Former President George W. Bush has given a candid insight into what happened in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
The former commander-in-chief, 80, was speaking at his presidential library in Dallas alongside former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when he made the comments.
Rice described the chaos that engulfed the executive branch in the aftermath, and how they managed to undermine the CIA and FBI working unitedly.
She said, “The day after the attack we were sitting in the Oval Office and because the FBI and the CIA hadn’t really been able to talk to each other because of civil liberties.
“For the first time, we had to forge intelligence between them by having Bob Mueller and George Tenet come into the Oval Office every morning and show the president what they saw in the threat matrix.
According to Rice, the threat matrix compiled by the two groups was the size of a telephone book on the morning of September 12.
Bush added, “The sad thing is that a third of our nation has no idea what we’re talking about.
“They never witnessed this sacrifice and the courage and dedication to serve a neighbor in need.”
Bush is seen here Wednesday evening at his presidential library as he commemorated the 25th anniversary of the attacks
Officially, the number of casualties linked to the attacks stands at 2,996, including 2,977 victims and 19 hijackers.
Rice described the chaos that engulfed the executive branch in the aftermath, and how they managed to get the CIA and FBI to work together as one.
Rice further recalled that she raised her voice against Bush in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
‘I did something that I would do again. I raised my voice at you because you said, “I’ll be back.”
“And I said, ‘Stay where you are, the United States of America is under attack. It’s not safe here.’
At the time of the attacks, Bush was at a school in Florida listening as a young student read to a classroom full of children.
He recalled leaving school, flying to a military base in Louisiana and then to another base in Omaha, Nebraska, before next addressing the nation.
Bush also recalled spending the night in a bunker beneath the White House before taking calls from world leaders the next day.
He added, “I didn’t want us to lose our souls. “I wanted, as we defended our freedoms, for people to remember how precious they are.”
Bush is expected to attend a ceremony at Ground Zero on Friday, along with former Presidents Obama, Biden and Clinton and Vice President JD Vance.
At the time of the attacks, Bush was at a school in Florida listening as a young student read to a classroom full of children. Here, assistant Andrew Card is seen telling him about the attacks.
Here’s Bush speaking to a crowd working through the remains of the World Trade Center on September 14
Here a man is seen among the rubble immediately after the collapse of the towers
The attacks saw al-Qaeda conspirators take control of planes and hit the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington.
A fourth plane was bound for Washington but crashed in Pennsylvania after crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit.
Officially, the number of casualties resulting from the attacks stands at 2,996, including 2,977 victims and 19 hijackers.
Thousands more were injured, and New York bore the brunt of the death toll – with an estimated 1,600 victims in the North Tower and another thousand in the South.
First responders and survivors have developed illnesses in thousands of people due to exposure to airborne toxins dying from 9/11-related cancers and other diseases.
Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released more than 170,000 pages of previously undisclosed air quality data after the attacks.
The documents showed that city officials knew at the time that the air at Ground Zero was unsafe to breathe, despite repeated assurances to the public.
