US has now gone into a security lockdown. Would that be an accurate description?
It is indeed. When the bombing at the incident, the plane crashing at the Pentagon occurred,
there was immediately gridlock and chaos and a bit of panic in the streets. Now Washington
is effectively deserted. It's like a ghost town. As in New York, the Mayor of Washington
has declared a national emergency. You can't get in or out of the city. The bridges are
closed. And it's interesting, I think, that also the President, who was in Florida when
this crisis emerged, flew then to a secure Air Force base in Louisiana and has now moved
on to Nebraska. It's interesting that he's not yet back at the White House, which would
seem to indicate that the American security services are not entirely happy with the White
House is a secure area for the President to be.
On that question of security, the country understandably is in a state of shock. But
are questions going to be asked about how security could have been so badly breached?
They are indeed, and particularly with such a sophisticated operation as this. It's quite
clear when you get an operation that involves more than one airport, also involves the knowledge
on the part of the participants of getting planes which were going to have maximum fuel
loads at the time that they impacted with their targets. And thirdly, that they were
able to fly the planes as well. And this is a massive security breach. Nothing like this
has been seen in the United States ever. In fact, it's the most serious attack on the
United States since Pearl Harbor, which the Prime Minister alluded to. But also other
questions are being asked too, Jane. And there are very few Americans who have any doubt
at any level that this was an act carried out by the Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
There is immense skepticism on the part of Americans about the statements from the Taliban
regime in Afghanistan, which has been allowing him to live there, that he had nothing to
do with it. It is being described universally as an act of war. That was the term that formed
former Secretary of State George Shultz used and also John McCain, who attempted to win
the presidency under the Republican banner, but was defeated by George W. Bush in the
Republican primaries, an act of war. This means, I would think, that as soon as they've
got any degree of certainty at all, you can expect retaliation with massive force from
the United States. And just before this program was going to air, senior administration officials
were confirming to the American networks that they believe that this was indeed the handiwork
of Osama bin Laden. So this is a very precarious, very serious situation. And as soon as the
Americans are in any way certain or able to mount retaliatory action, I think we can expect
it in very, very serious form indeed.
The ABC's political correspondent in Washington, Jim Middleton, keeping us up to date there.
And the Department of Foreign Affairs has set up a hotline for Australians concerned
about relatives in New York. The number is 1300 555 135. Repeating that number again,
1300 555 135. The tragedy has attracted condolences and condemnation from around the world. But
there has been some rejoicing in Palestinian communities.
The attacks brought universal outrage from leaders across the globe.
I'm afraid we can only imagine the terror and the carnage there. And the many, many
innocent people that will have lost their lives.
From the US's most loyal ally, there was resignation that the world had entered a dangerous new
phase.
This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today. 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 to fight it together and eradicate this evil
completely from our world.
Euro-European leaders simply couldn't believe the early morning carnage in New York and
Washington. President Chirac expressed France's solidarity with the United States, adding
his country's voice to those condemning terrorism. In the Middle East, Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat was quick to distance his cause from violence on American soil.
First of all, I am offering my condolences, the condolences of the Palestinian people
to the American president, President Bush, to his government, to the American people
for this terrible act.
We are completely shocked, completely shocked.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, some Palestinians reacted with joy, undermining Mr Arafat's
show of concern for a country which still holds the key to negotiating sustained peace
in the troubled region. The Taliban leadership in Afghanistan was anxious to convey its sorrow
at the loss of life, but will still face a tough task to convince skeptics it doesn't
deal in terrorism. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has the difficult task of maintaining
dialogue in a world where distrust is the common currency.
In such moments, cool and reasoned judgement are more essential than ever. We do not know
yet who is behind these acts or what objective they hope to achieve. What we do know is that
no just cause can be advanced by terror.
Leaders like Malaysia's President Mahathir are urging US restraint as the superpower
looks to send a powerful message of retribution.
Once again we see terrorism, we see terrorists, people who don't believe in democracy, people
who believe that with the destruction of buildings, with the murder of people they can somehow
achieve a political purpose.
Colin Powell, as Secretary of State and War Hero, is certain to be at the core of a response
from a shocked and angry United States of America. And the impact has spread around
the world. NATO ministers are meeting in emergency session in Brussels. There is no plane traffic
across the Atlantic and stock exchanges have shut down across Europe.
Simon Santo, ABC News.
Our Middle East correspondent Tim Palmer joins us now. Tim, we've seen some celebration but
also regret from the Palestinians. What's your reading of the situation?
Well clearly governments and Palestinian factions in this region have been quick to condemn
the attack and trying to lay the kind of early suspicions that fell on some groups, the Democratic
Front for the Liberation of Palestine was initially named as having made a claim of
responsibility. That group has immediately denied that suggestion as has the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Groups such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas have also
condemned the attack at the same time. They've suggested that this is the clear result of
American foreign policy, particularly in this region. And even countries that have a terrorist
past as far as the United States is concerned, such as Iran and Syria, have matched the condemnation
coming out of here. Most clearly that from Yasser Arafat who looked quite shocked as
you saw before in making his statement. Of course much of what he said will be totally
drowned out by the kind of actions that we saw on streets in Jerusalem and throughout
the West Bank and in Lebanon of some Palestinian groups celebrating this attack.
What was the scale of those celebrations?
It seemed fairly isolated although in Nablus it was suggested several thousand people took
to the streets. It was later reported that Palestinian officials had moved in to tell
people to simply go home and to break up those celebrations. Clearly the kind of signal that
this will send out to Israelis and to Americans would suggest that American mediation in this
area in terms of peace, the needed factor in an Israeli-Palestinian conflict that runs
on below this, really will not be encouraged at all by this kind of scene of celebrating
a mass death in an American city.
Tim, what's been the relationship between some of the extremist factions like Islamic
Jihad and Osama bin Laden? What's been the relationship in the past?
These kinds of traces are very difficult to establish. The Americans have laboured to
establish for example the previous World Trade Center bombing in which they have convictions
with Osama bin Laden. Similarly it's been a difficult point to demonstrate the American
embassies although convictions were obtained there in Africa, the bombings there. It must
be remembered that around 20 months ago another chain of attacks, the key signature of Osama
bin Laden's attacks in the past, a synchronised series of attacks was supposedly planned against
tourist targets in Jordan and in the Holy Land to coincide with millennial tourism.
So again there are suggestions that there may be operatives in this region as well.
And of course all eyes are turning to the Middle East and more broadly to Islamic fundamentalists
at the same time as being tempered with a lot of discussion on Arab networks here when
the Okra homo-bombing occurred for days again, Arab and Islamic groups.
And we seem to have lost Tim Palmer from the Middle East and we apologise for the scratchy
sound. Soon after the four aircraft crashed the United States closed its airspace creating
aviation havoc around the world. International airports in Australia are just gearing up
for the day ahead but it's likely there will be severe disruptions. Simon Santo is at the
Sydney International Terminal. Simon what's the situation at the airport?
Jane, what I can tell you is that it's already having a direct effect on Australian passengers,
Australian customers of not just the Australian airline Qantas but also Air New Zealand and
United Airlines. There are three flights due to leave for the United States within an hour
and a half of each other from about half past nine this morning out here at Sydney Airport.
And we do know that officially that Air New Zealand, the first of those flights and also
Qantas the second have cancelled their flights. They have cancelled them with no plans to
reinstate them as yet so they're not even postponed. United Airlines, the third of those
three flights have yet to announce what their plans are but one would assume that the outlook
is bleak given that the airspace in the US still seems to be closed off.
And Simon have many passengers arrived? Is there any sense of panic?
It's still a little early. Air New Zealand when they spoke to me earlier today said that
they have some 150 passengers on their flight. It's not full but that they are beginning
the process of phoning passengers to let them know that in fact their flights won't take
off today. What we have heard also and we have had some confirmation is that of the
four fatal flights that occurred just some hours ago in the States there have been some
Qantas passengers on board two of those flights, the American Airlines flights which are co-chair
partners with Qantas. We have no confirmation that there are any Australian citizens on
board but we do know that they were Qantas passengers. There were some six on one flight
and one Qantas US based staff member on another flight of those two, two of those four fatal
flights. The ABC's Simon Santo at Sydney Airport. As
we mentioned earlier with no one yet claiming responsibility for the deadly and brutal attacks
suspicion is being directed at Saudi dissident and well known terrorist Osama Bin Laden.
But the Taliban have rejected suggestions he was involved in the plane attacks. The
ABC's South Asia correspondent Jonathan Harley spoke to senior members of the Taliban government
a short time ago and he joins me now. Jonathan what did the government officials say?
I was at the press conference speaking with Foreign Minister no less Wakil Ahmad Muttwaqil
a senior member of course of the Taliban regime and in no uncertain terms distancing the Taliban
or Osama Bin Laden who is a guest of the regime of any involvement. He condemned these attacks
describing them as vast and terrifying and flatly rejecting any suggestion that Osama
Bin Laden has had any involvement or by extension the Taliban. However such assurances may welcome
as cold comfort to those who will point an accusing finger towards this part of the world.
That was very swift response from the Taliban. Why do you think that was?
Well the regime has every reason to be nervous. The United States launched 70 cruise missiles
on Afghanistan on suspected target bases of Osama Bin Laden in September 1998 in the wake
of the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in the same month. In
those bombing attacks 220 people had died and Osama Bin Laden has ever since been accused
by Washington as the mastermind behind those attacks as well as the world trade centre
bombing in 1993 in which seven people died. So the Taliban must know that they are high
on the list of suspects for at least harbouring alleged terrorists to Osama Bin Laden. Despite
that a remarkable act of optimism I guess is best described as Wakil Ahmad Muttwaqil
says no precautions are being made by the Taliban bracing for any prospect of strikes.
That would be too early to act in that way. No state of emergency so very much either
in denial or maintaining at least an image of innocence.
The ABC's Jonathan Harley speaking to us there from Kabul. Security around you.
...one who most people over here believe is behind this. However what some experts have
been saying is that it might also be a state like Iran or Iraq. The reason being that apparently
these terrorists knew how to fly airplane and normally most terrorists wouldn't know
how to do that unless they were trained by a state.
And in Israel is the country being locked down? Has security been intensified?
Yeah the security has been tightened quite a bit. First of all at the U.S. Embassy in
Tel Aviv and the two consulates here, U.S. consulates here in Jerusalem. But also basically
the Israeli cabinet also met to discuss this whole thing because there's concern that there
might be something else planned to target Israel. And Israel has in fact closed down
its airspace now to all foreign flights by foreign carriers. Israeli airplanes, the Israeli
airlines which have very tight security will still be allowed to land here but they don't
want any foreign aircraft coming into Israel right now.
And just finally what about Palestinian reaction? What are you hearing? What are you seeing?
Two different reactions. The official reaction of the Palestinian Authority which was a shock
and condemnation of this attack and condolences to the American people while the initial reaction,
spontaneous reaction on the Palestinian street was celebration. In the West Bank town of
Nablus about 4,000 Palestinians took to the streets celebrating, firing guns into the
air and handing out candy. You know the Americans aren't that popular over here. They're seen
as way too pro-Israel. The Palestinian Authority immediately quelled those celebrations realizing
that it wouldn't look terribly good on the international media.
Okay Robert thanks for your time. Good talking with you.
Sure.
And that's Robert Berger in Jerusalem. Now we'll quickly check the news headlines around
Australia and for the first time this morning it's good morning to Ian Ross. Ian?
Yes thanks Steve. Good morning. In other news this morning the Federal Government's expected
to launch its appeal today.
That is yet to be sorted out. The other United flight there, 175, Boston, Los Angeles may
have been the second plane in the World Trade Centre and we have a couple of other planes
Ruth. We do? We don't? That's it. Alright they're the four planes believed involved
in the attacks in the United States. We've got Tim Collett say at Sydney Airport where
flights to the United States of course have been suspended but Tim I understand there
are concerns at Brisbane Airport now.
Yes, word coming through from Brisbane is that the airport in Brisbane has been placed
on alert. Now information that we're receiving from there is that a passenger on an inbound
flight has created some sort of disturbance on board that flight. Now it's nothing to
do with a bomb threat or any explosive device. It is simply being described as an incident
and he has been curtailed, he has been put under, I guess, in flight arrest and the airport
has been placed on alert as a result of that incident at Brisbane.
Now Tim, obviously all kinds of chaos with flights in and out of Australia from here
on in. Can you give us an insight to what will happen with our international flights
obviously to the United States?
The North building of the World Trade Centre from the 85th floor, a lot of them were alight
as they fell but most of them were just jumping to escape the flames I assume.
Prue this event happened about seven hours ago. Is there any indication yet of the death
toll?
There's no indication whatsoever. The emergency services have just refused to answer that
question. Rudy Giuliani, the Mayor, has done the same. I mean they appreciate they're talking
thousands. They say that there are about 20,000 people in the building probably at that point
in time. But you know it was an hour between when the first plane hit and when the building,
the South building, collapsed. So presumably a lot of people would have got out in that
time and I have heard stories, many people that I know actually who got out in that time.
But I have heard as well that when, during the World Trade Centre bombing, and remember
these buildings are 110 storeys high, that the World Trade Centre bombing they started
evacuating people at 10 o'clock and they were still coming out at 6 o'clock that night.
So a lot of people wouldn't have escaped and the buildings surrounding that as well I would
think when the two main buildings collapsed would have taken a fair bit of force as well.
And we're sort of being moved along at the moment. There's a fire in a building next
door to where the World Trade Centre's towers were and a lot of people are speculating that
that one might be about to fall.
The most alarming thing I think is that we've seen hundreds of ambulances go in and very
few ambulances come out at this point.
How are people on the street reacting?
Well, you know, at the time it was just total disbelief. We were standing there watching
people coming out, jumping out of the building and people were sighing and in shock and screaming
and terrified and also people coming out of the subways because they were afraid that
was just the beginning and that subways might be the next point of attack. But it's now
seven hours as you said and people are sort of calming down these own New Yorkers after
all and while this is extraordinary they do sort of take life in its stride and just ten
blocks north of the disaster area people are sitting in cafes and having lunch. I had heard
too as I'm walking around a few sort of anti-Arab calls as well. I don't know if that's a reflection
of a broader sentiment in this point.
That's where we'll leave our ABC coverage of the US terror attacks for the moment. We'll
be back at seven with more details. Shortly we'll return you to coverage from the Cable
News Network.
But without warning as the briefing continued Washington was hit. The Pentagon building
just three kilometres from the Prime Minister's hotel and a site he'd visited just yesterday
was struck by a large passenger plane and several other explosions. John Howard left
the briefing to the site of dense smoke billowing from what was considered to be one of the
most secure buildings in the world.
Panic quickly erupted on the streets outside the area surrounding the Pentagon descending
into complete chaos. The Prime Minister was quickly evacuated to the Australian Embassy
ten blocks away along with his wife Jeanette, son Tim and complete official party. As helicopters
swept the building the US Secret Service stepped up security with semi-automatic weapons joining
personal luggage inside. Digesting a situation impossible to comprehend a visibly shaken
John Howard hours later read from a letter he has sent to the US President.
The sheer disaster initially thought to be even worse for Australia than first expected
with early news that the hijacked plane that slammed into the Pentagon was a Qantas flight
being operated by a US airline. It was going from Washington to Los Angeles. At this stage
no Australians are thought to be among the 58 people on board. The only good news two
Australian defence workers originally unaccounted for at the Pentagon have now been found.
While the Australian Embassy remains the Washington safe house for the Prime Minister, his family
and the entire official party, the government in Canberra is enforcing measures to protect
American sites on Australian soil. Australia's US Ambassador in Washington with the Prime
Minister deeply thanked Australia for its support calling us not just allies but mates.
In Washington, Deborah Knight, 10 News.
Now we're going back to New York we've got Michelle Stone on the line we spoke to her
by telephone earlier but we've managed to relocate her with a camera a little closer
to the site of this terrible terrorist attack overnight. We've got her on screen. Michelle
I love you dearly but you're looking terrible this must have been an absolutely devastating
night for you.
It has been don't be too nice to me Ron I might actually start crying again. It's been
a very difficult day but we, Paul Atkinson the cameraman and I are counting our blessings.
We were actually at the scene and had to run for our lives today. I've never run faster
I have to tell you. The debris and the smoke was funneling up the boulevard. It was literally
surreal something like you might see in a movie and we just had to run and keep ahead
of that as it came towards us like dozens of people that were running alongside us.
Michelle I'm going to get our director Ruth to bring up some pictures of the smoke that
you're talking about. This, I think the smoke you're talking about is when the buildings
actually collapsed and it actually looked like special effects in a movie where huge
clouds of this white dust billowed down the streets like as though they were canyons and
you and your cameraman were running ahead of that.
That's exactly right. At first I was standing there sort of entranced by the vision because
it didn't seem quite real. We had watched the fires burning at the top of the twin towers.
We watched one of them collapse and then not long after that as we were filming the other
tower began to collapse and when that smoke started coming towards us I was routed to
the spot and a New York City policeman screamed at me to drop everything and run.
Michelle we're just looking at the building. We're just looking at the pictures now where
the building collapses and we've got showers of building debris, dust, smoke and we can
just see the dust billowing through the whole area of downtown Manhattan. What sort of area
are we talking about here? This isn't just a couple of streets. This is the whole district
is completely engulfed.
That's right Ron. I can still taste that dust. It covers at least 10 city blocks north from
the World Trade Center and probably as many either side. The devastation is unbelievable.
We've been walking around in clouds of that smoke all day today. It seems impossible that
those two enormous towers are no longer there. The most disturbing thing that we've seen
all day of course was immediately before the towers began to implode we were standing there
helpless like thousands of other people on the roadside watching these poor people jump
to their deaths. They were 90 to 100 floors up and I cannot imagine how horrible they
must have felt when their only option was to leap that far to a certain depth to the
ground. Of course they wouldn't have made it either way. They had no choice. They knew
that they were dead and for some reason that they chose to jump out of those buildings.
We just showed the pictures again. Ruth, I don't know if you can get those pictures up
again of the people leaning out of the tower buildings there. There are literally dozens
of them in the buildings just ready to jump. I wonder if we could bring up the current
CNN pictures out of New York to see what's happening at the moment. Michelle, place us
at the time it is now. What's happening in the city? Has it shut down? Are people being
evacuated? Are people simply running for their lives out of New York?
It's remarkable Ron. It's now quarter to five in the evening and already light is beginning
to fade. There are thousands of people out there on the street. Of course Manhattan being
an island is completely locked down and you cannot get off this island unless you decide
to walk. You've probably seen the pictures of thousands of people crossing the bridges
out of this place but a lot of people are trapped here and they're resigned to their
fate for the night. Most of the day people have been standing motionless on the side
of pretty much every road you want to walk down trying to gather some sort of impression
of what's going on. It just simply does not seem real. We have been walking or marching
you might call it with thousands of others up and down streets trying to find a way to
get to talk to you today. The whole situation is actually unbelievable.
You mentioned this before and it was quite incredible to watch at the time. At around
midnight when all these buildings were falling down there was obviously chaos throughout
the heart of New York. People were actually standing there, were only just walking around.
I was actually amazed to see that there was no panic. It seems to have just caught everyone
so off guard that they simply couldn't believe it.
This is a regular work day. There were people heading off to work or they were already at
work and it was incredible to watch a city as enormous as this come to a complete stand
still. There were people on the side of each road and they were just completely awestruck
by what was going on and you cannot imagine the feeling immediately afterwards when you've
seen that happen and then there are literally half a dozen American fighter jets in the
sky above you and you're thinking is that somebody on our side or is that another hijacked
jet about to come and wreak some more havoc. I've seen people on their knees today, people
crying, people praying, hysterical people but for the large part New Yorkers are handling
this incredibly well. I don't think it's quite hit them. It's almost impossible to
understand and completely grasp what's going on here.
I notice you've mentioned a couple of times that you were in tears after this incident.
You are a veteran reporter. You've seen some very incredible things over the years. What
is it that makes you want to cry?
I think it's a feeling of absolute helplessness. As we were walking from the World Trade Center
we didn't feel safe. We felt that there were several federal buildings on the island of
Manhattan that scattered throughout the place. There's also the United Nations. All of them
are targets. There were still at the time four hijacked planes circling. We didn't know
where the next place was going to be and I said to the cameraman Paul Atkinson, I said
really we can run but there's nowhere to hide. There was no safe place and that's a pretty
awful feeling and I think when you're Australian you realize how lucky you are that you don't
have to deal with that paranoia. It's unbelievable and I have found myself in tears several times
today but I think the instinct to survive is a lot stronger than that.
Now I gather that once the immediate impact of the devastation has passed that the Americans
are digging deep and coming up with a resolve to find those responsible. What is the feeling
among the people in New York about finding those responsible and indeed taking revenge?
The rhetoric almost immediately after the event was of anger and of revenge, I think
that the man on the street is determined that the person responsible or people responsible
for this be found immediately and as President Bush said be punished for this act and I think
that it would be of no surprise to me that this mobilized Americans, there would be a
renewed patriotism. I don't think that's ever flagged but the feeling on the street
is that go out there, find the people who did this and deal with it. There is also talks
on the street of war and I think that you have to imagine when you're in this sort
of situation with multiple attack sites and Americans feeling like their right to freedom
and safety is completely imperiled that war is a real possibility.
Michelle, a big hug from us. You have a cup of coffee, settle down and we'll come back
to you.
Thank you.
Michelle Stone in New York. Of course New Yorkers are still coming to grips with the
terror that faced them as they headed for work this morning, all still in shock and
unable to comprehend the events that have taken place.
Hitting the building, it was surreal. As we looked at it we thought it was something
out of a movie. It just didn't seem real. The airplane just came in at its hilt. We heard
the scream of the plane, then a crack, crack, crack, boom, boom, boom and the plane just
disappeared. You didn't see the plane anymore and then you just sort of blow out from the
other side.
A lot of people have played this in something like Pearl Harbor. You were there, you saw
this. Put yourself in perspective because nothing's ever happened like this.
Well I now have images that will never leave my mind. As I'm walking up from, we walked
down from downtown up to Grand Central here and I just keep seeing that airplane hitting.
I saw also prior to the second airplane hitting while we were still standing there, I must
have saw about seven or eight bodies flying through the air coming from 80 floors up.
They'd fall from the debris and you just saw them cartwheeling down, bouncing off the building.
It was devastating. I'm not an emotional person in the least. I actually felt tremendous emotion
at that point because I do have a lot of friends in bulk buildings. And I do know that last
time, as I said, it took two and a half hours for somebody on the 70th floor to get out
of that building. It was absolutely devastating. I believe being down there was tens of thousands
of people dead. That's what I believe at this point.
You said you're not an emotional person.
I'm not emotional at least and now I'm very emotional about this. I have feelings of revenge
but I just sure hope that the government doesn't arbitrarily select an enemy and decide to,
for political reasons, obliterate that enemy just for this. But I do hope they find the
people responsible for this.
You shot him in the back. You shot him in the back.
Joe, what do you do?
He fell and just hit and just blew out the plaza we were on.
It was complete dark. Complete dark. There was no light. So since we got somebody with
a little light came out because we couldn't even see what's happening. We all, you know,
with dust and debris and shit.
How did you get out?
Well, the firefighter, somebody with a little light came eventually and we were following
him and go to...
What did you do?
The police officer told everybody to form a human chain and we held onto each other
and he flashed a light and he direct us to building five and we went out building five.
Did you see people bleeding and what did you see?
Everybody could see. Do you want blood? Here's blood. Everybody's bleeding. People are laying
all over the floor. It's horrible. And I was there the first time and this is twice.
Ruth, do you want to pop that number up again for foreign affairs in Canberra? This is the
number you can call if you're concerned about family or relatives who may have been involved
in these incidents in the United States. Casualties is still a question, a big question mark about
this whole incident. We know that at least 260 people have died on the aircraft that were
hijacked and involved in these terrorist attacks. We have estimates at the moment that more
than 2,000 people are being treated for injuries in New York and you can see from our pictures
throughout the night that hundreds of people were hanging out of the windows of the buildings
in the World Trade Center. Estimates of death, given that there are up to 50,000 people that
work in this complex and that this was just before nine o'clock on a regular workday morning,
the estimates are that there are at least 10,000 people dead. It will be some time obviously
before we can confirm any figures and rescue efforts are continuing in New York and in
Washington at the Pentagon to recover those who may have survived. We're going to Canberra
right now for a chat with Clive Williams who is a terrorist expert and this is an act of
war, an act of gross terrorism. Mr Williams, good morning. Good morning Ron. How are you
reading this whole situation at the moment? What do you see as being the next move from
the United States? Clearly there will be a sort of a demand I think in the United States
for vengeance because of this but obviously there is the issue of identifying who is responsible
and I think given that the response that took place after the East Africa bombings was not
particularly successful, I think it probably made Americans feel good perhaps but it wasn't
really very successful in terms of what it achieved. I think there will probably be a
more measured response this time in terms of deciding what they're going to do in response.
Who are the likely perpetrators of this? I know that those who are looking for headlines,
perhaps some Arab groups, PLO maybe or Palestinian groups maybe putting their hand up for it.
A lot of the world attention seems to be on Bin Laden at the moment. Who do you think
is most likely responsible? I think most likely it's al-Qaeda which is Bin Laden's organisation.
When I say that, in fact it's a coalition of groups which was formed back in 1988 and
more recently in 1998 he declared a jihad against the United States and I think it's
probably elements from those groups that are involved in this latest attack. A jihad of
course is a holy war. Is this going to be war? Well his aim has been to force the United
States out of Saudi Arabia and that's his primary objective. Of course he also sides
with the Palestinians and he's also concerned about the Islamic extremists who are in jail
in the United States and there's been a couple of incidents in the last couple of years where
hostages have been taken in an attempt to free those people but unsuccessfully. How
soon is the United States likely to respond? Well back in 1998 they left it for two weeks.
The attack took place on the 7th of August and the response was on the 20th of August
so I'd say that they'll take at least a couple of weeks to sift through the evidence that
they have and to try and determine what would be the most effective retaliation. Clive thanks
for talking with us this morning. Clive Williams is a terrorist expert who's talking to us
from Canberra. Clive we're trying to compact this into a news bulletin which will end at
7 o'clock. We may come back to you as our coverage continues throughout the morning.
Thanks very much for joining us this morning. We're going back to Michelle Stone. As I say
we're trying to compact this into a full one hour news bulletin which will conclude at
7 o'clock and then we'll take up general coverage of the event. So let's go back to
Michelle just for one last consideration of what's happening out there. Michelle round
up what is happening there this morning, what's happened overnight. We've witnessed the
greatest terrorism act I think on the planet ever on. I think it's been the most horrifying
thing we've seen. Those two towers coming down, thousands of people being treated at
New York hospitals, the Red Cross desperate for blood. The immediate concern is to dig
people from that rubble and to save those that have been taken from it and to get as
much blood as possible from the people out here in Manhattan to do it, to take care of
them. As night falls I wonder how safe this place is. The mayor assures us that it is
in fact a secure airspace now and we have seen as I told you military jets above us,
many of them. But I don't think that it's safe for anybody to say that this assault
is over and I think that anybody who thinks that would be rather silly. There are still
targets here and I'm certain that still opportunities to hit the US in some fashion.
Michelle I understand the National Guard has been brought into search for survivors. Is
there any indication that there are still survivors under that incredible pile of rubble
that was once the World Trade Center?
Well I think common sense would dictate that probably not but I think that the alternative
to not even bother is not an option. So I think that they will continue to explore those
possibilities and in locations immediately around the World Trade Center. I heard, I'm
not sure, that there are only 600 National Guard down there at the moment and I saw many,
many volunteer firemen and off duty policemen race past us when we were down there screaming
at the cops who were trying to keep everybody back saying we're here to help, where do we
go, what can we do to help everybody out. So there's no shortage of people who want
to do something, people who aren't afraid that there's going to be more danger at that
location. So as the sun sets on Manhattan I think that we can expect that this story
is going to continue to unfold unfortunately and we'll keep you up to date with all the
news that we learn.
Michelle, thank you very much. Michelle Stone, I've just heard from our News Director that
we'll continue on through the next hour as a compacted news bulletin we had intended
to pull out at 7 o'clock and then continue with ad hoc coverage of this event but we'll
continue on in a structured form through the next hour or so. Well it's now 5pm in Manhattan,
a little over 8 hours since the whole nightmare began, a wave of terrorist attacks likely
to change the course of world history, it certainly will. US forces are being deployed,
people around the world braced for retaliatory strikes against what America has described
as an act of war.
The world's deadliest terrorist attack came without warning. The first of four hijacked
suicide planes carrying scores of terrified passengers to their deaths slamming into New
York's tallest building.
The plane just was coming in low and the wingtips tilted back and forth and then it flattened
out, it looks like it's hit at a slight angle into the World Trade Center. I can see flames
now coming out the side of the building and smoke continues to billow.
15 minutes later a second hijacked plane hit the tower. The impact catastrophic, a fireball
sending tons of debris crashing to the ground. There is no doubt that this was a suicide
mission.
It was like an earthquake, just shook, the building was shaking, then I saw chunks of
debris just falling down because I was close to the window, it was unbelievable.
The first one we didn't see but my co-worker saw the plane hit number two World Trade and
we just saw people just falling.
Gaping holes were visible inside of the 110 story buildings, the tops of the twin towers
obscured by smoke. More than 40,000 people work inside the towers, another 150,000 visit
the complex each day. It's not clear how many were inside at the time. An FBI investigation
was launched immediately and all major government offices and federal buildings were evacuated.
This terrorist attack wasn't over yet. One hour after the twin towers bombing, a third
hijacked passenger jet crashes into the Pentagon, the very heart of American military and security.
Back in New York hundreds of helpless people remain trapped in the World Trade Center.
Rescue workers powerless to help those on higher floors. In desperation, some leaping
from the tower.
There was smoke everywhere and people jumping out the windows, over there they're jumping
out the windows I guess because they're trying to save themselves, I don't know.
About 10am local time, the desperate cries for help of those that remained went silent
as the first building began to collapse, tons of debris crashing to the ground.
Undescribable scenes on New York streets, debris blanketing the ground several kilometers
from the scene. The world's busiest city had become a war zone, its occupants in a state
of panic.
Then reports began filtering through of yet another crash, this time near Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. More than 150 feared dead. Fighter pilots circling the sky over New York and
Washington braced for further attacks.
The National Guard called in with emergency services stretched to the limit. American
President George Bush standing firm in the face of this horrific terrorist attack.
Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these
cowardly acts. I've been in regular contact with the Vice President, Secretary of Defense,
the National Security Team and my cabinet. We have taken all appropriate security
precautions to protect the American people. Our military at home and around the world
is on high alert status.
President George W. Bush, a man whose task is set ahead of him now to find the people,
the perpetrators of these terrible acts and deal with them. We have a problem with the
number with foreign affairs in Canberra that we've been giving you for information about
friends or relatives who may have been in New York or Washington and affected by these
terrorist acts. Unfortunately there have just been so many calls, thousands of them, that
the number has jammed completely and a new number is currently being set up. We'll bring
you that with full screen details in just a few moments. So have your pens or pencils
ready and I'll bring you that number in a few moments time.
One eyewitness to the New York bombing was Dr Mark Heath. He caught the chaos on his
own video recorder and we'll let him take us through the scene of devastation.
I hope I live. I hope I live. It's coming down on me. Here it comes. I'm getting behind
the bar. It's incredible. Okay, I had to go find people who need help because I don't
think I'm one of them. You okay sir? Okay. Can I just get a toot off your respirator?
Can I get a toot? I'm seeing a couple of clean breaths. That's good. Okay. Back to you.
This is the car I hid behind. It saved my life. Maybe it was this one.
There's all these noises. I think I don't know what it is. They say someone needs help.
Anybody need a doctor? Don't have oxygen. That guy needs some oxygen. Someone can share
it with him. 10-4. Thanks.
They told me just to wait here. They won't let me go any closer. No one can go in to
get the people out. There's small explosions still going on. So far it seems that people
who needed oxygen from the dust are going to fall back. I'm going to go wash my eyes
now. That almost made it work. Looking north on the west side highway. You guys going in?
Come with you. You know, I don't want to get too much closer. We're not going to help anybody.
We're going to help you. We're going to help you. We're going to help you. We're going
to help you. The consensus is it's too unsafe to go in there. Just going to wait here until
they bring some people out. I hooked up with some firemen with some first aid stuff. Why
don't you guys set this up as a mobile hospital unit right here. Any suggestions? Should we
set up here for medical work? I think this is safe enough here. That was a home video
shot by a Dr Heath who was caught up in the devastation in the heart of New York overnight
who let his camera roll and giving us a very good look at exactly what happened right in
the heart of the action. Now I mentioned that the previous number for foreign affairs. Just
say that we don't know at this stage who committed this simply appalling act of terrorism. I
mean people's minds turn to the Middle East but there isn't any proof yet that it's people
from the Middle East and I notice the usual round of terrorist suspects in the Middle
East have come out and denied that they had any involvement in this. But obviously it was
extraordinarily well planned, thought through and it's an awful thing to say but it was
executed successfully. So it must be a fairly sophisticated group. There is no question
of that. But it doesn't mean that Australia itself for one reason or other would suddenly
become a target where it wasn't. We don't have any information that Australia has been
targeted in this sort of way by terrorist groups. We've been mercifully free of that.
Okay thank you very much Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Well Prime Minister John Howard was caught up in the chaos. He and wife Jeanette were
evacuated from their Washington hotel after one attack hit the Pentagon building and Seven
News reporter Glenn Milne is travelling with the Prime Minister. Good morning to you Glenn.
Morning Georgie.
Mr PM coped with this close call. We saw him making a statement a short time ago. He looked
visibly upset.
Definitely he was quite moved when he came into that press conference. He was evacuated
as you said from the hotel where he was staying just a stone's throw literally from the White
House which you would think would be one of the most secure areas in the world and is
now obviously one of the most insecure in the world. He was evacuated from there through
Washington traffic which came to a standstill. The military were on the streets. Service
and emergency personnel running up and down stopping cars cordoning off streets. He was
taken to the embassy. He was put in a secure area two floors below the embassy and he emerged
several hours later about three hours later to hold a press conference and reveal that
he had sent a message of condolence to President George W Bush but you're quite right he was
visibly upset. His top lip was quavering. I've never seen that from John Howard before but
he obviously felt this sadness very keenly. In fact he said so. It was much more poignant
he said for being in Washington himself and we might have a look here at a bit of what
the Prime Minister had to say.
America has been hurt by today's events but the American spirit will not be daunted or
disdowed or diminished by these events. The resolution of the American people will be
evident and they will respond and they will respond in accordance with the courageous
traditions of their country.
Glenn he's also written a letter to President George W Bush as I understand on behalf of
all Australians. What did he say?
He basically expressed horror at what had happened, remorse, solidarity with the American
people and has pledged that whatever the United States needs to do to hunt down the
perpetrators of this deed Australia will support them. That I guess means diplomatically and
also I would suggest if there was any need for the use of our joint spy bases at either
Pine Gap or Narunga in terms of surveillance or finding where these people are based then
Australia will do its utmost to assist. He made that perfectly clear. He described this
as an act of war, an act of bastardry and he invoked President Roosevelt's wartime
declaration about the Battle of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor. He described
this as a day of infamy. He was clearly moved, clearly shocked and he's feeling very emotional
towards the American people right now and as I speak all around Washington as the day
draws to a close here flags are going down to half mast over all public buildings.
And Glenn did he make any comment on the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in
Brisbane as to whether its future was in doubt as a result of this horrendous attack?
No he didn't Georgie. He made the point very strongly that it was just too early. Without
knowing who's behind these terrible events, these terrible actions it's impossible really
to speculate as to where they might strike next or what might be their next target. He
was reluctant to even say that Australia could be in the firing line although he's very
sensibly, he and the security forces at home have already taken the decision to isolate
certain buildings like the US Embassy and heightened security surrounding what's probably
the obvious targets, Israeli establishment and facilities and American property.
Alright Glenn Milne in Washington thank you very much for the update.
Well while the magnitude of this attack has shocked the world, the fact that it actually
happened has not. The United States is the main target of terrorist attacks. Robert O'Vadio
looks back at some of the worst in recent years.
Beirut, 1983. 241 American servicemen die in a massive explosion. A suicide bomber was
responsible. It heralded a new era of Islam's holy war against the United States. A war
that touched American soil a decade later. Six dead, more than a thousand injured. This
time it was a bombing in New York's World Trade Center. The explosion blew a crater
six stories deep through the building's car park.
But I would also emphasise the determination of all of the national security agencies to
get to the bottom of this.
They did. Six Palestinians were convicted for the terrorist attack but nearly three
years later a separate group claimed responsibility for exploding a car bomb outside an American
army base in Saudi Arabia. Seven were killed, the four men responsible beheaded. It was
the most deadly terrorist attack on US troops since Beirut but even it was dwarfed by another
bombing in Saudi Arabia seven months later. 19 American servicemen died when a fuel tanker
exploded outside a high rise complex housing about 2,000 army personnel.
Those who did it must not go unpunished. In August 1998 the most deadly act of terrorism
yet again on American citizens when US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed.
The people in the front of the building I would have to say probably didn't stand a chance.
More than 250 people died, more than 5,000 were injured. Responsible, the world's most
wanted man Osama bin Laden based in Afghanistan. America's response was swift and violent.
Six terrorist training camps in Afghanistan were hit, 21 were killed. While in Sudan Tomahawk
missiles were fired into a chemical factory suspected of manufacturing nerve gas. It sparked
outrage across the Islamic world. US embassies were attacked, President Clinton was burned
in effigy, revenge was promised. It came last October, 17 sailors on board the USS Cole
were killed when suicide bombers blew themselves up off the port bow.
We will find out who was responsible and hold them accountable.
The same vows, the same promises of retaliation as the next generation continue to prepare
for their moment of glory in Islam's name. Robert O'Vardier, 7 News.
Now to some more dramatic pictures from the aftermath of the explosions. A rescue worker
with a handy cam took video footage of the scene as he looked for survivors.
This is the car I hid behind, it saved my life.
It was sort of turn the TV and see what's going on. Obviously I would share with all
other Australians a sense of absolute shock and dismay and horror at what's going on in
the US and the thought of the extensive loss of life is really quite shocking, hard to
perhaps articulate and I have a real worry about the Australians who might have been
on any of those hijacked planes, any Australians who might have been at the World Trade Centre,
it really is a sort of shocking thought but we just don't have any information.
I'm relieved that some of our people who are actually working in the Pentagon are OK
but sadly this is a shocking act of terrorism and the full consequences of it are obviously
only going to be known to us as the rescue teams do their work.
And will the Prime Minister be coming home early?
Well they're having a look at that apparently, obviously the trips come to an end but I'm
told that they're looking at possible means of transport for him but I don't have any
advice at the moment.
He would be keen to leave as soon as possible surely?
Well I'm sure he would be but I just haven't spoken to him personally and it's a matter
of logistics really rather than anything else.
Alright, thank you very much for your time Minister.
OK thanks Ali.
And that's our Defence Minister Peter Reath joining us this morning from our studios in
Hobart and we thank him for getting in as quickly and at such short notice.
Indeed.
Well the terrorist attacks on the United States have focused attention as you'd imagine
on airport security and this report on that is from Britain's ITN.
A cryptic view that's been the dream of terrorists and the nightmare of security forces.
The best known skyline in the world, shrouded in the aftermath of the most audacious terrorist
assault in history.
Even before the smoke settles the questions are being asked.
How could two planes just fly into the World Trade Centre?
How could the Pentagon, the bastion of the military, be penetrated?
Did the security forces have any inkling that it might happen?
Experts like Andrew Rathmell from the respected RAND think tank told ITV News they did.
There certainly were warnings and there has been a heightened state of alert for various
reasons to do with clashes for example between the US and Iraq, relations between the US
and Osama bin Laden's organisation as well as events in the Middle East in terms of the
terrorism we've seen in Israel and the occupied territories.
So for various reasons there were various heightened states of alert and the security
force in the US had received various warnings but the problem is of course that warnings
are received frequently.
A number of planes were hijacked this morning.
Two of them were American Airlines jets, flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles with 92 people
on board and flight 77 from Washington to LA with 64 people.
At 8.50 just before 2 o'clock here as workers were arriving for a day at the World Trade
Centre one of them crashed into the building.
At 9.08 the other hijacked plane crashed into the tower causing an inferno.
At 9.30 another plane crashed on Washington hitting the Pentagon, the nerve centre of
the American military establishment.
15 minutes later the heart of American government, the White House, was evacuated.
At 9.59 an hour after the first plane hit the Trade Centre one of its towers collapsed.
At 10.25 over an hour and a half after the initial attack a car bomb exploded outside
the State Department.
Three minutes later the second tower of the World Trade Centre collapsed.
The centre has towered over New York for several decades.
It imploded showering one of the world's most populated and most important cities with smoke
and debris changing its skyline forever.
Just extraordinary, that report from Britain's ITN network.
Now at any time of the year and at any time of the day or night a city like New York is
packed with tourists from all over the world and when you talk tourists you talk home video
cameras and as you can imagine some of those once they've recovered from initial shock
some of the people with the cameras have shot their own vision.
This has just come in from the United States shot by an amateur cameraman in Manhattan
and you can see there this extraordinary shot of one of the aircraft going into the tower
of the World Trade Centre.
It's horrific but it does tell the story.
It tells exactly what happened.
Just extraordinary.
The top of the building and a little more in fact the impact of the aircraft.
This is an American Airlines jet one of two that were used by terrorists who have yet
to be identified.
And that was of course the second one that we just saw then and it was about half an
hour later that the towers collapsed one then the other.
I mean we were watching it and you think nothing can get worse and then all of a sudden the
top of the World Tower starts crumbling away falling away and just crashing down onto the
streets of Manhattan.
And you see those pictures of the streets and it's just...
Looks like it's been hit by a snowstorm.
It does it does or a mass of fire it's that same covered in ash.
Alright well there are fears that some Australians might have been on board the passenger planes
involved in the US attacks because United Airlines and American Airlines code shared
with Quantas and Air New Zealand.
Joining us on the line now is Lindell Sacks from the Department of Foreign Affairs in
Canberra.
Lindell good morning to you.
Good morning.
Do you have any information yet about Australians who might have been on any of the planes or
Australians who might have been in the World Trade building?
As you can imagine information is very very difficult to come by at this stage and we
have no confirmation on Australians who may have been killed or injured.
But certainly what we have done is set up a crisis center where people can contact us
to obtain information of their loved ones.
Now what we are certainly doing is taking the details of people who have good reason
to believe that their loved ones might have been on those planes or in locations affected
by the attack and what we are asking families is that they choose one person to contact
us and we will get back to those people if and when we find out some information.
Okay I know the Minister Alexander Downer instructed extra staff to be put on duty to
man the phones.
How are you coping?
We are coping very well.
Yes the new number was put up to cope with the demand at 6am this morning.
The number is 1800 00 2214 and we are asking people who feel that they have good reason
that their loved ones might have been on those planes or in locations affected by the attack
to contact us.
But I should stress that information is very difficult to come by at this stage.
We will take their details and we will get back to them when we find out some information.
If in the meantime family members do make contact with their loved ones either through
fax, email or mobile phone if they could then let us know so that we don't have to run around
after family members who are in fact safe and well.
Lindell can you give me an idea how many operators have you got manning the phones?
We have got quite a few up there.
Okay and this service will continue indefinitely?
Certainly whilst we need to provide information and advice to Australians it will certainly
continue to operate.
Alright would you like to just mention that number one more time?
Yes the number is 1800 00 2214.
Okay thanks for that and we will stay in touch with you Lindell.
Thank you very much.
Thanks a lot.
Well joining us again live from New York is 9 News correspondent Michael Usher.
Michael hello again I understand that you do in fact have some developments.
Yes we do at the moment actually another building has just collapsed in fact it is believed
to be called the number 7 building number 7 world square and if you look directly behind
me here that white stepped building and the older building it was directly behind that.
We were standing here as we watched it go there seemed to be sort of glass shattering
and bits of the building flying everywhere and then now just this enormous cloud of smoke
and more dust that has filled the sky.
We are not too sure exactly what state that building was in it was right next door to
the twin towers and it had caught a lot of the blow earlier when they collapsed and it
was one of the buildings we believe that the police were very worried about that it had
gotten to a stage where they believed it would go but that was some hours ago and they thought
things were pretty safe down there but literally as we were watching it it collapsed.
It had been evacuated?
It had been on fire for quite a while as well.
It had been evacuated?
It had been evacuated it was right next to the towers and it had caught a lot of damage
earlier when the towers collapsed so it had been evacuated however there is a lot of firefighters
and emergency crews down there working on fires that were in that building and surrounding
buildings so you have got to hold some pretty serious concerns for the people that were
down there fighting those fires.
Indeed what is this doing to the whole rescue effort I mean it must be virtually impossible
if you are working in an environment where you don't know which building could potentially
go next.
Well this is part of the situation at the moment because it had been relatively calm
for the past two hours the rescue effort seemed to have gotten some kind of rhythm that there
was a process going on that got a lot of people down there they were fighting the fires that
evacuated a lot of the people around the area it seemed to be under control this now I would
imagine will change the way they tackle the whole situation down there it was a very big
building mind you I don't know I just don't know how many stories at this stage but it
was very very noticeable as it collapsed right before us.
So we don't know what the building was?
Well Poundy it is actually called the number 7 building of the World Trade Complex down
there you had the twin towers the shopping centre beneath it and a series of buildings
around it that were all connected and part of World Square down there presumably we understand
some kind of finance or business building down there as most of them are but no it is
the number 7 building and it has now collapsed also along with the two towers of the World
Trade Centre sending a lot more smoke and debris into the air around here and just further
complicating this whole operation here and making it so much more risky for the hundreds
of men and women who are down there fighting it fighting the flames and helping control
the crowds and getting people out of there I guess you've just got to hope that there
weren't too many people working on that exact building at the time that it collapsed only
a matter of minutes ago.
Indeed how many other buildings are authorities worried about or are they really not able
to say?
Well if they are not able to say they are not saying because they believe they have
evacuated as many people as they can from down there they did say earlier there were
perhaps half a dozen buildings in serious in a serious state therefore they had been
very badly affected and their foundations had been very badly weakened by the initial
collapse of both those towers.
I guess you've got to say that that tower that just that building that office block that
just collapsed then would have to have been one of those ones they were concerned about
it's certainly not the building I was told about earlier the AT&T building which is still
standing.
Now if one of these buildings has gone down that they were concerned about the half dozen
or so now I guess we've got to watch very closely to see just how many more are in a
much worse shape than many people would have believed.
Alright Michael thank you for talking to us and we will get back to you.
Okay thank you.
And that's Michael Usher joining us live from the streets of New York.
Now joining us from the capital of Australia is our Nine Networks National Political Editor
Laurie Oakes.
Laurie you and I have been around a long time but I don't know about you I've never seen
anything like this as this story unfolds.
No it's extraordinary Steve extraordinary.
How's Canberra reacting responding?
Well security has been stepped up just about everywhere Steve at Parliament House is certainly
tightened security but the American Embassy they've basically locked it down there are
extra police there there are private security guards nothing's going in or out without being
thoroughly checked basically it's not open for business they're concentrating totally
on security and at other government buildings too they're increasing security today.
We've had reaction from Washington and Prime Minister John Howard we've just spoken to
Defence Minister Peter Reath but any other comments from leading political figures so
far?
Yes well John Anderson the Acting Prime Minister arrived here just after 7 o'clock to chair
a security meeting it's attended by military intelligence by ASIO by ASIS all those intelligence
agencies by the Federal Police military people foreign affairs people and they'll be planning
Australia's action including how to get the Prime Minister home and I understand also
they are sending aircraft in case they need to bring him home by the Air Force but this
is what John Anderson had to say when he arrived.
Well play me we've already moved to tighten security around a number of American and other
sensitive assets we're reviewing carefully facilities like airports arrangements like
aircraft travelling and those sorts of things and we'll be also of course looking to ensure
the early and safe return of the Prime Minister and Mrs Howard and his crew from Washington.
Are you sending a plane to get them?
Look we're still in the business of sorting through it the best way we are certainly repositioning
if you like some of our assets in case that proves to be the best way to do it.
Do you have a meeting this morning?
We have several meetings you'll understand under the circumstances there are quite a few
issues that have got to be sorted through that includes the family couple of senior ministers
back here to cover off on everything from the Attorney General side of things security side
of things through to the consideration of the broader economic impacts and so forth all
those sorts of things have got to be classed and looked at.
You speak.
Well there he is Australia's acting Prime Minister John Anderson.
Laurie I was talking to our control room while part of that was on was any mention made of
the possibility that the Prime Minister may cut the trip short and come home early?
Well he said they're repositioning assets but that he means they're getting RAF aircraft
into place in case they need to bring him home by Air Force plane so obviously they do
want to get him home as soon as possible it will be cut short Steve.
Okay Laurie thanks for joining us.
As I was going to say as Peter Reath said obviously now it's just a question of logistics
how do you get him out when no one can fly?
Well if they're repositioning some of our aircraft it sounds like they've got that covered.
Alright time for a quick check of the other news that's occurring around our nation
and overseas this morning is Ian Ross.
This bombing in 1993 killed six people and blew a 60 foot hole through four basement
levels of the building and this evening many Palestinian and other Islamic militant organisations
are distancing themselves from today's attacks.
Perhaps they're fearful of American retaliation.
A leading Middle East analyst in Britain hopes the blame won't fall on the entire Arab world.
It will stigmatise many many innocent people, law abiding people who have settled in the
West but what can states do?
You've got to be practical.
Before today the worst terrorist attack inside the United States was the Oklahoma bombing
of 1995 and it was an American Timothy McVeigh who was convicted and executed for that mass
killing but tonight nobody seriously believes Americans have been killing their own and
the mastermind for these latest attacks is being sought outside America's borders.
The ABC's Middle East correspondent Tim Palmer is in Jerusalem and earlier I asked him about
the celebrations seen in some areas following the attacks.
Well clearly governments and Palestinian factions in this region have been quick to condemn
the attack and trying to lay the kind of early suspicions that fell on some groups.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was initially named as having made
a claim of responsibility.
That group has immediately denied that suggestion as has the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine.
Groups such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas have also condemned the attack at the same time.
They've suggested that this is the clear result of American foreign policy particularly in
this region and even countries that have a terrorist past as far as the United States
is concerned such as Iran and Syria have matched the condemnation coming out of here.
Most clearly that from Yasser Arafat who looked quite shocked as you saw before in making
his statement because much of what he said will be totally drowned out by the kind of
actions that we saw on streets in Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank and in Lebanon
of some Palestinian groups celebrating this attack.
What was the scale of those celebrations?
It seemed fairly isolated although in Nablus it was suggested several thousand people took
to the streets.
It was later reported that Palestinian officials had moved in to tell people to simply go home
and to break up those celebrations.
Clearly the kind of signal that this will send out to Israelis and to Americans would
suggest that American mediation in this area in terms of peace, the needed factor in an
Israeli-Palestinian conflict that runs on below this, really will not be encouraged at all
by this kind of scene of celebrating mass death in an American city.
Tim, what's been the relationship between some of the extremist factions like Islamic
Jihad and Osama bin Laden?
What's been the relationship in the past?
These kinds of traces are very difficult to establish.
The Americans have laboured to establish, for example, the previous World Trade Center
bombing in which they have convictions with Osama bin Laden.
Similarly, it's been a difficult point to demonstrate the American embassies, although
convictions were obtained there in Africa, the bombings there.
It must be remembered that around 20 months ago another chain of attacks, the key signature
of Osama bin Laden's attacks in the past, a synchronised series of attacks was supposedly
planned against tourist targets in Jordan and in the Holy Land to coincide with millennial
tourism.
So again, there are suggestions that there may be operatives in this region as well.
And of course, all eyes are turning to the Middle East and more broadly to Islamic fundamentals.
Michael McKinlay is an expert on global politics, diplomacy, strategy and war at the ANU, and
he joins me now from our Canberra studio.
Michael McKinlay, what are the implications for America's global role as a result of these
attacks?
I think the crucial test of American leadership is going to be when and how it reacts.
And watching the various feeds overnight, there clearly is a mood in some leading quarters
in Washington that the United States should dispense with finding legislative basis for
its reaction and forensic evidence and simply call up a list of suspects and basically go
after them with massive retaliatory power.
And that, I think, could be counterproductive in the long run.
So the focus on the United States now is on the quality of its leadership and the appropriateness
of its response.
Do you think George Bush has said enough given that eight hours have passed since the attacks
took place?
I don't think President Bush has really got too many other options.
I suspect at this stage the United States authorities are still laboring to find out
who was responsible, where they might be located and so on, and how effective and effective
and how much force should be applied against them if they can indeed locate them.
So for the President, what he has to do, I think, is mainly maintain morale, maintain
calm, and hopefully keep very rational councils of advice to himself.
This is a President who is not afraid of weaponry.
He is promoting the missile defence shield.
Can we expect his response to be a very violent one?
If the indications so far seen overnight are in fact carried out, yes, I think massive
retaliatory power will be deployed.
The question is, though, whereabouts will it be sent to and will it be effective?
Because the problem could be that the perpetrators are not captured, they retain the grievance,
and this could just be a forerunner of events to come rather than the end and a sole event.
When do you think the response could come?
I would say it could come within hours if they are sure of who they're chasing or they
just go after the suspects.
The technology which the United States possesses with its fleets at sea and so on, they could
start as we speak if they really wanted to.
OK.
Michael McKinlay from ANU in Canberra, thanks for joining us.
You're welcome.
Across Europe, security has been reinforced at all NATO installations.
NATO ambassadors called an emergency meeting to discuss the attack.
Secretary-General George Robertson declared that the attacks underlined the need for the
international community and the members of the alliance to unite their forces in fighting
the scourge of terrorism.
This is an alliance, an alliance that defends values, an alliance that defends freedom.
That is what it has always stood for.
And at this moment in time, we met this evening specifically to express solidarity with an
ally that had been the subject of this kind of terrible, dreadful attack.
Did NATO receive threats recently and do you fear such attacks against NATO headquarters
in Brussels and in Mons?
Well, I don't think you would expect me to answer that question.
We act prudently in here to safeguard the people who work here and for whom we are responsible.
But this is a defense and security organization which remains alert and I can assure you remains
resolute and determined as well.
Laurent Zekini, Le Monde.
Lord Robertson, I'd like to repeat one of the questions.
The fact that the Pentagon, the headquarter of the American defense has been hit, do you
consider it as a sort of an act of war or not?
Well, I'm not in a position to make decisions about what is an act of war.
An act of unspeakable violence took place today and this is a moment where people are
reflecting on the nature of that tragedy and standing firm against that kind of violence
and with the people who have suffered from it.
What happens thereafter about it will be a matter for alliance consultation but I don't
think that it would be right or proper to jump to any judgments this evening.
Do you have any initial thoughts about who might lie behind these acts of terrorism?
The Americans don't know, we don't know.
But the clear message to whoever it was is that they will have left a trail behind them
and they can be assured that they will be found.
And the international community, the whole international community will be united in
condemning what they've done and making sure that they're not in a position to do it again.
It may be 24 hours before an accurate toll of those killed in the terrorist attacks is
known.
In New York now the streets are deserted, primarily to allow the free passage of emergency
vehicles.
More than 170 hospitals are treating the casualties which the city's mayor Rudy Giuliani says
may be more than they can bear.
Few workers overwhelmed by their task.
In New York this was a nightmare come true.
The scale of the carnage remains unclear but it's possible that many thousands of people
may have been killed.
It's still too dangerous for the authorities to search the rubble that was the World Trade
Center.
The National Guard has been sent in to relieve exhausted firemen.
The hospitals are overwhelmed.
All right, well then let's go north then.
For a while the city's mayor Giuliani was himself trapped in the emergency control center
which was close to the towers.
Later he said the city's hospitals have been coping with more than 2,000 injured.
But it's clear there's much more bad news to come.
Good afternoon.
The number of casualties will be more than any of us can bear ultimately.
And I don't think we want to speculate on the number of casualties.
The effort now has to be to save as many people as possible.
As survivors walked around days no one could be sure how many did not escape before the
towers collapsed.
Some estimate as many as 20,000 could still have been inside.
Across America tonight families will be coming to terms with untold grief.
Within a couple of hours of the attack volunteers were queuing to give blood at this Red Cross
Center after the city's hospitals reported a critical shortage.
Red Cross shelters are also being set up offering support to the injured and bereaved.
In Washington rescue workers tended to hundreds of defense staff.
After the Boeing 757 had crashed into the Pentagon there was an orderly evacuation from
the rest of the building.
But nearly five hours later the flames were still too intense to allow rescue in some
affected areas.
Again the death toll is uncertain.
I don't have any sense of scale at all.
We know there are casualties.
I can't give you a good number and we're going to work to try to get that as quickly as I
can but we don't have it yet.
America is in shock as well as the casualties on the ground.
266 died on board the four aircraft.
But everyone knows that that is just the start.
The full horror of what's been done to this resilient nation will take time to sink in.
If you've just joined us this is a special ABC News bulletin and just recapping what
is shaping as the worst terrorist attack in world history has taken place across the United
States.
Hundreds, possibly thousands of people have died in an apparently coordinated attack that
has razed New York's World Trade Center and destroyed parts of the Pentagon in Washington.
Three commercial airliners were hijacked and crashed into both towers of the Trade Center
and the Pentagon.
A fourth plane inexplicably crashed in Pennsylvania around the same time and a third building
has collapsed in New York.
The U.S. National Security Council is meeting to plan a response and all civilian air movements
in the country have been suspended.
Precise death tolls are not available, but American Airlines and United Airlines say
there were a total of 266 people aboard the missing aircraft.
The attacks have drawn condemnation from world leaders and sparked a huge security clampdown
on U.S. facilities around the world.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Up to 50,000 people normally work inside the World Trade Center in New York.
Now it's just a smoking ruin.
Horror beyond description on a New York morning.
First one plane crashes into a tower of the World Trade Center, then another.
After the first plane hit, I just saw a second plane come in from the south and hit the south
tower halfway between the bottom and the top of the tower.
It's got to be a terrorist attack, I can't tell you anything more than that.
I saw the plane hit the building.
And there was much worse to come.
There's people jumping out of windows.
I've seen at least 14 people jumping out of windows.
It's horrific, I can't believe this is happening.
We heard a big bang and then we saw smoke coming out and everybody started running out
and we saw the plane on the other side of the building and there was smoke everywhere
and people jumping out the windows.
I guess because they're trying to save themselves, I don't know.
Hundreds of people trapped in the World Trade Center desperately signaled for help.
The building was shaking and I saw chunks of debris just falling down because I was close to the window.
It was unbelievable.
But for most there was no way out.
The huge towers collapsed, one after the other, captured live on American television.
The whole site has collapsed.
The whole building has collapsed.
There is panic on the streets, thousands of people running up Church Street,
which is what I'm looking out on.
On the back and forth.
We are continually trying.
Move it, move it, move it!
As pandemonium gripped Manhattan, Washington came under attack.
Another airliner was crashed into the Pentagon.
Around the same time, a fourth aircraft came down in Pennsylvania.
As government buildings were evacuated, the President,
diverted from a return to Washington for security reasons,
said his country was reeling from a national tragedy.
Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended.
Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts.
Just how many people have died from the coordinated assaults
on the symbols of American business and government will not be known for some time.
But it is confirmed that 156 people were on the two aircraft that were crashed into the World Trade Center.
Paul Lockyer, ABC News.
Shortly after the four aircraft crashed,
the United States closed its airspace creating aviation havoc around the world.
International airports in Australia are just gearing up for the day ahead,
but it's likely there will be severe disruptions.
Qantas has released details of its flights to the US today.
QF 101, which left Melbourne yesterday, has landed in Los Angeles.
QF 7, which left Sydney yesterday, has been diverted to Honolulu and has landed safely.
QF 11, which left Sydney yesterday, has landed in Los Angeles.
And QF 25, which left Brisbane yesterday, has also landed in Los Angeles.
The same Qantas flights due to leave today have been cancelled until further notice.
Simon Santo is at the Sydney International Terminal.
Simon, are passengers beginning to arrive? Is there chaos or is it all quite calm?
Jane, it's relatively calm given what's going on overseas,
but there is certainly a lot of disruption as you foreshadowed.
Passengers are still arriving at the terminal expecting to take their flights
because, as Air New Zealand admitted to me only an hour ago,
that they simply can't tell everybody, all their passengers,
of the fact that these things are cancelled.
So there is a little bit of disruption here as you also foreshadowed, Jane.
The system of aircraft around the world these days, it's very global, margins are very tight.
It means that if a plane doesn't make it to Australia and is cancelled or diverted
or never leaves its destination, that has a trickle down or a flow on effect,
which will mean, inevitably, disruption all around the country for Australian passengers.
Have you had a chance to gauge what passengers are saying about the terrorist attacks?
I think that passengers are concerned.
I mean, there's no getting away from it that when the news broke some 10 hours ago now,
or less than 10 hours ago, eight or nine hours ago,
it's received blanket coverage on Australian media and indeed on media around the world.
So there's no escaping it.
There are very few people who are arriving today who haven't heard either on television or radio
or even on some of the late deadline newspapers about the news.
So there is some trepidation from passengers.
There's also some feeling that, you know, of fate, that, you know, at least they're in Australia,
at least they're taking off from Australia, and Australia doesn't seem to be a target of any of this terrorism.
Simon Santo at Sydney International Airport.
President Bush, who's locked away with his security advisers,
will almost certainly be addressing the missile defence system.
Ian McMinn has been looking back on some of the events flowing from the controversial proposal.
When the dust eventually settles after the worst act of terrorism ever inflicted on US citizens in the United States,
President Bush is certain to press ahead with renewed vigour,
his controversial missile defence system announced last May.
No treaty that prevents us from addressing today's threats,
that prohibits us from pursuing promising technology to defend ourselves, our friends and our allies,
is in our interests, or in the interests of world peace.
Offering to sweeten the deal with a unilateral proposal to reduce nuclear arms,
President Bush left no doubt about his commitment.
Today I'm announcing the dispatch of high-level representatives to allied capitals in Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada.
After that, events moved fast. Just six weeks later, President Bush met Russian President Putin with a view to gaining his endorsement.
An outcome never seriously entertained, but nor did their private disagreement stop the US leader,
using the joint news conference to again refer to the missile defence system, however, obliquely.
Together we have a great moment during our tenures,
to cast aside the suspicions and doubts that used to plague our nations, and I'm committed to do so.
I said in Poland, I'll say it again, Russia is not the enemy of the United States.
Not quite a month later, the US military successfully intercepted a dummy warhead over the Pacific.
By then, the cost had escalated to 100 billion US dollars,
but with the administration's sights set on a missile shield being in place by the year 2005,
money was clearly a secondary consideration.
Again, the pace quickened.
Again, we were reminded of MDS by Secretary of State Colin Powell's whirlwind visit to Australia.
Hey Colin, how are you? Good to see you.
His views and those of Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld left Foreign Minister Alexander Downer
with no doubt that the missile defence system would happen regardless.
Surely the horrific events of the last few hours make it a certainty.
Ian McMinn, ABC News.
The terrorist attack has brought the world's largest financial centre to a grinding halt
and caused international share markets to plunge.
In the aftermath of a massive coordinated attack on several US targets,
markets reacted with both panicked selling of stocks and panicked buying of commodities.
European stock markets sank after the double explosion at the World Trade Centre,
with German markets closing early.
The Toronto stock exchange lost 4% before closing at mid-morning.
Meanwhile, gold prices shot up $16 an ounce after the attacks,
and the price of oil companies' stocks soared.
Brent crude oil prices rose $1.55 to $29 per barrel.
The jump in oil prices led OPEC's Secretary General to calm the markets,
saying it was committed to ensuring stable oil supplies and prices.
OPEC rejected suggestions that any member of the cartel would use oil as a political weapon.
Following the attack, the dollar had a seven-month low against the pound and the Swiss franc
and found a floor of around 91.70 after falling 2% against the euro.
While all of the US financial markets will remain closed on Wednesday,
a dismal opening is believed to be in store when business eventually resumes.
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has declared a state of emergency
as New York tries to cope with this crisis.
The city has also called in all off-duty medical personnel
and has appealed for more ambulances from surrounding New York State.
Today is obviously one of the most difficult days in the history of the city and the country.
The tragedy that we're all undergoing right now is something that we've had nightmares about
but probably thought wouldn't happen.
My heart goes out to all of the innocent victims of this horrible and vicious act of terrorism, acts of terrorism,
and our focus now has to be on saving as many lives as possible.
We have hundreds of police officers and firefighters who are engaging in rescue efforts in lower Manhattan.
I want to thank Governor Patage for the incredible cooperation and coordination,
including deploying the National Guard that will be available to relieve our police officers and firefighters
and emergency workers in the next couple of hours.
The Governor and I just spoke to the President of the United States.
The coordination with the federal government from the time of the first attack has been excellent,
including closing off the airspace around Manhattan and doing everything that can possibly be done
in the face of this barbaric act to make the city secure.
And we will strive now very hard to save as many people as possible
and to send a message that the city of New York and the United States of America
is much stronger than any group of barbaric terrorists,
that our democracy, that our rule of law, that our strength and our willingness to defend ourselves will ultimately prevail.
And I'd ask the people of New York City to do everything that they can to cooperate,
not to be frightened, to go about their lives as normal.
Everything is safe right now in the city.
And people who are doing the relief effort need all the help they can get.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has promised that after today, terrorists will have nowhere to hide.
He's warned of a new wave of terrorism against which the world must unite.
He spoke to reporters a short time ago in Jerusalem.
It has exposed one of the greatest danger to civilization and humanity.
It was not a attack only upon the United States, but an attempt to create a jungle
instead of the rule of law, instead of the basis of values.
It can happen everywhere. Those people are merciless.
They are killers. They are cheaters. They are liars.
They don't have any limitation.
And we feel, each of us today, like an American.
The pain is deep and great.
But if there is anybody that can lead a real attempt to bring an end to this dangerous war,
or dangerous weapon, it's like a weapon, it's only the United States of America,
with the help of all of us, we have to do it.
The sooner the better, completely uncompromisingly so.
And we have to identify the countries that are hosting or supporting terror.
We have to call upon all the religious leaders, Jewish, Muslims, Christians,
to stand up and condemn the suicidal bombers and people,
because they can cause an untold of damage.
It's a spiritual responsibility as well.
It goes against the Lord in heaven and the Gospel in our hand.
We have to organize strategies and forces to prevent the terror before it happens.
Afterwards, it's too late.
And we have really to draw all the necessary conclusions.
Any idea who might be responsible?
I don't know. I don't have any idea, and I don't want to accuse anybody just out of a guess.
But we know many sources of terror, and we know many activists of it,
and we know many people are closing their eyes to it.
I think all of them should be said, enough is enough.
It's almost like a Pearl Harbor. It cannot happen twice.
And that was Israel's Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres.
The ABC's Prue Clarke lives in New York, a few blocks from the World Trade Center.
I spoke to her earlier as she described the scenes on New York streets.
I just heard on the radio that there had been an incident.
That was at about 10 to 9. I was on my way to work.
I walked outside and looked at the building, which is about 15 blocks south of my house,
and there was the gaping great hole, as you've seen.
I couldn't believe it. People around me couldn't believe it.
A lot of people were sort of walking towards the World Trade Center, which I did too.
A lot of people were in shock and kind of screaming.
They obviously knew people inside the building.
But coming the other way were the evacuees who were all in a terrible state.
They were crying.
At that point, as I was walking down, it was perhaps eight blocks.
They said it was a second plane hit.
I only knew that because I was listening to the radio,
and I didn't actually even hear it, which was extraordinary to me.
I just kept walking. There was sort of no police action at that point, not much control.
They let me come right up close, about a block away from the World Trade Center.
There was debris and glass everywhere, all over the cars, only a few police.
There were a few people standing there, and the police kind of moved us on.
I'm terribly glad they did because we were perhaps no more than three blocks north of the World Trade Center
when the south building collapsed.
Can you tell me what that was like, Prue?
It was absolutely horrifying.
There was a roar, and then the building just began to disappear as it imploded, I think.
People were in shock. They were screaming and running up the street.
There was a stampede.
We really thought we were going to die on that street, I think.
A massive plume of debris and dirt rushed up the street towards us and sort of overcame a lot of us.
Then we were perhaps eight blocks away, and that also sort of subsided.
We turned around and just looked at the building.
That was when people started to realize that many people were jumping from the north building of the World Trade Center,
from the 85th floor.
A lot of them were alight as they fell, but most of them were just jumping to escape the flames, I assume.
Prue, this event happened about seven hours ago.
Is there any indication yet of the death toll?
There's no indication whatsoever.
The emergency services have just refused to answer that question.
Rudy Giuliani, the mayor, has done the same.
I mean, they appreciate they're talking thousands.
They say that there are about 20,000 people in the building probably at that point in time.
But it was an hour between when the first plane hit and when the building, the south building, collapsed.
So presumably a lot of people would have got out in that time.
I have heard stories, many people that I know actually who got out in that time.
But I have heard as well that during the World Trade Center bombing, and remember these buildings are 110 stories high,
that the World Trade Center bombing, they started evacuating people at 10 o'clock and they were still coming out at 6 o'clock that night.
So a lot of people wouldn't have escaped.
And the buildings surrounding that as well, I would think, when the two main buildings collapsed,
would have taken a fair bit of force as well.
And we're sort of being moved along at the moment.
There's a fire in a building next door to where the World Trade Center's towers were.
And a lot of people speculating that that one might be about to fall.
The most alarming thing I think is that we've seen hundreds of ambulances go in and very few ambulances come out at this point.
How are people on the street reacting?
Well, you know, at the time it was just total disbelief.
We were standing there watching people coming out, jumping out of the building,
and people were sighing and in shock and screaming and terrified.
And also people coming out of the subways because they were afraid that that was just the beginning
and that subways might be the next point of attack.
But it's now seven hours, as you said, and people are sort of calming down.
These are New Yorkers after all.
And while this is extraordinary, they do sort of take life in its stride.
I mean, just ten blocks north of the disaster area, people are sitting in cafes and having lunch.
I had heard, too, as I'm walking around, a few sort of anti-Arab calls as well.
I don't know if that's a reflection of a broader sentiment in this point.
But about your circumstance, it is six o'clock in the evening here in Atlanta.
Quite late at night there in Kabul.
Indeed, 2.30 in the morning here, Joey, we're eight and a half hours ahead of East Coast time in the United States.
And it was about five hours ago that the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Ahmed, Waqil Ahmed,
Murtua Waqil briefed journalists.
I hear more detonations going off now.
He said that the Taliban had not taken precautions against the possibility of there being an air attack against Afghanistan.
He said because it was not necessary.
The Taliban spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, had also made a statement saying that they felt Osama bin Laden wasn't responsible for what had happened in the United States.
He said his country was a peaceful country.
He wanted it to be at peace, and he wanted peace in other countries around the world.
Certainly what we're seeing in Kabul, these early hours of this Wednesday morning is very far from peace.
There are certainly multiple explosions happening in and around the city.
There is a front line about 50 miles north of the city where the Taliban are fighting a battle against the Northern Alliance here.
We could hear detonations coming from that northern area as well.
But on the perimeter of the city, particularly in the direction of the Kabul airport, which is about five to eight miles from where we are,
detonations coming from there.
I remember standing on this balcony about four years ago watching fighter jets bomb that airport as part of Afghanistan's ongoing civil war.
The flash at the airport to us hearing the detonation of the hotel is about the same duration.
So I am using that as an estimate to gauge that those missiles again are falling in the area of the airport.
First, we're seeing the flash, and then we hear the detonation some several seconds afterwards.
And they appear to be coming from that airport area, in some cases several miles away from us.
There is still a lot of flashing we can see in the air reflected off clouds.
That could be thunder and lightning.
However, there's a possibility that those reflections are missiles landing elsewhere, the flashes as they explode and reflect off the clouds.
But it's not a good indication. We certainly don't hear any detonations coming from that particular direction at this time.
The anti-aircraft fire that we were seeing a little while ago is not coming up from the city.
The city, apart from the detonations we were hearing a few minutes ago, appears very, very calm.
The visibility here is excellent. We can see all the way across the city.
It lies on a plain that's surrounded by the mountains here in Kabul.
We have high mountains to the right. These mountains were used by the Mujahideen as vantage points for shelling the city several years ago during the Mujahideen in-fighting in Kabul.
The last five years, the Taliban have been in control of this city, have been trying to extend their control over and across Afghanistan.
And the Foreign Minister this evening telling journalists and CNN that he didn't believe that Afghanistan would be attacked.
He said if Afghanistan was attacked, then they would call it, the Taliban would call it, an act of state-sponsored terrorism, Joey.
These live pictures coming to us from CNN from Kabul in Afghanistan were at least 10 missiles, presumed to be US warheads, have been launched against the city.
The main flame you saw there was believed to be a fuel dump not far from the airport in the capital.
That the Americans could react so quickly and so decisively with targets already chosen just nine hours after these terrorist attacks would indicate that they had these targets in mind long before the events of last night.
I'm just going to put up a telephone number again on your screen.
This is a fresh number from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra.
We had problems with one earlier. There were so many calls to it it eventually collapsed.
This is the latest number being offered by Foreign Affairs in Canberra for information about friends or relatives who may have been caught up in the terrorist attacks in New York or Washington.
1800 002 214. 1800 002 214. We suggest if you don't need to call this number, please don't call it just for information. Stay with us and 10. We'll continue our Australian-based coverage of this event throughout the morning.
President Bush is expected to speak again after these latest missile attacks on Kabul. He's expected to talk shortly. Perhaps some indication of how decisive he was going to be came in these words from him overnight.
Make no mistake. The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts.
I've been in regular contact with the Vice President, Secretary of Defense, the National Security Team, and my Cabinet.
We have taken all appropriate security precautions to protect the American people.
Our military at home and around the world is on high alert status and we have taken the necessary security precautions to continue the functions of your government.
I understand we have just got the Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on the line from Adelaide. Minister, good morning. Tell us the latest information you have, please.
Well, I don't have any particular information on this report that's coming out of Kabul, so I can't throw any light on that.
But I can say that we remain very concerned that amongst all the casualties there could be Australians, we think that the country should be prepared for that possibility, given the thousands of casualties there clearly will have been from the terrorist attack last night.
Well, that would seem to be a likelihood at the moment. What facilities have you been able to throw up for those people?
Well, we've, as you know, put in place the consular line and our Consulate General in New York and our Embassy in Washington are working with American authorities as American authorities start to go through the wreckage of what has happened and obviously get some information on the casualties.
At this stage we don't have too much light to throw on that, but clearly the American authorities are working on that rather gruesome issue and once we get more information we'll be in a better position to say more.
Overnight in Washington the Prime Minister was emphatic in his support of the American people and their President in this whole issue and promised to do everything we could. What can we do?
Well, we have a range of different areas of collaboration with the United States. We don't say a great deal about it, but we have very close intelligence links with the United States, information sharing facilities and so through those sorts of links as well as diplomatically we'll obviously do what we can to help them.
This after all is the worst act of terrorism the world has ever seen and I think all of us here in Australia, even if we're not Americans, we feel it very, very deeply and I think it's important that the United States, the American people know that countries like Australia are right alongside them in a situation like this.
We're obviously very limited in what we can do to help, but it's important they know they have our support and our sympathy. Having declared our support and closeness to the United States at this time and only just yesterday, what security measures should we be taking here at home?
Well, we have enhanced our security somewhat during the course of the night. Well, actually in particular, we've increased the security around American facilities and you know, American embassies and consulates and so on and we think that that is just a natural precaution in a situation like this.
We don't have any information by the way that those American facilities are in any particular danger, but nevertheless we think it's important to take just natural and understandable common sense precautions.
Apart from the American bases, is there any possible threat to major cities?
Well, we know of no threat and there's no particular reason why Australia should be a target of these terrorists, whoever they may be. We just don't have any information about Australia being a target of terrorists.
So, you know, I don't think there is on the face of it any reason to be concerned, but look, you know, it has to be said that you can't be too cautious. Who would have thought 24 hours ago that the worst act of terrorism in history was going to be perpetrated on the United States?
I mean, certainly we didn't think it and I suppose the director of the Central Intelligence Agency didn't think it either. So it does say something for the need always to be vigilant in a world where terrorism is so common.
There is absolutely no doubt that this changes the whole face of world politics. What spin do you see being put on it from here?
Well, and I actually agree with your question. I think it does have enormous implications for world politics, although the practical implications are going to depend very much on who committed this absolutely grotesque act of terrorism.
Insofar as the United States is able to find out who did it, then no doubt they will deal, you know, very strongly with those people. But I do think it will, in the shakedown, it will have implications for the way international relations works.
Here you've got the world's only superpower subjected to the most horrific terrorist attack and obviously the United States is not going to stand idly by and allow that sort of thing to happen to cities like New York and Washington.
I think most Australians watch those pictures overnight and again today. We still have buildings collapsing in the heart of New York. There's a certain degree of helplessness, helplessness and shock.
How should we treat this in our minds for the time being? What should be our outlook?
Well, I mean, I agree with you. It is how you feel. You know, I'm after all a foreign minister of the country and there's not an enormous amount we can do in a practical sense, fairly obviously, here so far away in Australia, except provide moral and insofar as it's feasible practical support to the United States.
But, you know, I think it reminds all of us of the threat there is from terrorism, from people around the world who have a complete disregard for human life.
After the horrors of the 20th century, the First World War and the Second World War, the enormous loss of life, it is simply inexplicable, but it is a fact that there are still so many people left in the world who have no regard whatsoever for human life.
And it also reminds us that as a country, any country, you should never ever take your security for granted. You should never do that. And, you know, for all the time I have been and I will be in politics, that is something I'll always very profoundly believe in.
You don't know what's going to happen next and it's important to have a firm commitment to the security of your country.
Minister, do you have any other information of any kind that we should know?
No, I'm afraid not. I can't really add anything to the situation on the ground at the moment.
We appreciate your effort in coming out and talking to us this morning. Thank you.
Our Foreign Minister Alexander Downer talking to us from Adelaide.
We're going to cross now to Harry Potter who's outside the US Embassy in Sydney. Again, security is the issue. Harry, what security precautions are being taken around the US Consulate in Sydney today?
Ron, it didn't take long for the alarm bells to start ringing here. Once news of the catastrophe was flashed around the world, within a matter of minutes, armed state police were outside the United States Consulate in the heart of Sydney's business district.
Of course, the officers are many floors up. Sign on the bottom door today saying that closed for business, of course, no work applications or visas, that kind of thing.
You can see the police behind me now. They'll be here all day and into tomorrow.
I understand the top security firms that supply guards for all the government offices and installations, they massed overnight to place them in strategic positions.
American businesses, their chief personnel, Israeli businesses, their executives, all taking much closer interest in protecting themselves.
Of course, the major Jewish colleges in Sydney, it's a pity, but they already have armed guards patrolling their playgrounds. But the situation heightened today.
Harry, I see the state police car behind you there. I would have thought this was more of a national issue, bringing in national security such as ASIO.
I think the city central controller oversees it at this level, but we've also got protective services police here, Ron. And it's a pretty big operation.
I mean, you get the feeling that we haven't been this close to a major crisis in an awful long time, and it is getting closer.
I was just talking to a fellow who walked up to me and said that he works in a government building about 33 floors off the street.
He actually was uneasy about having going to work today, and he didn't like the idea at all.
And I did say to him it would be worse if he was having to get on an aircraft out of Sydney, even though the risk of something happening is quite slight.
OK, Harry, if there are any developments there, we'll keep you on standby and come back to you as needed.
Yes, Ron, it is interesting. I had a TV monitor with the coverage so far, and people heading for work couldn't resist stopping to have a look and catch the latest on this appalling incident.
And even the cars coming around the corner against the lights behind me were stopping and upsetting the people behind them.
Yes, it was quite incredible. Now that you mentioned coverage, we'll continue to cover this event from an app.
Believe it. The airlines here in Australia have cancelled all flights to the United States indefinitely at this stage.
United in particular have said their entire fleet is grounded worldwide. They're not taking off anywhere.
At this stage, no-one knows when a flight will head out of Australia back towards the United States.
Darren, the increased security measures here, is that just a reassurance for the public, or is there some reason to suspect that there might be an incident?
Oh, no, we certainly have no indication that Australia is a target, or Sydney Airport, for that matter, is a target.
I think the police are just responding, trying to reassure people.
I mean, the American crowds in particular that have got off the planes, they're shattered.
Emotionally, they are shattered. They don't know where to turn.
I think they're looking for some sort of comforting feature, and we're providing that through our police forces.
OK, Darren Curtis at Sydney Airport. Thank you very much again.
Well, while the Western world is in shock, sections of the Arab world are celebrating the terrorist attacks.
The prime suspect is Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden, no stranger to attacks on the United States.
In the Arab quarter of Jerusalem, they're celebrating the massacre and mayhem in the United States.
What's a disaster to much of the world is seen as a triumph by some.
It's evidence of how much hatred has already been refueled by this disaster.
Now American intelligence, which missed stopping the attacks, will desperately be searching for the culprits.
And to find who's behind it, they'll first ask, how was it done?
The Gaeline pilot had to commit suicide by flying into the World Trade Center.
I have absolutely no doubt at all they had trained pilots.
We know in the past that they've had pilots who have been perfectly capable of flying aircraft,
and this could and can only be the only, I think, answer to this.
American pilots would not do this, but Arab fundamentalists may well be prepared to.
Number one suspect has got to be this man, Osama bin Laden, the richest and possibly the most ruthless terrorist in the world.
Bin Laden has declared the destruction of the United States his top priority.
He heads and pays for an extraordinary international network of Islamic militants.
Erhud Barak told the BBC he thinks bin Laden is probably to blame.
Most probably a bin Laden-like organisation, but I cannot say that I'm sure of it.
But anyhow, it's an attack against all civilisations, not just against the Americans.
And I believe that this is the time to deploy, to tackle this challenge head on.
So what do you suggest that America and her allies do?
I believe that the whole leading kind of group of nations in the world, led by the United States, the UK, the European Union and Russia,
which deeply understand the need to struggle against terror, will coordinate a globally concerted effort,
diplomatic, operational, intelligent and even economic.
Whatever the response, Osama bin Laden is already accused by the United States of bombing two of its embassies in Africa in 1998.
224 people were killed, including 12 Americans.
It's only three months now since four Islamic extremists were convicted of those bombings by a court sitting in New York.
Osama bin Laden was named by American federal prosecutors as the mastermind of these killings and a string of other attacks.
Bin Laden is also suspected of involvement in this previous attack on today's major target, the World Trade Centre.
This bombing in 1993 killed six people and blew a 60-foot hole through four basement levels of the building.
Many Palestinian and other Islamic militant organizations are distancing themselves from today's attacks.
Perhaps they're fearful of American retaliation.
Prime Minister John Howard in the United States, of course, overnight when this attack occurred,
held a press conference from inside the Australian embassy in Washington.
Only a short time ago, 7News reporter Glenn Milne has more on what the PM had to say.
The Prime Minister was holding a news conference at his Washington hotel only minutes after the catastrophe in New York
when terror struck again only three kilometres away at the Pentagon.
Through a window in the room next door to Mr. Howard, flames and smoke could be seen suddenly billowing from the nerve centre of the US military,
the site of a third major terrorist attack. Mr. Howard was there only the day before.
As US soldiers and police took control of Washington's streets, American secret servicemen and Australian federal agents
immediately evacuated the Prime Minister from his hotel.
As the White House just across the park from Mr. Howard's hotel was also evacuated,
he was rushed to the safe haven of the Australian embassy 10 blocks away.
Mr. Howard and son Tim joined him shortly after in a security bunker two floors below the embassy.
Secret agents unloading semi-automatic weapons and sealing the building.
All non-essential personnel of the 80 member staff were sent home.
A clearly moved Prime Minister emerged three hours later to express his horror at what he called an act of war.
America has been hurt by today's events but the American spirit will not be daunted or bowed or diminished by these events.
The resolution of the American people will be evident and they will respond in accordance with the courageous traditions of their country.
Mr. Howard announced he'd sent a message to US President George W. Bush assuring him of Australia's support.
That those responsible for this despicable series of attacks upon the United States will be hunted down.
The Prime Minister also revealed he'd spoken to Acting Prime Minister John Anderson
and security had been stepped up in Australia on all US and Israeli facilities.
On behalf of all the Australians here is to say to our American friends whom we love and admire so much,
we really feel for you, it is a terrible day.
It's a day that recalls the words used by President Roosevelt in 1940 way, it's a day of infamy.
Whether the Prime Minister stays here at the Australian Embassy will depend on security advice
but it's now certain his trip to the US will be cut short and he'll return home as soon as practicable, possibly by RAAF jet.
In Washington, Glen Melm, Seven News.
We're going to cross now to Geoff Parry in Canberra and Geoff developments from there or what?
Yes, hi Georgie. The Acting Prime Minister John Anderson who's been in touch with our Prime Minister in Washington overnight
spoke a short time ago, the terrorist committee has met in Canberra overnight and they've decided on a range of matters
which were announced by John Anderson, this is what he had to say.
Perhaps not, but I can tell you that he did say that it was horrific and that security on Commonwealth,
on government buildings had been tightened up and here at Parliament House they're in a special state of alert. Georgie?
Yes, we will try and, we do have that vision, we're going to cross to Acting Prime Minister John Anderson now.
This is an appalling act, quite appalling and so cold, so premeditated, so meticulously planned,
so evil in its intent that it beggars description and plainly all decent citizens around the world
will participate in any reasonable actions to bring to justice those responsible and to try and ensure
that the opportunities for it happening again are reduced so far as is humanly possible.
Now we heard earlier some doubts about John Howard's movements and how he might get home,
we can firm up something there to a degree, John Anderson was asked what would the Prime Minister do,
well he's of course ruled out going on to New York, that was his next stop, how would he get home?
They're still trying to work that out, they're taking advice from the State Department in the United States,
it's likely they could send an RAAF jet to get him but those things have to be decided.
An interesting aspect too, just to keep in mind, developments in Kabul where we've seen some explosions,
it's not known whether it's an American attack, there is an Australian link there too,
you'll remember two Australians, Peter Bunch and Donna Thomas are in jail there.
Georgie, that's all from here, back to you.
Jeff Parry reporting for us there from Canberra, thank you very much for the update.
And that's all from our Sunrise team this morning but we are going to continue our coverage now
of events in the United States by taking you live to America's primetime news bulletin, NBC Nightly News.
On 7 News, attack on America.
It's horrific, I can't believe this is happening.
The pictures that shock the world.
Second plane striking the tower.
We look at reaction from around the world and locally.
That's the latest on America's response, 7 News at 6.
...of NBC Nightly News.
Terrorists declare war on the United States, hijacking jetliners, crashing them into New York's World Trade Towers.
Another airliner into the Pentagon, threatening the seat of national power.
Thousands likely dead, downtown New York in chaos.
America wondering, what next?
OK, I'm in Midtown Manhattan and tonight America is at war with terrorists after a stunning series of attacks today
against targets in New York and in Washington D.C., the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The terrorists use hijacked civilian airliners and their passengers as guided missiles in their attack.
The most serious attack on this country since Pearl Harbor and tonight the dead still are being counted.
An unknown number still are missing.
At this hour, in this war, another development.
There are reports out of Kabul tonight, the capital of Afghanistan, of explosions.
But the Pentagon and the CIA are flatly denying that the United States had anything to do with those explosions.
This has been one of the darkest days in America and it is not yet over.
Here at home now, a quick look at the locations where the four airliners hit.
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, 20 minutes apart.
Then, within an hour this morning, the Pentagon.
And then the final crash just minutes later, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh,
266 people on the four airplanes alone, all presumed to be dead.
At the World Trade Center, even nine, more than nine hours now after this disaster began,
officials do not know how many people were killed, how many still are trapped in all the rubble.
We do know that on most days there would be at least 20,000 people at work in the World Trade Center
at the time that the airliners crashed into those Twin Towers.
Another 90,000 could be expected in the vicinity of those towers in the course of an average workday.
And of course, scores of police, firefighters, and other emergency personnel were in the area when the buildings came down.
We're going to get the view now from the White House and our correspondent there, Campbell Brown,
also from the Pentagon and from Jim Mikloszewski.
And I'm going to join now with a complete account of what this day has been like.
From NBC's David Blum has been my colleague all day long. David, bring us up to date.
Well, Tom, more than nine and a half hours since the first attack, the smoke billowing from the hulks behind me
is now more gray than black, indicating that the fires have diminished somewhat.
But it's still an extremely dangerous situation.
Just within the last hour or so, a third building, a 40-story building,
also collapsed, 40 more stories of concrete, steel, and iron crashing the ground.
A makeshift morgue has been set up near the World Trade Center.
New York City police still stacking to their early estimates that the casualties ultimately may number in the thousands.
Nothing more precise than that.
We've put together a chronology of the events as America's watched, dumbfounded, and yes, outraged and defiant.
The first attack plane, a hijacked American Airlines flight out of Boston,
slams into the North Tower of New York's World Trade Center at approximately 8.42 a.m. Eastern time.
The explosions and fireballs broadcast live by television helicopters, which then horrifically spot the second attack plane,
a United Airlines flight hijacked from Boston, taking dead aim at the World Trade Center's South Tower.
It's now approximately 9.03 a.m.
Where the hell can I meet you?
Oh, boy, huh?
Come across the street from the Marriott, man.
A second airplane, a 727, just ran into the building.
Emergency officials estimate 20,000 or more people may have been inside the two 110-story buildings at the time of the attacks.
Eyewitnesses report victims falling and in some cases jumping from the two buildings.
But there were people falling out of the sky.
At 9.29 a.m., President Bush in Florida addresses the nation for the first time.
Terrorism against our nation will not stand.
But in the nation's capital, just 11 minutes later, 9.40 a.m., a third hijacked plane,
an American flight out of Washington Dulles, crashes into the Pentagon in a burst of flames,
the plane's wreckage tearing a gaping hole into one side of the building.
Federal buildings are evacuated, government leaders taken to secure hideouts.
9.59 a.m., the until now unthinkable, the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses,
an unknown number of people still trapped inside, including the rescuers,
firefighters and police who'd gone in trying to save lives.
Then at 10 a.m., hundreds of miles away in western Pennsylvania, a fourth hijacked plane,
a United flight out of Newark, crashes 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
One half hour later, 10.28 a.m., the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses, rubble, debris spreading for blocks.
In all, 266 people aboard four hijacked planes are killed,
untold others in Washington and New York missing and presumed dead.
In New York, a defiant Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
The city of New York and the United States of America is much stronger than any group of barbaric terrorists.
For the first time in U.S. history, the Federal Aviation Administration closes all domestic airports,
shutting down all U.S. airspace until at least noon tomorrow.
The U.S. military and American embassies worldwide placed on the highest alert.
Navy aircraft carriers and destroyers deployed along the eastern seaboard.
The President's now in Louisiana speaks for a second time.
The resolve of our great nation is being tested.
But make no mistake, we will show the world that we will pass this test.
The President is then taken to the secure Strategic Air Command in Nebraska,
meets with his national security team via teleconference before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington.
But in New York late this afternoon, a third damaged building,
the 40-story World Trade Center number seven, also crashes to the ground.
And emergency officials allow the first camera crew from NBC News inside the smoking hulks of the Twin Towers.
Ground zero, cars overturned, steel torn apart, glass shards, small fires still burning.
The very picture America most feared, the image terrorist most wanted.
As to who might be responsible, a senior American intelligence official tells NBC News tonight
that they are now, and I'm quoting here, 90 percent certain that Osama bin Laden,
the Saudi-born terrorist, was responsible for today's attack.
This official tells NBC News, quote, this is not just surmise, this is new information.
The President plans to address the nation from Washington, D.C. tonight. Tom?
Thank you very much, NBC's David Blum.
And we're going to go now to Washington where NBC's Campbell Brown, who covers the White House, is on duty.
But across the street from the White House, the President is expected back there shortly. Campbell?
Tom, the President is on his way back to Washington tonight.
We're told that Air Force One is being escorted by F-15 fighter jets on each wing.
As David said, he is planning to address the nation tonight.
One aide says his message will be one of resolve and reassurance.
And Tom, we are reporting to you tonight a block from the White House at a hotel.
That's because those of us in the White House press corps, along with White House staff,
were rushed out of the White House this morning as the entire complex was evacuated.
Needless to say, this has been an extraordinary day for the President.
One aide says when he spoke with his national security team in a live teleconference today, he said, quote,
we will find these people and they will suffer the consequences.
The President at a Sarasota, Florida elementary school, about to begin a reading event,
gets first word shortly after 9 a.m. in a phone call from his national security adviser.
One plane has crashed into the World Trade Center.
Minutes later, Chief of Staff Andrew Card leans over and whispers in the President's ear
the reaction on Bush's face, the first sign of more horrifying news.
A second plane has now hit the World Trade Center with all indications this is a terrorist attack.
Today we've had a national tragedy.
As Bush speaks, chaos at the White House.
Staff and press are ordered to evacuate.
People run from their offices across Pennsylvania Avenue.
Crowds pour into the streets as buildings nearby are evacuated.
People gather around car radios for any information.
Fire engines blaze toward the White House.
Shortly after 9.30 a.m., the President's national security team is in the Situation Room,
a secure communication center in the basement of the West Wing.
Vice President Dick Cheney is there, along with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.
Meanwhile, the President leaves Florida, his destination at takeoff a secret.
We later learn he's landed at Louisiana's Barksdale Air Force Base.
There he pledges the U.S. will retaliate.
Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts.
The President then flies to the offed Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, the U.S. Strategic Air Command Center.
We're in a bunker there. He convenes a national security meeting, joining his team live by teleconference.
Back in Washington, his top advisor, Karen Hughes, insists the White House has the situation under control.
Your federal government continues to function effectively.
We have a federal emergency response plan, and at President Bush's direction, we are implementing it.
By telephone, the President calls New York Mayor Giuliani and New York Governor Pataki.
He also speaks with First Lady Laura Bush.
The First Lady and Bush's two daughters are also rushed to secure secret locations.
Mrs. Bush, on Capitol Hill when the attacks began, tries to offer words of reassurance.
Parents need to reassure their children everywhere in our country that they're safe.
We have just learned that Air Force One has safely landed at Andrews Air Force Base just outside of Washington.
From our vantage point, we can see sharpshooters on the roof of the White House tonight,
Secret Service patrolling the grounds, police cars driving up and down Pennsylvania Avenue,
the White House in a lockdown as we wait to hear what the President has to say to the nation. Tom?
Thanks very much, NBC's Campbell Brown.
And there are so many questions, but a major question tonight.
How could they hijack four civilian jetliners in such a precise fashion?
How do they pull all that off?
Our aviation expert is NBC's Robert Hager, and he's standing by now in Washington as well. Robert?
Tom, four airliners turned into deadly weapons. There's a nationwide hold now on all commercial flights.
That's the first time that's ever happened in our nation's history,
and it lasts at least until midday tomorrow and might last longer than that.
And there are also some chilling first details of what may have been going on in those cockpits, but first, the facts.
The string of events that results in these four horrific crashes begins at Boston's Logan Airport, 7.45 a.m.
American Flight 11, 767, with 92 on board, supposed to fly Boston to Los Angeles,
but over New York State, it's diverted, forced to fly south, directly into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
A long day of carnage is underway.
Back in Boston, United Flight 175, another 767, with 65 aboard, is already in the air,
also bound for Los Angeles 15 minutes behind the first flight, when it too is hijacked.
This, the actual plane, as it hits the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
At 8.10 a.m., American Flight 77, a 757 with 64 aboard, has taken off from Washington's Dulles Airport, also bound for Los Angeles.
It too, taken over and loops back into the Pentagon.
It slices in at an angle, leaving a deadly and ugly gash in the nation's military nerve center.
And finally, 8 a.m. out of Newark Airport, United's Flight 93, a 757 with 45 aboard, bound Newark to San Francisco, hijacked as well.
But crashes short of whatever its intended target is, comes down in rural Western Pennsylvania.
Eyewitnesses there.
I heard a loud noise. I happened to look up, and it was a plane that was real low to me.
Sounded like it was running fine to me. I just kept watching. I watched it go.
I just started shitting in the ground. You could see where the plane had made the initial impact in the ground, and it was still on fire.
It made a crater probably 30 feet by 30 feet, and it's probably 15 or 20 feet deep.
And there's just debris scattered within probably a half a mile radius.
There are only two ways terrorists can sneak themselves or their weapons aboard planes.
Through passenger screening or by going unscreened through locked doors into off-limits areas or onto the tarmac.
Periodic FAA tests have found plenty of flaws.
Found when government agents tried to sneak into secure areas, they were successful more than two-thirds of the time.
Found testers also often able to sneak fake guns and explosives by x-ray screening.
Once aboard, many speculate the hijackers must have disabled crews and taken over the plane's controls.
More likely that than forcing a pilot with a gun in his head to fly right into the World Trade Center, for instance.
Former American Airlines pilot Jim Tillman.
It is inconceivable to me that any airline pilot would allow anyone to force him to fly into an inhabited building.
I cannot imagine how any pilot could be conscious or capable of doing anything to control that airplane at the time that it was directed at one of these buildings.
Terrorism specialist Neil Livingstone.
I suspect that what we're going to find is that the pilots were overwhelmed, perhaps dead already,
and that trained pilots from the hijacker camp were in charge of those aircraft and were willing to die for their beliefs.
If there was time, if there was, the crews may have been able to press a button in the cockpit
and send out a coded warning to controllers that there was a hijack in progress.
Controllers may then have radioed back inquiries, but if the crews were disabled, the controllers would have been left in the dark for real information.
Whatever else, controllers must have been surprised, in disbelief.
There hadn't been a commercial plane hijacked in the U.S. for 10 years since 1991.
And now this.
There are several unconfirmed reports around that give little glimmers of what may have been going on in the cockpits.
There's one from a controller in New Hampshire who says that a microphone was left on in the first plane of the day that was hijacked,
that the pilot had his microphone keyed so it was picking up what was going on in the cockpit,
and that the controller then, off at the control center in New Hampshire, heard a terrorist say in English,
don't do anything foolish.
Then after that, the microphone went dead, the transponder of the plane went off.
That's a device that radios information out to the radar so controllers could only watch the blip.
They could no longer tell what altitude the plane was at.
There were several cell phone calls from relatives on board of planes that reached their relative on the ground.
One reported the terrorists had knife-like instruments,
and there was one unconfirmed report that an American Airlines flight attendant actually reached her company to say that terrorists had killed the crew of her plane.
Whatever else, we may know some more from the cockpit voice recorders,
which could have survived those crashes and would give us an actual recording of what was going on for audio in the cockpits. Tom?
Thanks very much, NBC's Robert Hager at the Pentagon right now.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Henry Schultz. Let's hear what he has to say.
Our intense focus on recovery and helping the injured and the families of those who were killed
is matched only by our determination to prevent more attacks and matched only by our unity
to track down, root out, and relentlessly pursue terrorists, states that support them and harbor them.
They are the common enemy of the civilized world.
Our institutions are strong and our unity is palpable.
Senator John Warner.
Thank you. Is it passed, Chairman?
That is General Shelton, who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talking about the institutions strong and our unity is strong as war.
We are on a war footing in effect in this country, even though there has been no official declaration of any kind.
But from a military point of view, political point of view, and certainly from a psychological point of view,
we are at war with these terrorists. The question is, who are they?
Within the intelligence community, all the fingers are pointing at Osama bin Laden,
the very wealthy Saudi dissident who has been harbored by the Taliban, it's widely believed, in Afghanistan.
Let's get more tonight on the continuing speculation about who is responsible from NBC's Andrea Mitchell now
at her post in the nation's capital. Andrea?
Tom, tonight U.S. intelligence officials are mobilizing worldwide to try to find the culprits and make sure that they don't strike again.
The situation and the Secretary and the General have a firm grip on our armed forces and in communication of the world over.
Thank you very much. We'll take a few questions and then we'll adjourn.
Charlie? Mr. Secretary, did you have any inkling at all in any way that something of this nature and something of this scope might be planned?
Charlie, we don't discuss intelligence matters.
I see. And how would you respond if you find out who did this?
Obviously, the President of the United States has spoken on that subject and those are issues that he will address in good time.
Mr. Secretary, we are getting reports from CNN and others that there are bombs exploding in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Are we at the moment striking back? And if so, is the target Osama bin Laden and his organization?
I've seen those reports. They – in no way is the United States government connected to those explosions.
What about Osama bin Laden? Do you suspect him as the prime suspect in this?
It's not the time for discussions like that.
Mr. Secretary, you said you could not be specific about casualties.
Can you give us some characterization of whether it's dozens or hundreds in the building?
Well, we know there were large number, many dozens in the aircraft that flew at full power,
steering directly into the – between I think the first and second floor of the – opposite the helipad.
You've seen it. There cannot be any survivors. It just would be beyond comprehension.
There are a number of people that they've not identified by name, but identified as being dead, and there are a number of casualties.
But the FBI has secured the site, and the information takes time to come.
People have been lifted out and taken away in ambulances, and the numbers will be calculated, and it will not be a few.
Mr. Secretary, could you tell us what you saw?
Mr. Secretary, do you consider what happened today over in Yerevan?
We're looking also at a picture while we listen to the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of helicopters
that we believe are returning to the White House from Andrews Air Force Base.
Marine One is the helicopter that has the President on board and lands on the south lawn of the White House,
which is the routine procedure when the President returns to the White House from Andrews Air Force Base.
These are helicopters that we're now seeing approaching the south lawn of the White House.
That's a picture of downtown Washington that you're seeing right now.
President Bush just landing only a few minutes ago at Andrews Air Force Base, returning to the White House,
getting ready to address the nation around 9 p.m. Eastern tonight.
Once again, Marine Corps helicopters that we believe are one of them carrying the President and his party returning to the south lawn of the White House.
There are six helicopters there altogether, six Marine Corps helicopters.
It's not possible to be a guarantee.
The people who work in this building do so voluntarily.
They're brave people and they do their jobs well.
Mr. Secretary, can you give a sense of what happened, what did you see when you left your office,
ran down to the site and apparently helped people on stretchers and then returned to the command center?
I felt the shock of the airplane hitting the building, went through the building and then out into the area
and they were bringing bodies out that had been injured, most of which were alive and moving but seriously injured.
And a lot of volunteers were doing a terrific job helping to bring them out of the buildings
and get them into stretchers and into ambulances and into airlifts.
Mr. Secretary, can you tell us how many of the dead were soldiers and how many were civilians?
Have you been able to determine?
Absolutely not.
Mr. Secretary, today we saw military planes both in New York and in Washington.
How much more of a military presence will we see now that this incident has occurred for the next week?
Those kinds of decisions are made day to day.
It is correct that we had aircraft flying, protective missions at various places in the United States today
and they will do that as appropriate.
Mr. Secretary, what do you say to the American people who may have questions on how something so coordinated
has been carried out against this nation, what do you say to them who might not have confidence
that our intelligence and our security are what they should?
I say to them that the President of the United States will be making some remarks to them this evening
that will address those subjects.
Mr. Secretary, you declared, the Pentagon has declared, threat con delta forces around the world.
Could you tell me why? Have you received any threats or has anyone claimed credit for this?
We have in fact declared a force protection condition delta and a condition of high alert,
indeed the highest alert. We did so almost immediately upon the attacks.
And it is still in force.
Mr. Secretary, were there threats issued against other U.S. facilities elsewhere in the world today?
I don't know that there's a day that's gone by since I've been in this job that there haven't been threats
somewhere in the world to some facility somewhere.
I would say it's one of the complexities of the intelligence business that you have to sort through those kinds of things.
But we don't get into the specifics yet.
You had your hand up?
Yes.
Let me interrupt the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to report that this is, we believe, Marine One,
the President's helicopter, now landing on the south lawn of the White House,
which is the usual procedure, bringing President Bush back to the White House from Andrews Air Force Base.
The President began this day in Sarasota, Florida, where he was going to be promoting his agenda on education,
then flew to Louisiana, then flew to Nebraska, and finally when the Secret Service and U.S. law enforcement thought it was safe,
now bringing him back to the White House, where later this evening he will be addressing the nation.
Air Force One about to touch down on the south lawn of the White House.
So John King, our senior White House correspondent, is standing by.
John, what do you have over there?
Wolf, as you watch Marine One land here on the south lawn, we have just been allowed back into the White House.
We were evacuated as well earlier today.
First, let me read you a statement from the President.
This, during his travels back to Washington, the President telling his National Security Council,
quote, we will find these people and they will suffer the consequences of taking on this nation. We will do what it takes.
No one is going to diminish the spirit of this country.
Now, the President will return to the White House.
One of our cameramen, Mike Manigan, also just a short time ago shot pictures of Laura Bush coming back to the White House intermotorcade.
We do not know where she was being kept in a secure location at this time, but the First Lady is also back in the White House.
Also, after Secretary Rumsfeld finishes his briefing at the Pentagon, a number of Bush administration cabinet officials will brief here at the White House
to bring us up to date on the activities of their agencies.
One, we're told, the Health and Human Services Secretary, Tommy Thompson, who is involved, of course, in the medical help, blood banking and others.
He will bring us up to date on his agency, Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Also, on his way to the White House as well, we are told all of this leading up, all these briefings from administration cabinet members
leading up to a nationally televised address from the President tonight to the American people from the Oval Office.
You see there Marine One sitting on the south lawn of the White House, a virtual ghost town throughout much of the day.
As it was evacuated, the President now back in Washington and at the White House.
John, the trips to Louisiana and Nebraska that the President took today, that was designed, we're told,
we see a Marine officer walking off Marine One as the President we expect to emerge from Marine One any second now.
We assume that was because security personnel thought it was too dangerous for the President to come right back to Washington. Is that right?
The first stop at Barksdale in Louisiana was designed so the President could get to a command and control center that is fortified
and structured so that he could be in contact. You see the President there emerging from Marine One,
saluting his Marine escort on the south lawn of the White House.
The direction he turned it appears he is heading straight into the Oval Office. Had he gone straight,
that is the path into the White House residence. The President turning left, indicating he will go straight into his office, the Oval Office.
The President saying nothing as he walks by there.
The first stop was to get him to a command and control facility so that he could have secure conversations with the Vice President,
who is here at the White House, and with the National Security Council.
At that point we had been led to believe by some sources the President would come directly back to Washington.
Then they took him to the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command for another briefing with the National Security Council,
amid some concerns that they wanted to run a few more security checks before bringing the President back to Washington.
Obviously one of the heinous acts we saw today on the Pentagon just a few miles away.
So an enormous amount of security concerns even as we speak here on the grounds of the White House.
You see the President here heading up into the path, being greeted by more agents and his senior staff into the Oval Office.
And as he goes into the Oval Office in the West Wing of the White House, once again, John, for some of our viewers who may just be tuning in right now,
read to us the statement that the President has just released.
This is a statement from the President. This is a statement we are told by pool reporters that he gave to his National Security Council, quoting the President.
Quote, we will find these people and they will suffer the consequences of taking on this nation. We will do what it takes.
No one is going to diminish the spirit of this country. We expect a statement very much like that to be included in the nationally televised address the President delivers to the American people tonight.
He is meeting right now in the Oval Office with senior advisors to be brought up to date on the latest of the latest casualty figures,
the latest information the federal government has on just what took place. The administration has also taken one of the steps, Wolf, that seems routine in some ways.
Again, a reminder of the tragedy of this day, though issuing a statement just a short time ago declaring the state of New York a major disaster area.
And John, security, I take it, at the White House is extraordinary right now under normal circumstances.
You don't see the security personnel that we're obviously seeing right now. Is that right?
That is correct. More security on the grounds, more security out in public, uniformed Secret Service snipers on the buildings all around the compound here.
Remember this compound, the President was not here at the time, but the Vice President was evacuated this morning when all of this was taking place, when the threat on the Pentagon was taking place.
Now they're just now letting people back in. We are, I believe, the first reporters to broadcast live from here, others just getting into the compound now.
The security all day long, we were just across the street watching the dogs, the bomb-sniffing dogs out on the compound.
Agents at one point patrolling across the street in Lafayette Park with automatic rifles. That an extraordinary scene.
We occasionally have bomb scares here. There are occasionally other threats, security threats that cause high level of alerts.
Nothing in my four plus years in this beat, nothing at all like this today.
Okay, John King, we'll be back to you. Stand by. Meanwhile, let's go back to Bill Hemmer in Atlanta. Bill?
Well, thank you. And to our viewers who are just joining us possibly at this time, what has been a very long, already long and horrendous day in the U.S.
We're going to quickly recap the developments of this day. It began with a series of coordinated terrorist attacks against the U.S.
Then at the top of this hour, less than 60 minutes ago, explosions were seen in Kabul. That's the capital city in Afghanistan.
However, reporters traveling with the president and the White House also tells us these explosions are not part of a U.S. strike against the country.
Afghanistan's Taliban has been harboring fugitive terrorist Osama bin Laden.
U.S. intelligence officials have told CNN there are good indications that persons linked to Osama bin Laden may be responsible for today's terrorist attacks in the U.S.
However, that is far from confirmed at this point. Both towers of New York's World Trade Center, a section of the Pentagon, have been destroyed.
At this time, Nick Robertson by videophone joins us from, again, Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. Nick, what do you have for us at this point?
Well, Bill, we can confirm that the Northern Alliance, that the Alliance of Fighters Fighting the Taliban, who hold the last 5% of the country in the northeast of Afghanistan that the Taliban have yet to conquer,
they have confirmed to us from their spokesman up there in the north of Afghanistan that they were responsible for the explosions here in Kabul this evening.
They also say that they plan more such attacks. They don't say where and they don't say when. They say that they will brief us shortly on that, that they are claiming responsibility for the attacks we've seen here in Kabul this evening.
It's not normal for them to attack Kabul in this way, but their leader, Ahmed Sharma, sued a very key commander who holds together the Alliance of Fighters in the north of Afghanistan.
He rose to fame during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s where he was undefeated.
All right, clearly we have a breakup of our video signal there from Nick Robertson in Kabul, Afghanistan.
What you're seeing, though, as the videophone, late technology that allows us to see these nighttime pictures here, is not nearly as clear as a regular television monitor would provide,
but we can see the images of a quieter capital city of Kabul and Nick Robertson's audio clearly has dropped off at this point.
We hope to reestablish the signal again. It's almost three o'clock in the morning in Afghanistan, but back in New York it's just about seven o'clock.
And again, we're about 10 hours removed from what has been a day that will live for a long time in the memories of a lot of Americans who have watched the images throughout the day.
Back to New York City, the island of Manhattan and CNN's Paula Zahn. Paula?
Thank you so much, Bill. And as you just said, even though we're 10 hours out, you can see behind me the remnants of the fire still coming from that area where two commercial hijacked jets rammed into tower one and tower two of the World Trade Center.
Within the past hour, building number seven, which is also attached to that area, collapsed, as you might remember earlier in the day, tower number one and two collapsed, the south and north tower.
We are now being told by officials that the Marriott Hotel, which is in the vicinity of this area, is also in the position of being so degraded it might collapse as well.
Just to bring you up to date on what we're facing in New York City right now, a lot of folks got trapped here this morning when a lot of public transportation shut down.
We are now told that some of the outbound bridges are now opened up for people to leave the city. We can confirm now that the nation's airports have been completely shut down, at least until noon tomorrow.
Some conflicting information on that. Another report suggests that those flights might be postponed indefinitely.
Before I give you any more details on New York City, I'd like to check in with Robert Gates right now, who is the former director of the CIA. Mr. Gates, are you with me?
I am indeed.
Can you hear me, sir?
Yes, I can.
I'm having trouble hearing Mr. Gates. Let me see if we can make a little adjustment with our audio. As we try to straighten that out, we should probably point out that city officials at this point still will not confirm how many injuries there are, how many fatalities.
Secretary Rumsfeld also saying the Pentagon is not in a position to share those numbers with us as well. Mr. Gates, are you with me?
Yes, I am.
Okay, good. I'm glad you can hear me, sir. In the last news conference that we just watched, Secretary Rumsfeld would not confirm if the Pentagon had any indication of an impending attack.
He said he could not divulge that intelligence information tonight. Do you think the Pentagon had any sort of forewarning?
I'm in no position to know whether there was any kind of warning provided. What we often have, though, in dealing with terrorist threats in the 1980s and in the 1970s is information of some kind of an impending operation, but without the kind of detail that would allow you to prepare or to defend.
We ran into that with the attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon in the early 80s and so on. So there might have been some kind of a general warning, or there may have been a specific warning, but often you get the kind of information that allows you to say something is coming, but without the kind of detail that allows people to take specific actions.
Sir, I don't know whether you would agree with this assessment, but the feeling I got in the street this afternoon, that the sense of shock could quickly turn to a sense of outrage. Why weren't we better prepared, or why wasn't the United States better prepared for this kind of attack?
I think we have to bear in mind, even against the background of this catastrophe today, that the FBI and CIA have thwarted some very major terrorist operations against the United States in recent years. They've had some very important successes and saved a lot of lives.
I think that there will be a time when all of this, when things have settled down, when people will be looking at what happened, what information was available, what was not available, and making some judgments about whether remedial actions need to be taken.
But I think it's way too soon to begin making assumptions about some of those things.
Libyan leader Mubarak Qaddafi has just called the incident horrifying, calling on Muslims to help. How do you interpret that statement?
Well, my guess is that there are an awful lot of people around the world that are pretty frightened right now about what the United States is going to do.
As you said, this sense of horror is likely to turn to a sense of outrage, and I think the rest of the world, and particularly people that in the past have supported terrorists and given them a safe harbor and helped them in some way, are probably quite worried at this point about what may be coming against them.
All right. Unfortunately, we're going to have to leave it there, Mr. Gates, because we need to go back to Wolf Blitzer. We're going to get back to you later on this evening. Wolf Blitzer joins us now back from the Washington Bureau.
Thank you very much, Paula. And we want to go right to Jamie McIntyre, our military affairs correspondent. He's standing outside the Pentagon, which of course took a huge blast today, a big attack at the Pentagon.
Jamie, tell us first of all the headline from what the defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at this briefing that we just heard.
Well, probably the headline is what he didn't say, which is what the United States will do next, except to hint that the U.S. has firm resolve in this matter.
Perhaps the biggest hint coming from Joint Chiefs Chairman General Hugh Shelton, who said he doesn't want to talk about what's going to happen next, but he said to the American public, rest assured, make no mistake, your armed forces are ready.
So the United States clearly hinting that they are willing to take military action as soon as they can determine who is responsible for hijacking these planes and then crashing them into these buildings.
Here at the Pentagon, the building is still smoldering, but the Pentagon, the head of the incident command team says that they believe they have the fire contained.
It's not yet under control, and they think that they'll have the fire under control shortly. Secretary Rumsfeld vowed that the building would be open for business tomorrow.
He's talking about, of course, the other side of the building where his offices are located, where the Pentagon briefing room is located.
And the Pentagon wanted to make a point tonight of having Rumsfeld in the briefing room to show that the U.S. government and the headquarters of the U.S. military is operating.
And he was flanked with bipartisan support from Capitol Hill, the leading Democrat and Republicans from the Senate Armed Services Committee, there to show support that the United States, when attacked, has no divisions in its political will.
Again, the Pentagon will not comment on how many casualties they are here. We know that there are probably at least 100, perhaps more incident teams, special urban rescue teams from the neighboring counties around here.
They have been brought in to help sift through the rubble and look for survivors, despite the fact that when you have a smoky fire like this, it's almost impossible for people to survive.
The rescuers say that they still have hope that in these cases there still can be people trapped in areas, perhaps, where there was some air where they could survive, and they will not be giving up hope until they go through all of this wreckage.
Wolf? Jamie, and just to recap the devastation at the Pentagon, at that corridor at the Pentagon, several corridors, indeed the result of a hijacked American Airlines flight, Flight 77 from Washington Dulles Airport, scheduled to fly to Los Angeles, to Los Angeles International, hijacked and flown from Dulles Airport, which is about 15 to 20 miles or so from the Pentagon, crashing into the Pentagon, causing that devastation.
Did we get any hard numbers killed and injured in the attack?
No, the Pentagon is absolutely refusing to even speculate, even though we know the numbers are fairly high. For instance, we know that there were 65 people on that plane. We know they all perished.
We know that there are people in those offices that were right in an area of the Pentagon that had just been renovated, part of the multi-billion dollar renovation here at the Pentagon.
We know there have been bodies taken out. In fact, Rumsfeld made a comment at one point that he wasn't going to talk about what comes next while they're still removing bodies from the Pentagon.
But apparently, in an effort to just stop any speculation about it, they're just not giving any numbers out here on the killed and on the injured.
All right, Jamie, stand by. We're standing by for a briefing at the White House with Cabinet members. We'll brief on the U.S. response, the emergency response that is obviously underway in New York and here in Washington.
You're taking a look at a picture of the White House briefing room. We're expecting Joe Albaugh, the FEMA director, the secretary of health and human services, Tommy Thompson, and the attorney general, John Ashcroft.
In the meantime, let's bring in Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. He's a Republican. He's a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. You've been briefed on what's going on.
What's your initial assessment, Senator Hagel, about who may have been responsible for this coordinated attack?
It has been said here tonight that we don't know. We will untangle the business. We will get the facts and we will respond.
All right, stand by. Senator Hagel, stand by. We've got a technical problem with your microphone. We're going to fix it.
The former CIA director, Mr. James Jim Woolsey, is here as well and he's joining us.
You've been looking into this, discussing this with some of your former colleagues over in the intelligence community. What do you hear about those who may have been responsible?
Wolf, no one really knows right now, but I do think the following. It's clear now as it was on December 7, 1941, the United States is at war.
The question is with whom. In December of 41 we knew. Today we really don't.
You know, one of the reasons we don't is because when the World Trade Center was attacked in 1993,
the Clinton administration had a very fine FBI agent in charge of the investigation, Jim Fox, and he had strong suspicions that the Iraqi government might have been behind that terrorist operation.
He was relieved. He died a few years later. It was never really checked out thoroughly and effectively.
But there are a number of people who have strong suspicions that Ramza Youssef May, who is in prison for the bombing out in Colorado,
may have had strong ties to the Iraqi government. Now if that had been checked out at the time, we might know more now than we do.
It's at least interesting that Youssef was behind two plots, the one to bomb the World Trade Center
and the other to blow up a number of American airliners in the Pacific, the one that he was caught while trying to perpetrate in 1994-95.
So this plot that was hatched today, in a way, is kind of a combination of the earlier two Youssef plots.
I think we need to very carefully look at all of the history of these terrorist operations and every shred of evidence that we may have on this one
and see if there's any chance there was state involvement behind it because indignation and action is not enough.
We need to have indignation and action at the real perpetrators and as yet we just don't know who those are.
Mr. Wilsey, stand by. I want to try to bring back Senator Hagel, who's also here in our Washington Bureau.
The former CIA director, Mr. Wilsey, suggesting that perhaps all the finger pointing, direct finger pointing that we've heard
through much of today toward Osama bin Laden may be premature, maybe others could have been involved, specifically the Iraqi government.
What do you hear? Well, we must not rule anything out here as possibilities.
We do know something, I think, for certain here, Wolf, and that is this was a very sophisticated operation.
It took a great amount of intelligence, a great amount of resources, timing, all that goes into something like this.
The world's never seen anything this sophisticated. Now, whether bin Laden was part of that or could have had the ability and the resources to do that, I don't know.
But Jim Wolsey's right. No one should escape the net here as we find out who did this and we will find out who did this.
Is there a sense, though, that, Senator Hagel, is there a sense that it definitely was some Middle East oriented group that coordinated this attack,
that it was not necessarily as Oklahoma City was, a homegrown U.S. sponsored attack?
I don't know the facts here, but I would think it quite unlikely that it would be a homegrown domestic group involved here.
I just don't think that would be the case. What part of the area of the world these perpetrators and cowards are from, I don't know.
Stand by. Here's the Attorney General in the White House briefing room, John Ashcroft.
Today, America has experienced one of the greatest tragedies ever witnessed on our soil.
These heinous acts of violence are an assault on the security of our nation.
They're an assault on the security and the freedom of every American citizen.
We will not tolerate such acts. We will expend every effort and devote all the necessary resources to bring the people responsible for these acts, these crimes, to justice.
Now is the time for us to come together as a nation to offer our support, our prayers for victims and for their families,
for the rescue workers, for law enforcement officials, for every one of us that has been changed forever by this horrible tragedy.
The following is a summary of the known facts surrounding today's incidents.
American Airlines Flight 11 departed Boston for Los Angeles, hijacked by suspects armed with knives.
This plane crashed into the World Trade Center.
United Airlines Flight 175 departed Boston for Los Angeles, was hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center.
American Airlines Flight 77 departed Washington Dulles for Los Angeles, was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon.
United Airlines Flight 93 departed Newark for San Francisco, was hijacked and crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Crime scenes have been established by the federal authorities in New York, in Washington, D.C. area, in Pittsburgh, in Boston, and in Newark.
The full resources of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Immigration and Naturalization Service,
the U.S. Attorney's Offices, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Prisons, the Drug Enforcement Administration,
and the Office of Justice Programs are being deployed to investigate these crimes and to assist survivors and victim families.
Thousands of FBI agents in all of the field offices across the country and in the international ligate offices
assisted by personnel from other Department of Justice agencies are cooperating in this investigation.
The FBI has established a website where people can report any information about these crimes.
That address is www.ifccfbi.gov.
That address again, www.ifccfbi.gov.
Individuals can report any information they know about these crimes to that website.
It takes courage for individuals to come forward in situations like this, and I urge anyone with information
that may be useful and helpful to authorities to use this opportunity.
The Office of Victims of Crime has established a toll-free 800 number for family and friends of victims.
They can call 800-331-0075 to leave contact information for a future time when more information is available,
to find out information about a victim or to find out information about the rights of victims
and the services available to victim survivors and victim families.
The determination of these terrorists will not deter the determination of the American people.
We are survivors, and freedom is a survivor.
A free American people will not be intimidated, nor will we be defeated.
We will find the people responsible for these cowardly acts, and justice will be done.
Tommy.
Every single American lost something today.
And every one of us at this time expresses our deepest sympathy to the victims of today's tragedies and their families.
It is now our mission to begin the healing from this tragedy.
From the moment that we learned of these attacks, the Department of Health and Human Services has begun
to be readying teams and resources to be sent to New York City and the Washington area to meet any needs of state and local officials.
So far, we have sent four disaster medical teams to New York City,
and three of these disaster medical teams to the Washington, Northern Virginia, Baltimore area.
These medical teams each consists of about 35 physicians, nurses, and emergency medical technicians.
They are all trained to deal with traumatic injuries and other emergency needs.
We've also sent four disaster mortuary operational response teams to New York, and three to the greater Washington area.
We're also in the process of shipping a great deal of emergency medical supplies to New York City with the help of the Centers for Disease Control.
In short, we're making the full force of the Department of Health and Human Services,
both its resources and medical expertise available to the areas that need our assistance.
We've also this afternoon activated the United States Public Health Service Commission Corps, which consists of approximately 6,000 health professionals.
We also are giving backup assistance to the 500-bed ship Comfort from the United States Navy.
Americans all over are calling up and asking what they can do.
The best thing they can do is respond to this great call by volunteering to give blood.
We need Americans to continue to answer that call.
No matter where you live, please do your civic duty and assist us by donating blood.
It is our primary job is to make sure Americans harmed by this tragedy get the help that they need.
We will remain in constant contact with the governors, the mayors, public health officials, and other local officials to make sure that all their needs are being met.
It is a sad day, but America and all of its citizens certainly share tonight in the grief that has been caused.
And as the President and everybody in his administration have said, we, the government, will continue to operate and continue to provide the services to all Americans.
One of the most cherished freedoms is the freedom of movement, the ability to move freely and safely.
But today that freedom was attacked.
But we will restore that freedom throughout the national transportation system as soon as possible.
We're looking at a picture also on Capitol Hill where the Senate and House leadership is preparing to speak flanked by hundreds of members of the U.S. Congress here.