First Lady Says U.S. Recovering From 9-11
1 hour, 47 minutes ago
By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer
CRAWFORD, Texas - First lady Laura Bush says Americans are walking a tightrope of staying vigilant against a new terrorist attack while comforting their children during a time of heightened terrorism fears.
AP Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Laura Bush
Asked whether America has recovered from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, she said: "Not really."
"Our world changed," Mrs. Bush said in an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We still are always aware of that. The rawness of it and the shock of it is diminished with time."
She spoke at a time when her husband's administration has put the nation on high alert for a terrorist strike during the holidays.
"We have to keep comforting our children, but we also have to be very vigilant as American citizens as we go about our work," she said. "And that's difficult, it's very anxiety-provoking, but at the same time it makes us know we have to put our arms around our children, be with them."
The first lady recalled a moment of personal anxiety last month, when President Bush (news - web sites) secretly flew to Baghdad to be with troops on Thanksgiving.
When she first learned of the stealth visit, she wanted to accompany her husband, but knew he did not plan to invite her.
"I was very anxious at first when he first started taking about it," she said. But by the time he and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) drove off from the Bush ranch toward the airport, the day before Thanksgiving, her fears had subsided. She was convinced that he would not take the trip if it were not safe.
Her nervousness rose again, and the secrecy shrouding the mission hit home, when she did not hear from the president when she expected to following his Baghdad landing.
With the president's parents en route to the Bush ranch for a holiday meal, Mrs. Bush called the head of her Secret Service protective detail to ask about her husband's whereabouts.
The Secret Service (news - web sites) agent told her the president was at the Texas ranch.
"I realized my detail didn't know that he was there" in Iraq (news - web sites), she said.
Mrs. Bush also said that a poem she had recently attributed to her husband — in jest, she added — was not his work. The first lady had read the poem to an audience of book lovers in October after returning from a trip to Paris and Moscow. It read in part: "Roses are red/Violets are blue/Oh my lump in the bed/How I've missed you."
Many people believed the president had written the poem, but she was joking when she told listeners it was his, she said.
The first lady was joined on the NBC program by Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President Kennedy.
This member of one of America's most prominent Democratic families was asked why she applauded when Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) took office as California governor last month.
Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, is Caroline Kennedy's cousin; Shriver's mother, Eunice, is a sister of President Kennedy.
"I think Arnold really has inspired people to come together in a great way and to get involved in public service," Caroline Kennedy said. "I'd like to think that he learned a little bit of that from his in-laws." |
