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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rich4eagle who wrote (295917)	9/11/2002 7:26:02 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

On Anniversary, Bush's Emotions Surface By Mike Allen Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 11, 2002; 1:55 PM URL: washingtonpost.com NEW YORK, Sept. 11 – President Bush blinked and gulped mournfully today as he committed the nation to defeating terrorism so that the war's first victims did not die in vain. Bush's hot and cold emotions tend to pour out unbidden, and he showed tenderness as a comforter and ferocity as a commander as he relived the horrifying day that transformed his presidency. "What happened to our nation on a September day set in motion the first great struggle of a new century," Bush said at the Pentagon this morning as he began a sad circuit of the hijackers' three crash sites. "The enemies who struck us are determined and they are resourceful. They will not be stopped by a sense of decency or a hint of conscience. But they will be stopped." At Ground Zero in New York this afternoon, Bush is to lay a wreath and dedicate a plaque that bears his signature and the presidential seal. "In memory of the event of September 11, 2001," the tablet says. "Every life taken here . . . every act of valor performed here . . . the Nation holds in honored memory." Bush frequently linked hands with First Lady Laura Bush as they began the morning at a Washington prayer service, then joined their aides for a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House at 8:46 a.m., when the first of the towers was pierced one year ago. At the Pentagon, the first of the crash sites he visited, a lump rose in his throat as he gazed up at the cement surgery on the scar in the Pentagon and said quietly to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld Jr., "Pretty good." Bush is to address the nation at 9 p.m., and he spoke only one other time today as part of his aides' effort to preserve a sense of solemnity. At the Pentagon ceremony, he told applauding service members and their families that with each deployment, the military brings "hope and justice and promise of a better day." "The 184 whose lives were taken in this place – veterans and recruits, soldiers and civilians, husbands and wives, parents and children – left behind family and friends whose loss cannot be weighed. The murder of innocence cannot be explained, only endured. And though they died in tragedy, they did not die vain." Feuds and partisanship was on holiday; White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr. sat next to Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.). Aides said Bush had not been looking forward to this day, but he lingered longer than scheduled to sign autographs and offer condolences to survivors gathered in the field in Shanksville, Pa., where one of the hijackers' planes plunged. About 100 White House employees, many of them convinced their lives were saved when the Shanksville victims fought back, boarded buses at 3:30 a.m. to head up for the service. While the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was played at the Shanksville service, Bush kept taking his glasses on and off, looking down at the program and briefly joining the chorus, then apparently returning to his own thoughts. The usual home page at www.whitehouse.gov was replaced for the day by a a stark message, accompanied by no illustrations. "Remembering those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001," the page says. "Honoring the spirit of Freedom that will live forever." Bush recalled the confusion of a year ago during an interview to be aired at 8 p.m. on CBS News' "60 Minutes II." Asked what he thought when he saw the towers coming down, Bush said, "I was horrified. I thought, dear God, protect as many citizens as you can. It was a nightmare." Bush told correspondent Scott Pelley aboard Air Force One that the signal was breaking up on the television coverage as flew west from Sarasota, Fla., where he was visiting an elementary-school classroom when he learned of the attacks. He said he called Cheney as he was "trying to clear the fog of war, and there is a fog of war – information was just flying from all directions." "I can remember sitting right here in this office thinking about the consequences of what had taken place and realizing it was the defining moment in the history of the United States," Bush said. "I didn't need any legal briefs, I didn't need any consultations, I knew we were at war." Bush said he doesn't remember thinking about whether the White House had been obliterated. "I think I might have thought, 'They took their best shot,' " he said. "Now it was time for us to take our best shot." © 2002 The Washington Post Company