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.Hayes340hand, you maybe saved thousands of lives.And so it wasa matter that required a decision, that required action.Itwas the right call.26At 10:28, the North Tower collapsed.The frenzy in the shel-ter came to a halt, and except for an occasional whisper, the roomwent silent.On the television, one floor after another gave way,a bit of order amid the catastrophe.The building must have beencharged, thought Addington, who was standing against the outerwall of the shelter.Cheney, seated at the conference table, stared at the screen.Josh Bolten and Norman Mineta stood behind him to his left,Scooter Libby and Condoleezza Rice to his right.All wore virtu-ally the same stunned expressions.But the group in the shelter had little time to reflect on thetragedy.Two minutes later came yet another warning: an uniden-tified aircraft was in flight less than ten miles out.Cheney againgave the order to shoot it down.They waited for news.None came.At 10:39 AM, Cheney spoke to Secretary of Defense DonaldRumsfeld for the first time.He reviewed the events of the pasthour. There s been at least three instances here where we ve hadreports of aircraft approaching Washington, said Cheney. Acouple were confirmed hijack.And, pursuant to the president sinstructions I gave authorization for them to be taken out. There was quiet on the other end of the line. Hello? Yes, I understand, Rumsfeld came back. So we ve got acouple aircraft up there that have those instructions at this pres-ent time? That is correct, said Cheney. And it s my understandingthey ve already taken a couple aircraft out. We can t confirm that, Rumsfeld told his former aide. We re told that one aircraft is down but we do not have a pilotreport that did it. 27It was mid-morning before Cheney finally spoke to Hastert,who had been moved about twelve miles to Andrews Air Force Cheney341base despite citywide traffic gridlock.Cheney briefed his friend.Norm Mineta was at his side. We talked, but it wasn t a longconversation, says Hastert. You know, Dick never talks forvery long about anything.So he gave me the facts and what Ineeded to know and he gave me a review of what planes theythought might be still in the air that they thought might be dan-gerous. 28Cheney talked to Hastert about presidential succession. Youhad the president on the ground in Florida and then in the airin Florida, recalls Hastert, so the constitutional line had to bekept in order. 29Bush had left Florida almost immediately after his brief state-ment to the press at nine-thirty AM.White House staffers aboardAir Force One were not told where they were going.Reporterstraveling with the president calculated that the plane was flying incircles because the televisions on board received a strong enoughsignal that the passengers could watch the local Fox affiliate foralmost an hour with good reception.30In reality, Bush flew west to Barksdale Air Force Base inShreveport, Louisiana.He spoke to Cheney several times on a se-cure line, reiterating his desire to return to Washington.Cheney,backed by other senior officials and the Secret Service, continuedto advise against it.The attempt to keep Bush away from Washington would beone of the few decisions that day to draw immediate criticismof the White House. President Bush made an initial mistake, the presidential historian Robert Dallek told Susan Page of USAToday. The president s place is back in Washington. 31In an interview two months later, Cheney dismissed the criti-cism. That s crap, said Cheney. This is not about appeasingthe press or being the macho guy who is going to face downdanger.You don t think in those personal terms.This is aboutpreserving and protecting the presidency.His importance lies inthe office he holds. 32The president addressed the nation again at 12:36 PM.Hisfirst speech, about three hours earlier, had come off as limpand inadequate. Terrorism will not stand, he had said, beforepromising an investigation to find those folks who committed Stephen F.Hayes342this act. Much had happened since the attack on the Pentagon,the plane crash in Pennsylvania, the collapse of both towers atthe World Trade Center.In the White House, the national security team watched fromthe shelter as Bush spoke.His forceful two-minute speech earlythat afternoon gave the American public its first hint of the broaderwar to come. The United States, he declared, will hunt downand punish those responsible for these cowardly acts. Severalofficials continued to monitor the TVs after Bush was finished.The television reporting throughout the day proved invalu-able.For much of the day, the team in the shelter experienced9/11 as much of America did: through TV [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Hayes340hand, you maybe saved thousands of lives.And so it wasa matter that required a decision, that required action.Itwas the right call.26At 10:28, the North Tower collapsed.The frenzy in the shel-ter came to a halt, and except for an occasional whisper, the roomwent silent.On the television, one floor after another gave way,a bit of order amid the catastrophe.The building must have beencharged, thought Addington, who was standing against the outerwall of the shelter.Cheney, seated at the conference table, stared at the screen.Josh Bolten and Norman Mineta stood behind him to his left,Scooter Libby and Condoleezza Rice to his right.All wore virtu-ally the same stunned expressions.But the group in the shelter had little time to reflect on thetragedy.Two minutes later came yet another warning: an uniden-tified aircraft was in flight less than ten miles out.Cheney againgave the order to shoot it down.They waited for news.None came.At 10:39 AM, Cheney spoke to Secretary of Defense DonaldRumsfeld for the first time.He reviewed the events of the pasthour. There s been at least three instances here where we ve hadreports of aircraft approaching Washington, said Cheney. Acouple were confirmed hijack.And, pursuant to the president sinstructions I gave authorization for them to be taken out. There was quiet on the other end of the line. Hello? Yes, I understand, Rumsfeld came back. So we ve got acouple aircraft up there that have those instructions at this pres-ent time? That is correct, said Cheney. And it s my understandingthey ve already taken a couple aircraft out. We can t confirm that, Rumsfeld told his former aide. We re told that one aircraft is down but we do not have a pilotreport that did it. 27It was mid-morning before Cheney finally spoke to Hastert,who had been moved about twelve miles to Andrews Air Force Cheney341base despite citywide traffic gridlock.Cheney briefed his friend.Norm Mineta was at his side. We talked, but it wasn t a longconversation, says Hastert. You know, Dick never talks forvery long about anything.So he gave me the facts and what Ineeded to know and he gave me a review of what planes theythought might be still in the air that they thought might be dan-gerous. 28Cheney talked to Hastert about presidential succession. Youhad the president on the ground in Florida and then in the airin Florida, recalls Hastert, so the constitutional line had to bekept in order. 29Bush had left Florida almost immediately after his brief state-ment to the press at nine-thirty AM.White House staffers aboardAir Force One were not told where they were going.Reporterstraveling with the president calculated that the plane was flying incircles because the televisions on board received a strong enoughsignal that the passengers could watch the local Fox affiliate foralmost an hour with good reception.30In reality, Bush flew west to Barksdale Air Force Base inShreveport, Louisiana.He spoke to Cheney several times on a se-cure line, reiterating his desire to return to Washington.Cheney,backed by other senior officials and the Secret Service, continuedto advise against it.The attempt to keep Bush away from Washington would beone of the few decisions that day to draw immediate criticismof the White House. President Bush made an initial mistake, the presidential historian Robert Dallek told Susan Page of USAToday. The president s place is back in Washington. 31In an interview two months later, Cheney dismissed the criti-cism. That s crap, said Cheney. This is not about appeasingthe press or being the macho guy who is going to face downdanger.You don t think in those personal terms.This is aboutpreserving and protecting the presidency.His importance lies inthe office he holds. 32The president addressed the nation again at 12:36 PM.Hisfirst speech, about three hours earlier, had come off as limpand inadequate. Terrorism will not stand, he had said, beforepromising an investigation to find those folks who committed Stephen F.Hayes342this act. Much had happened since the attack on the Pentagon,the plane crash in Pennsylvania, the collapse of both towers atthe World Trade Center.In the White House, the national security team watched fromthe shelter as Bush spoke.His forceful two-minute speech earlythat afternoon gave the American public its first hint of the broaderwar to come. The United States, he declared, will hunt downand punish those responsible for these cowardly acts. Severalofficials continued to monitor the TVs after Bush was finished.The television reporting throughout the day proved invalu-able.For much of the day, the team in the shelter experienced9/11 as much of America did: through TV [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]