Schoolchildren Spent 9/11 With the President
Five Years Ago, They Became Part of History
"His face just started to turn red," said Tyler, now 13 and in seventh
grade. "I thought, personally, he had to go to the bathroom." (how cute)
For a puzzling seven minutes, the youngsters read aloud from the story "The
Pet Goat" while the shaken president followed along in front of the class,
trying to come to grips with what he had been told - that a second plane had
just hit the World Trade Center and the nation was under terrorist attack.
"He looked like he was going to cry," said Natalia Jones-Pinkney, now 12.
(uhhh..yeah)
Millions of Americans have a story of where they were on 9/11. But the kids
of Booker Elementary are unique. Five years ago, they were part of history,
sitting alongside a president in the midst of a monumental crisis. (Nobody
knew just how sneeky and smart the great GW was at that time)
"All of us shared an experience," said Michael Alexander, now 15. "No one
else can say that." (hmmmmm?)
Bush chose the school in one of Sarasota's poorest neighborhoods to launch a
national reading campaign. (See...how clever?) He knew a plane had hit the
north tower of the World Trade Center when he arrived, but the terror plot
was still unfolding when he sat down in a classroom to listen to children read
what they had been practicing for days. (Now that's a man with a true heart
of gold)
Tyler, his hair neatly braided, is in the lower left-hand corner of the
now-famous Associated Press photo of Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispering news
of the second plane and the words, "America is under attack."
"His face just started to turn red," said Tyler, now 13 and in seventh
grade. "I thought, personally, he had to go to the bathroom."
For a puzzling seven minutes, the youngsters read aloud from the story "The
Pet Goat" while the shaken president followed along in front of the class,
trying to come to grips with what he had been told - that a second plane had
just hit the World Trade Center and the nation was under terrorist attack.
(maybe even curious as to why the other one didn't hit it's target so that he
could claim world martial law and become "RULER OF THE WORLD"!)
"He looked like he was going to cry," said Natalia Jones-Pinkney, now 12.
(That happens when things don't all go as planned)

The president's decision to continue sitting there has been bitterly
criticized. Filmmaker Michael Moore used the classroom video to embarrass Bush in
the scathing docuмentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."
"You can't judge a man on seven minutes," said 15-year-old Stevenson
Tose'-Rigell, who was then a fifth-grader and was with Bush in the school library
later that day. "What he did is what he could do."
Bush soon left the classroom and, after a briefing from aides, strode into
the library where other pupils were awaiting an appearance by Bush and
Education Secretary Rod Paige. The children were unaware of what was unfolding as
Bush made a brief statement to the nation about the attacks.
In the news footage, Michael can be seen standing next to the president. He
is so stunned he neglects to lower his head for the moment of silence.
"There I am, right there," said Michael, pointing to a boy on the television
screen. "I'm trying to figure out what's happening."
Suddenly, the morning returned to the script. Paige spoke to the stunned
room of the importance of reading.
"It was so surreal," Sarasota schools spokeswoman Sheila Weiss said.
"Everyone in there wanted to get out and find out what was going on, but we couldn't
leave."
After the VIPs left, the Pentagon burned and the twin towers fell. Flight 93
plunged into a Pennsylvania field.
"I learned a lot," said Byron Mitchell, another fifth-grader who was in the
library. "I learned anything can happen at any given moment." (Byron should
check out _www.infowars. com_ (http://www.infowars .com) ...then come back and
post his new blog!)
He added: "That was the biggest day of my life. I wouldn't say I was in the
middle of it. But I was part of it." (Wish he'd ask _Alex Jones_
(http://www.prisonpl anet.com) in Texas for his opinion)