We’re out of here.”
But no one left.
Instead, the tape shows, Bush remains seated for at least five more minutes, although his expression by turns is somber, pensive, distracted and angry. The problem with this theory is that Mooneyhan denies he ever told the Observer about any men in a van seeking an interview.
“How did they get that information from me if I didn’t know it?” Mooneyhan asks.
The Observer sticks by its story. That aroused suspicion because “wedding” is sometimes a code word for an al-Qaida attack.
But Martin Sharkey, the deputy Longboat Key police chief, recalls that the men really had gone to a wedding in Jordan and returned “to find their names or something on TV. He didn’t speak English and didn’t want anything to drink, so Atta asked for the check, left a $20 bill, and the two men walked out together.
“I was sort of dumbfounded he left me a $16 tip with no conversation,” Sievers says. But she remains convinced that one of the men was Mohamed Atta.
“I can remember people’s drinks,” she says, “and I’ll never forget those piercing black eyes.”
— Times researchers Kitty Bennett and Cathy Wos contributed to this report, which also contains information from “An Interesting Day” by Paul Thompson at the Center for Cooperative Research.
— Susan Taylor Martin can be contacted at susansptimes.com
THE MORNING OF 9/11
ALL TIMES A.M. UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED
HOUR 1
8:30 to 8:39 – Bush motorcade leaves Colony Beach and Tennis Resort.
8:46 – American Airlines Flight 11 hits World Trade Center.
8:48 – First media reports of crash.
8:55 approximately – Motorcade arrives at Emma E. Booker Elementary School.
9:00 approximately – Bush enters classroom.
9:03 – United Airlines Flight 175 hits World Trade Center.
9:03 approximately – Marine carrying Bush’s phone says, “We’re out of here.” No one leaves.
9:03 approximately – Secret Service takes Vice President Dick Cheney to White House bunker, according to White House photographer.
9:05-9:07 – Chief of staff Andrew Card tells Bush about second plane crash; Bush stays in classroom another five minutes.
9:15 approximately – Bush talks to Cheney, Rice and others.
9:20 approximately Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta arrives at bunker.
9:25 approximately – Mineta hears Cheney say “order still stands,” apparently referring to shoot-down order.
9:30 – Bush speaks to teachers, students and others.
HOUR 2
9:35 – Motorcade leaves for Sarasota airport.
9:37 – American Airlines Flight 77 hits Pentagon.
9:45 – Mineta orders all civil aircraft to land.
9:55 – Air Force One takes off from Sarasota.
10:03 – United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Pennsylvania.
HOUR 3
11-11:20 – Fighter jets escort Air Force One.
HOUR 4
12:03 p.m. – Backup plane takes off from MacDill Air Force Base.,
