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At 9:03 AM on 11 September 2001, the second airplane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center. I was in Florida, at the Emma T. Booker Elementary School, listening to children read. Chief of Staff Andrew Card came over and whispered in my ear, "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack."

What did I, the Commander in Chief do? Nothing. I sat there. I sat for well over 5 minutes, doing nothing while 3,000 people were dying and the attacks were still in progress.

Not only did I, the leader of the free world sit as my country was attacked, the Secret Service also did nothing. I was appearing in public at a previously announced photo-op. I was a sitting duck. The attacks were ongoing at that point (planes had yet to hit the Pentagon or the field in Pennsylvania), and nobody knew how much more destruction was going to happen. Were there two, three, four, eight more planes hijacked and on their way to crash into prominent buildings?

Was one headed for the school, where anyone who checked my public itinerary would know I was located? Were other terrorists planning to detonate dirty nukes? Were they going to release anthrax or smallpox or sarin? Was an assassination squad going to burst into the school and get me? Was a suicide bomber going to ram a truck full of explosives into this classroom?

During the midst of the attacks, any of these things could've happened. Yet I calmly sat here, seemingly unconcerned. My Chief of Staff likewise doesn't think that America in flames warrants my immediate attention. And the Secret Service utterly fails to do its job of grabbing me, the President of the United States and getting me to safety. It's truly inexplicable.

And it's something the administration isn't too eager to trumpet. We haven't released footage of my (non)actions during this historic moment of American history. Until now, the only available footage had been a little film put together by Booker Elementary. The problem is, there's a jump edit in the footage: From the time Card whispers to me until the end of the scene in the classroom, only 2 minutes and 10 seconds elapse.

But this new, fuller footage shows me sitting for a full five minutes after I've been told that "America is under attack."

I declined to take action even longer than this, but this footage ends before I leave the classroom. Thanks to an amazing article by Allan Wood and Paul Thompson, we know what happened after the footage suddenly cuts off:

The only source to describe what happened next is Fighting Back by Bill Sammon. Publishers Weekly described Sammon's book as an "inside account of [my] administration's reaction to 9-11 [and] a breathless, highly complimentary portrait of the president [showing] the great merit and unwavering moral vision of his inner circle." [Publisher's Weekly, 10/15/02] Sammon's conservative perspective makes his account of my behavior at the end of the photo-op all the more surprising. I am described as smiling and chatting with the children "as if I didn't have a care in the world" and "in the most relaxed manner imaginable." White House aide Gordon Johndroe, then came in as he usually does at the end of press conferences, and said, "Thank you, press. If you could step out the door we came in, please." A reporter then asked, "Mr. President, are you aware of the reports of the plane crash in New York? Is there anything...", But I interrupted, and recalling my orders, "DON'T SAY ANYTHING YET," I responded, "I'll talk about it later." But still I did not leave. "I stepped forward and shook hands with [classroom teacher] Daniels, slipping my left hand behind her in another photo-op pose. I was taking my good old time. ... I lingered until the press was gone." [Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism - From Inside the Bush White House, by Bill Sammon, 10/02, p. 90]

For a detailed portrait of what I did and didn't do on 9/11, you can do no better than to read this article here. It is based completely on reports from mainstream media and statements from government officials.

Apologists claim that I didn't leave simply because I didn't want to interrupt and upset the children, but this falls apart for several reasons:

1) America is being attacked, thousands are dying, and I don't know if we're facing nuclear, biological, or chemical attacks, as well. Couldn't I just say, "Excuse me, kids, I need to take care of something. It's part of being President, y'understand. I'll be back as soon as I can."

2) At the moment Card told me about the second plane, the children weren't reading to me. They had finished reading words from an easel and were reaching under their chairs for a book when Card whispered to me. Another 30 seconds would elapse before they started reading again. This pause was a perfect time for me to politely excuse myeslf, but nooooo.

3) By staying, I not only endangered my own life, but the lives of all of these children. Wouldn't it be better to risk upsetting them than to risk letting them die in a terror attack?

4) Even if I was afraid of hurting the kiddies' feelings, what about my Secret Service? Have they been trained not to attempt to save my life if it might bother some schoolchildren?

5) What about Chief of Staff Andrew Card, White House Spokesperson Ari Fleischer, and other officials who were in that classroom? Didn't they feel that a 21st-century Pearl Harbor and a potential attack on the President himself were worth some sort of action?

6) Finally, and most damningly, this excuse doesn't explain why I continued to mill around the classroom for several minutes after the children had finished reading.

Somewhere, someone has the complete, uncut footage of me in Booker Elementary, from the time I enter the classroom until I finally walk out. If you have this footage, please send it to me, seriously.

Photos:

Maps:

Where I was When 9/11 Happened, popular places

Tags:

video , education , oops , bush , war , planes , kids , florida , reading , president , 911 , excuses , terrorism , sarasota , freedom freedumb