Former President George W. Bush and his former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recalled a deeply unsettling moment during the September 11, 2001 attacks when the White House believed the U.S. military had shot down United Airlines Flight 93.
The recollection came during an event hosted by Bush in Texas, commemorating the upcoming 25th anniversary of the attacks. Bush and Rice were in a bunker coordinating the nation's response and working to ground civilian air traffic across the country.
Rice described the extraordinary circumstances that led to the decision to authorize the shooting down of any aircraft not properly identifying itself. She recounted Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta's efforts to land planes, which were happening concurrently with the issuance of an order by Vice President Dick Cheney through Gen. Daniel Caine. This order stipulated that if a plane was not properly identified by its transponder, it should be engaged.
"Gen. Caine, we thought initially, standing in that bunker, that Flight 93 had been shot down," Rice stated, a sentiment echoed by Bush. She explained that for approximately ten minutes, there was intense effort to confirm what had happened, leading to the belief that a civilian aircraft had been mistakenly targeted by U.S. forces.
"And there was this horrible moment where the vice president kept trying to get confirmation as to what had happened. And for about 10 minutes we thought we'd shot down a civilian aircraft," Rice said. She added that this period underscored the immense pressure and difficulty of the decisions faced.
Bush's 2001 administration was marked by the coordinated response to the terrorist attacks, including the eventual creation of the Department of Homeland Security. As part of the 25th anniversary commemoration, Bush has created 16 works of art reflecting on the courage and resilience that emerged from that period. These pieces are set to be displayed at the Bush Museum through September.