Bush's 9/11 Silence

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Karl M Evans

Dear BuzzFlash,

As I was reading the article by Bill Maher ("Bush blew it the morning of 9/11") that you linked to regarding Bush's complete failure of leadership on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I was once again reminded of a truly terrible realization that came to me some time ago about that morning, but which I have not, until now, stepped forward to point out. And it is one I am amazed that no one else appears to have considered.

Yes it is true that Bush displayed complete incompetence by simply sitting there in that classroom for seven minutes while the United States was coming under attack. And Maher is correct in pointing out that no one has been factoring in the additional 20 minutes of the photo op that followed. And we all know, as anyone with a lick of sense would know, that Bush's story about "not wanting to scare the children" was no less a work of fiction than the book he had been reading to those children that morning. Throughout his life Bush has continually displayed a complete absence of anything resembling concern or empathy for the well-being of others. It's the hallmark trait of a sociopath.

But the greatest and most despicable crime Bush committed that morning was not simply that he did not get up and deal with the situation immediately. It was that he stayed in one place -- and the place he chose to stay in particular. The difference may seem subtle at first, but it isn't.

America was clearly being attacked. It was not a single, isolated hit. There were multiple targets in multiple cities. And we now know that there were many other targets that were not hit due to the circumstances of the day. The President was making a public appearance that morning. A public appearance that was announced in advance. There was every reason to believe that Bush himself could have been a potential target that morning. In fact, I am sure we all remember Ari Fleischer's fish tale about Air Force One being a target, so as to excuse Bush from returning immediately to Washington. But even if Bush had not been a target, no one during those morning hours would have known one way or the other. It does not matter. The most fundamental procedure in the event of an attack on this country is to ASSUME a threat to the President and immediately secure his person.

What does this mean? It means that by remaining in that classroom for that seven minutes, and remaining in the vicinity for another 20, Bush was directly endangering the lives of those children. As a presumed target, his mere presence among those children put them directly in the line of fire. And with every second he lingered, he kept them in the line of fire.

Of all the inexcusable and incompetent acts Bush committed on that day, that is the most inexcusable and incompetent of them all.

Karl M Evans

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION