Pentagon visit saddens, angers president
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush saw for himself yesterday the burned-out gash in the Pentagon left by a hijacked jetliner.
Associated Press
During a visit to the wounded symbol of American military might, Bush thanked weary rescuers at the Pentagon and at the destroyed World Trade Center in New York for forging ahead with their search despite diminished hopes for finding survivors.
President Bush said he was overwhelmed by the destruction at the Pentagon. "The building rocked. And now I know why," he said.
"Coming here makes me sad, on the one hand. It also makes me angry," Bush said after spending a full minute staring at the Pentagon's ripped side. He turned to reporters and waved a hand back toward the building's roof, which drooped at an angle over the hole, four stories collapsed atop each other.
"I'm overwhelmed by the devastation," he said.
To give an idea of the power of the impact when American Airlines Flight 77 hit the building Tuesday, Bush said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld felt the explosion in his office — on the opposite side of the massive five-sided structure.
"The building rocked. And now I know why," Bush said.
The military said yesterday that about 150 people, military and civilian, were missing from the crash, which carried 64 passengers and crew to their deaths.
Bush said with the help of its people the United States, which remained on "high alert for possible activity," will recover from its terror ordeal. He particularly thanked those who have given blood and those who are praying for the victims and their families.
"The nation mourns, but our government will go on," Bush said. "Our country, however, will not be cowed by terrorists, ... by people who are willing to destroy people's lives because we embrace freedom."
The president offered his first attention to soldiers in camouflage fatigues, some of whom saluted him. He and Rumsfeld then greeted a group of firefighters, police officers, soldiers in black berets and a chaplain in a white sport shirt.
"Coming here confirms what the secretary and I both know, that this is a great nation," Bush said. "People out here are working their hearts out to answer families' questions, to remove the rubble and debris from this office."
