Posted on 08/08/2004 9:22:05 AM PDT by dvan
ATLANTA - Thursday Senator John Kerry criticized President Bush for his immediate reaction to the 9/11 attacks on America soon after Michael Moore's use of the footage in Fahrenheit 911. Addressing minority journalists in DC, Mr. Kerry said he would have moved into action much faster than the President on that morning.
Kerry said, "Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to -- and I would have attended to it."
In the same interview with Larry King on July 8th where Kerry claimed "I haven't had time" to be briefed on new security threats, he told King what he did that horrible morning.
"I was in the Capitol. We'd just had a meeting - we'd just come into a leadership meeting in Tom Daschle's office, looking out at the Capitol. And as I came in, Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid were standing there, and we watched the second plane come in to the building. And we shortly thereafter sat down at the table and then we just realized nobody could think, and then boom, right behind us, we saw the cloud of explosion at the Pentagon. And then word came from the White House, they were evacuating, and we were to evacuate, and so we immediately began the evacuation."
The second plane hit the WTC at 9:03 AM and the plane crashed into the Pentagon at 9:43 AM. For a period of 40 minutes Mr. Kerry did nothing because "nobody could think".
Conversely, the President did think. It took the President seven minutes to vault into action while his staff was preparing his departure. Those were seven minutes the Secret Service had to secure an alternate route for the Presidential motorcade and Air Force One, seven minutes to make the executive decision to ground all aircraft, and seven minutes to make the decision to issue orders to shoot down any aircraft that failed to comply.
Kerry's immediate response was not to check on his family, not to check on any of his Boston constituency where some attack planes originated, not to inquire if the attack was continuing, and for at least 40 minutes he didn't call any federal agency to see where he could be of help. In fact, he waited for 40 minutes to be told what to do.
Since he is not the President, Kerry would no nothing of what emergency protocols were in place for that day. The President did indeed "attend to it" after the proper protocols had been initiated. He simply did not alarm the children and teachers at that the moment he was informed.
Good article, but the author could use an editor--used "no" where "know" would have been the correct word.
I don't care what anyone says.. I woke up to the radio, instead of music, hearing grave voices of a crash. By the time I got to the TV, the second plane had just hit about 3 minutes earlier.
I didn't panic, I didn't run around. I just sat there, open jawed disbelief. I wasn't even angry. Then I heard the pentagon was hit, and I thought 'wow, they're hitting us hard'.
Just my personal story, but I just can't imagine much more reaction than sheer shock. It wasn't until they collapsed that I got *angry*.. The same anger I feel to this day for revenge.
Bush didn't want to alarm the children. Isn't it all about the children Kerry?
Where was Kerry at the time of the attacks? Was he even in his DC office? Where was he "evacuated" from? If not, did he have information there was going to be an attack so to not be there? Where was his concern for his fellow Americans that he didn't make the necessary calls home?
That this is still even discussed, that people like Kerry and Moore can even say this [self-deleted] without being literally howled off the stage by a horrified public and hounded out of public life, is a genuine cringing embarrassment to me as an American.
Dan
Well said Dan.
Posted elsewhere is a letter to the NY Post by a reader who points out something very obvious that Moorkerry never thought of--the secret service had to secure the perimeter in case Bush was due to be attacked on evacuating the school.
I never thought of that, but considering how Cheney et al were physically picked up and evacuated immediately, the Secret Service was not just standing around looking at their watches thinking "Gee, wonder when the president will allow us to take him out of here."
As the letter writer points out, an ex-military man like Kerry should know about checking one's perimeter.
Good point, but isn't it true that when Bush was advised the first plane hit the tower, it wasn't yet known that this WAS an attack? The initial impression was that it was a plane that had mechanical trouble or went terribly off course. It wasn't until the 2nd plane hit that the pieces fell into place and emergency action went full throttle.
Right, this is all in refernce to the second crash.
With all the Moorish retorical hindsight, one of the premier lib talking heads (jennings maybe or??, but not rather), said he would have immediately got up and told the children, 'Excuse me, I have to leave now, the USA is under attack' or something even more ignorant.
Does anyone have the quote?
Is it verified anywhere exactly what was said to by the Secret Service to Bush at this moment? I remember watching it on TV but the thought of terrorists was distant until the second plane hit. Up until then, all we knew is that a plane hit the TTs, could have been pilot error, malfunction, etc.
Just as the swift boat thing has not been a good thing for Bush, second guessing those 7 minutes for Bush will prove to not be a good thing for Kerry. Its nothing more than Monday morning quarterbacking.
Did he attack Saudi Arabia (the number-one supporter of terrorists)? Syria? Pakistan?
Did he get a formal declaration of war?
Did he revoke the visas of all citizens of terror-supporting states?
Did he direct the CIA and FBI to work together and begin a massive wave of targeted assassinations of known terrorists and their leaders?
I am not saying Kerry would have done better. I am saying that it is now 2004--and we are still permitting visas to citizens of terror-supporting states; we are still allowing pilots for "Saudi Airlines" to come here to be trained; massive numbers of "OTMs" are crossing our borders; we have done no background checks on naturalized citizens who originated from terror-supporting states (one of the hijackers on 9/11 was a 'citizen' who had received advanced military training in the U.S.), nor have we required colleges and universities to provide more information on citizens of terrorist states who are majoring in, say, biochemistry or biology or chemistry...
--Boris
absolutely... i heard he was told to take his time while they secure the entrance area and get his cars started and ready at the door also for a using the Plan-B alternate route to the airport rather than the primary one they had planned in case it was compromised, plus having AF-1 started and warming up while he was en route etc. etc. etc. those precious first minutes were not wasted
I didn't panic, I didn't run around. I just sat there, open jawed disbelief. I wasn't even angry. Then I heard the pentagon was hit, and I thought 'wow, they're hitting us hard'.
Just my personal story, but I just can't imagine much more reaction than sheer shock. It wasn't until they collapsed that I got *angry*.. The same anger I feel to this day for revenge.
I am assuming that you do not work in a job involving a crisis response responsibility. I do.
We immediately made an assessment of our client's higher risk office locations. We made the quickest possible headcount of those traveling that day on business. We evacuated those who worked in high rise towers. We established communications with management employees in a responsible charge for their facilities.
These actions were all commenced within 10 minutes of the second plane hitting the WTC. So, we were slightly behind the White House team and solar systems ahead of Kerry and company.
Hmmmm, does anyone know if the windows in Daschle's office have a view of the Pentagon? It's quite a few miles away too, isn't it?
Is his description of events even remotely possible? (Not that I'd want to call kerry a liar but I find his story more than a little suspicious.)
I was watching on TV, from far away at home. I didn't go into work until the afternoon. There wasn't a whole lot I could do, except get some guns ready in case it didn't stop.
Was not meant as a slam on you. I was simply illustrating that those entities with a plan can and did implement those plans within minutes.
Kerry admittedly was 'shocked and awed.' Literally frozen into inaction. Frozen along with the rest of his party's leadership.
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