48 "I think KGB, KGB, KGB": Baker and Glasser, Kremlin Rising, 125.

49 "A lot of us were kind of rolling": Eric Edelman, author interview.

50 he checked into the hospital: David E. Sanger and Lawrence K. Altman, "Cheney Gets Heart Device and Declares, 'I Feel Good,' " New York Times, July 1, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/01/us/cheney-gets-heart-device-and-declares-i-feel-good.html.

51 "Well, so what?": Jack Dennis, e-mail exchange with author. See also Labash, Fly Fishing with Darth Vader, 71.

52 "literally made my hair stand": Tenet, At the Center of the Storm, 15154.

53 she remembered the warning: Rice, No Higher Honor, 6467.

54 "I've managed to accommodate": Cherie Blair, Speaking for Myself, 262.

55 presided over 152 executions: Execution Database, Death Penalty Information Center.

56 "Well, that's not the way": Cherie Blair, Speaking for Myself, 263.

57 "Give the man a break": Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart, 19192.

58 "Within a few years the U.S.": Donald Rumsfeld to Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell, memo, July 27, 2001, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB326/doc06.pdf.

59 "I always felt there wasn't": Cheney interview.

60 "Cheney's role was like watching": David Frum, author interview. Frum used a similar formulation in Jo Becker and Barton Gellman, "A Strong Push from Backstage," Washington Post, June 26, 2007, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/cheney/chapters/a_strong_push_from_back_stage/.

61 "He could care less": Fleischer interview.

62 "You don't get it": Karen Hughes, author interview.

63 "He was on me all the time": Whitman interview.

64 "The vice president didn't have to": Dean McGrath, author interview.

65 "We have got to be really cautious": Jay Lefkowitz, author interview.

66 "I'm committed to doing everything": Doug Melton, e-mail exchange with author. See also Jay Lefkowitz, "Stem Cells and the President: An Inside Account," Commentary, January 2008.

67 "I must confess, I am wrestling": Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 22729.

68 "We at least owe them the respect": Leon Kass, e-mail exchange with author. See also Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 22729.

69 "Are you comfortable with this?": Hughes, Ten Minutes from Normal, 22729.

70 "A number of people internally didn't": Kristen Silverberg, author interview.

71 "This allows us to explore": George W. Bush, address to nation, August 9, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010809-2.html.

72 "the most unflinchingly pro-life": Frum, Right Man, 10910.

73 "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike": President's Daily Brief, August 6, 2001, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/pdb8-6-2001.pdf.

74 "the system was blinking red": 9/11 Commission Report, 259.

75 "I didn't feel that sense of urgency": Woodward, Bush at War, 39.

76 called himself a "windshield rancher": Stevens, Big Enchilada, 65.

77 "I fell in love with it the minute": George W. Bush, remarks to reporters, Crawford ranch, August 25, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010825-2.html.

78 reading Nathaniel Philbrick's: Notes of conversation with aide, provided to author.

79 "There wasn't any galvanizing" Peter Wehner, author interview.

80 "Decision makers should imagine": 9/11 Commission Report, 212.

81 In none of the morning intelligence: Ibid., 262.

CHAPTER 7: "SOMEBODY'S GOING TO PAY".

1 "C'mon, Stretch": Richard Keil, "With the President: A Reporter's Story of 9/11," Rochester Review, University of Rochester, Fall 2004.

2 "Those were the last carefree": Sandy Kress, author interview.

3 The motorcade pulled up: The times in this chapter are all East Coast time and taken from the report of the 9/11 Commission or the President's Daily Diary.

4 "This must be a horrible": Eric Draper, author interview.

5 "A second plane hit": 9/11 Commission Report, 38.

6 he did not jump up: For video of the moment in the classroom, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg5NvKpJfKE.

7 "DON'T SAY ANYTHING": Fleischer, Taking Heat, 13843.

8 "Whoo, these are great": Video of school event.

9 "Nothing much is happening": Peter Wehner, author interview.

10 "Turn on the TV right away": Sean O'Keefe, author interview.

11 "Boy, it's going to be a bad": Ibid.

12 "I need to talk to the president": Hayes, Cheney, 32932.

13 Dan Bartlett pointed: Draper interview.

14 "Today, we've had a national": McClellan, What Happened, 102.

15 "We will punish them": George W. Bush, notes, September 11, 2001, George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, http://www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/Photos-and-Videos/Photo-Galleries/Sneak-Peek-Document-Gallery.aspx.

16 "hunt down and find those folks": George W. Bush, statement to reporters, September 11, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010911.html.

17 "We were flying, faster": Draper interview.

18 "Mr. Vice President, we've got to": Dick Cheney, In My Time, 15.

19 "Doors flew open": O'Keefe interview.

20 "Get me the president": Dick Cheney, In My Time, 15.

21 "Sounds like we have a minor war": 9/11 Commission Report, 39.

22 "This is what they pay us": Draper interview.

23 "I just heard Angel is": Ibid. The president was told someone calling in a threat had used the code name Angel, which convinced officials that the threat was real. In fact, the caller had not used the word; it was used by a staff person passing along the information.

24 the bunker was first built: Bamford, Pretext for War, 64.

25 "shockingly low-tech": Joshua Bolten, author interview.

26 "You bet," Bush recalled: Sammon, Fighting Back, 1012.

27 But none of about a dozen: Gellman, Angler, 12021.

28 "the time it takes a batter": 9/11 Commission Report, 41.

29 "Just confirming, sir": Several people in the room, author interviews. See also Savage, Takeover, 4.

30 "I don't want it to sound heartless": Dick Cheney, author interview.

31 Bolten, who had not heard: Bolten interview. See also 9/11 Commission Report, 41.

32 "I think an act of heroism": Eric Edelman, author interview.

33 "You must know whether or not": Bumiller, Condoleezza Rice, xiv.

34 Cheney's order never got: The mission commander and the senior weapons director at the Northeast Air Defense Sector said they did not forward the order to pilots "because they were unsure how the pilots would, or should, proceed with this guidance." 9/11 Commission Report, 43.

35 One of the pilots: Steve Hendrix, "F-16 Pilot Was Ready to Down Her Father's Plane," Washington Post, September 14, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/f-16-pilot-was-ready-to-down-plane-her-father-piloted-on-911/2011/09/13/gIQAHasoSK_story.html.

36 "Mr. Vice President": Edelman interview.

37 "Get that off the screen": Ibid.

38 "This is like listening to Alvin": Ibid.

39 "Take it out," Cheney ordered: Dick Cheney, In My Time, 15.

40 "There's been at least three": 9/11 Commission Report, 43.

41 "We have canceled our exercises": Rice, No Higher Honor, 7475.

42 hitting 630 miles per hour: "On Board Air Force One," National Geographic Channel, January 25, 2009.

43 so close he could spot: Draper, Dead Certain, 144.

44 thought to himself that no American: George W. Bush, Decision Points, 13031.

45 "It was surreal": Ibid.

46 "Slow down, son": Ibid.

47 "The ball will be in your court": Fleischer, Taking Heat, 13843.

48 Bush "looked and sounded": Frum, Right Man, 119.

49 "We need to get back": Sammon, Fighting Back, 11920.

50 "Who do you think did this?": Bowden, Finish, 17.

51 "Who is the asshole": Clarke, Against All Enemies, 1819.

52 "Best info fast. Judge whether": Stephen Cambone, notes, September 11, 2001, available at the National Security Archives at George Washington University, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB326/doc07.pdf.

53 David Addington asked nonessential: Hayes, Cheney, 34243.

54 "We were at war": Dick Cheney, In My Time, 510.

55 "Call the NMCC": Edelman interview.

56 "We're at war": 9/11 Commission Report, 326.

57 "When is this going to end?": George W. Bush, Decision Points, 13334.

58 "We are at war against terror": Ibid.

59 "If I'm in the White House": Fleischer, Taking Heat, 14650.

60 "The mightiest building": Ibid.

61 "These acts shattered steel": George W. Bush, address to nation, September 11, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010911-16.html.

62 "Awful Office Address": Frum, Right Man, 133.