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Bush, Rice broke down over Sept 11 strikes

T V Parasuram in Washington

US President George W Bush and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice broke down when they thought of the terrorist attacks of September 11 and both decided to be open about it, for that was the emotion all Americans felt.

The tears also steeled Bush's determination to destroy the Al Qaeda and Taliban and to take out any state that harboured terrorists.

Bush's speechwriter Michael Gerson told the Washington Post that when he met Bush on September 13, he saw the president break down in the Oval Office.

When Bush got over that emotion, his first words jolted Gerson: "Mike, we are at war."

Rice returned home about midnight the third night of the crisis. She had spent the first night of the crisis at the White House. The Secret Service had told her it was not safe to go home and she was preparing to sleep in the bunker when the president and the first lady invited her to stay at their residence.

Rice slept for a few hours that night and again the next night, but she had been operating, like everyone, on adrenaline. Now, she had a few moments at home in her apartment to unwind.

She flipped on her TV for the first time since the crisis began, and the screen showed a familiar scene -- the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace in London.

But it was the music that caught her attention. In a gesture of solidarity and sympathy with the US, the Queen's band was playing the American national anthem. Rice listened for a few seconds, and then she started to weep.

America's War on Terror: The Complete Coverage
The Attack on US Cities: The Complete Coverage

The Terrorism Weblog: Latest Stories from Around the World

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