A Matter of Character: on Homeland Security


Dick Cheney: Urged shooting down hijacked planes on 9/11

On Sept. 11, after thinking about what his response would be, Bush cut short his presentation, and watched videos of the attacks. “Were at war,” Bush announced to his aides. Bush raced to the airport. At the end of the ride, Bush learned that a third jetliner had slammed into the Pentagon. Over a secure phone, he consulted with Cheney, who was in an emergency bunker underneath the White House grounds. The vice president urged him to authorize military planes to shoot down any commercial airliners that might be controlled by hijackers. Bush called Rumsfeld, who had elected to stay in the burning Pentagon, and conveyed the order. “We’re going to find out who did this, and were going to kick their ass,” Bush said.

The fact that Cheney recommended shooting down any commercial planes that might have been hijacked validated Bush’s decision to place him on the ticket. Only someone with his experience in the Defense Department could have conceived on the spot of such a drastic but necessary measure.

Source: A Matter of Character, by Ronald Kessler, p.138-39 Aug 5, 2004

  • The above quotations are from A Matter of Character: Inside the White House of George W. Bush, by Ronald Kessler.
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Page last updated: Feb 15, 2019