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President Bush was promoting the passage of his education plan at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida on
the morning of September 11. He was already aware of the first plane impact before he entered the school, believing it to
have been a "horrible accident".He was sitting in a classroom reading The Pet Goat with the children when, at 9:05am,
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispered in his ear that "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under
attack."That the president chose to stay in the classroom for an additional 10 minutes, without asking for additional
information from his staff, and that those staff did not volunteer any additional information or take him to a place of safety,
has led to allegations that he knew that the attack was taking place and knew he was not a target.A response is that Bush's
intention was to "project strength and calm," i.e., that he did not want to cause more panic by fleeing the room,
as the footage would likely have been replayed over and over on news coverage.
President Bush also made statements on two separate occasions, in late 2001 and early 2002, in which he said he saw the
first plane hit the World Trade Center and that he assumed it was an accident. He could not have seen the first plane hit
the tower live on commercial television, since no television stations were broadcasting footage from the area when the first
plane hit.Some of the only known footage of the first plane crashing was captured by filmmaker Jules Naudet while making a
documentary about a new firefighter.he video was first broadcast on CNN later in the day and was later released as the documentary
film "9/11". The White House explained his remarks as "a mistaken recollection"and some critics insisted
that President Bush was referring to the aftermath and not the actual jetliner impact at 8:46 a.m.
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