WTC. Nine minutes ago the transponder on American Airlines Flight 77 was shut off and it made a 180 degree turn and has been heading directly for Washington D.C. for 6 minutes. Perhaps now would be a good time to remember that New York City and Washington D.C. are far and away the top two cities in the United States that would be targeted by terrorists. Why hasn't NORAD scrambled any fighters to protect Washington D.C. by 9:05? When Bush was told of the second plane, having been a pilot himself you would think he'd remember that there was something a President could order a pilot to do, heh ?
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