Ari Fleischer Tweets His Gripping Eyewitness Account Of 9/11 Attacks

'There was no Twitter then. But I will try to re-live history.'
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George Bush’s Press Secretary has spent the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks once again gracing Twitter with his incredible first-hand experience of that day.

Good morning. As I do every year on this day, I will do my best to recall what I saw on September 11, 2001.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

There was no Twitter then. But I will try to re-live history on twitter so others can know details of what happened behind the scenes.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

Ari Fleischer began the day as he would any other, running through meetings and briefings with the then-President in Florida ahead of the now-infamous school visit.

His account covers the mundane...

President Bush started his day with a run. He spotted a reporter, Dick Keil of Bloomberg, who was also a runner, and asked him to join him.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

And the dramatic...

10:32 POTUS was told of a call that came into the WH switchboard saying, "Angel is next". Angel was the code word for AFOne.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

But what makes it truly unique are recollections and images such as these that show the President and those around him trying to make sense of the unfolding events...

A TV was brought into the room and POTUS watched replays of the planes hitting the towers. pic.twitter.com/2fmA2wB9to

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

Worst case scenario was this was an attempt to decapitate the government, and that an insider might be involved.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

... as well as what it was like to be aboard Air Force One, the “only plane in the sky” after US airspace was shutdown.

Here's more of the scene on the plane. The first two are in POTUS's office. The third is his bedroom off the office. It's a nice plane. pic.twitter.com/fA5MmX961Q

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

Last year Fleischer marked the 15th anniversary last year be releasing the hand-written notes taken on the day.

REUTERS STAFF / REUTERS

There are six pages in all, the only original verbatim text of what Bush said on Air Force One as he and his senior aides absorbed the news.

A day on the calendar that won't ever feel right. 15 years later, that hasn't changed #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/s4bk7ktKgT

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 11, 2016

“We’re at war,” Bush told Vice President Dick Cheney. Hanging up and turning to his aides, he added: “When we find out who did this, they’re not going to like me as president. Somebody’s going to pay."

A full account of the day was published in Politico.

At the time of writing Fleischer was still tweeting, you can read the full thread beginning here but here are some highlights.

8:46 Hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 is flown in2 the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board. Hundreds were killed in the tower

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

We pulled into the school and I got a page telling me a plane hit the WTC. Pagers were the fastest forms of instant messaging back then.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

There was no more info than that. We didn't know if it was an accident or something else.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

Here is a picture of me getting a second page about the second plane. That's how I learned about it. Advance man Mike Heath is next to me. pic.twitter.com/4JR1aHzPJo

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

Here is more of the scene in the hold. pic.twitter.com/5PAsogArwo

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

9:45 I boarded AFOne with POTUS and spent much of the day in his cabin. I took verbatim notes of what he did and what he said. pic.twitter.com/XkYMm6PiQA

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

We took off at an unusually sharp incline and way faster than normal. AFOne Pilot Mark Tillman later told me there was a report of a sniper.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017

It turns out the "sniper" was one of ours. Part of the USSS counter-sniper team. It was one of many false alarms that day.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 11, 2017
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