Pan_Yans Wife: What I meant to ask was whether or not the videotape of the first plane hitting the building was available on the Se[tember 11th?I understand your confusion. All those events blurred for all of us on that horrible day. The answer is that the videotape of the plane hitting the first tower, shot by the French newsman, was given to the media much later that afternoon after he got back to the fire station where he started. It was shown on TV many hours after the original crash at 8:48 that morning. So Bush could not have seen it live before he walked into the classroom. No one saw the videotape on TV at 8:48. Many people did see the crash in person, however, and called in to local TV stations who then alerted the networks.
Many people have wondered why the president claimed that he saw the crash before he went into the classroom. As I posted in the links 59 and 66 above, his verbatim words are available from the actual White House transcripts of his new conferences. He told the story originally on Dec. 4, 2001, and then repeated it on Jan. 5, 2002. He clearly said that he viewed it live, as you will see from the transcript: "First of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building."
Perhaps he just confused it in his mind later on. The strange thing is that someone on his staff did not tell him after that first press conference that he had misspoke. Or especially after he repeated it. But there is obviously no grand conspiracy here. He was just obviously confused. Too bad the yes-men around him didn't speak up and that he didn't clarify his obvious mistake.
--Raoul