(2) Keep in mind that Bush was informed of the first WTC crash before he went into the classroom. He was told of the second crash before the kids. I hope that Bush's first thought would have been a recognition that the US had suffered a coordinated terrorist attack.
(3) Here's what I would have done in the next six or seven minutes: talk to the Joint Chiefs; talk to Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Powell; order the US military to full alert and assistance to New York; ask for suggestions as to additional measures to take; order a return to Washington; and so on. Of course, Bush eventually did all those things and more -- but, having left the kiddies, I would have done them sooner than Bush did.
I don’t mean that GW would actually appear visibly “rattled” (facial expressions etc.), I mean that any precipitous departure no matter how smoothly conducted would have been portrayed by the scumbags as “oh look Pres. Bush was rattled or panicked by the news.”
It was a no-win proposition, stay or go, so far as the Michael Moore type of propaganda war goes.
So far as the substance, I continue to be mystified that you actually believe that in those 7 minutes the country needed a POTUS to be on the phone with the people you listed. In those 7 minutes the first priority for people not in a position to act instantaneously was to gather all kinds of info on what was happening. Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, et al needed staff people to gather a bare minimum of info before there was any point in Pres. Bush getting on the phone with anyone.
Furthermore, based upon all prior history and knowledge before 9/11, there was no conceivable reason for any POTUS to be making such calls in the first 3-8 minutes of learning of a terrorist attack. You are indeed engaging in the “anachronism” of assuming that Bush knew instantly many things that were only known after those first minutes.
Even now it would be extremely rare circumstances which would require a POTUS to be barking any orders in the first few minutes — an adequate flow of info has to come in to the staff of the President (whoever it may be) before there is any reasonable point to getting on the phone with the officials you list.
Never before in history (before 9/11) was it even conceivable that a POTUS needed to be responding to the first minutes of a non-nuclear event. Everything you are saying is based upon the anachronism of knowing what we learned in the hours, days, months after those first minutes.
I am judging what it was reasonable for a POTUS to think, say and do as of around 9 am EST on 9/11/2001. Any POTUS would expect staff to gather a bit of data on what was happening before he would even conceive of getting on the phone to all those other officials.
Sure, if Bush had stayed in that room an hour we’d have the same view of this (unless the children were ushered out for some remote communications to be set up for the President). But continuing his reading for 7 min. in order to maintain a sense of calm and measured behavior in the crisis?? No, his behavior was certainly within the range of reasonable, sensible responses.
Do you have a source for that?