Andrew Card served more than five years as White House Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush. Less than eight months into Bush's first term, Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four U.S. airliners. Two were flown into each of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Another was used to crash into the Pentagon. The fourth plane was headed to Washington, but was forced down in a Pennsylvania field by the heroic passengers of United Flight 93. In this edition of Veterans Chronicles , Mr. Card takes us moment by moment as he learned the disasters in New York City were actually deliberate acts of terrorism by Islamic extremists, told the president the news in a Florida elementary school classroom, gave orders to get Air Force One ready to depart early, and figured out where they were going next. He also takes us inside the intense debate he had with the president about whether to return to Washington and the first decisions Bush had to make, including whether to shoot down airliners refusing to obey air traffic commands. Card also discusses President Bush's speech after returning to the White House, his impromptu message to Ground Zero recovery workers on a bullhorn, his emotional meeting with first responders and families of those lost on 9/11 and much more. We'll also hear why Bush asked Card to take one high-ranking national security official "to the woodshed" and the shocking thing British Prime Minister Tony Blair told Card after Bush's speech to a joint session of Congress. And we'll learn how both Bush and Card were scolded after Bush said he wanted Osama bin Laden captured "dead or alive."
