Rove: Terrorists Tracked Bush's Whereabouts
NewsMax.com
Thursday Sept. 13, 2001; 8:39 a.m. EDT
Terrorists connected to the attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. were tracking President Bush as he traveled aboard Air Force One to Sarasota, Florida Tuesday morning, according to senior Bush adviser Karl Rove.
"Terrorists had knowledge of (Bush's) procedures and whereabouts," Rove told New York Times columnist William Safire Thursday.
"In light of the specific and credible threat (to Bush), it was decided to get airborne with a fighter escort," he explained.
Minutes earlier, Secret Service received a telephone call from an unidentified individual with apparent inside knowledge of the attacks who warned, "Air Force One is next."
The threat was accompanied by code words that indicated "knowledge of White House prodedures," Rove told the Times.
Rove reportedly informed the president about the direct threat against his life after Bush complained that the Secret Service was keeping him from returning to the White House in the wake of the attacks.
Vice President Dick Cheney, who was in the White House watching TV news coverage as the second plane slammed into the New York City landmark, was hustled to the underground President's Emergency Operation Center, where he also urged Bush via telephone not to return.
The president was flown to secure military installations in Louisiana and Nebraska before returning to Washington around 7 p.m.
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