My 9/11 Experience at CNN Center
I was working on the 7th floor of the South Tower of CNN Center on the morning of 9/11.
Actually, I was walking through a newsroom the very moment the second plane hit the WTC live on national TV. Since a friend had started recording the feed once CNN went live after the first plane hit, he actually stopped the recording and replayed it instantly. In amazement, we watched it hit again.
My first thought at the time was... "How could this be an accident on such a clear and beautiful day?" Moments later, an analyst said "this can't be an accident."
Much has been made of President Bush's reaction to being told by Chief of Staff Andy Card that "America is under attack" shortly after the second plane hit. Michael Moore spent a lot of time on it in "Farenheit 9/11," and I've recently been reading about it in David Ray Griffin's book "The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions."
It caused me to remember my experience on the morning of 9/11, as well as my reaction to discovering Bush's behavior. Shortly after the towers collapsed, I was walking toward the elevator outside my 7th floor office. Like all other Turner employees, I had been notified via company-wide email that all non-essential employees were being sent home and as a security measure, all non-employees were being evacuated from CNN Center, which includes a large food court area that's open to the public.
I looked out the window from the 7th floor lobby and couldn't help but imagine a plane heading straight for my building. Walking to my car later that day, I looked up at a skyscraper in downtown Atlanta and imagined it being hit by a plane, too... and collapsing... just like the towers. At the time, it seemed conceivable that CNN Center might be a nice target for terrorists intent on spreading death and destruction. After watching the destruction of the WTC and the Pentagon, anything seemed possible. Indeed, security was ramped-up at CNN Center for at least six months following 9/11. Guards searched my bags every time I entered the building.
What struck me about this memory is that, if I was able to imagine this at CNN Center in Atlanta, would the Secret Service agents responsible for protecting the President in Sarasota not have imagined a plane headed for that elementary school?
For more than four years, I actually accepted the explanation that Bush just didn't want to panic... that he was concerned about projecting an image of calm in a time of crisis... and that's why he didn't rush out of the classroom the very moment he learned of the second plane. It almost seemed admirable. Additionally, I thought it was unfair to attack him for "doing nothing," as I was sure our trillion dollar military defense apparatus was more than prepared to handle the situation without his direct involvement.
However, that very thought now seems absurd.
As Griffin states in his book, the Secret Service agents at the school would certainly have been trained to expect a worst-case scenario. Certainly, they would have known that if America were under attack, as was evident at that time, the President would have been a likely target. Furthermore, the President was at a well-publicized location surrounded by hundreds of children. Wouldn't the Secret Service have operated under the assumption that a plane was headed toward the school that very moment, and the longer he lingered reading "My Pet Goat," the more likely the President would be killed in an attack? Wouldn't it have been prudent to evacuate the school in order to protect the children and everyone else? Wouldn't the Commander in Chief want to be kept informed minute-by-minute in case he had to make tough decisions on the spot? What if there had been a dozen planes hijacked at that time heading for various targets? Wouldn't his opinion be required?
The only justification the Secret Service would have had for remaining at the school would be if they somehow knew they were not in any danger. Otherwise, they would be endangering the President's life, as well as the lives of the children and everyone else there. The FAA states that it thought as many as 11 additional airliners could have been hijacked as of that time. As for Bush, he must have thought matters were in good hands with his Vice President Dick Cheney in control... making Cheney the de-facto Commander in Chief that very moment.
Since none of the agents in question were fired or demoted following 9/11, the implication is that they did their jobs correctly.
Griffin presents a wealth of information in his book that backs up this idea... but thinking back to my own experience on 9/11, all that evidence seems unnecessary. His response just doesn't make sense unless the Secret Service already knew he was safe.
And how, moments after the second plane hit, would anyone know that?
Actually, I was walking through a newsroom the very moment the second plane hit the WTC live on national TV. Since a friend had started recording the feed once CNN went live after the first plane hit, he actually stopped the recording and replayed it instantly. In amazement, we watched it hit again.
My first thought at the time was... "How could this be an accident on such a clear and beautiful day?" Moments later, an analyst said "this can't be an accident."
Much has been made of President Bush's reaction to being told by Chief of Staff Andy Card that "America is under attack" shortly after the second plane hit. Michael Moore spent a lot of time on it in "Farenheit 9/11," and I've recently been reading about it in David Ray Griffin's book "The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions."
It caused me to remember my experience on the morning of 9/11, as well as my reaction to discovering Bush's behavior. Shortly after the towers collapsed, I was walking toward the elevator outside my 7th floor office. Like all other Turner employees, I had been notified via company-wide email that all non-essential employees were being sent home and as a security measure, all non-employees were being evacuated from CNN Center, which includes a large food court area that's open to the public.
I looked out the window from the 7th floor lobby and couldn't help but imagine a plane heading straight for my building. Walking to my car later that day, I looked up at a skyscraper in downtown Atlanta and imagined it being hit by a plane, too... and collapsing... just like the towers. At the time, it seemed conceivable that CNN Center might be a nice target for terrorists intent on spreading death and destruction. After watching the destruction of the WTC and the Pentagon, anything seemed possible. Indeed, security was ramped-up at CNN Center for at least six months following 9/11. Guards searched my bags every time I entered the building.
What struck me about this memory is that, if I was able to imagine this at CNN Center in Atlanta, would the Secret Service agents responsible for protecting the President in Sarasota not have imagined a plane headed for that elementary school?
For more than four years, I actually accepted the explanation that Bush just didn't want to panic... that he was concerned about projecting an image of calm in a time of crisis... and that's why he didn't rush out of the classroom the very moment he learned of the second plane. It almost seemed admirable. Additionally, I thought it was unfair to attack him for "doing nothing," as I was sure our trillion dollar military defense apparatus was more than prepared to handle the situation without his direct involvement.
However, that very thought now seems absurd.
As Griffin states in his book, the Secret Service agents at the school would certainly have been trained to expect a worst-case scenario. Certainly, they would have known that if America were under attack, as was evident at that time, the President would have been a likely target. Furthermore, the President was at a well-publicized location surrounded by hundreds of children. Wouldn't the Secret Service have operated under the assumption that a plane was headed toward the school that very moment, and the longer he lingered reading "My Pet Goat," the more likely the President would be killed in an attack? Wouldn't it have been prudent to evacuate the school in order to protect the children and everyone else? Wouldn't the Commander in Chief want to be kept informed minute-by-minute in case he had to make tough decisions on the spot? What if there had been a dozen planes hijacked at that time heading for various targets? Wouldn't his opinion be required?
The only justification the Secret Service would have had for remaining at the school would be if they somehow knew they were not in any danger. Otherwise, they would be endangering the President's life, as well as the lives of the children and everyone else there. The FAA states that it thought as many as 11 additional airliners could have been hijacked as of that time. As for Bush, he must have thought matters were in good hands with his Vice President Dick Cheney in control... making Cheney the de-facto Commander in Chief that very moment.
Since none of the agents in question were fired or demoted following 9/11, the implication is that they did their jobs correctly.
Griffin presents a wealth of information in his book that backs up this idea... but thinking back to my own experience on 9/11, all that evidence seems unnecessary. His response just doesn't make sense unless the Secret Service already knew he was safe.
And how, moments after the second plane hit, would anyone know that?
posted by Question Authority at 2:06 AM
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