Card recalls Sept. 11 aftermath

AUBURN – White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card said Thursday that Sept. 14 is more memorable to him than the day three days earlier that’s etched in the memories of most Americans.

In a speech to a Maine business group, Card recalled in detail the events of Sept. 14, the day President Bush visited the wreckage of the World Trade Center and met with relief workers and families of missing firefighters and police.

Card did not discuss White House reports that Bush had been warned of terrorist hijacking threats a month before the attacks.

Card did make reference to the first minutes and hours after the attacks.

“I was the one who literally whispered in the president’s ear” while Bush was speaking in a Florida school, Card said. “I leaned over and said, ‘the second plane hit the second tower. The nation is under attack.”‘

But even more memorable to Card were the events of Sept. 14.

Starting that day, Bush ordered daily FBI briefings in addition to routine CIA briefings. It was the first time, according to Card, that the president had to worry about intelligence threats from inside the country.

“It was a very, very significant change in the role of the president,” Card said.

Also on Sept. 14, Card flew with Bush to Ground Zero, where the president stood on the debris and acknowledged the cheers of shocked New Yorkers.

Card said Bush stretched what was supposed to be a 45-minute visit with relatives of missing emergency workers into two hours, meeting personally with each one.

“He cried, he laughed, he prayed, he hugged,” Card said.

At the end of the day, Card was with the president when he flew to Camp David. “The president was completely exhausted,” he said.

Card, who has a summer home in Maine, spoke to more than 300 people attending the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council’s annual meeting at Central Maine Technical College.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins invited Card on behalf of the council. Card praised Collins and said Mainers would be well-served by re-electing her in November.

The speech was his first in Maine as White House chief of staff. He was unable to speak when originally scheduled and asked to address the council Thursday.