NYC-WTC_000230593

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

1 He Washington Post ATTACK ON AMERICA DM VA Satorday. Siptembih 15, 2001 Ad

A Father-Son Bond Played Out Before the World Crisis Highlights war. 65 petcenl said they siippn-1 ed military action even if the con nict co9t the lives otlarge number.^ Linhs Between of U.S. troops, and 77 percent said they sepported it even if it meant Presidents Bush the loss of innocent civilian Ilves tn foreign countries. fir Dam Baiz ‘t In contrast, in a Post-ABCNews ff-asAingivn ftiit SsojyffHier poll taken days after the Iraqi in vasion in August 1990, 66 percent They sat close yesterday in the of those surveyed said they op­ (rout pew of the National Cathe- posed invading Iraq to force the I dral, father and son. linked by Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait bloodline, by history and now by .... Perhaps the greatest difference I fate, one who successfully carried is the preparation Bush and his fa­ out Operation Desert Storm 11 ther had for their respective chal­ 05

I years ago, the other now preparing lenges. The elder Bush, a commit­ fijr what could be the most exten- ted internationalist, nos steeped I ; sive military operation since that in foreign policy and literally war. speed-dialed his way around the , "The commitment of our fathers globe building Support among oth­ 1 is now the calling of our time." President Bush said from the pul­ pit as he sought to comfort a griev­ er heads of state. The current pres­ ident, who had no signiffcart for­ I I 3 ing people and rally the nation for conDicl ahead. He was speaking of the Pounding Fathers, but there .-Yy, eign policy experience before he was elected and whose actions have prompted criticism from abroad about a new American uni­ I 59 was also an unmistakable sense of lateralism, must try to tally the eonfiuuity with his own father. world for an even more complicat­ , events linking one administration ed military campaign. I that fought a ruthless dictator in How innch Bush is in contact I the Middle East to another now with his father during this crisis is determined to eliminate the ter­ not known, but there is Jittic doubt rorism whose roots lie in that re­ that it is more frequent than the gion. White House acknowledges. Ad­ © . In a sense, the war his father ministration allies say the strength fought has been a constant pres­ of that relationship is valuable at a ence in Bush's administration, if vr Mue uiLS-ASQatTCi PHSS time like this. for no other reason than the na- PnsWenl Bush greets New Ytrt Cit» M»m» ItiKicilph W. Ginluni, kft, and New Ito* Gm. George L FabU, right, it MdSulre Air Fro B» in New Jeney. This president is secure j tional security team he assembled, enough in who he is and in his be­ which includes several of the ar- have been a tra^c accident. When Bush's father was embroiled in a to drive Hussein's forces out o( Ku­ U.S. officials detennine eiactly lief in himself that it's not running o ( chitecls of the Gulf War. On his the report arrived of a second budget fight .with Democrats in wait. They and the other members what kind of military, intelligence, to his father to say, 'What do I do )

3s HI first trip to Washington as presi­ plane hitting the second tower, Congress when Iraq invaded Ku­ of Bush's team have a vastly more (ioancial or other support they now?' ” Sen. Chuck Hagel (R- dent-elect, Bush received a Stair Bush told his aides. 'H^'re at war.” wait, and there were fears about complicated job ahead in fashion' may request from other aalions, Neb.) said. "George W. Bush is a H House briefing from Vice Presi­ Later in the day. returning to the economy slipping into a reces­ ing the kind of warfare they arc but Bush is far ahead of where his pretty secure guy, and he's smart dent-elect Cheney and Colin L. the White House aboard Marine sion—which it later did, costing talking about. father was at this point. in the sense that he will take his fa­ Powell, his choice for secretary of One, with the smoldering Penta­ the elder Bush Ills job in 1992. But Bush has fewer diplomatic Similarly, Confess has demon­ ther's counsel. He may agree with state. "Ilie subject: lessons learned front Desert Storm. gon beneath him, Bush looked down, then turned to others on the Bush's father also faced ques­ and political .hurdles Chan his fa­ strated near unanimous bipartisan if or he may not.” I s -. One of the things Bush was told in that briefing is that in times of helicopter. 'You7e looking at the (ace of war in the 21st century/ he tions about his capacity to lead. In the days immediately after the Iraqi invasion, one critic said the ther. The elder Bush worked tor months to build an international coalition behind the invasion of support for Bush on the question of military retaliation. "We didn't get the votes in Congress until we Bush's eloquence yesterday may have surpassed what his lather demonstrated during his pnhtic I § o I crisis, initial information is fre- ' quenlly wrong. While House coun­ said. "He has a "clarity of what's president looked like someone "hobbing in the water in a small Iraq and struggled to win congres­ sional approval authorizing the had in effect marshaled the sup­ port of the rest of the world,” one speeches during the Gulf War, his rhetoric no less determined .that selor Karen P. Hubies said she re­ ahead,’ said senior adviser Karl rowboat'—although the remark use of force just days before the veteran of the first Bush adminis­ his father's famous This will not o called that warning throughout Rove, “It’s been clear that whafs was aimed less at Bush's handling war to begin. tration said. stand" statement at the beginning * o the chaotic first hours after hi­ jacked airplanes smashed into the in hia mind is a process that is un­ of the impending military crisis The current president already The reasons for the levels of in­ of that crisis. I World Trade Center and the Penta­ folding in a certain way,” There are any number of paral­ and more at his overall style of leadership. -Even Margaret has made a substantial start on building an international coalition, ternational and domestio support are obvious, reflecting a hawkish This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others," Bush IC o gon, as administration officials in the White Hoose situation room sifted through conflicting reports about the number of airplanes still lels between Bush and his father during these times of crisis, from the circle of advisers common to both men to the astroRoinical ap Thatcher, then the Brilish prime minister, privately told Bush not to ■go wobbly" in the face of Saddam beginning with the NATO resolu­ tion Wednesday interpreting the attack on the United States as an public mood in the wake of Tues­ day’s attacks chat left thousands of American civilians dead. said yesterday "ft will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choos­ ing." g Hussein's threat. attack on all NATO countries, and The Post-ABC News poll taken He closed his loldet and wclked CO io U.S. airspace, weighing whether proval ratings each achieved—91 The military response to the even strong verbal support from Thursday night found that 66 per deliberately bach to his aeaf with KJ. Hie president should return to percent at his peak for fonner Iraqi invasion was clear in compar­ Pakistan, which could be extraor­ cent of those surveyed believed the ’ the rest of the audience. His father. kD Washington. president Bush. 86 percent already ison with the options the younger dinarily helpful if the adminislra- United States would go to war and reached across first fady Laura After news of the first plane hit- for the current president in a Bush ninst consider in launching a tion concludea that Afghanistan is 86 percent of those survey^ said Bush and silently gave his son a CO ting the World Trade Center Washington Post-ABC News poll war against International terror­ harboring the terrorists responsi­ the)' were prepared to do so to squeeze on the arm. Ir was a ges­ reached the traveling White Hanse conducted Thursday nil^L ism. Cheney, Powell and others de­ ble. combat terrorism. ture piguifying n bond unique in CO party, there was hope that it might Like the current president. viled ■ conventional military plan ■ Much more work ti required »■ When prewed about the cons of the nation's history.

NYC-WTC_000230593