if there were other planes hijacked, you gave the order to shoot them down. that s true we are on air force one. andy is on the plane with me. a lot of other folks were back in washington. we were concerned about other planes hitting buildings. there s a lot of misinformation. there s a fog of war. in spite of that fog, it is essential the commander in chief take all precautions necessary to protect the homeland. so, upon grounding the airplanes, i made once i was aware that the planes were going to be grounded, i made the decision that if any plane didn t respond properly it be shot down by a u.s. fighter. when 93 went down in shanksville, pennsylvania i had sickening feeling that it was upon my orders that plane was shot down of the then i learned shortly thereafter
i ll never forget choppering in from andrews, andy sittingó( by my side. we saw the smoldering remains of the pentagon. it was very surreal. the chopper drivers were doing evasive act. the town was empty. there were troops guarding different intersections. i turned to andy i said this is the scene of the first war of the 21st century sean: you said in a single morning the purpose of my presidency had grown clear to protect our people and defend freedom that had come under attack. you also suggested as you were watching on air force one you probably saw more americans die than any prior president. it is true. i think any president s job is to protect the country. and the book chronicles decisions i made to do that. many of which were controversial. but all of which were done in the right spirit.
this is the age of taking actn. viagra. talk to your docr. see if america s most prescribed e.d. treatment is right for you. . as weigh approached ground zero i felt like i was entering a nightmare, this was pure hell. i shook every hand. andy card asked if i wanted to say something to the crowd? i decided i should. andy pointed know a mountain of metal. an older firefighter was standing atop the pile put out his hand and i told him america was on bended knee and prayer.
not to come back. because the most important part of most important assignment was to make sure there was continuity of government. you re protected by secret service willing to give their life. as president you have to got to make their job easier, not harder. at this point in time, i felt like, in spite of my desire to be at the center of the action, commander in chief in the white house, they were right. so, andy, i told andy okay you re right. and then we flew to shreveport to omaha, nebraska. after a national security meeting, via video, and our mule decision to write a speech and our mutual decision to write a speech, which karen spearheaded i said i m going home. the secret service tried to object, i said enough is enough i m heading in. we flew back.
within the constitution. and with the desire of protecting innocent life. and it worked. sean: we weren t attacked since and that was your goal. we weren t attacked since. one of the things i describe was different threats we faced to give the reader a sense for what it was like. in those early days after 9/11, threats were pouring in, all the time. i tell the story about botulism toxin. condi, colin powell, andy and cia brief stuffed into a tent in a chinese hotel room. we didn t want there to be eavesdroppers listening to a national security briefing. we are looking on a screen one part is hadley and the other is vice president cheney. he has a white tie on speaking at the alfred e smith dinner and he said we ve been exposed