Nimrod

Via Dan Froomkin, the White House apparently held a hugely important, serious terror drill yesterday.

Dozens of high-level officials joined in a White House drill yesterday to see how the government would respond if several cities were attacked simultaneously with bombs similar to those used against U.S. troops in Iraq.

White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend and the Homeland Security Council that she heads mapped out in advance a massive disaster involving improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. The attack targeted 10 U.S. cities, both large and small, at the same time, said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Townsend presided over the three-hour exercise, which brought the government's top homeland security officials to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House. All Cabinet agencies were represented by their secretaries or other high-ranking officials, with about 90 participants in all, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

Here comes the punchline.

President Bush went on a bike ride yesterday morning and did not take part in the test.

Sorta reminds me of that day in May 2005 when an airplane penetrated the "no fly zone" over Washington, DC, forcing the evacuation of 30,000 people including, "the vice president, first lady and Supreme Court justices", and the Secret Service chose not to tell Chimpy until he finshed his bike ride.

Comments

[hoppycalif]

I'm wrackng my brain trying to figure out why anyone would tell Bush about a major terrorist attack on our country. It isn't like he has anything to do with running the government or anything. Now, if this had said Dick Cheney was not informed, I would stop and question what was going on. But, Bush? Nah....waste of time.

[BuggyQ]

I must be suffering from outrage fatigue. My brain tells me I should be mad as hell, but the rest of me says, "Again? Dude, go get some Valium." Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. If somebody reported Dubya actually attended an important meeting and did anything more than doodle stickfigures, I'd be impressed.

[Scorpio]

May as well not tell him. He is as useful as socks on a rooster. Even the White House gardeners are more capable of doing their jobs than he is of doing the one he is supposed to do.

[justme]

What's with the captain america helment, anyway?