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DAY 7 DAY 8 DAY 9 DAY 10 DAY 11 PAGE 12 - BODIES FOUND 5 YEARS AFTER 9/11 AND IDENTIFIED MILITARY PAGES THE TALIBAN CELLS PASSENGERS NUMBER SYMBOLISM WTC DREAMS AND PROPHECY 10-02-2001 - The American Tragedy - A Symbolic Event PRESIDENT G.W. BUSH SPEECH TO CONGRESS - 9-20-2001 10-11-2001 - REVERSE SPEECH ON REMARKS BY PERSONALITIES SINCE THE WTC EVENT 10-14-2001 - SUSPICIONS ON THE WTC EVENTS
JACK VAN IMPE STATES: ISRAEL INTELLIGENCE TOLD U.S. INTELLIGENCE
ALL TERRORIST PILOTS IDENTIFIED - ARRESTS OF
CONTRIBUTORS GROWING 9-16-2001 - A DELEGATION IS ON THE WAY TO PAKISTAN TO DEMAND THAT THE TALIBAN HAND OVER OSAMA BIN LADEN IN 3 DAYS OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES. 9-20-2001 - TALIBAN REFUSES TO HAND OVER OSAMA BIN LADEN BUT SUGGESTS TO AFGHANISTAN THAT THEY REQUEST BIN LADEN TO LEAVE IN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME 9-20-2001 - U.S. REJECTS PROPOSAL OF TALIBAN AS INSIGNIFICANT 9-20-2001 - OSAMA BIN LADEN LEAVES CAMP ON HORSEBACK TO GO INTO HIDING. FOLLOWERS VOW TO FIGHT TO THE LAST MAN 'Suicide hijacker' is an airline pilot alive and well in Jeddah Who Did It? - FBI Links Names to Terror Attacks Revealed: the men with stolen identities
Artists
Rendering of the USS New York
May, 2006
With a year to go before it even touches the water, the Navy's amphibious assault ship USS New York has already made history. It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center. It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft. Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, La., to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept. 9, 2003, "those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. "It was a spiritual moment for everybody there." Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up." "It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back." The ship's motto? - 'Never Forget'
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Officials raise estimate of death toll on lower WTC floorsBelieve more people died below impact siteWednesday, July 21, 2004 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal investigators analyzing evacuation patterns at the World Trade Center estimate more people than previously thought died below the areas hit by the hijacked planes. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is conducting an extensive review of the collapse of the towers. Between 567 and 610 people died below the impact floors, "somewhat higher than previously thought," lead investigator Shyam Sunder said Tuesday. The NIST has tried to determine where people died to better understand evacuation responses and craft recommendations that would make skyscrapers safer. The agency's interim figures estimate 1,466 building occupants died in World Trade Center Tower 1, the vast majority, 1,356 people, at or above the impact site. In Tower 2, the second to be struck, 624 office workers were killed, and only six of those were below the impact site. More than 400 emergency responders were killed in the twin towers below the impact floors. NIST also has determined 30 other people were killed in the towers below the impact sites, without being able to say which building they were in. Sunder said between 1,974 and 2,017 people died at or above the areas of impact, a figure slightly below previous estimates. He said the shift may be explained by the lowering death toll since the first calculations were made in 2002. NIST said it still had no information on where 17 people died. Tallying informationThe main source of information for the analysis came from 300 in-person interviews conducted by the NIST and about 800 phone interviews. In many cases, the agency was able to use employees' building identification information to determine on which floors they worked. That information was cross-checked against survivor accounts of their evacuations. The investigators also tallied information gleaned from press accounts and a Web site dedicated to victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks. The agency had previously estimated that between 16,200 and 18,600 people were in the buildings. It also determined 18 bystanders or occupants of nearby buildings were killed. The institute's investigation began two years ago in an effort to determine why the towers collapsed and use those lessons to recommend improvements in building codes, evacuation procedures and other standards. Its final report is due in December.
Copyright 2004 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved.
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9/11 Commission Hears Flight Attendant's Phone Call
'I Don't Know, but I Think We're Getting Hijacked'
By HOPE YEN, AP
WASHINGTON (Jan. 28, 2004) - The calm voice calling from American Airlines Flight 11 belied the mayhem unfolding on the jetliner: a hijacking was under way, three people were stabbed, the cockpit was silent.
''The cockpit is not answering their phone,'' flight attendant Betty Ong told the American Airlines operations center shortly before the plane slammed into the World Trade Center. ''There's somebody stabbed in business class, and we can't breathe in business. Um, I think there is some Mace or something. We can't breathe.
''I don't know, but I think we're getting hijacked.''
Ong, 45, known as ''Bee,'' of Andover, Mass., was working coach class on the American Airlines Boeing 767 flying from Boston to Los Angeles on Sept. 11, 2001, before suspected 9-11 ringleader Mohammed Atta and four others took over the plane and crashed it into the North Tower of the Trade Center.
Nydia Gonzalez, on duty at the operations center that morning, told the panel how she received Ong's call at about 8:20 a.m.
Several media accounts of what occurred on Flight 11 claimed that Betty was 'hysterical with fear,' 'shrieking' and 'gasping for air,''' Gonzalez said. ''Those accounts were wrong.''
''In a very calm, professional and poised demeanor, Betty Ong relayed to us detailed information of the events unfolding on Flight 11,'' Gonzalez added.
The Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States heard portions of Ong's 23-minute conversation with the operations center on the second of a two-day hearing Tuesday.
In it, Ong tells the operations center her flight and seat number and describes the scene on board.
''I'm sitting in the back. Somebody's coming back from business. If you can hold on for one second here, they're coming back.
''Our No. 1 (flight attendant) got stabbed. Our purser is stabbed. Nobody knows who stabbed who. We can't even get up to business class right now, because nobody can breathe. Uh, our No. 1 is stabbed right now.
''Our No. 5, our first class passenger, er, our first class galley flight attendant and our purser have been stabbed. And we can't get into the cockpit. The door won't open.''
''We can't even get into the cockpit. We don't know who's there,'' Ong says, before the call ends in a dial tone.
The Boeing 767 rammed into the World Trade Center's north tower at 8:46 a.m.
AP-NY-01-28-04 0057EST
Friday, September 27, 2002
FBI Director Robert Mueller
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The hijackers who took over four airplanes on September 11, 2001, and carried out the worst-ever terror attacks on U.S. soil conducted several surveillance flights prior to that day, according to newly-declassified information released Thursday.
One of those flights was on the same route as the plane that was crashed into the Pentagon.
The information was made public during a hearing conducted by the House and Senate intelligence committees. It came from a statement by FBI Director Robert Mueller -- made at a closed-door hearing in June -- about how the hijackers entered the United States and prepared their attack without arousing any suspicion.
"Meetings and communications between the hijackers were done without detection, apparent surveillance flights were taken, and nothing illegal was detected through airport security screening," Mueller's statement said.
"In short, the terrorists had managed very effectively to exploit loopholes and vulnerabilities in our systems. To this day, we have found no one in the United States except the actual hijackers who knew of the plot and we have found nothing they did while in the United States that triggered a specific response about them," he added.
Mueller said his remarks could not include a discussion of Zacarias Moussaoui because of the case pending against him. Moussaoui faces six conspiracy charges and a possible death penalty for his involvement with al Qaeda, the Islamic terrorist group behind the attacks.
Each of the return flights taken on the preparatory missions included a one-to-two day layover in Las Vegas, but Mueller said the purpose of the stops in that city is not known.
The FBI chief also disclosed for the first time that hijackers including Nawaf al Hazmi and ringleader Mohammed Atta had monthly, face-to-face meetings to discuss their deadly plan. More than 3,000 people were killed in the September 11 attacks.
Mueller: Terrorists 'were not supermen'
Mostly, the hijackers blended in to American society, Mueller said.
"They dressed and acted like Americans, shopping and eating at places like Wal-Mart and Pizza Hut," he said.
Aside from minor traffic violations, they committed no crimes, and al Hazmi even reported an attempted street robbery on May 1, 2001, to Fairfax, Virginia, police, although he later declined to press charges.
Mueller said the September 11 attack plan was conceived and carried out using simple means.
"Clearly, these 19 terrorists were not supermen using extraordinarily sophisticated techniques. They came armed with simple box cutters," he said.
"But they also came armed with sophisticated knowledge about how to plan these attacks abroad without discovery, how to finance their activities from overseas without alarm, how to communicate both here and abroad without detection, and how to exploit the vulnerabilities inherent in our free society.
"There were no slip-ups. Discipline never broke down. They gave no hint to those around them what they were about," Mueller's statement continued. "They came lawfully. They lived lawfully. They trained lawfully. They boarded the aircraft lawfully. They simply relied upon everything from the vastness of the Internet to the openness of our society to do what they wanted to do without detection."
His remarks were released as top counter-terrorism officials defended their various agencies to lawmakers. Both CIA and FBI officials said they did the best job they could given the resources they had to work with.
Responding to criticism that the FBI missed clues about the use of aircraft by terrorists, the FBI's counter-terrorism chief said those clues came amid a torrent of other intelligence information.
"We had threats to malls, threats to power plants, threats to assassinations, across the board we had threats coming in every day," said Dale Watson, executive assistant director of the FBI.
In his statement, Mueller praised the work of his agency, especially after September 11, but admitted "there were clearly things we should have done better or differently."
And he warned that the threat from terrorists has not subsided.
"Those who masterminded and financed these attacks are still capable of doing so. Capturing a number of important operatives has been a huge victory but there are others, still loosely connected and still a potent threat," Mueller said.
"Nor should we forget that thousands of 'foot soldiers' -- those who trained in the camps -- remain disbursed. And there are those who, without direction or control, are compelled for ideological reasons to pursue jihad and kill Americans."
Mueller said the FBI needs new structures, new training and new technologies, which are now being put in to place.
"Nothing can be paramount to preventing the next attack," he said.
CNN Justice Department Correspondent Kelli Arena contributed to this report.
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This is how it used to look • The World Trade Center had two 110-story buildings, known as the "Twin Towers" and five smaller buildings. • Tower One was 1,368 feet (414 meters) tall • Tower Two was 1,362 feet (412 meters) tall • The Twin Towers were the tallest until the Sears Tower surpassed them. • Architects: Minoru Yamaski & Associates and Emery, Roth & Sons. • Built of aluminum and steel. • The foundation of each tower extended more than 70 feet below ground, resting on solid bedrock. • Constructed on six acres of landfill. • The towers were the best known examples of "tube buildings," which are strenghtened by closely spaced columns and beams in the outer walls. • Each tower consisted of 104 passenger elevators and 21,800 windows. • About 50,000 people worked in the complex, which housed the offices of more than 430 businesses from 26 countries. • Completed in 1970. • Automatic window-washing machines cleaned 600,000 square feet of glass. Source: World Trade Center and PBS
Looking UP
A lone man runs down Broadway as a smoke and dust cloud comes up the street
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American Red Cross https://www.redcross.org/donate/ America's Blood Center's http://4.21.230.152/aboutabc/membership.htm
The United Way of New York. Help the victims of
the attacks and their families.
Donations are also being accepted on United Way
of New York City's Friends and family who wish to check on passengers and flights may call American Airlines, 1-800-245-0999 United Airlines, 1-800-932-8555 Report Attacks FBI Hotline 1 - 866-483-5137
the people of New York and Washington DC need your
blood .... to save their lives ... |
Call Congress Toll Free (877) 762-8762 or (800) 648-3516 Contact the President - Call (202) 456-1414 Fax.... (202) 456-2461
The Pentagon has asked that all Navy and Marine
personnel who were in the building Army personnel assigned to the Pentagon should call 1-800-984-8523. Family members may contact service representatives at the following numbers: • Army: 1-800-984-8523 or 703-428-0002 • Navy and Marine Corps: 1-877-663-6772 • Air Force: 1-800-253-9276
A Tragedy has Stuck America. As we mourn the deaths
of thousands of
We ask that if there is anything that you can do
please help! For more information on helping victims of the U.S. attacks, visit http://helping.org/promos/cs_wtc.adp
The United Way of New York and the New York Community
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Donations are also being accepted on United Way
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All trained medical personnel willing to go into
Manhattan to assist FBI tip Web site Report Attacks FBI Hotline 866-483-5137 |
IT IS NOT OVER YET - 3 MEN ARRESTED AT 11:00 P.M.
EDT
ON GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE WITH TRUCK FULL OF EXPLOSIVES
NEW YORK MAYOR GULIANI DENYING THIS ALLEGATION
CELL PHONE CALLS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED FROM UNDER THE WTC
PEOPLE MAY STILL BE ALIVE
2100 PEOPLE HOSPITALIZED - DEATHS MAY RUN FROM 10,000 TO 50,000
MAYOR GULIANI REPORTS THAT THE NUMBERS WILL BE HORRENDOUS
PLANES HELD 233 PASSENGERS - 25 CREW AND 8 PILOTS - ALL DEAD
POSSIBLE OVER 300 FIREFIGHTERS DECEASED
WAITING FOR FINAL NUMBERS
78 POLICE OFFICERS MISSING
PENTAGON - DEATHS EST. TO BE 188
AFGHANISTAN BEING
BOMBED
WE ARE NOT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS BOMBING OF THE AMMUNITION DUMP
BLAMING IT ON THE CIVIL WAR THERE
Twin impacts left explosions, fires, gaping holes in 110-foot-tall towers BOTH BUILDINGS BLEW UP AND FELL BOTH BUILDINGS COMPLETELY GONE
THIRD BUILDING ON FIRE AND COLLAPSED MARIOTT HOTEL, NEW YORK ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE AS WELL Built on six acres of landfill, the World Trade Center complex includes seven high-rise buildings, a shopping mall and a daycare center. The two largest buildings, called the Twin Towers, collapsed. The complex also includes a 47-story high-rise building, a 22-story structure, two nine-story buildings and an eight-story facility. Its complex is also a hub for a commuter rail station. PASSENGER ON FLIGHT 11, CALLED FOR HELP ON CELL PHONE FROM BATHROOM - SAYING THAT THEY WERE BEING HIGHJACKED. SHE STAYED ON THE PHONE UNTIL IT CRASHED INTO THE TOWER BUILDING BARBARA OLSON, TELEVISION COMMENTATOR, WIFE OF WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICIAL TED OLSON, WAS ON CELL PHONE DURING HIGHJACKING. PASSENGERS, CREW AND PILOT WERE HERDED TO THE BACK OF THE PLANE. ACCORDING TO BARBARA OLSON, PLANE WAS HIGHJACKED WITH A CARBOARD CUTTER KNIFE WHAT???? WOULD YOU GIVE UP A PLANE FOR A CARBOARD CUTTER KNIFE???? DAY OF TERROR Both World Trade Center towers collapse after plane crashes Plane crashes into Pentagon, part of the Pentagon collapses AP: Car bombing at State Department Bush calls trade center crashes terrorist act All federal buildings, United Nations evacuated FAA grounds all domestic flights, sends trans-Atlantic flights to Canada SECOND BUILDING IN NEW YORK READY TO COLLAPSE FROM DAMAGE ALL U.S. OFFICIALS GO TO SECRET PLACE TO CONDUCT BUSINESS ABOUT THE TERRORISM PRESIDENT BUSH FLIES FROM FLORIDA TO LOUISIANA TO NEBRASKA FOR SECURITY MEETING- SECRETARY POWELL FLIES FROM PERU TO SECRET LOCATION |
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Updated: 11:35 p.m. EDT (0335 GMT) -- 11 September 2001 Latest news FBI executing search warrants in Florida. NYPD: People still alive in buildings Giuliani asks for New Yorkers to 'stay home' FBI targets Florida sites in terrorist search Survivors may be still in Trade Center rubble September 11, 2001 Posted: 11:51 PM EDT (0351 GMT) NEW YORK (CNN) -- FBI agents targeted homes and post office boxes in south Florida for searches late Tuesday with warrants based on passenger lists from the hijacked planes used in the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington earlier in the day. In New York, rescue crews continued to search for survivors in buildings near the destroyed towers of the World Trade Center. "We do know that there are people in the building that are alive, and we are making every effort to get to them," New York Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik said late Tuesday night. The FBI used information from the planes' passenger lists to obtain search warrants for more than one location in south Florida, including homes and post office boxes, a law enforcement source told CNN. "We're looking at south Florida ties to some of the people we're looking at," the source said. One search will made at a location in Daytona, the source said. 16.37PM GMT Thousands of people are feared dead following suicide plane-crash attacks on the World Trade Center, in New York today. Twenty-five thousand people were thought to be working in the twin towers of World Trade Center in New York at the time of the kamikaze assaults. Both of the 110-storey towers collapsed within two hours of the onslaught. Up to eight airplanes are said to have been hijacked, US air authorities say that three planes are unaccounted for. Yasser Arafat has condemned the attacks, but current speculation still puts the blame on Palestianian separatists. All Israeli embassies in the US have been evacuated as has the UK stock exchange. From: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/21606.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From: http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/america.under.attack/index.html Among those presumed dead are the New York Fire Department's deputy chief and first deputy commissioner. Also presumed dead is Ray Downey, who led the NYFD team that helped out after the bombing in Oklahoma City. President Bush suggested Tuesday how high the death toll may rise when he said "thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror." He also issued a warning to any nation that may be giving refuge to those responsible for the terrorist attacks on the United States. "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them," the president said from the Oval Office of the White House as he promised retaliation.
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BREAKING NEWS Sources tell CNN one of two planes that crashed into World Trade Center was an American Airlines 767. Updated: 09:31 a.m. EDT (1331 GMT) -- 11 September 2001 A second plane, left, slams into the World Trade Center creating a huge explosion Planes hit World Trade Center A second plane crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhattan this morning, shortly after the building was set ablaze by an initial plane crash. Two planes hit World Trade Center September 11, 2001 Posted: 9:32 AM EDT (1332 GMT) NEW YORK (CNN) -- In what President Bush called a terrorist attack, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers on Tuesday, leaving them both in flames from explosions in a terrifying scene as black clouds of smoke billowed over Manhattan. About 18 minutes after the first plane hit the northern tower, a second plane slammed into the southern tower, erupting into a huge fireball. The harrowing images were caught in live video. Live pictures showed a gaping hole on the side of the northern building, several stories down from the top. Black smoke was billowing from at least two sides. The second crash hit the second tower several stories lower than the first in a huge burst of flame. Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, was in an office near the World Trade Center towers at the time of the first crash. He witnessed the crash. "It was a jet, looked like a two-engine jet," Murtagh said. "It looked like maybe a 737." Murtagh said he saw the plane "teetering back and forth, wingtip to wingtip" before the plane smashed into the side of the building. Jeanne Yurman witnessed the explosion that followed the crash. "At first it was like leaflets," she said, describing the debris that fell to the ground. "There was tons of debris and it continues to fall out." Yurman said she did not see the plane. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Planes Crash Into World Trade Center The Associated Press Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001; 9:33 a.m. EDT NEW YORK –– Planes crashed into the upper floors of both World Trade Center towers minutes apart Tuesday in a horrific scene of explosions and fires that left gaping holes in the 110-story building. There was no immediate word on injuries or fatalities in the twin disasters, which happened shortly before 9 a.m. and then right around 9 a.m. President Bush has called the World Trade Center crashes an apparent terrorist attack The FBI is investigating reports that two plane crashes at the World Trade Center are the result of foul play, The Associated Press has learned. A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency is pursuing reports that one or both of the planes were hijacked and that the crashes may have been the result of a suicide mission. The source stressed that the reports are preliminary and officials do not know the cause of the crashes. "It certainly doesn't look like an accident," said a second government official, also speaking on condition of anonymity. The towers were struck by bombers in February 1993. "The plane was coming in low and ... it looked like it hit at a slight angle," said Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, the network reported. Large holes were visible in sides of the 110-story buildings, landmark twin towers. "I was watching TV. and heard a sonic boom ...," witness Jeanne Yurman told CNN. "The side of the world trade center exploded. Debris is falling like leaflets. I hear ambulances. The northern tower seems to be on fire." The tops of the twin towers were obscured by the smoke. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about three miles from the tower, one witness said. The center bombing on Feb. 26, 1993, killing six people and injured more than 1,000 others. In 1945, an Army Air Corps B-25, a twin-engine bomber, crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in dense fog. © Copyright 2001 The Associated Press 1st TOWER HIT BY AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 175 OUT OF NEWARK NEW JERSEY 2nd TOWER HIT BY AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 11 HIGHJACKED FROM BOSTON - APPROX. 187 PASSENGERS FIRST TOWER COLLAPSES SECOND EXPLOSION IN SECOND TOWER - 10:00 A.M. SECOND TOWER BUILDING COLLAPSES
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Mayor Guliani Eyewitness to Bombing of Twin Towers Terror Attack Destroys Trade Center Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001; 12:32 p.m. EDT NEW YORK –– In one of the most audacious attacks ever against the United States, terrorists hijacked two airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in a coordinated series of blows Tuesday that brought down the twin 110-story towers. A plane also slammed into the Pentagon, bringing the seat of government itself under attack. Thousands could be dead or injured, a high-ranking city police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost," Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. "Right now we have to focus on saving as many lives as possible." Authorities had been trying to evacuate those who work in the twin towers, but many were thought to have been trapped. About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center. American Airlines said its two aircraft were carrying a total of 156 people. "This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that's ever taken place in the world," said Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Transport in London. "It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. ... I would name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden." President Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to "hunt down the folks who committed this act." Within the hour, an aircraft crashed on a helicopter landing pad near the Pentagon, and the White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol were evacuated. One of the planes that crashed into the Trade Center was American Airlines Flight 11, hijacked after takeoff from Boston en route to Los Angeles, the airline said. American Airlines issued a statement saying it had "lost" two aircraft – Flight 11, with 92 people aboard, and Flight 77 from Washington to Los Angeles, carrying 64 people. In Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The fate of those aboard was not immediately known and it was not clear if the crash was related to the disasters elsewhere. In a statement, the airline also said it was deeply concerned about another plane, Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles. Authorities went on alert from coast to coast, halting all air traffic, evacuating high-profile buildings and tightening security at strategic installations. The Situation Room at the White House was in full operation. At the World Trade Center, "everyone was screaming, crying, running, cops, people, firefighters, everyone," said Mike Smith, a fire marshal. "It's like a war zone." "I just saw the building I work in come down," said businessman Gabriel Ioan, shaking in shock outside City Hall, a cloud of smoke and ash from the World Trade Center behind him. "I just saw the top of Trade Two come down." Nearby a crowd mobbed a man on a pay phone, screaming at him to get off the phone so that they could call relatives. Dust and dirt flew everywhere. Ash was 2 to 3 inches deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified. © Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
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September 11, 2001 Posted: 1457 GMT NEW YORK (CNN) -- Terrorists struck the United States Tuesday morning in harrowing, widespread attacks that included at least three commercial jet crashes into significant buildings. • In the first attack, a plane smashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan shortly before 9 a.m., followed by another plane into the second tower about 20 minutes later. Both towers later collapsed. Sources told CNN that one of the planes was an American Airlines Boeing 767 that had been hijacked after take-off from Boston. • About an hour later, a plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, part of which later collapsed. • Sources say a second plane was heading toward the Pentagon; F-16 jets were in the air monitoring it. • The Pentagon, the White House, the State Department, the Justice Department, the Capitol and all other government buildings in Washington evacuated. • In the first ever national ground stop of aircraft, all flights nationwide have been stopped at their departure airports. • All international flights were diverted to Canada. • Israel has evacuated all its missions around the world. • President Bush cancelled an appearance in Florida to return to Washington, calling the crashes "apparent terrorist attacks" and "a national tragedy." • In Chicago, the Sears Tower was evacuated; United Nations in New York evacuated. • The New York Port Authority said it had closed all bridges and tunnels into the city. • New York's Bellevue Hospital was designated command central for handling the catastrophe. Several hospitals have already reported receiving victims with burns and head injuries. • Large plane crashed 80 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but it was unknown if this crash was connected to terrorist attacks. (This was flight 93 which was supposed to go to Washington D.C. in another terrorist attack. The pilot of this plane is a HERO!!!! He had to have fought off the terrorists.) • U.S. stock markets were closed after the New York attacks.
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| US apparently hit by terrorist attack
Tuesday, 11 September 2001 10:34 (ET) By MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The stark prospect of a coordinated terrorist assault on the United States suddenly exploded into apparent reality Tuesday as explosions that followed two plane crashes at the World Trade Center in New York collapsing both towers, and eyewitnesses saw another plane crash into the Pentagon near Washington. In Washington, government buildings including the White House, Pentagon and State Department were evacuated. "Terrorism against our nation will not stand," said President George W. Bush in Sarasota, Fla., as he prepared to fly back to Washington. "We will hunt down those responsible." For the first time in history, all commercial flights across America were suspended by the Federal Aviation Administration, and airports were closed as the FBI began putting emergency anti-terrorist plans into motion. The skylines of Washington and New York looked as if they were under military assault, and as the south tower of the Trade Center began to crumble, the billowing smoke shrouded the whole of southern Manhattan, drifting across to shroud in sudden darkness the Statue of Liberty. "The whole building is crumbling, it's going down," came a New York City Police Department radio call. There was no immediate word on casualties. There also were no immediate claims of responsibility for the apparent attacks. In Washington, security services began evacuating the U.S. Capitol and all the buildings that comprise the nerve center of American government. An emergency team of the national security council was meeting in the White House situation room as the order came to evacuate the building. America's day of drama began at 8:48 a.m., when what eyewitnesses said was a World War II-era DC-3 aircraft flew, apparently deliberately, into one of the two towers of the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan. Then shortly before 9 a.m., a plane, which CNN reported as a hijacked American Airlines Boeing 767 passenger jet en route from Boston to Los Angeles, flew into the second tower from the ocean. Then came the report of a fire at the Pentagon near Washington, and smoke began to billow over Washington, after witnesses reported a large explosion, and at least one account of "something" - an aircraft or a missile -- flying into the vast building that runs the U.S. military. An eyewitness told CNN she saw what looked like a commercial airplane crash into the Pentagon. Almost immediately, an emergency was declared at the White House by the Secret Service, who began evacuating the building and the neighboring U.S. Treasury Department, and reports from Chicago said that the Sears Tower was also being evacuated, possibly as a precaution. The World Trade Center was the target of a terrorist attack on Feb. 26, 1993, when a bomb exploded in a basement garage of the structure. Six people were killed and more than 1,000 others were injured. Six Arab men were convicted for the bombing. They claimed to be retaliating against U.S. support for the Israeli government. Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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| Tuesday, September 11, 2001
Terrorists Attack Pentagon, 188 DEAD Trade Centers Tuesday, September 11, 2001 NEW YORK - In a horrific sequence of destruction, terrorists hijacked two airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in a coordinated series of attacks Tuesday morning that brought down the twin 110-story towers. An aircraft also crashed at the Pentagon, raising fears that the seat of government itself was under attack. ''I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost,'' Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. ''Right now we have to focus on saving as many lives as possible.'' Authorities had been trying to evacuate those who work in the twin towers, but many were thought to have been trapped. About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center. American Airlines said its two aircraft were carrying a total of 156 people. ''This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that's ever taken place in the world,'' said Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Transport in London. ''It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. ... I would name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden.'' President Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to ''hunt down the folks who committed this act.'' Within the hour, an aircraft crashed on a helicopter landing pad near the Pentagon, and the White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol were evacuated. One of the planes that crashed into the Trade Center was American Airlines Flight 11, hijacked after takeoff from Boston en route to Los Angeles, the airline said. American Airlines issued a statement saying it had ''lost'' two aircraft - Flight 11, with 92 people aboard, and Flight 77 from Washington to Los Angeles, carrying 64 people. In Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The fate of those aboard was not immediately known and it was not clear if the crash was related to the disasters elsewhere. In a statement, the airline also said it was deeply concerned about another plane, Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles. Authorities went on alert from coast to coast, halting all air traffic, evacuating high-profile buildings and tightening security at strategic installations. The Situation Room at the White House was in full operation. At the World Trade Center, ''everyone was screaming, crying, running, cops, people, firefighters, everyone,'' said Mike Smith, a fire marshal. ''It's like a war zone.'' ''I just saw the building I work in come down,'' said businessman Gabriel Ioan, shaking in shock outside City Hall, a cloud of smoke and ash from the World Trade Center behind him. ''I just saw the top of Trade Two come down.'' Nearby a crowd mobbed a man on a pay phone, screaming at him to get off the phone so that they could call relatives. Dust and dirt flew everywhere. Ash was 2 to 3 inches deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified. The twin disaster at the World Trade Center happened shortly before 9 a.m. and then right around 9 a.m. Heavy black smoke billowed into the sky above the gaping holes in the side of the twin towers, one of New York City's most famous landmarks, and debris rained down upon the street, one of the city's busiest work areas. When the second plane hit, a fireball of flame and smoke erupted, leaving a huge hole in the glass and steel tower. John Axisa, who was getting off a PATH train to the World Trade Center, said he saw ''bodies falling out'' of the building. He said he ran outside, and watched people jump out of the first building, and then there was a second explosion, and he felt heat on the back of neck. WCBS-TV, citing an FBI agent, said five or six people jumped out of the windows. People screamed every time another person leaped. David Reck was handing out literature for a candidate for public advocate a few blocks away when he saw a jet come in ''very low, and then it made a slight twist and dove into the building.'' People ran down the stairs in panic and fled the building. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about three miles away. Within the hour, an aircraft crashed on a helicopter landing pad near the Pentagon, a car bomb exploded outside the State Department, and the West Wing of the White House was evacuated amid threats of terrorism. And another explosion rocked New York about an hour after the crash. ''Today we've had a national tragedy,'' Bush said in Sarasota, Fla. ''Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country.'' He said he would be returning immediately to Washington. Terrorist bombers struck the World Trade Center in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. ''A second occurrence is just beyond belief,'' said Ira Furber, former National Transportation Safety Board spokesman. Several subway lines were immediately shut down Tuesday. Trading on Wall Street was suspended. ''We heard a large boom and then we saw all this debris just falling,'' said Harriet Grimm, who was inside a bookstore on the World Trade Center's first floor when the first explosion rocked the building. ''The plane was coming in low and ... it looked like it hit at a slight angle,'' said Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, the network reported. In 1945, an Army Air Corps B-25, a twin-engine bomber, crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in dense fog. In Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading. He addressed the tragedy about a half-hour later. |
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| Tuesday, 11 September, 2001, 18:29 GMT 19:29 UK
Cockpit drama of doomed planes Air traffic control would have watched the disaster unfold By BBC News Online's Sheila Barter and Jenny Matthews The pilots of the doomed American airliners could have been dead by the time their planes hit their targets, say airline experts. Ex-pilots believe that even a man with a gun to his head would not fly into a building housing thousands of people - and faced with certain death, would crash the plane elsewhere. And a terrorist with no previous flying experience would have found it relatively easy to steer a plane through the final moments of its journey and into its target, David Learmount, Operations and Safety Editor of Flight International, told BBC News Online. "It would be dead easy to aim an aircraft at a target that big," he said. "They may have shot the pilots, or taken out at least one of them, and taken over the controls. "As a former pilot, I would just aim for the ground, even if it would mean the death of everyone on board. "I doubt the pilots were at the controls." Other pilots also believe the crews were dead. "I'm sure they would never have got an airline pilot to have done their dirty work. I hope it was mercifully quick," said one contributor to the pilots' internet site, the Professional Pilots' Rumour Network. Nightmare scenario Another pilot writes: "The thoughts that one must face when ordered to fly into a building are beyond my comprehension. One hopes/presumes the terrorists flew the last few minutes." Before the mass hijacking, no-one had anticipated a scenario where extremists would turn not just themselves, but whole planes, into suicide bombs. Not even Hollywood scriptwriters had dreamt up such a horrific chain of events. Certainly no-one on the plane could possibly have realised at the start of the drama that the whole flight was doomed whatever anyone did. As the planes were taken over, one by one, each pilot would almost certainly have expected a "normal" hijacking - where terrorists demand to be flown to a place of their choice, and negotiations begin. Air traffic control personnel "would have known immediately" of a crisis when the planes veered away from their normal route, according to Chris Yates, aviation security editor of Jane's Defence Weekly. "They are monitoring the flight paths all the time on screens in front of them," he said. All conversations with the air traffic controllers will have been automatically recorded. But the only record of all cockpit conversations - the planes' voice recorders - may not have survived, said Mr Learmount. The boxes can withstand intense heat for only relatively short periods, and could have been destroyed in the infernos which followed the crashes. As the drama began, the cockpit doors on all planes would have been locked - standard practice in the US, although not in the UK and Europe. But the doors are not reinforced, and even without explosives, experts say it would be relatively easy to gain access - either by force or by forcing a cabin crew member to lead the way. Once the hijackers were in place - and in control - Mr Yates said there would have been little anyone could do. If a plane, for whatever reason, is bound for destruction, controllers would have had to watch helplessly as tragedy unfolded on their screens. "They will have been frantically trying to contact the planes that have gone off their trajectory," said Mr Yates. Military option "But if that doesn't work their only option would be possibly to scramble military jets." But the military choices would have been limited by the circumstances anyway - with hundreds of passengers on board, and city centres underneath. BBC diplomatic editor Brian Hanrahan says virtually nothing could have stopped such an extraordinary attack. "This is sophisticated, suicidal and there's a degree of ruthlessness which we haven't ever seen in the use of terrorism anywhere in the world before," he said. "This is quite unprecedented, it's on a different scale and it does require detailed knowledge and organisation, and a degree or sophistication which we would be surprised at, I think." Investigators must now plough through tonnes of rubble to try finding the so-called "black boxes", along with hundreds of bodies. The task may prove fruitless. "We may never know what happened," said Mr Learmount. |
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| Tuesday, September 11, 2001
Bush Vows U.S. Will Hunt Down Attackers Tuesday, September 11, 2001 SARASOTA, Fla. - President Bush Tuesday condemned what he called an ''apparent terrorist attack'' on the World Trade Center and pledged the U.S. government will ''hunt down'' those responsible. ''Terrorism against our nation will not stand,'' Bush said as he cut short a visit to Florida to return to Washington after two airplanes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Air Force One took off for Washington even as the Federal Aviation Authority grounded all other aircraft in response to the national crisis. Awaiting Bush was a scene of bedlam in Washington, smoke coming from the Pentagon from another apparent attack by a plane shortly after Bush spoke. In response to the new attack, the White House was evacuated. Bush called it a ''difficult moment for America.'' ''Today we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country,'' he said, speaking before schoolchildren, teachers and parents at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, where he had planned to talk about education. ''I have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of New York, to the director of the FBI, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and the families and to conduct a full scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act,'' said Bush. He called for a moment of silence. ''May God bless the victims, their families and America,'' he said, his voice breaking with emotion. Bush was immediately returning to Washington and was expected to convene a national security meeting on his return to the White House. White House officials said Bush learned about the incident while in his limousine driving from his hotel to the Sarasota school. While visiting with schoolchildren at the school, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispered an update into the president's ear. The president's face turned somber at what Card told him. |
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| PENTAGON HIT BY PLANE CRASH
PENTAGON HIT BY HIGHJACKED AIRLINER Explosion rocks Pentagon, terrifies Washington Posted: September 11, 2001 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A portion of the Pentagon collapsed Tuesday after it was struck by an aircraft as an apparent coordinated attack spread fear throughout the U.S. capital. The symbols of U.S. power came under attack as all federal government buildings, including the White House, the Capitol building and the Supreme Court, were evacuated. The explosions and evacuations came shortly after two planes flew into the World Trade Center tower buildings in New York City. Fighters jets scrambled to intercept what was reported to be second aircraft headed toward the area around the Pentagon, but the second aircraft never appeared. The FBI suspects the events in New York and Washington were part of an organized terrorist campaign, a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press. Among the developments in Washington were reports of: an explosion at the Pentagon. and a car-bomb explosion outside the State Department. A loud explosion was reported in the vicinity of the Capitol. In a remarkable scene, security guards brandishing automatic weapons patrolled outside the White House. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the entire nationwide air traffic system shut down and diverted to Canada all international flights inbound to New York. Explosion, smoke At the Pentagon, a huge plume of smoke rose from the grounds of the building, headquarters for the U.S. military. "A plane hit the building," David Cook, director of administration and management at the Pentagon, the world's biggest office building. Eyewitnesses told local television stations that a commercial airliner appeared to have smashed into the side of the building, which is near the Potomac River running through Washington and close to Washington National Airport. "I saw the tail of a large airliner. ... It plowed right into the Pentagon," said an Associated Press Radio reporter. "There is billowing black smoke." Gray smoke billowed from the five-sided building. The more than 20,000 civilians and military men and women who work in the building streamed into the surrounding car parks, driven by blue-and-white strobe lights and wailing signs. It was not immediately clear whether Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was in the building at the time of the crash, which occurred on the southwestern side of the complex. Lisa Burgess, a reporter for the Army newspaper Stars and Stripes, said she was walking in a corridor near the blast site and was thrown to the ground by the force of the blast. Sirens wailed as the whole building was evacuated. CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre reported that the Pentagon had gone to "threat condition Delta," which is implemented when "a terrorist attack has occurred or intelligence has been received that action against a specific location is likely," McIntyre said. White House employees evacuated There were also reports of a fire on the National Mall, a stretch of open, green space between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. That report was not immediately confirmed. At the White House, employees ran out of the executive mansion as police cleared it. Aides said a "credible threat" against the White House had come in. At first, the evacuation was orderly but, under orders from the Secret Service, employees were soon ordered to run out of the gates. Officers, some with automatic rifles, were lined outside the White House. From Pennsylvania Avenue, CNN Correspondent Kate Snow reported that members of Congress were evacuating the Capitol grounds. Incidents connected At the State Department, a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident at State appeared connected with the events in New York and at the Pentagon. "Something has happened at the State Department," the source said. "We don't know what yet." A voice on the building loud-speaker system said there was a fire in the building, but reports on that were sketchy as sirens blared throughout the building. One official said there may have only been a fire alarm pulled. People were allowed into the building only to retrieve secure information. Following the World Trade Center incident, a State Department official told CNN they will be involved in determining who carried out these attacks. State Department officials sent cables U.S. embassies worldwide, advising representatives at each that they could decide their security posture and determine whether to remain open. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2nd AIRCRAFT HEADING FOR PENTAGON - CBS also reported that the Federal Aviation Authority has received a "brief" message from terrorists aboard the first plane that struck the World Trade Center, and that a second plane has been forced down near Camp David that was "targeting" the Pentagon. 1636 GMT, 091101 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3RD AIRCRAFT HEADING FOR PENTAGON FLIGHT 77 OUT OF DULLES IS MISSING AND PERHAPS DOWN - 58 PASSENGERS AND CREW - THIS IS BE THE PLANE THAT HIT THE PENTAGON TWO PLANES COMING TO THE US FROM LONDON WERE DIVERTED TO CANADA the US Mexican border has been sealed The VP is running the government while President is in transit. The President arrived back in Washington, DC. approx. 7 p.m. Supreme court was evacuated Israel has evacuated all its missions around the world. Eye Witness Describes Bodies Falling From the Top Floors Fox News speculates that two hijacked airliners were FORCED To target the Twin Towers |
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| High Alert, Evacuations Nationwide
By David Crary - AP National Writer Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001; 12:10 p.m. EDT NEW YORK –– Authorities went on alert from coast to coast Tuesday, halting all air traffic, evacuating high-profile buildings and tightening security at strategic facilities following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Many federal and state office buildings were closed, as well as prominent tourist attractions – Disney World in Florida, Seattle's Space Needle, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and Knott's Berry Farm in southern California. Even the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles was shut down. Evacuations were ordered at the United Nations building in New York, and the tallest skyscrapers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Cleveland and Minneapolis. In Massachusetts and Maine, most state employees were sent home, and state buildings shut down. Military bases across the country went on alert. Extra security was added at the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons and research complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., home to the Army's main germ warfare defense laboratory. The Kennedy Space Center in Florida was under an "enhanced security awareness." In Louisiana, the state police urged petrochemical and pipeline companies to be on alert. Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which handles supertankers in the Gulf of Mexico south of New Orleans, suspended operations. In California, Gov. Gray Davis convened a meeting of the State Emergency Council and requested heightened security in all state buildings. In Los Angeles, the police went on tactical alert, and mobilized an anti-terrorist division. A tactical alert means officers are held over from the earlier shift to bolster the day shift and police only respond to priority calls. In Virginia, authorities ordered intensified security at the naval complex in Hampton Roads and imposed a lockdown of offices at the state Capitol. The horrific attacks prompted Gov. Mike Leavitt of Utah to meet with law enforcement officials to reviewing security planning for the 2002 Winter Olympics. "It's a reminder the entire world is vulnerable to lunacy," Leavitt said. He said he was more determined than ever to have "the world's most sophisticated security" for the Olympics. Under orders from the Federal Aviation Administration, airports nationwide halted all outbound flights, while keeping their runways open for incoming plans. "We're like everyone else, in shock," said Carol Windham, spokesman at Birmingham International Airport in Alabama. © Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
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| New York City and Washington turned into war zones
Tue Sep 11 2001 11:59:33 ET Millions of Americans watched in horror Tuesday as television networks broadcast the first images of smoke and fire billowing from the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. What was apparently a horrific terrorist attack quickly got worse. Within hours, the twin towers had collapsed into clouds of ash and debris, the fate of the estimated 40,000 people who work there uncertain. Shocked tourists, office workers, police and rescue personnel staggered in panic through the streets of lower Manhattan, their clothes torn and coated with dust, their cries mingling with the urgent wail of sirens. The television images looked reminiscent of war-torn Kosovo or terror-racked Jerusalem. It wasn't supposed to happen here, even though everybody knew that it could. The panic spread quickly to the nation's capital, where the Pentagon was rocked by an explosion that ripped away a 60-foot section of the building's facade. A third plane had been purposely crashed into a symbol of American power. ``It was a huge orange and red fireball that erupted in seconds from the building,'' said a Deutsche Presse-Agentur reporter who witnessed the Pentagon blast from a nearby highway. ``My car shook with the vibration.'' Almost immediately, the highway was clogged with ambulances and police vehicles rushing to the scene. It was evident to all that the United States was at war, the enemy unknown and unseen. Federal buildings across Washington were quickly evacuated as workers spilled onto the streets, frantically calling loved ones on cell phones and ducking whenever a plane or helicopter flew overhead. Members of Congress were evacuated to a secure location. The city's roadways and highways were clogged with late-morning commuters coming to work and others trying to get home. In Florida, President George W. Bush cancelled a scheduled speech on education and rushed back to Washington. Speaking before the third plane crashed into the Pentagon, Bush called the attacks ``a national tragedy''. He ordered ``a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act.'' ``Terrorism against our nation will not stand,'' Bush said. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered all U.S. airports closed, the first time it had ever taken such a measure. International flights destined for U.S. airports were diverted to Canada. It was too late to help United Air Lines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco, which crashed southeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Another United flight, from Boston to Los Angeles, was unaccounted for, the airline said. American Airlines also reported the apparent hijacking of two passenger planes. Terror attacks on U.S. soil were not unheard of. In February 1993, a bomb inside a rental truck exploded in the basement of the World Trade Center, killing six. That bomb was tied to Egyptian cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. In April 1995, another truck bomb demolished a federal building in Oklahoma City. That attack, committed by a former U.S. Army soldier named Timothy McVeigh, ranked as the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, leaving 168 dead - until Tuesday.
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| WHITE HOUSE MALL ON FIRE
Tuesday, 11 September 2001 10:05 (ET) Security officials gather at FBI WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Top security officials gathered at the Strategic Information and Operations Center deep inside the FBI Tuesday after planes struck the World Trade Towers in New York. Federal officials also said in radio communications to Capitol Hill that a "plane has hit the Pentagon." Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved. -- 4 PLANES HIGHJACKED CAR BOMB HITS STATE DEPARTMENT SEARS TOWER BEING EVACUATED IN CHICAGO ALL PUBLIC BUILDINGS NOW EVACUATED... ALL PUBLIC BUILDINGS IN WASHINGTON D.C. CLOSED. INTERNET STOPPED WORKING ON EAST COAST PHONE SERVICE WAS MAXED OUT FOR QUITE SOME TIME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PLANE CRASH IN PENNSYLVANIA - BOEING 767 CONFIRMED CONFIRMED: UNITED FLIGHT 93 FROM NEWARK CRASHES OUTSIDE OF PITTSBURGH THIS PILOT IS A HERO - THIS PLANE WAS INTENDED TO FLY TO WASHINGTON, D.C. TO HIT ANOTHER GOVERNMENT BUILDING Plane Crashes South of Pittsburgh Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001; 11:43 a.m. EDT PITTSBURGH –– A United Airlines plane crashed Tuesday morning just north of the Somerset County Airport, the airline said. The Boeing 757 was enroute from Newark, N.J. to San Francisco. The plane crashed about 10 a.m. about 8 miles east of Jennerstown, according to county 911 dispatchers, WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh reported. "It shook the whole station," said Bruce Grine, owner of Grine's Service Center in Shanksville, about two and one-half miles from the crash. "Everybody ran outside, and by that time the fire whistle was blowing." © Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
UNCONFIRMED PLANE HEADING FOR BOSTON - POSSIBLY TO BOMB HANCOCK BUILDING PLANE WHICH WAS HEADED FOR THE PENTAGON WAS FORCED DOWN NEAR CAMP DAVID MARYLAND - THIS WAS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE CAMP DAVID ACCORDS - Sept 5-17, 1978...
UN BEING EVACUATED NYSE STOPPED JET FIGHTERS SCRAMBLED FROM AIR BASES LAX EVACUATED The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta was evacuated. CDC was preparing bioterrorism teams in case they become necessary NEW YORK CITY ELECTION CANCELLED, POSTPONED TO A LATER DATE Mexico and Canada on highest state of alert. • Disney closes its parks in Orlando, Florida, and Disneyland in Anaheim, California. • FEMA implements plan established for such events: FBI leads investigation, and Justice Department heads crisis management. • Three Palestinian groups -- Hamas, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Islamic Jihad -- deny responsibility for the attacks, but blame U.S. policies in the Mideast. • Mayor Anthony Williams of Washington, D.C., declares a state of emergency. • A Delta flight makes emergency landing in Cleveland and all passengers are safely evacuated. Federal officials search the plane for a possible bomb. NASA EVACUATED AIR FORCE JETS FORCE ONE PLANE TO LAND BARDSQUILL: Local Pittsburgh radio and television are citing eyewitnesses as saying that the United Airlines 747, which originated from Newasrk and crashed 80 miles outside of Pittsburgh, was shot down by U.S. fighters before it could reach Washington, D.C. Airspace over washington metro area is officially declared no-fly zone. Any unauthorized craft entering that airspace will be shot down immediately without question -- CNN quoting military official
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| *Situation Reports*
The Louisiana air force base named Barksdale where U.S. President George W. Bush is currently secured has full strategic command capability and was the closest secure facility to Bush’s location earlier today in Florida. The base also supplied the B-52s that were used at the start of the U.S.-Iraqi war in 1991. A spokesman for Afghanistan's ruling Taliban also said Sept. 11 that Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden could not be responsible for a spate of terror attacks in the United States. 1702 GMT, 091101
Fox news is reporting that two international flights coming in from Europe are unable to be contacted. ABC is reporting that F-16 fighters are patrolling New York and Washington airspace, and have orders to shoot down any aircraft, commercial or other, that try to enter the airspace. U.S. President George W. Bush, currently residing in a Louisiana air force base, will not return to Washington, CNN reported. 1645 GMT, 091101 CBS is reporting that today, Sept. 11, is the one-year anniversary of the Camp David accord. CBS also reported that the Federal Aviation Authority has received a "brief" message from terrorists aboard the first plane that struck the World Trade Center, and that a second plane has been forced down near Camp David that was "targeting" the Pentagon. 1636 GMT, 091101 Sources with the Federal Aviation Authority say that as far as they know there are no more unaccounted aircraft in the air, and that some that were in the air when the grid was shut down were rerouted or landed at alternative sites. This is the first time ever that the entire grid has been shut down. 1635 GMT, 091101 CNN reports that a building near the World Trade Center was hit by debris is now on the verge of collapse. There are also suspicions of a gas leak in the area, and police are evacuating all of lower Manhattan. Power may be shut down in the city, and the gas lines may be opened to let out some pressure. 1620 GMT, 091101 The Federal Aviation Authority is denying reports from Pittsburgh radio and television that U.S. fighters shot down the commercial airliner which crashed 80 miles outside of Pittsburgh. 1610 GMT, 091101 Reports have been confirmed that U.S. President George W. Bush, the First Lady, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife are safe. The Secret Service will not disclose their current locations. The vice president is currently in a position to direct the U.S. response, while the president wants to get back the White House for further operations, CNN reported. 1606 GMT, 091101 Jerusalem Post Radio is reporting that members of Democratic Liberation Front of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza categorically deny their involvement in today’s terrorist attacks. In New York, scene of the first attacks, 911 and all police – including retired officers – have been called to duty. It is reported that 164 passengers on both airlines which hit the World Trade Center were killed. Security has been increased at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa. 1600 GMT, 091101 The airliner which hit the Pentagon this morning is believed to have been a hijacked United Airlines flight, according to Fox news. No reports have been given on the number of dead passengers, or where the flight originated. However, all in-country commercial flights are now accounted for, so aircraft that hit the Pentagon is believed to have been and international flight, Fox reported. 1601 GMT, 091101 CNN reported that a senior official from Islamic Jihad, though not claiming responsibility for the attack, said the attack was a consequence of U.S. policy in the Middle East. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat earlier expressed shock and expressed condolences over the attack. Israeli daily Haaratz also reported that Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden warned three weeks ago that he would carry out unprecedented attacks against U.S. for supporting Israel. 1550 GMT, 091101 Local Pittsburgh radio and television are citing eyewitnesses as saying that the United Airlines 747, which originated from Newasrk and crashed 80 miles outside of Pittsburgh, was shot down by U.S. fighters before it could reach Washington, D.C. An airliner which took off from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport en route to Los Angeles is reportedly unaccounted for, Dallas radio reported. Nearly 4,00 aircraft – military and general aviation – are in the sky right now. Fox News is also reporting that the second plane which hit the World Trade Center originated from Washington’s Dulles airport. 1545 GMT, 091101 Sources report about 70 confirmed dead at the Pentagon following an explosion caused by a crashed airplane this morning. Another airplane that may have been hijacked and heading to Washington, D.C. was reportedly downed near Camp David. Palestinians denied responsibility for an attack on the World Trade Center, AP reported, after the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said it was responsible. The plane which crashed near Pittsburgh was identified as a 747, and is believed to have originated from either Cleveland or Pittsburgh. 1522 GMT, 091101 Israel has evacuated all diplomatic missions around the world following today’s terrorist attacks, credit for which have been claimed by the militant Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Meanwhile Britain and Germany’s government’s have both condemned the attacks, and Russian air defenses are now at full alert, WABC reported. 1502 GMT, 091101 Reports are surfacing questioning whether the 767 aircraft that earlier crashed in western Pennsylvania in Somerset County was related to today’s attacks in New York and Washington D.C. U.S. officials have also denied reports of a car bomb at the State Department, but the building has still been evacuated. The aircraft that struck Pentagon this morning was reported to have missed the main building and hit the heliport right outside, while the second aircraft to hit the second World Trade Center tower was identified as a 737. 1501 GMT, 091101 Airspace over the Washington metro area has been declared a no-fly zone. Any unidentified, unauthorized aircraft entering area will be shot down immediately, Fox New reported. Police and fire department officials now put initial casualty estimates at the World Trade Center at 10,000 dead and rising. 1459 GMT, 091101 A second hijacked aircraft was reported at 9:50 eastern time to be heading to the Pentagon, more than an hour after the building was hit by an earlier aircraft, CNN. An F-16 fighter from the Washington, D.C. or Maryland Air National Guard was scrambled and heading west in the direction of the second aircraft. The Taliban also denied involvement in today’s attacks. Fox News quoted defense experts in the United States as stating that the U.S. government can be expected to retaliate almost immediately. 1452 GMT, 091101 Part of the Pentagon, which was reportedly hit by a commercial airplane this morning, has collapsed, CNN reported. Another airliner heading to Washington, D.C. reportedly crashed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, while a fourth explosion was seen at the World Trade Center. Canadian military forces have also stepped up security following the attacks. 1445 GMT, 091101 Approximately an hour and a half after the attack both towers of the World Trade Center completely collapsed. Eyewitnesses reported that U.S. combat aircraft are now patrolling over Washington D.C. The fire at the State Department was later attributed to a car bomb. Fox News also reported that a flight south of Washington was hijacked and is inbound for D.C.14:30 GMT 091101 An eyewitness at the scene at the Pentagon, which was earlier hit by an explosion, said a commercial airline hit the building or close to it. Reports which also circulated of an explosion on Capitol Hill were later denied, CNN reported. All international flights to Washington, D.C. and New York have been diverted to Canadian airports, CNN reported. 1430 GMT, 091101 An explosion and fire at the Pentagon at approximately 9:30 a.m., earlier attributed to a crashed helicopter, was later reported to have been caused by an airplane. A fire also reportedly broke out at the State Department. In addition, every major building in Washington, D.C. has been evacuated as well, AP reported. 1415 GMT, 091101 At approximately 8:30, plane circled the Pentagon, disappeared behind the Pentagon, and an explosion ensued. Around 8:30, the Whitehouse began a slow evacuation. Twenty minutes later, a jet was seen flying over the Whitehouse, five minutes later, people began running from the Whitehouse, including the oval office. At a press conference today U.S. President George W. Bush said that the U.S. military is on high-alert status. The entire United States has reportedly been put on Defcon Delta, and reports are that ballistic missile submarines have seen out to sea CONFIRMED: Highway in Washington DC collapsed -- unknown reason -- possible terrorist attack ABC is reporting that F-16 fighters are patrolling New York and Washington airspace, and have orders to shoot down any aircraft, commercial or other, that try to enter the airspace CNN just announced a plane crashed into a military center MSNBC reports AmEx (American Express) building on fire and likely to collapse TWO PLANES COMING IN FROM LONDON CANNOT BE CONTACTED - WERE DIVERTED TO CANADA |
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| Bush: U.S. Will Find Attackers
By Sonya Ross Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001; 1:15 p.m. EDT BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. –– As chaos unhinged New York and Washington, President Bush commanded the full force of the United States government to "hunt down and to find" the terrorists responsible. "Terrorism against our nation will not stand," he declared Tuesday. In Florida for a pair of education speeches, the president scrapped his schedule and said, at the first reports of attacks on New York's World Trade Center, that he was hastening back to Washington. But, with the White House evacuated under threat of attack and his wife hunkered down in an unidentified secure location, the president and Air Force One were rerouted – under escort by military fighter jets – to this Louisiana air base. In a conference room dotted by portraits of decorated Air Force officers, the commander in chief announced that the U.S. military was on "high-alert status." "Freedom itself was attacked this morning and I assure you freedom will be defended. Make no mistake. The United States will hunt down and pursue those responsible for these cowardly actions," Bush said. First lady Laura Bush spoke with her husband by a secure military phone line before he took off from Sarasota, Fla. Mrs. Bush and a handful of aides were whisked by motorcade from Capitol Hill, where she was to have testified to a Senate committee on education, to a hide-out away from the White House. There, the sequestered group huddled around a single TV in their hide-out and channel-surfed for the latest news, according to one person in the group. Mrs. Bush also checked with her twin daughters at college to make sure they were safe. |
| Date: Tue Sep 11, 2001 9:42 am
Subject: URGENT PAT MUNDORF TOLD FBI 3 WEEKS AGO ABOUT WORLD TRADE CENTER Pat Mundorf just call me and said The FBI was advised three weeks ago by Herthat something would Happen in World Trade Center in New York between the10th and 12th in September. And that it could not be stopped. And thatsomething was going to happen in Chicago by the 16th. She asked Please, Prayhard maybe we can mitigate it. She says it is just the beginning.
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| WASHINGTON, SEATTLE - SPACE NEEDLE CLOSED DOWN |
| Chronology of terror
Posted: September 11, 2001 All times are EDT. 1:04 p.m.: President Bush, speaking from an undisclosed location, says that all appropriate security measures are being taken, including putting the U.S. military on high alert worldwide. He asks for prayers for those killed or wounded in the attacks and says: "Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts." 12:30 p.m.: The FAA says 50 flights are in U.S. airspace, but none are reporting any problems. 12:15 p.m.: The Immigration and Naturalization Service says U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico are on the highest state of alert, but no decision has been made about closing borders. 12:15 p.m: San Francisco International Airport is evacuated and shut down. The airport was the destination of American Airlines Flight 77, which was one of the aircraft to strike the World Trade Center. 12:04 p.m.: Los Angeles International Airport, the destination of two of the hijacked American Airlines flights, is evacuated. 11:59 a.m.: United Airlines confirms that Flight 175, from Boston to Los Angeles, has crashed with 56 passengers and nine crew members aboard. Emergency personnel at the scene say there are no survivors. 11:26 a.m.: United Airlines reports that United Flight 93, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, has crashed in Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. The airline also says that it is "deeply concerned" about United Flight 175. 11:18 a.m.: American Airlines reports it has lost two aircraft. American Flight 11, a Boeing 767 flying from Boston to Los Angeles, had 81 passengers and 11 crew aboard. Flight 77, a Boeing 757 en route from Dulles Airport near Washington to Los Angeles, had 58 passengers and six crew members aboard. Flight 11 is believed to be one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. 11:16 a.m.: CNN reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing bioterrorism teams to respond to the incidents in a precautionary move. The preparation is not based on any known bioterrorism threat. 11:02 a.m.: New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani urges citizens to stay at home and orders an evacuation of the area south of Canal Street. 10:57 a.m.: New York Gov. George Pataki says all state government offices are closed. 10:54 a.m.: Israel evacuates all diplomatic missions. 10:53 a.m.: New York's primary elections scheduled for today are postponed. 10.48 a.m.: Police confirm the crash of a large plane in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. 10.46 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell cuts short his trip to Latin America to return to the United States. 10:45 a.m.: All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated. 10:28 a.m.: The World Trade Center's north tower collapses from the top down as if it were being peeled apart, releasing a tremendous cloud of debris and smoke. 10:24 a.m.: The FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic aircraft flying into the United States are being diverted to Canada. 10:22 a.m.: In Washington, the State and Justice departments are evacuated, along with the World Bank. 10:13 a.m.: The United Nations building evacuates, including 4,700 people from the headquarters building and 7,000 total from UNICEF and U.N. development programs. 10:10 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. 10:10 a.m.: A portion of the Pentagon collapses. 10:08 a.m.: Secret Service agents armed with automatic rifles are deployed into Lafayette Park across from the White House. 10:05 a.m.: The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses, plummeting into the streets below. A massive cloud of dust and debris forms and slowly drifts away from the building. 9:57 a.m.: Bush departs from Florida. 9:45 a.m.: The White House evacuates. 9:43 a.m.: An aircraft crashes into the Pentagon, sending up a huge plume of smoke. Evacuation begins immediately. 9:40 a.m.: The FAA halts all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide has been halted. 9:30 a.m.: Bush, speaking in Florida, says the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack." 9:21 a.m.: New York City Port Authority orders all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area closed 9:17 a.m.: The FAA shuts down all New York City area airports. 9:03 a.m.: A second plane, apparently a passenger jet, crashes into the second World Trade Center tower and explodes. Both buildings are burning. 8:45 a.m.: A large plane, possibly a hijacked airliner, crashes into one of the World Trade Center towers, tearing a gaping hole in the building and setting it afire.
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Subj: WTC Towers' Collapse Due to Explosives on Lower Levels, NOT Jet Crashes Date: 9/11/2001 2:48:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time From: top_viewer@yahoo.com (TOP_VIEW) 9.11.01 Further proof has surfaced that there is far more to military assault which led to the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New York City than we are being led to believe. Analysis of film and video footage of the collapse of the two World Trade Center towers subsequent to the buildings being struck by hijacked jetliners, along with eyewitness accounts, lead to the inescapable and provable conclusion that the collapse of the towers was NOT caused by the jet crashes. Massive explosions at lower levels of the towers that took place well AFTER the jets crashed into the upper levels of the towers were POSITIVELY responsible for the total collapse of the two buildings. These explosions has NOTHING to do with the plane crashes. This aspect of the hideous disaster shows clearly the tremendously extensive coordination, organization and planning which went into the military attacks today in New York City and Washington D.C., providing even more proof that what occurred today was an INSIDE JOB in every way imaginable. WAY inside, and all the way to the very top. Right to the Oval Office, and the global power elite of the Bush International Crime Family.
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Arafat Horrified by Attacks By Mohammed Daraghmeh Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001; 11:49 a.m. EDT NABLUS, West Bank –– Thousands of Palestinians celebrated Tuesday's terror attacks in the United States, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified. NOTE: Which version is true? Which one is disinformation???? http://www.rense.com/general13/camera.htm http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RMNEWS_DAILY_EMAILS/message/18395 The U.S. government has become increasingly unpopular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past year of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, with many Palestinians accusing Washington of siding with Israel. In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 3,000 people poured into the street shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and government targets in Washington. Demonstrators distributed candy in a traditional gesture of celebration. Several Palestinian gunmen shot in the air, while other marchers carried Palestinian flags. Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long, black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because "America is the head of the snake, America always stands by Israel in its war against us." Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv. In traditionally Arab east Jerusalem, there was a smaller gathering of about two dozen people, many of them young children led in chants by adults. Some drivers passing the scene honked their horns and flashed victory signs from their windows. Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television. Arafat later emerged to speak to reporters. "We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable," he said. "We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people." In the West Bank, meanwhile, the leader the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine denied his group was involved in the attacks. Qais Abdel Rahim was reacting to reports that two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP, a radical PLO faction. Abdel Rahim said his group condemned the attacks. © Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
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| Tuesday September 11, 10:10 PM
Palestinians in Lebanon fire with joy at anti-US attacks AIN AL-HELWEH, Lebanon, Sept 11 (AFP) - Dozens of Palestinian refugees fired into the air with joy Tuesday at news of apparent anti-US terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, AFP correspondents witnessed. Guerrillas in military fatigues from various factions fired assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades into the air in the Ain al-Helweh refugee camp at the outskirts of the southern port city of Sidon, one correspondent said. Camp residents, some still in pyjamas, interrupted afternoon rests to rush down to the streets and fire assault rifles into the air, they said. At the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Palestinian fighters also went out to the streets as soon as they heard the news from their television sets to fire into the air with joy, an AFP correspondent said.
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| Taliban diplomat condemns attacks
September 11, 2001 Posted: 2:04 PM EDT (1804 GMT) ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Afghanistan's Taliban ambassador to Pakistan has condemned the string of astonishing terrorist attacks on the United States. "We want to tell the American children that Afghanistan feels your pain. We hope the courts find justice," ambassador Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef said in a statement in Pakistan after America was hit by a series of attacks that have been called the worst since Pearl Harbor. U.S. President George W. Bush has said they were "terrorist attacks" and American officials say their "working assumption" is that the attacks in New York and Washington are acts of "overseas terrorism." They have added they cannot rule out additional attacks. Officials say they had no intelligence beforehand that a massive terrorist plot was under way. There have been a number of denials of responsibility by Palestinian groups and by the Al Quaida group headed by fugitive Saudi accused terrorist Osama bin Laden. U.S. officials say they have no credible claim of responsibility. Angered U.S. The Taliban has in the past angered the U.S. for giving sanctuary to wanted Saudi dissident bin laden, described by Washington as "the world's most wanted terrorist." Apart from the embassy bombings, U.S. officials also link bin Laden to last year's bombing of a U.S. navy ship in Yemen and with foiled plots in the United States and Jordan at the turn of the millennium. The Taliban sprang from religious schools in Pakistan near the Afghan border and, with almost no military experience, swept from obscurity to their 1996 capture of the capital in only two years. Beyond Pakistan, the Taliban have few friends. Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates are the only other countries to recognize the Taliban as the legal government, but they have not joined Pakistan in maintaining embassies in Kabul.
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| World Watches U.S. Attacks
By Beth Gardiner Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001; 11:39 a.m. EDT LONDON –– Astonishing terrorist strikes in the United States quickly reached a global audience Tuesday, with many around the world watching live coverage as both World Trade Center towers collapsed. Audiences were transfixed by the awful images from New York and Washington. Key indexes sank on world stock markets and some European airlines canceled flights to the United States and recalled planes already in the air. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the American people over the terrorist attacks, calling them "terrible tragedies," the Kremlin press service said. "This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today," said Prime Minister Tony Blair, who canceled a speech at a trade union conference. "It is perpetrated by fanatics who are utterly indifferent to the sanctity of human life, and we the democracies of this world are going to have to come together and fight it together." President Jacques Chirac of France, in a nationally televised statement, called the attacks in the United States "monstrous" and expressed his solidarity with the American people. "France has just learned of these monstrous attacks, there is no other word for it, that have hit America," Chirac said from Rennes, in the western region of Brittany. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his top aides followed the events at his seaside office in Gaza City, gathered around a TV set. "I send my condolences to the president, the government and the people for this terrible incident," said Arafat said. "We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable." In Berlin, Foreign Ministry officials huddled in a crisis meeting. Virtually all German TV channels switched to live coverage. "This is pure mass murder," one commentator said. "My government condemns these terrorist attacks to the utmost," said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. "Italy is at the side of the United States," Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi told Bush in a telegram. "The international community must respond together to this abhorrent act." Czech president Vaclav Havel said in a statement that he was shocked by the attacks and was closely watching news from the United States. Airlines including British Airways, Scandinavia's SAS and Belgium's Sabena canceled flights across the Atlantic and recalled planes that were already in the air. In Puerto Rico, people scrambled for news of relatives and friends in New York, where an estimated 2 million Puerto Ricans live. Group, making the sign of the cross as he watched the second tower explode on TV. In Thailand, Suranand Vejjajiva, a spokesman for the office of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said they were watching the news in disbelief. A spokesman for Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said: "The president has been monitoring the events since an hour ago and she condemns what is obviously the worst terrorist attack on a leader of civilized society." Broadcasters around the world broke into programming to show images of the disaster. "It's incredible. I thought I was watching a Hollywood movie," said Hong Kong school teacher Doris Tang. London's Evening Standard, already out of date when it hit the streets, carried a front-page photo of the burning World Trade Center and the headline "Planes Hit Skyscraper." © Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
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| Wednesday, September 12 1:46 AM SGT
Russia goes into high alert, Putin supports tough response MOSCOW, Sept 11 (AFP) - Russia put troops on alert Tuesday after a spate of unprecedented attacks rocked Washington and New York as President Vladimir Putin told his US counterpart he supported a tough response to the strikes. "The series of barbaric acts directed against innocent people fills us with indignation and revolt," said Putin in a telegram to US President George W. Bush. "Such inhuman acts must not go unpunished," he said, according to the Interfax news agency. Putin later telephoned US national security advisor Condoleezza Rice to ask her to convey his condolences to Bush. Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, destroying it entirely, and another ploughed into the Pentagon in Washington, in the worst wave of terrorism to hit the United States. Putin convened an emergency meeting with his "power ministries," including foreign, interior and defence ministers and head of the domestic intelligence agency to give them special instructions, the RIA-Novosti news agency said. The country's air force meanwhile announced a series of emergency anti-terrorist measures to protect Russian air space. "The Russian anti-aircraft defenses are constantly on a state of war readiness. In connection with the events in the United States, a series of anti-terrorist measures are being put into action," the air force said, as quoted by Interfax. Interior ministry forces were placed on a state of alert and security reinforced around key sites across the country while Russia halted all plane departures to the United States. Putin later said in a televised address that the world should unite to combat the threat of terrorism, "the plague of the 21st century," These strikes are "an unprecedented aggression by international terrorism" which "go beyond the borders of the United States," the Russian president said. "This is a challenge to the whole of humanity," he added, saying the unprecedented terrorist acts underlined "the relevance of the Russian proposal to unite efforts to fight terrorism." Russia is waging a military crackdown in the separatist republic of Chechnya, which it describes as an "anti-terrorist" operation. Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said the attacks were a catastrophe for mankind. They represent "not only a national tragedy (for the United States), but a tragedy for the whole of mankind," he said in a message of condolence to the US administration, as quoted by Interfax. "In my opinion, countries and nations must unite against this folly, and do everything to stop the escalation of terror," Gorbachev added. The US embassy in Moscow meanwhile sent Americans in Russia Tuesday an e-mail advising them to exercise caution. And at least three money exchanges offices in the Russian capital refused to accept dollars. Cashiers said they had been given instructions not to accept the US currency, universally used as a safe haven by Russians.
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| Tuesday, 11 September, 2001, 17:50 GMT 18:50 UK
Blair condemns terrorist 'evil' Blair offered sympathy to Americans UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has spoken of his "shock and outrage" at the terrorist attacks in the US. Britain has also offered the United States "whatever help" necessary to track down the perpetrators. As evacuations were carried out across the City of London - including the stock exchange where the FTSE 100 shares index plunged nearly 6% - states of alert were raised at UK government and state buildings in Britain and abroad. An emergency number for Britons worried about friends and relatives has also been issued: 020 7008 0000. The Queen, sending a message of sympathy to President Bush, expressed her "growing disbelief and total shock". Travel problems There were widespread travel problems as American airspace was effectively closed, forcing widespread cancellations and some trans-Atlantic flights to turn back to the UK. Mr Blair cancelled his planned speech to the TUC conference and instead made a sombre statement condemning the "terrible, shocking" events. |
