clinton chief of staff leon panetta. i woke up the president to alert him of what had happen and the concern at this moment was that this might very well be a terrorist attack. on that first night at the white house there were discussions about bombing targets in iran and elsewhere. kallstrom was eager for answers. if this was terrorism, there would be consequences. we could go to war. if we knew who the perpetrators were. and iran? the usual suspects to quote casablanca. libya, private terrorist groups, et cetera, et cetera. and no reason for a missile or a bomb. wayne rogers lost a daughter
iranian connection. reporter: clinton chief of staff leon panetta. i picked up the phone and called the president to alert him to the fact that it happened. obviously the concern at that moment was that this might very well be a terrorist act. reporter: on that first night at the white house, there were discussions about bombing targets in iran and elsewhere. kallstrom said the white house was anxious for evidence and answers. we could be going to war if we knew who the perpetrators were. reporter: we talked about iran. were there others? of course. you don t want to rule any of them out. reporter: who else, libya? the urge suspects, to quote casablanca. libya, private terrorist groups, syria, et cetera, et cetera. there was no reason for it other than a missile or a bomb. reporter: wayne rogers lost a
armored car here in washington very quietly. reporter: in saudi arabia, a truck bomb blew open the military housing complex. 19 american servicemen died. u.s. intelligence believed iran was behind that bombing. immediately, iran became the leading suspect in the twa tragedy. i think our first thought was that when we got this news that if it was terrorism, we wanted to especially look for an iranian connection. reporter: clinton chief of staff leon panetta. i picked up the phone and called the president to alert him to the fact that it happened. obviously the concern at that moment was that this might very well be a terrorist act. reporter: on that first night at the white house, there were discussions about bombing targets in iran and elsewhere. kallstrom said the white house was anxious for evidence and
called the president to alert him to the fact that it happened. obviously the concern at that moment was that this might very well be a terrorist act. reporter: on that first night at the white house, there were discussions about bombing targets in iran and elsewhere. kallstrom said the white house was anxious for evidence and answers. we could be going to war if we knew who the perpetrators were. reporter: we talked about iran. were there others? of course. you don t want to rule any of them out. reporter: who else, libya? the urge suspects, to quote casablanca. libya, private terrorist groups, syria, et cetera, et cetera. there was no reason for it other than a missile or a bomb. reporter: wayne rogers lost a daughter, pam, and two granddaughters on twa flight 800.
never been played publicly until now. they take us inside the oval office during the bush 41 presidency as never before, showing us how george herbert walker bush operated behind the scenes but also giving us insights into many figures who would later serve in the bush 43 presidency, men like robert gates. in fact, the first clip we re going to play for you features gates, then the director of cia, recalling the final planning stages for operation desert storm, the campaign deliberates to liberate saddam hussein from iraq. it was an awkward situation when president bush asked him to review and report back on the plan for top officials, including dick cheney and colin powell. the only time the president looked over cheney and powell s shoulder in terms of the military campaign and particularly the bombing targets, and again, this didn t sit terribly well over at the pentagon, but