By Allan P. Duncan
New Hope, PA
July 1, 2003
"If some tinhorn terrorist wants me, tell him to come and get me! I'll be at home, waiting for the bastard!"
Forgive me for asking, but when on 9-11 did Bush utter those dramatic words?
I know it wasn't at the Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida because I've seen the twenty minute video. Bush already knew about the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center before he entered the classroom and yet chose to begin reading a book about a pet goat with the class until he was interrupted by Andrew Card who told him about the second crash. Because he claims he didn't want to upset the students, he carried on with the reading exercise for another ten to fifteen minutes before he finally left the school half an hour after the second attack took place.
They couldn't have been spoken while Air Force One was doing slow circles over Sarasota after he left Booker since nobody in his administration seemed to have a clue as to where the president should go at that point.
It couldn't have been after he eventually landed at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, Louisiana, over two and a half hours after the second plane hit the World Trade Center and where Bush remained for another forty five minutes.
He couldn't have said them during his next layover at Offut Air Force Base in Nebraska which lasted another hour and a half, with him finally leaving there at 4:30 PM.
It had to have been some time after his plane left Offut for another yet unknown destination because I read an account where one Secret Service Agent actually had the gall to question the president about wanting to fly back to DC and made the mistake of prefacing his argument with "But Mr. President"," at which time Bush ripped him a new one that now forces the poor young man to wear Pampers by replying "Try 'Commander in Chief' Whose present command is: Take the president home!"
So I assume those words must have been spoken sometime after Air Force One landed at Andrews Air Force Base at 6:34 PM, but most likely after Marine One delivered him to the White House shortly before 7 PM. Anytime before 7 PM those tinhorn bastards would have had to face the wrath of Laura if they had come looking for him.
I then researched his five minute speech to the nation at 8:30 PM but couldn't find the quote there either.
So when did Bush actually speak those powerful words?
Turns out he didn't! The words were made up by a Canadian screenwriter who was born in England and who Bush appointed to his White House Committee on the Arts and Humanities named Lionel Chetwynd. They will appear in a Showtime docudrama targeted for the second anniversary on 9-11 titled DC 9/11.
DC 9/11 supposedly tells the tale of our president's heroic leadership during and after 9-11 and will have actual footage of Bush spliced into the film to add to the drama and make it more realistic.
So what are Chetwynd's lofty film accomplishments that qualify him to put words in the mouth of our president that people might mistakenly believe he actually said on 9-11? Ever seen Rudy: The Rudy Giulani Story, Siege at Ruby Ridge, Kissinger and Nixon, Doomsday Gun, The Heroes of Desert Storm, So Proudly We Hail, To Heal a Nation, The Hanoi Hilton and the never to be forgotten Escape From Iran: The Canadian Caper? Enough said.
One bit of footage that will be added to the film is Bush's visit to Ground Zero. Who will ever forget that day when Bush placed his arm around an elderly firefighter and yelled through a bullhorn to the assembled rescue workers?
I'm sure none of us will be allowed to forget it ever again as I guarantee it will be drummed into our brains hundreds of times during the upcoming year in Bush campaign ads as the Republicans gear up for their 2004 convention in New York City. For the first time in history the Republicans have moved their convention into September in a shameless attempt to further politicize 9-11 and to squeeze every bit of political gain they can garner from the tragedy.
If Bush had been truly heroic on 9-11, I wouldn't have a problem with all of the hoopla. Since evidence, however, indicates that he had prior warnings that attacks like 9-11 could occur and might be imminent, and did nothing to protect innocent Americans from these attacks, I see him as anything but a hero.
As Commander in Chief, President Bush was in charge of the military on 9-11 when our entire national security apparatus and particularly our air defense system failed miserably. His choice to continue reading a story about a pet goat was apparently more of a priority to him than scrambling fighter jets that might have saved the loss of thousands of lives if they had been dispatched in a timely manner.
After 9-11, the Bush Administration has made repeated attempts to stall and stonewall both the Joint Congressional Inquiry and the Independent Commission investigations into 9-11 by cowering behind "Executive Privilege". "Executive Privilege" in this case is simply a feeble attempt to hide from the American people what Bush knew about terror warnings prior to 9-11.
If the White House admitted that Bush was briefed on August 6, 2001 at his ranch in Crawford, and was told that Al Qaeda was planning to hijack planes and slam them into buildings, he would then have to explain to the nation why he didn't do anything to either prevent the attacks or enact safeguards to protect our citizens from the attacks. This admission would then force him to be held accountable for his actions and the country would then have to decide how he should be dealt with.
If the president had any integrity or guts, he'd just be honest and admit what he knew and release the records that the Independent Commission has been requesting for months. I'm afraid this will never happen though, because his bravado and machismo is apparently all a facade and merely the actions of an extremely insecure and frightened boy in a grown mans body. I'm afraid we really can't expect any more from him.
If the truth be known, Bush was AWOL on 9-11, just as he was AWOL for the last year of his service with the Texas Air National Guard. At least during the Vietnam War his absence didn't hurt anyone. On 9-11, nearly 3,000 innocent souls were lost as a direct result of his inaction and incompetence.
President George W. Bush was certainly no hero on 9-11 and I resent the fact that some right wing hack is being allowed to make a film that is nothing more than a propaganda piece timed perfectly to jumpstart Bush's race to the White House in 2004. To attempt to place Bush among the roll of 9-11 heroes, is a slap to the memories of the many selfless souls who ran into flaming buildings and who gave the ultimate sacrifice by demonstrating real courage under incredible stress, something that Bush has never had to do even once in his sheltered lifetime.
Until he comes clean about 9-11, Bush doesn't deserve the right to even think about setting foot on Ground Zero on September 11, 2004. To do so would be a desecration of this hallowed ground and "We The People" cannot allow it to be defiled by someone like Bush.
To read more about Bush's real actions on 9-11, please read Allan Wood and Paul Thompson's extensively documented essay An Interesting Day: President Bush's Movements and Actions on 9/11 at
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html
Allan Duncan is a Social Worker who lives in New Hope, PA. This article is copyright by Allan Duncan ADuncan282@aol.com originally published by opednews.com Permission is granted to forward this or to place it on a website as long as the article is included intact, including this statement.
