by Peter Baker
3 “I regret that a Chinese pilot”: George W. Bush statement, April 5, 2001.
4 “we’re sorry” about the death: Colin Powell, appearance on Face the Nation, CBS, April 8, 2001, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-284682.html.
5 Powell should say “pretty please”: Rice, No Higher Honor, 47–48.
6 The seven-paragraph letter: Ambassador Joseph W. Prueher to Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan of China, April 11, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/04/20010411-1.html.
7 president’s language “was unfortunate”: Rumsfeld, Known and Unknown, 314–15.
8 “they have won”: Robert Kagan and William Kristol, “We Lost,” Washington Post, April 13, 2001.
9 “When you’re talking to Dick”: Nicholas Lemann, “The Quiet Man,” New Yorker, May 7, 2001.
10 “Yes,” Lott replied: Trent Lott, author interview.
11 “It was good news if the president”: Dennis Hastert, author interview.
12 Cheney called Tim Pawlenty: Pawlenty, Courage to Stand, p. 112.
13 “We’re asking you for the good”: Edwin Chen and Janet Hook, “Bush Team Plays Role Fit for a Kingmaker,” Los Angeles Times, April 25, 2001, http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/25/news/mn-55164.
14 “the threat of terrorist attack”: Lemann, “Quiet Man.”
15 he was sharply rebuffed: Administration official, author interview.
16 “Stiff ’em,” Bush said: White House official, author interview.
17 “Now, conservation is an important”: Dick Cheney, speech to the Annual Meeting of the Associated Press, Toronto, April 30, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/vicepresident/news-speeches/speeches/vp20010430.html.
18 “battled over the energy policy”: Frum, Right Man, 62–64.
19 “literally defined the next three years”: Jim Connaughton, author interview.
20 “It was a way of establishing”: Brad Berenson, author interview.
21 “Strom Thurmond Jr., huh?”: Ibid.
22 “I won’t negotiate with myself”: Suskind, Price of Loyalty, 117.
23 “I did not foresee how different”: Greenspan, Age of Turbulence, 216–17.
24 “Nicky,” he said, “don’t wobble”: Nick Calio, author interview.
25 cast his first tie-breaking vote: David E. Rosenbaum, “Bush Tax Cut Plan Passes First Test in a Split Senate,” New York Times, April 4, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/04/us/bush-tax-cut-plan-passes-first-test-in-a-split-senate.html. Over the course of his eight years in office, Cheney would break eight ties, the most of any vice president since Richard Nixon during the Eisenhower administration. Senate Historical Office, http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/VPTies.pdf.
26 “the Torture Chamber”: Jeffords, Independent Man, 263.
27 had been jealous: Rove, Courage and Consequence, 230–31.
28 “relaxed and charming”: Jeffords, Independent Man, 271.
29 “Here we are in the Oval Office”: Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 211–12.
30 “a one-term president”: Jeffords, Independent Man, 271.
31 “You are the swing vote”: Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 211–12.
32 “It was clear that the deal”: Calio interview.
33 “He just said there will be”: Lott interview.
34 “It was a big body blow”: Ari Fleischer, author interview.
35 scribbling down $1.425 trillion: Ben Nelson, author interview.
36 House approved the plan 240 to 154: U.S. House Clerk’s Office, May 26, 2001, http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2001/roll149.xml.
37 Senate followed barely an hour: U.S. Senate roll call record, May 26, 2001, http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00170.
38 “Don’t worry about Susan”: Chafee, Against the Tide, 62–63.
39 “That’s the reason I like”: Daschle, Like No Other Time, 85–88.
40 “Mr. President, conservatives are”: Calio interview.
41 “Mr. President, I got to tell you”: Ibid.
42 “one cold dude”: Bush made the comment to Tony Blair during their first meeting at Camp David in February 2001. Meyer, DC Confidential, 178.
43 “inside our tent”: Michael McFaul, author interview. McFaul became President Barack Obama’s senior adviser on Russia and later ambassador to Moscow.
44 “I did play rugby”: Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 218–19.
45 “Let me say something”: Woodward, Bush at War, 119–20.
46 Rice found it hard to believe: Rice, No Higher Honor, 63.
47 “an honest, straightforward man”: George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, news conference, Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia, June 16, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/06/20010618.html.
48 “I think KGB, KGB, KGB”: Baker and Glasser, Kremlin Rising, 125.
49 “A lot of us were kind of rolling”: Eric Edelman, author interview.
50 he checked into the hospital: David E. Sanger and Lawrence K. Altman, “Cheney Gets Heart Device and Declares, ‘I Feel Good,’ ” New York Times, July 1, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/01/us/cheney-gets-heart-device-and-declares-i-feel-good.html.
51 “Well, so what?”: Jack Dennis, e-mail exchange with author. See also Labash, Fly Fishing with Darth Vader, 71.
52 “literally made my hair stand”: Tenet, At the Center of the Storm, 151–54.
53 she remembered the warning: Rice, No Higher Honor, 64–67.
54 “I’ve managed to accommodate”: Cherie Blair, Speaking for Myself, 262.
55 presided over 152 executions: Execution Database, Death Penalty Information Center.
56 “Well, that’s not the way”: Cherie Blair, Speaking for Myself, 263.
57 “Give the man a break”: Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart, 191–92.
58 “Within a few years the U.S.”: Donald Rumsfeld to Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell, memo, July 27, 2001, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB326/doc06.pdf.
59 “I always felt there wasn’t”: Cheney interview.
60 “Cheney’s role was like watching”: David Frum, author interview. Frum used a similar formulation in Jo Becker and Barton Gellman, “A Strong Push from Backstage,” Washington Post, June 26, 2007, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/cheney/chapters/a_strong_push_from_back_stage/.
61 “He could care less”: Fleischer interview.
62 “You don’t get it”: Karen Hughes, author interview.
63 “He was on me all the time”: Whitman interview.
64 “The vice president didn’t have to”: Dean McGrath, author interview.
65 “We have got to be really cautious”: Jay Lefkowitz, author interview.
66 “I’m committed to doing everything”: Doug Melton, e-mail exchange with author. See also Jay Lefkowitz, “Stem Cells and the President: An Inside Account,” Commentary, January 2008.
67 “I must confess, I am wrestling”: Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 227–29.
68 “We at least owe them the respect”: Leon Kass, e-mail exchange with author. See also Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 227–29.
69 “Are you comfortable with this?”: Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 227–29.
70 “A number of people internally didn’t”: Kristen Silverberg, author interview.
71 “This allows us to explore”: George W. Bush, address to nation, August 9, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010809-2.html.
72 “the most unflinchingly pro-life”: Frum, Right Man, 109–10.
73 “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike”: President’s Daily Brief, August 6, 2001, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/pdb8-6-2001.pdf.
74 “the system was blinking red”: 9/11 Commission Report, 259.
75 “I didn’t feel that sense of urgency”: Woodward, Bush at War, 39.
76 called himself a “windshield rancher”:
Stevens, Big Enchilada, 65.
77 “I fell in love with it the minute”: George W. Bush, remarks to reporters, Crawford ranch, August 25, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010825-2.html.
78 reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s: Notes of conversation with aide, provided to author.
79 “There wasn’t any galvanizing” Peter Wehner, author interview.
80 “Decision makers should imagine”: 9/11 Commission Report, 212.
81 In none of the morning intelligence: Ibid., 262.
CHAPTER 7: “SOMEBODY’S GOING TO PAY”
1 “C’mon, Stretch”: Richard Keil, “With the President: A Reporter’s Story of 9/11,” Rochester Review, University of Rochester, Fall 2004.
2 “Those were the last carefree”: Sandy Kress, author interview.
3 The motorcade pulled up: The times in this chapter are all East Coast time and taken from the report of the 9/11 Commission or the President’s Daily Diary.
4 “This must be a horrible”: Eric Draper, author interview.
5 “A second plane hit”: 9/11 Commission Report, 38.
6 he did not jump up: For video of the moment in the classroom, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg5NvKpJfKE.
7 “DON’T SAY ANYTHING”: Fleischer, Taking Heat, 138–43.
8 “Whoo, these are great”: Video of school event.
9 “Nothing much is happening”: Peter Wehner, author interview.
10 “Turn on the TV right away”: Sean O’Keefe, author interview.
11 “Boy, it’s going to be a bad”: Ibid.
12 “I need to talk to the president”: Hayes, Cheney, 329–32.
13 Dan Bartlett pointed: Draper interview.
14 “Today, we’ve had a national”: McClellan, What Happened, 102.
15 “We will punish them”: George W. Bush, notes, September 11, 2001, George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, http://www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/Photos-and-Videos/Photo-Galleries/Sneak-Peek-Document-Gallery.aspx.
16 “hunt down and find those folks”: George W. Bush, statement to reporters, September 11, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010911.html.
17 “We were flying, faster”: Draper interview.
18 “Mr. Vice President, we’ve got to”: Dick Cheney, In My Time, 1–5.
19 “Doors flew open”: O’Keefe interview.
20 “Get me the president”: Dick Cheney, In My Time, 1–5.
21 “Sounds like we have a minor war”: 9/11 Commission Report, 39.
22 “This is what they pay us”: Draper interview.
23 “I just heard Angel is”: Ibid. The president was told someone calling in a threat had used the code name Angel, which convinced officials that the threat was real. In fact, the caller had not used the word; it was used by a staff person passing along the information.
24 the bunker was first built: Bamford, Pretext for War, 64.
25 “shockingly low-tech”: Joshua Bolten, author interview.
26 “You bet,” Bush recalled: Sammon, Fighting Back, 101–2.
27 But none of about a dozen: Gellman, Angler, 120–21.
28 “the time it takes a batter”: 9/11 Commission Report, 41.
29 “Just confirming, sir”: Several people in the room, author interviews. See also Savage, Takeover, 4.
30 “I don’t want it to sound heartless”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
31 Bolten, who had not heard: Bolten interview. See also 9/11 Commission Report, 41.
32 “I think an act of heroism”: Eric Edelman, author interview.
33 “You must know whether or not”: Bumiller, Condoleezza Rice, xiv.
34 Cheney’s order never got: The mission commander and the senior weapons director at the Northeast Air Defense Sector said they did not forward the order to pilots “because they were unsure how the pilots would, or should, proceed with this guidance.” 9/11 Commission Report, 43.
35 One of the pilots: Steve Hendrix, “F-16 Pilot Was Ready to Down Her Father’s Plane,” Washington Post, September 14, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/f-16-pilot-was-ready-to-down-plane-her-father-piloted-on-911/2011/09/13/gIQAHasoSK_story.html.
36 “Mr. Vice President”: Edelman interview.
37 “Get that off the screen”: Ibid.
38 “This is like listening to Alvin”: Ibid.
39 “Take it out,” Cheney ordered: Dick Cheney, In My Time, 1–5.
40 “There’s been at least three”: 9/11 Commission Report, 43.
41 “We have canceled our exercises”: Rice, No Higher Honor, 74–75.
42 hitting 630 miles per hour: “On Board Air Force One,” National Geographic Channel, January 25, 2009.
43 so close he could spot: Draper, Dead Certain, 144.
44 thought to himself that no American: George W. Bush, Decision Points, 130–31.
45 “It was surreal”: Ibid.
46 “Slow down, son”: Ibid.
47 “The ball will be in your court”: Fleischer, Taking Heat, 138–43.
48 Bush “looked and sounded”: Frum, Right Man, 119.
49 “We need to get back”: Sammon, Fighting Back, 119–20.
50 “Who do you think did this?”: Bowden, Finish, 17.
51 “Who is the asshole”: Clarke, Against All Enemies, 18–19.
52 “Best info fast. Judge whether”: Stephen Cambone, notes, September 11, 2001, available at the National Security Archives at George Washington University, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB326/doc07.pdf.
53 David Addington asked nonessential: Hayes, Cheney, 342–43.
54 “We were at war”: Dick Cheney, In My Time, 5–10.
55 “Call the NMCC”: Edelman interview.
56 “We’re at war”: 9/11 Commission Report, 326.
57 “When is this going to end?”: George W. Bush, Decision Points, 133–34.
58 “We are at war against terror”: Ibid.
59 “If I’m in the White House”: Fleischer, Taking Heat, 146–50.
60 “The mightiest building”: Ibid.
61 “These acts shattered steel”: George W. Bush, address to nation, September 11, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010911-16.html.
62 “Awful Office Address”: Frum, Right Man, 133.
63 “unequal to the moment”: Gerson, Heroic Conservatism, 69.
64 “We will make no distinction”: George W. Bush, address, September 11, 2001.
65 refused to land: Parmet, George Bush, 271.
66 “There is no way I’m sleeping”: George W. Bush, Decision Points, 138–39.
67 “Mr. President! Mr. President!”: George W. Bush interview, National Geographic, September 11, 2011, http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national-geographic-channel/all-videos/ngc-the-president-looks-back/.
68 “Don’t worry, Mr. President”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 8: “WHATEVER IT TAKES”
1 piles of strollers on the lawn: Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart, 206.
2 Dallek interpreted the call: Robert Dallek, author interview.
3 “Don’t ever let this happen”: Ashcroft, Never Again, 130.
4 “Whatever it takes”: Woodward, Bush at War, 40–41.
5 “Give me a brief”: Ashcroft, Never Again, 132–33.
6 “Wait a second”: Ibid. Hugh Shelton remembered Ashcroft’s outburst being more profane: “Get the damn stuff out on the table, Bob. We’ve got to catch these guys immediately and make damn sure this doesn’t happen tomorrow, so whatever you’ve got, share it. Right now.” See Shelton, Without Hesitation, 438–41.
7 “We simply can’t let this”: Ashcroft, Never Again, 133.
8 “This is the beginning of war”: Fleischer, Taking Heat, 156–57.
9 “War is a very powerful word”: Ibid. Fleischer, who was taking notes, attributes the comment only to a congressional leader without naming Daschle, but Daschle himself describes the same remark
s in Like No Other Time, 121–22. So does Karen Hughes in Ten Minutes from Normal, 238–70.
10 “Mr. President, the most important”: Dick Gephardt, author interview.
11 would “not be cowed”: George W. Bush, remarks, Pentagon, September 12, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010912-12.html.
12 “He went down that line”: Joe Hagin, author interview.
13 “He looked like he wanted”: Clarke, Against All Enemies, 32.
14 “might have spoken”: 9/11 Commission Report, 334.
15 “that the President is authorized”: Daschle, Like No Other Time, 123–24.
16 Daschle saw it as a blank check: Ibid.
17 “If we think our response”: Gerson, Heroic Conservatism, 70.
18 “Mr. President, by the time”: Cofer Black, interview on “Hank Crumpton: Life as a Spy,” 60 Minutes, CBS, May 13, 2012, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57433105/hank-crumpton-life-as-a-spy/. See also Woodward, Bush at War, 51–53.
19 “something of a cross between”: Mazzetti, Way of the Knife, 11.
20 “Maybe we should go tomorrow”: Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 238–70.
21 “You’ve extended me a kind”: George W. Bush, remarks with New York leaders, September 13, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010913-4.html.
22 “Could you give us a sense”: Ibid.
23 “I thought it was an important moment”: Michael Gerson, author interview.
24 “Sorry about that”: Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 238–70.
25 tapping his wedding ring: John McConnell, author interview.
26 “How come you didn’t”: Brad Blakeman, author interview.
27 Bush met Lieutenant Colonel Brian: White House Staff Secretary’s Office to White House Senior Staff, e-mail, September 26, 2001, George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, http://www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/Photos-and-Videos/Photo-Galleries/Sneak-Peek-Document-Gallery.aspx. See also Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart, 208.
28 “We’ve got another threat”: Woodward, Bush at War, 55–57. See also Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 238–70.
29 Over the course of just four hours: Secret Service log, assembled at request of Vice President Cheney, November 17, 2001, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB358a/doc22.pdf.