From BBC Radio 4. Written by Michael Eaton; Full-cast dramatisation.
September 11th 2001 dawned bright and clear on the East coast of the
United States. At 8:46 am President George W Bush was in Florida
promoting his education policy and Vice President Dick Cheney was in
Washington when a Boeing 767 - American Airlines flight 11 - crashed
into the World Trade Center's North Tower.
It was the first of four commercial planes used as weapons that day
in attacks on New York and the capital that led to the loss of
thousands of lives and changed the world. This is the dramatized
story - reconstructed from multiple documents and memoires - of how
Bush, from his plane Air Force One circling high above the United
States, and Cheney, in the White House bunker, responded in the
first few hours after the 9/11 attacks and how the decisions they
took that day set the course of the Bush presidency and triggered
the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Michael Eaton's drama reconstructs a chaotic day, when communications
failed, protocols were abandoned; radar signals were misinterpreted
and rescue aircraft came close to being shot down. It was a day that
united America and saw tremendous acts of personal sacrifice and
courage, but alongside the immediate response to the crisis there
was also a hidden tussle for power and control, with some of Bush's
key lieutenants moving swiftly to press an agenda that would determine
US foreign policy for the remainder of the Bush presidency and put in
place -'The War on Terror'.
Cast:
President George W Bush ..... WIlliam Hope
Vice President Dick Cheney -.....Stuart Milligan
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ..... Garrick Hagon
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice ..... Tanya Moodie
Chief of Staff Andrew Card ..... Richard Laing
Major Robert Darling ..... Philip Rosch
Laura Bush ..... Lorelei King
CIA Director George Tenet ..... Bill Roberts
Secretary of State Colin Powell ..... Nathan Osgood
Other parts played by members of the cast.
Produced by Richard Clemmow
Directed by Dirk Maggs
A Perfectly Normal Production for BBC Radio 4.
Download File Size:52.74 MB
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