Mickey Z

Cool Observer

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Sunday, June 25, 2006

A 9/11 question to help you forget I'm not around this week

Michele and I are going away for a few days of much-needed R&R...so I thought I’d leave you with a question to mull over. I recently received an e-mail reminding me of comments made by Resident George W. Bush just months after 9/11...and I promised the author of that e-mail I’d make the following post:

As reported on the White House website, Dubya was asked—on December 4, 2001—how he felt when he learned of the attacks. He answered in part:

I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower—the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there’s one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident. But I was whisked off there, I didn’t have much time to think about it. And I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my Chief of Staff ... walked in and said, “A second plane has hit the tower, America is under attack."

Now, we all know that footage of the first plane hitting the towers did not appear live on television. So, was Georgie’s story the dishonest ramblings of an inarticulate man...or do you believe it was something far more sinister?

My answer: I make no claim to knowing what really happened behind the scenes on 9/11...but I firmly believe that such a violent event was both predictable and inevitable. That’s why I spend less time thinking about “who dunnit?” and more time concerned with critiquing a culture in which episodes like 9/11 are standard operating procedure. I’ll check in throughout the week to see what everyone else had to say.

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P.S. Since I won’t be around to do it tomorrow, let me be the first Expendable to wish a Happy Birthday to our friend and comrade, Big Country Commando JOS.

Here’s to you, James...