To the editor:

Recent letters to the editor and statements by Bush apologists across the country suggest that GW’s silence and inaction during the seven minutes that he sat reading “My Pet Goat” were proper because the alternative was terrifying the grade school children. Oh, please. No one is suggesting that he should have run screaming from the building. He could have politely dismissed himself without terrifying anyone. But he did sit there for a full seven minutes. And he wasn’t a senator or other citizen, with the luxury of having the time to assess the personal reaction to the attacks. He was supposed to be in charge.

At that moment, no one knew if the World Trade Center crashes were just the beginning of an invasion by a foreign force or the prelude to more serious attacks, perhaps involving nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. For all he knew, millions of Americans might have been dying as he sat there. He was appointed by the Supreme Court to assume the leadership position. But when we needed a leader, he just sat there.

In fact, as president and commander-in-chief, he was also a potential prime target. Our country was under attack. He should have been whisked away — as he later was — to a location where he wasn’t potentially endangering grade school children just by being in the same room with them, where he could have and should have fulfilled his role as the leader of our government and military.

Mike Cuenca,

Lawrence