Bleating or Quacking?

The image of George W Bush sitting in front of a classroom full of children reading a book, when an aide whispered news of the 9./11 attacks, is one of the iconic images from those tragic events on September 11, 2001.

There are some who are sure the book was titled "My Pet Duck", whereas all references today show it as "My Pet Goat", even the false photoshopped ones which claim to show he was reading it upside down. None, however, can forget the shocked expression on the President's face as he heard the news.

My Pet Goat

There's actually another issue here - many also remember the book he was reading being called My Pet Goat, rather than The Pet Goat. In any case, the one seen today from Siegfried Englemann is called The Pet Goat and is cemented firmly as part of US history because of these events.

The President was already aware one plane had crashed into the twin towers just before he entered the classroom. Later, it transpired that it was thought this was a light aircraft and all down to a freak accident, so the classroom visit went ahead as planned. When the aide is see whispering the news into the Presidents ear, he is informing him of the second aircraft's collision.

The children picked up on something being very wrong from the sudden chage in demenour of the President. His face went "red and serious", and he seemed "horrified" for the rest of the session.

The episode was filmed and included in Michael Moore's Farenheight 9/11 documentary, which itself misattributes the title as My Pet Goat, again contributing to the confusion.