Although the MTV Video Music Awards took control of Twitter feeds everywhere Sunday night, another topic was making an impression on social media sites as well — President George W. Bush’s most in-depth on-camera interview yet on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Bush looked back on the events that would shape the start of his presidency in an exclusive interview with National Geographic that aired Sunday.
“This is what war is like in the 21st century,” Bush said in the interview, which aired as an opener to National Geographic’s Remembering 9/11 week.
It will include programs focusing on the attacks, the terrorists involved and our war against them leading up to the event’s tenth anniversary.
Bush described not only his transformation as a person but also the transformation of war that occurred as a result of the attacks.
“It became apparent we were facing a new kind of enemy,” he told National Geographic.
Bush said as each consecutive plane hit its target, the president’s attitude shifted dramatically.
“I thought the first was an accident, the second was an attack and the third was a declaration of war,” he said.
Footage of President Bush during his visit to an elementary school that morning depicted his aghast, then forcibly reserved, reaction to the news.
“My first reaction was anger,” he said. But in that classroom, he added, surrounded by children, “I wanted to project a sense of justice.”
While shaking hands with the “bloodshot” workers who had yet to leave Ground Zero, Bush said the atmosphere hosted a “palpable