Order puts nation, Bush on new course

WASHINGTON — The phone calls began just as the sun set behind the mountains of western Maryland. President Bush, having spent a bright autumn Saturday at Camp David talking of war with his aides, picked up the phone just after 7 p.m.

Over the next two hours, Bush called four leaders of the House and Senate, and gave them the news they had awaited since terrorists attacked New York and the Pentagon on Sept. 11: The U.S. was about to strike back.

The Pentagon had been given the green light to bomb Afghanistan, the hideaway of suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden. The bombs and missiles would be launched as soon as military leaders thought the moment was right.

With that order, George W. Bush reset the course of his presidency. If his father, George H.W. Bush, was the last president to wage war in the 20th century, the son would be the first to do so in the 21st century.

The man whose legitimacy in office was still questioned by half the country just a month ago now has the overwhelming support of a shocked nation. The president who spent his first eight months in office focused on domestic matters such as tax cuts and education reform now says his international fight against terrorism will define his administration.

“We did not ask for this mission, but we will fulfill it,” Bush said Sunday, using words that described his political position just as well as the military one.

As the U.S. readied its bombers and Britain prepared its submarines, Karen Hughes, Bush’s counselor, and Michael Gerson, his speechwriter, sat at the Camp David retreat writing and rewriting the address Bush would deliver.

`On my orders’

“On my orders,” Bush began at 1 p.m. Sunday from the Treaty Room at the White House, “the United States military has begun strikes against al-Qaida terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.”

Though Bush decided early last week that the bombing of Afghanistan would probably begin Sunday, administration officials said, the strategy to begin the military campaign came together in pieces.

Before he sent Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to Asia on Tuesday, one administration official said Sunday evening, “We knew it was likely Sunday, unless Don came back and said we weren’t ready.”

Back from his trip, Rumsfeld reported to Bush on Saturday morning in a 45-minute teleconference involving the rest of Bush’s National Security Council, some with him at Camp David, others in Washington. White House aides would not say whether the president announced his decision at that meeting or later in the day.

By Saturday night, Bush was informing congressional leaders of his decision. He tracked down House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt at Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles. Gephardt, D-Mo., strained to hear the news over the cheers for Cal Ripken Jr., who was about to play his last major league baseball game.

It was decided that Bush would keep a Sunday morning appointment at a memorial service for fallen firefighters in Emmitsburg, Md. He arrived at the event early by helicopter, delivered his remarks with dispatch and was gone 15 minutes later. The president had to attend to matters related to the national crisis, the crowd was told.

By 10:35 a.m., Bush was back at the White House.

In the Oval Office, he told his aides, “I gave them fair warning.”

Ultimatum laid out

Bush had laid out demands for the Taliban regime harboring bin Laden. He wanted bin Laden and other leaders of his terrorist network turned over to the U.S. He wanted bin Laden’s training camps destroyed and foreign nationals being held in Afghanistan released.

The Taliban never complied. In the hours before the attack was to begin, the regime offered to put bin Laden on trial in front of an Islamic court, but White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush immediately dismissed the gesture as inadequate.

The president had called Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee from Camp David, and between 11:27 a.m. and 12:09 p.m., he called at least eight other world leaders from the White House, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Then he went to the Treaty Room to address the nation.

While the president worked the phone Sunday, so did Vice President Dick Cheney, CIA Director George Tenet, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell. They each called members of Congress or foreign leaders to brief them.

Meanwhile, Cheney was moved to a secure but undisclosed location Sunday afternoon. Fleischer said the vice president was not moved in response to a specific threat, even though U.S. intelligence noted retaliation was likely once the attack on Afghanistan began.

The White House was following security procedures put in place after the Sept. 11 attacks to ensure presidential succession, Fleischer said.

After the speech, the president divided his time between the Oval Office and the White House residence.

Fleischer said Bush planned to stick to his schedule Monday, highlighted by the swearing-in of former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as head of the new Office of Homeland Defense.