Not Your Sweetie

d: 23 May 2002 07:49:21 by  Robbedvoter
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000036064may22.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dnation
THE NATION
By EDWIN CHEN
TIMES STAFF WRITER
May 22 2002
WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON -- President Bush spoke publicly for the first
time Tuesday
about his fears for himself and his family in the hours after the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks,
telling a German television reporter he was "trying to get out of harm's
way" before
returning to the White House.
In an interview with ARD German Television, Bush said that in the
immediate aftermath of
the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, "I was concerned
about things
like, is my wife safe? You know, I was worried about that. I was worried
about things such as
my parents. I was worried about my [twin] girls."
Among the flying public grounded that day were the president's parents,
who found
themselves stranded in Wisconsin. Bush was able to reach his father, as
well as First Lady
Laura Bush, who was in Washington. But as he discussed his personal
reactions, Bush also
wanted there to be no doubt about his focus on the task at hand.
"At the same time, you need to know about me that I was also thinking
clearly about how to
respond," he said.
Bush granted the interview as a prelude to his weeklong trip to Europe,
which begins today.
After a stop in Berlin, he travels to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris and
Rome.
Bush's initial conduct on Sept. 11 came under scrutiny because he did
not immediately
return to Washington. When the first airliner crashed into the World
Trade Center, he was
in Sarasota, Fla., to speak on education reform.
Bush and his entourage flew to two highly secure Air Force bases--one in
Louisiana, the
other in Nebraska--before arriving in Washington that evening.
"I mean, I was trying to get out of harm's way," Bush said.
"We were concerned about threats on the president. We were worried about
future attacks,
and there's a lot of belief that Flight 93 was headed to the White
House," Bush added,
referring to the hijacked commercial airliner that crashed in western
Pennsylvania.