Bush explains slow reaction to September 11 attacks

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Bush explains slow reaction to September 11 attacks

By Jill Serjeant | Reuters – 1 hour 27 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former President W. Bush says his apparent lack

of reaction to the first news of the September 11 2001 attacks was a conscious

decision to project an aura of calm in a crisis.

In a rare interview with the National Geographic Channel, Bush reflects on what

was going through his mind at the most dramatic moment of his presidency when he

was informed that a second passenger jet had hit New York's World Trade Center.

Bush was visiting a Florida classroom and the incident, which was caught on TV

film, and has often been used by critics to ridicule his apparently blank face.

" My first reaction was anger. Who the hell would do that to America? Then I

immediately focused on the children, and the contrast between the attack and the

innocence of children, " Bush says in an excerpt of the interview shown to

television writers on Thursday.

Bush said he could see the news media at the back of the classroom getting the

news on their own cellphones " and it was like watching a silent movie. "

Bush said he quickly realized that a lot of people beyond the classroom would be

watching for his reaction.

" So I made the decision not to jump up immediately and leave the classroom. I

didn't want to rattle the kids. I wanted to project a sense of calm, " he said of

his decision to remain seated and silent.

" I had been in enough crises to know that the first thing a leader has to do is

to project calm, " he added.

The National Geographic Channel will broadcast the hour-long interview on August

28 as part of a week of programs on the cable network called " Remembering 9/11 "

that mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

The interview was recorded over two days in May, without any questions being

submitted in advance, the channel said.

National Geographic said Bush gives " intimate details " of his thoughts and

feelings in a way never seen before. Most of the interview is about the first

minutes and hours of the day that Islamic militants hijacked four planes and

crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Executive producer and director Schnall said Bush, who has adopted a low

public profile since leaving office in January 2009, brought no notes to the

interview.

" What you hear is the personal story of a man who also happened to be our

president. Listening to him describe how he grappled with a sense of anger and

frustration coupled with his personal mandate to lead our country through this

devastating attack was incredibly powerful, " Schnall said.

U.S. television networks are planning a slew of specials to mark the 10th

anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks. Those on National Geographic also include a

documentary on the continuing U.S. war on terror, and stories of ordinary people

on Sept, 11 2001 called " Where Were You? "

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, editing by Boadle)