not have been in the united states on september 11th, 2001. >> while the hijackers made their preparations for the 9/11 attacks, the white house changed hands. once in office president bush decided not to immediately respond to the "cole" bombing. instead, the commission learned he'd ordered the development of a long-range plan to eliminate bin laden. >> thank you very much. secretary powell. >> mr. chairman, president bush, and all of us on his team knew that terrorism would be a major concern for us. he wanted a thorough strategy to go after al qaeda. >> he made clear to us that he did not want to respond to al qaeda one attack at a time. he told me he was tired of swatting flies. the president says, i have no hesitancy about going after him, but i didn't feel that sense of