Former President George W. Bush gave rare insight into his experience on Sept. 11, 2001, as the U.S. came under attack by al-Qaida.
Appearing with Condoleezza Rice, who served as his national security adviser, Bush spoke Wednesday from his presidential center two days before the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
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Bush was at a Florida elementary school on the morning of the attacks. As the Twin Towers in New York City crumbled and civilian aircraft were grounded, Bush was whisked across the country aboard Air Force One instead of returning directly to Washington.
Bush said that when he first learned an airplane had hit one of the Twin Towers, he assumed it was an accident. It was not until a second plane hit the other tower that he realized the magnitude of what was unfolding.
“It was pretty clear to me that we were under attack,” Bush said. “My job was to defend the child that was reading to me and her family and her country.”
“I became a wartime president,” Bush added. “There’s no doubt in my mind that this was not a law enforcement event. This was a war, and the job of the president and his team was to rally the nation to do what was necessary to protect our people.”
Amid the chaos of closing U.S. airspace following the attacks in New York and at the Pentagon outside Washington, the White House believed the military had shot down Flight 93 over Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
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“There was this horrible moment where the vice president kept trying to get confirmation as to what had happened,” Rice said. “And for about 10 minutes, we thought we’d shot down a civilian aircraft. That always represented to me just how hard the decisions were that you had to make under a lot of pressure.”
It was one of several confusing incidents that occurred that day. Bush also said he was rushed to the White House bunker when a military aircraft was mistakenly identified as flying toward Andrews Air Force Base.
Bush is expected to attend a remembrance ceremony Friday at the site of the Twin Towers in New York.
