O/T Inside the President's War Room

Lytham_fy8

Lytham_fy8

Well-known member
Anyone watch this? Scary stuff, amazing access to everyone involved. Bush is as likeable in person as ever (I know, terrible administration with blood on it's hands but the bar has dropped very very low recently) and Christ knows how any of us would have reacted in that situation.

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC One - 9/11: Inside the President's War Room

Twelve hours with the president on 9/11 as it changed him, America and the world.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
Anyone watch this? Scary stuff, amazing access to everyone involved. Bush is as likeable in person as ever (I know, terrible administration with blood on it's hands but the bar has dropped very very low recently) and Christ knows how any of us would have reacted in that situation.

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC One - 9/11: Inside the President's War Room

Twelve hours with the president on 9/11 as it changed him, America and the world.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
Click to expand...
Didn't see much of it. Did it show him visiting very young children at a primary school and him receiving the news from a secret-serviceman in his ear as he watched the children performing a song?
He carried on watching till the end of the song then turned and left.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
Didn't see much of it. Did it show him visiting very young children at a primary school and him receiving the news from a secret-serviceman in his ear as he watched the children performing a song?
He carried on watching till the end of the song then turned and left.
Click to expand...
Kind of.
 
Yes I watched it and enjoyed and kept thinking and wonder how Trump would have responded.

The Iron Maiden song springs to mind " Run to the Hills"
 
Made for good viewing, and I agree RE Bush, didn't seem like the mentalist I thought he was. Lets not get too hung up on Trump again lads, especially after the disgraceful episode left behind by old sleepy recently.
 
CompleteControl said:
Viewed now the scene in the schoolroom makes Bush look like a deer in headlights but at the time no one fully understood the implications of what was going on.

Got to agree Fy8, Bush ( and especially Cheney) were seen as right wings nutters but he is a saint compared with what followed.
Click to expand...
They were right wingers but the difference is they were competent and intelligent human beings.
 
Old_Laytonian said:
BBC 1 Tues 8.30. It's on Apple TV as well

The Guardian gave it 5 stars so it must have been good
Click to expand...
The bit with Air Force One taking off at a mad angle and an unidentified plane above it was gripping, even though we know what happened!

I forgot about the fifth plane above the White House as well, it was never identified.
 
Scaramanga said:
Made for good viewing, and I agree RE Bush, didn't seem like the mentalist I thought he was. Lets not get too hung up on Trump again lads, especially after the disgraceful episode left behind by old sleepy recently.
Click to expand...
Scara, I shouldn't post this as I usually do my homework first, so you'll be all over it.
My understanding is that this withdrawal was set up on Trump's watch and that Biden has had to run with it - either administratively or politically
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
They were right wingers but the difference is they were competent and intelligent human beings.
Click to expand...
Ok dude, millions of Iraqi's and Afghan's may disagree. Perhaps competent at eroding freedoms around the world and building a bloated & unaccountable national security state.

btw, people like you were calling these guys Hitler etc in the usual manner at the time.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
Scara, I shouldn't post this as I usually do my homework first, so you'll be all over it.
My understanding is that this withdrawal was set up on Trump's watch and that Biden has had to run with it - either administratively or politically
Click to expand...
Wrong, Biden could of changed anything he wanted about the original deal. Too many peoples hatred of Trump is driving defensive arguments for their chosen president who is clearly not fit for office. Sometimes it’s just easier to say you were wrong.
 
Bamber said:
Ok dude, millions of Iraqi's and Afghan's may disagree. Perhaps competent at eroding freedoms around the world and building a bloated & unaccountable national security state.

btw, people like you were calling these guys Hitler etc in the usual manner at the time.
Click to expand...
People like me?

Anyway, what part of 'terrible administration with blood on it's hands' didn't you understand? It's quite difficult to argue that the people Dubya had around him weren't competent regardless of policy.

I'm also struggling to grasp how the US eroded freedoms in Iraq and Afghanistan? Can you name a single US president who wouldn't have retaliated?
 
Last edited:
It was an excellent insight to events surrounding Bush and his administration on the day and the decision to bring down one of the highjacked aircraft must have been tough but necessary, and then to find out there was a Senators wife onboard 😱
 
TangerineBayern said:
It was an excellent insight to events surrounding Bush and his administration on the day and the decision to bring down one of the highjacked aircraft must have been tough but necessary, and then to find out there was a Senators wife onboard 😱
Click to expand...
I know, just what the fuck do you do in that situation?
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
Anyone watch this? Scary stuff, amazing access to everyone involved. Bush is as likeable in person as ever (I know, terrible administration with blood on it's hands but the bar has dropped very very low recently) and Christ knows how any of us would have reacted in that situation.

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC One - 9/11: Inside the President's War Room

Twelve hours with the president on 9/11 as it changed him, America and the world.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
Click to expand...
Hadnt seen this - will watch it this evening. Thank you
 
Scaramanga said:
Wrong, Biden could of changed anything he wanted about the original deal. Too many peoples hatred of Trump is driving defensive arguments for their chosen president who is clearly not fit for office. Sometimes it’s just easier to say you were wrong.
Click to expand...
I actually knew that he could have changed Trump's decision. O just wondered what it would be like to offer you a conciliatory tone. I needn't have bothered.
 
TangerineBayern said:
They didn’t hesitate as l think the aircraft was heading to Washington / Whitehouse. Terrible decision to have to make regardless but that’s why Typhoon are scrambled occasionally.
Click to expand...
Yep, the passengers took it down 20 minutes outside of DC, Cheney admits they don't know if the jets would have got there in time.
 
I thought it was OK, bit not as insightful as I had hoped it would be. The main things that stick with me is how terrible their comms capabilities were - that was scary.

Bush came across OK actually ; and to be honest I find it hard to blame him for everything that followed. His nation needed a response, and he gave them one.
 
coppiceman said:
I thought it was OK, bit not as insightful as I had hoped it would be. The main things that stick with me is how terrible their comms capabilities were - that was scary.

Bush came across OK actually ; and to be honest I find it hard to blame him for everything that followed. His nation needed a response, and he gave them one.
Click to expand...
Supported by Blair. He gets stick as well.
 
An excellent watch. 👍

Agree Bush came across OK.

Looks to be quite a few 9/11 documentaries on in the coming days.
 
straightatthewall said:
If ever there was evidence to support the ‘race to the bottom’ (op err) it’s the description of Bush Jnr and Chaney as ‘competent and intelligent’.
Click to expand...
Nah, not having that, we've seen what results from incompetence and stupidity over the past four years, disagree with their policies all day long, I do, they were right wing schemers, but 9/11 was a clusterfuck for everyone, imagine it happening to Trump, or Boris Johnston and where that could lead.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
Nah, not having that, we've seen what results from incompetence and stupidity over the past four years, disagree with their policies all day long, I do, they were right wing schemers, but 9/11 was a clusterfuck for everyone, imagine it happening to Trump, or Boris Johnston and where that could lead.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. The situation they found themselves in was horrible. No question about that.
But they were utterly abject as leaders on the world stage and laughable in terms of their intellect.
 
straightatthewall said:
Oh yeah. The situation they found themselves in was horrible. No question about that.
But they were utterly abject as leaders on the world stage and laughable in terms of their intellect.
Click to expand...
Individually they weren't laughable intellectually, their policies were.

Except Condoleezza Rice who never quite looked like she knew what she was doing there.
 
CompleteControl said:
Viewed now the scene in the schoolroom makes Bush look like a deer in headlights but at the time no one fully understood the implications of what was going on.
Click to expand...

He was initially told it was an aviation accident. It was only after the second plane hit they realised it was America under attack. They had no intelligence on it whatsoever. How amateur terrorist aviators managed to hit the targets twice still beggars belief.

defintiely the closest to a nuclear strike the world has come to since the end of WW2. Bush could easily have justified nuking the mountains of Afghanistan with overwhelming force. Extremely concerning when watching it live. I recall actually shaking as I watched the second tower get hit.
 
Scaramanga said:
Made for good viewing, and I agree RE Bush, didn't seem like the mentalist I thought he was. Lets not get too hung up on Trump again lads, especially after the disgraceful episode left behind by old sleepy recently.
Click to expand...
Would that be that the disgraceful episode caused by the racist misogynist's deal with the Taleban last year?
 
Not seen yet but I’ve heard that it’s one of the first times it seems to have been spelt out that the jets which were scrambled were unarmed. Usually that info is never discussed in the public domain. The implications for how the pilots were going to actually intercept are clear. Imagine taking off knowing that.
 
Dark_Side_of_the_Lune said:
Not seen yet but I’ve heard that it’s one of the first times it seems to have been spelt out that the jets which were scrambled were unarmed. Usually that info is never discussed in the public domain. The implications for how the pilots were going to actually intercept are clear. Imagine taking off knowing that.
Click to expand...
It never said that, Cheney and the war bunker at the White House just got the message that it had gone down and they assumed it had been shot down.

Talking about the White House bunker, it started to run out of oxygen after a while and most of the people had to leave, just another shambles on that day. You have to laugh at the conspiracy nutters who think the US system could plan this and keep it secret, they didn't even have satellite TV on Air Force 1 and had to pick up TV signals as they flew over aerials on the ground.
 
Last edited:
clappers said:
He was initially told it was an aviation accident. It was only after the second plane hit they realised it was America under attack. They had no intelligence on it whatsoever. How amateur terrorist aviators managed to hit the targets twice still beggars belief.

defintiely the closest to a nuclear strike the world has come to since the end of WW2. Bush could easily have justified nuking the mountains of Afghanistan with overwhelming force. Extremely concerning when watching it live. I recall actually shaking as I watched the second tower get hit.
Click to expand...
Yep, they didn't even know what kind plane had hit the first tower, they assumed it was just a small prop plane accident and he went on with the classroom thing, the only info they were getting was from a small TV in an adjoining room.

I thought Bush handled it very well initially really, imagine what was going through his head as he sat there.
 
CompleteControl said:
Viewed now the scene in the schoolroom makes Bush look like a deer in headlights but at the time no one fully understood the implications of what was going on.

Got to agree Fy8, Bush ( and especially Cheney) were seen as right wings nutters but he is a saint compared with what followed.
Click to expand...
I think he knew the implications straight away, said he didn't want to panic anyone so carried on with the classroom but he was well aware that his presidency had just completely changed forever.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
It never said that, Cheney and the war bunker at the White House just got the message that it had gone down and they assumed it had been shot down.

Talking about the White House bunker, it started to run out of oxygen after a while and most of the people had to leave, just another shambles on that day. You have to laugh at the conspiracy nutters who think the US system could plan this and keep it secret, they didn't even have satellite TV on Air Force 1 and had to pick up TV signals as they flew over aerials on the ground.
Click to expand...
You’re right. It was revealed in the other programme on Survivors apparently. The pilots knew they to be kamikaze. The implications were profound in years to come for protecting national security and not common knowledge.
 
I think the Bush reaction, along with Blair, went from acceptable and considered (Afghanistan) to reckless and criminal (Iraq). An excuse to finish what his father couldn't, based on fabricated 'intelligence'.
 
Mach_UK said:
I think the Bush reaction, along with Blair, went from acceptable and considered (Afghanistan) to reckless and criminal (Iraq). An excuse to finish what his father couldn't, based on fabricated 'intelligence'.
Click to expand...
I think that's pretty much spot on 👍

A lot of military contracts were signed as well.
 
CompleteControl said:
Viewed now the scene in the schoolroom makes Bush look like a deer in headlights but at the time no one fully understood the implications of what was going on.

Got to agree Fy8, Bush ( and especially Cheney) were seen as right wings nutters but he is a saint compared with what followed.
Click to expand...
I don't think a human aside would react any better than he did? How could you be anything other than a deer in headlights?
 
Mach_UK said:
I think the Bush reaction, along with Blair, went from acceptable and considered (Afghanistan) to reckless and criminal (Iraq). An excuse to finish what his father couldn't, based on fabricated 'intelligence'.
Click to expand...
There is a school of thought that says that, in response to 9/11, Bush-Cheney adopted a deliberate policy of instigating a war against Islam in Iraq in order to attract every Jihadi fanatic in the Middle East where they could be killed with overwhelming US firepower. In this way, terrorists’ attention would be focused on Iraq and diverted away from further attacks on the USA itself. It certainly caused the creation of ISIL-Daesh.

Coupled with setting up the restrictions under the new Dept of Homeland Security, this was to be the USA’s “aggressive defence” stance in the War on Terror. In this manner they destroyed a country and killed perhaps a million of its people. Just because they could not get at the real backers of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia for global economic reasons (oil).

If the theory is true, it’s cynically evil. While trying to rid Afghanistan of Al Qaeda and their Taliban supporters was based on the US’s intelligence and Bin Laden’s propaganda, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, so there must have been a hidden ulterior motive for invading Iraq. I don’t think it was as simple as “just completing the job that Daddy Bush didn’t”. And “weapons of mass destruction” doesn’t cut it, as Hans Blix found.

Do you remember a million people marching in the streets of London in protest against starting a war in Iraq? It can be noted that the first charge in the Nuremberg trials was “Crimes against peace (i.e., the planning, initiating, and waging of wars of aggression in violation of international treaties and agreements)”
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top