RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer toPopular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Mon, 9 Jul 2007, Spurling, Shannon wrote:

> I thought he did the right thing there. What was he supposed to do? Jump
> up and run from the room screaming?

You are responding to my message wherein I wrote...

> > Did he really wait 7 minutes to leave the room after being told 
> > "America is under attack?"  That's about 5 minutes too many in my book.

...which seems to answer your question.  The answer is that he should have 
waited about 2 minutes (maybe 30 seconds would have been better) and then 
he should have announced that he is very sorry that he cannot stay longer. 
No one is suggesting that he should have screamed or jumped, but I think 
that would have been better under those conditions than sitting there for 
seven minutes!  It's not as if everyone was watching him on TV -- they 
weren't because they were watching the WTC burning.  Even if the kids 
couldn't understand at that moment why the President had to leave, they'd 
know by the end of the day and they'd understand.


> He wanted to make sure he didn't over react and cause undue panic. They 
> weren't sure how severe the attacks were.  He had capable people in the 
> field.

He had just been told that a *second* jet airliner had hit the World Trade 
Center and that "America is under attack."  If he was unsure of "how 
severe the attacks were," he had enough information to know that he needed 
to leave the room and start consulting with his people about the severity 
of the attack.  According to "United 93," which I watched Saturday night 
and thought was a good movie, the order to shoot down an airliner could 
come only from the President of the United States.  That would be but one 
example of an important role of the President that cannot be delegated to 
any other "capable person."


> If he had gotten up right when he was told, I am convinced that the 
> crackpots would have said he had run off to coordinate the rest of the 
> actions of the conspiracy.

Well, crazy people will say anything.  So what?  Are you suggesting that 
he was considering that possibility and he decided (being The Decider) 
that he should wait exactly 7 minutes so as to achieve the appropriate 
balance between feeding wacky conspiracy theorists and seeming unsure of 
himself?  Why would conspiracy theorists think that rapid departure meant 
that he knew in advance?  Why not the opposite?

I think he sat there for 7 minutes because he is not well suited to the 
job of President of the United States.  He isn't very smart and he just 
didn't know what he would be doing next.  He didn't know what to say, so 
he just sat there.  So I think simple incompetence explains his behavior.

Mike

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