World Trade Center collapses in terrorist attack; Washington hit by apparently coordinated attack
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 17:43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note UPDATES with another World Trade Center building collapsing,about 100 killed or injured in Pentagon, details on the hijackingsin Boston. No pickup.
Photo Advisory , AP Graphics
By JERRY SCHWARTZ
AP National Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Mounting an audacious attack against the United States, terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and brought down the twin 110-story towers Tuesday morning. A jetliner also slammed into the Pentagon as the seat of government itself came under attack.
Hundreds were apparently killed aboard the jets, and untold numbers were feared dead in the rubble. Thousands were injured in New York alone.
A fourth jetliner, also apparently hijacked, crashed in Pennsylvania as the part of the closely timed series of attacks.
President Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to ``hunt down the folks who committed this act.''
Authorities were still trying to evacuate those who work in the twin towers when the glass-and-steel skyscrapers came down in a thunderous roar within about 90 minutes after the attacks, which took place 18 minutes apart around 9 a.m. Many people were feared trapped. About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center and tens of thousands of others visit each day.
Officials said the Trade Center apparently was hit by two Los Angeles-bound jetliners that had been hijacked after taking off from Boston 15 minutes apart with a total of 157 people: United Flight 175, with 65 people on board, and American Flight 11, with 92 people aboard.
The Pentagon was hit by American Flight 77, which was seized while carrying 64 people from Washington to Los Angeles, according to law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
And in Pennsylvania, United Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh with 45 people aboard. A Virginia congressman, Rep. James Moran, said the intended target of the plane was apparently Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, 85 miles away from the crash site.
Altogether, the four planes carried 266 people. There was no word on any survivors.
At the Trade Center, people on fire leaped from the windows to certain death, including a man and a woman holding hands. Some jumped from as high as the 80th floor as the planes exploded into fireballs. People on the ground screamed and dived for cover as debris from the 1,250-foot towers rained down. Dazed office workers covered in gray ash wandered around like ghosts, weeping, trying to make sense of what happened.
Donald Burns, 34, who had been at a meeting on the 82nd floor, saw four severely burned people on the stairwell. ``I tried to help them but they didn't want anyone to touch them. The fire had melted their skin. Their clothes were tattered,'' he said.
``People were screaming, falling and jumping out of the windows,'' from high in the sky, said Jennifer Brickhouse, 34, of Union, N.J., who was going up the escalator into the World Trade Center.
Within the hour after the attack in New York, the Pentagon took a direct, devastating hit from a plane. The fiery crash collapsed one side of the five-sided structure.
Speculation about the attack quickly focused on terrorist fugitive Osama bin Laden.
``No one has been ruled out, but our initial feeling is that this is the work of bin Laden,'' said a high-ranking federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. ``He is top of our list at this point.''
``This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that's ever taken place in the world,'' said Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Transport in London. ``It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. ... I would name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden.''
The president put the military on its highest level of alert. Authorities in Washington immediately called out troops, including an infantry regiment, and the Navy sent aircraft carriers and guided missile destroyers to New York and Washington.
The White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol were evacuated along with other federal buildings in Washington and New York. The president was taken to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, headquarters for the Strategic Air Command, the nation's nuclear strike force, the White House said. Later, he headed back to Washington.
The U.S. and Canadian borders were sealed, security was tightened at naval installations and other strategic points, and all commercial air traffic across the country was halted until at least noon on Wednesday.
``This is the second Pearl Harbor. I don't think that I overstate it,'' said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. The Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor killed nearly 2,400 people and drew the United States into World War II.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said: ``These attacks clearly constitute an act of war.''
In June, a U.S. judge had set Wednesday as the sentencing date for a bin Laden associate for his role in the 1998 bombing of a U.S. embassy in Tanzania that killed 213 people. The sentencing had been set for the federal courthouse near the World Trade Center. But the sentencing had been postponed some time ago without being rescheduled.
Afghanistan's hardline Taliban rulers condemned the attacks and rejected suggestions that bin Laden was behind them, saying he does not have the means to carry out such well-orchestrated attacks. Bin Laden has been given asylum in Afghanistan.
Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said he received a warning from Islamic fundamentalists close to bin Laden, but did not take the threat seriously. ``They said it would be a huge and unprecedented attack but they did not specify,'' Atwan said in a telephone interview in London.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, thousands of Palestinians celebrated the attacks, chanting ``God is Great'' and handing out candy.
``Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended,'' Bush said form a tightly guarded air base in Louisiana.
In New York, the downtown area was cordoned off and a rescue effort was under way. Hundreds of volunteers and medical workers converged on triage centers, offering help and blood. Paramedics waiting to be sent into the rubble were told that ``once the smoke clears, it's going to be massive bodies,'' said Brian Stark, a former Navy paramedic who volunteered to help.
He said the paramedics had been told that hundreds of police and firefighters were missing from the ranks of those sent in to respond to the first crash.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said 2,100 people were injured _ 1,500 ``walking wounded'' who were taken to New Jersey, and 600 others who were taken to area hospitals, 150 of them in critical condition. It could take weeks to dig through the rubble for victims. About 100 people were reported killed or injured in the Pentagon.
``I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost,'' Giuliani said. ``Right now we have to focus on saving as many lives as possible.''
By evening, huge clouds of smoke still billowed from the ruins, obscuring much of the skyline. A burning 47-story part of the World Trade Center complex collapsed just before nightfall. The building had already been evacuated.
The two planes blasted fiery, gaping holes in the upper floors of one of New York's most famous landmarks and rained debris on the streets. About an hour later, the southern tower collapsed with a roar and a huge cloud of smoke; the other tower fell about a half-hour after that, covering lower Manhattan in heaps of gray rubble and broken glass.
On the street, a crowd mobbed a man at a pay phone, screaming at him to get off the phone so that they could call relatives. Dust and dirt flew everywhere. Ash was 2 to 3 inches deep in places.
John Axisa, who was getting off a commuter train to the World Trade Center, said he saw ``bodies falling out'' of the building. He said he ran outside, and watched people jump out of the first building. Then there was a second explosion, and he felt heat on the back of neck.
David Reck was handing out literature for a candidate for public advocate a few blocks away when he saw a jet come in ``very low, and then it made a slight twist and dove into the building.''
People ran down the stairs in panic and fled the building. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper drifted over Brooklyn, about three miles away.
Several subway lines were immediately shut down. Trading on Wall Street was suspended. New York's mayoral primary election Tuesday was postponed. All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed.
The death toll on the crashed planes alone could surpass that of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, which claimed 168 lives in what was the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil.
Evacuations were ordered at the United Nations in New York and at the Sears Tower in Chicago. Los Angeles mobilized its anti-terrorism division. Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., was evacuated, and Hoover Dam on the Arizona-Nevada line was closed to visitors. Security was tightened along the 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
Terrorists blew up a truck bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
``It's just sick. It just shows how vulnerable we really are,'' Keith Meyers, 39, said in Columbus, Ohio. ``It kind of makes you want to go home and spend time with your family. It puts everything in perspective,'' Meyers said. He said he called to check in with his wife. They have two young children.
In 1945, an Army Air Corps B-25, a twin-engine bomber, crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in dense fog.
In Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading. He addressed the tragedy about a half-hour later.
Before the crash in Pennsylvania, an emergency dispatcher in Westmoreland County, Pa., received a cell phone call at 9:58 a.m. from a man who said he was a passenger locked in the bathroom of United Flight 93, said dispatch supervisor Glenn Cramer.
``We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!'' Cramer quoted the man as saying. The man told dispatchers the plane ``was going down. He heard some sort of explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane and we lost contact with him,'' Cramer said.
AP-CS-09-11-01 1725EDT
Plane crashes into Pentagon; troops deployed in response to apparent terrorist attack
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 17:44
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note Combines pvs; inserts officials suspecting Osama bin Laden in2nd graf
By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Pentagon took a direct, devastating hit from an aircraft, and enduring symbols of American power were evacuated Tuesday as an apparent terrorist attack spread fear and chaos in the U.S. capital.
President George W. Bush ordered the military to ``high-alert status'' and prepared an evening televised address to a shaken United States. With the fires of destruction still burning, administration officials said they suspected Osama bin Laden was the culprit behind parallel attacks in Washington and New York, where the World Trade Center collapsed into rubble with a heavy loss of life.
Bush vowed to ``hunt down and punish those responsible.''
The president, in Florida at the time of the attacks, flew home to the White House after stops at two secure military installations far from the scene of the destruction. Aides said he convened a National Security Council meeting by teleconference from Offutt Air Force base in Nebraska, as his government struggled to respond to an attack of unprecedented proportions.
The top leaders of Congress were taken to the safety of a secure government facility 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Washington. They left behind a city where guards armed with automatic weapons patrolled the White House grounds and military aircraft secured the skies above the capital.
The Pentagon, the nerve center of the U.S. military, burst into flames and a portion of one side of the five-sided structure collapsed when a plane _ reported hijacked and carrying a number of passengers _ struck in midmorning. Secondary explosions were reported and great billows of smoke drifted skyward from the huge building in Arlington, Virginia, toward the Potomac River and Washington beyond.
Rep. Ike Skelton, briefed by Pentagon officials, said, ``There appear to be about 100 casualties'' in the building.
``The fire was intense,'' Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, the Pentagon spokesman, told reporters in a makeshift briefing at a gasoline station across the street. At midday, local hospitals reported receiving 40 victims of the attack, with seven patients in critical condition admitted to one facility for treatment of burns.
``The whole building shook'' with the impact, said Terry Yonkers, an Air Force civilian employee at work inside the Pentagon at the time of the attack. ``There was screaming and pandemonium,'' he said, but the evacuation ordered shortly afterward was carried out smoothly. Within hours of the attack on the Pentagon, long lines of blood donors queued up outside an area hospital. And Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the city's Roman Catholic leader, said an unusually large number of worshippers _ between 3,000 and 4,000 _ attended Mass at the downtown cathedral as the enormity of the destruction began to sink in.
The departments of Justice, State, Treasury and Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency were evacuated _ an estimated 20,000 at the Pentagon alone.
The Capitol building was evacuated, as well, sending lawmakers and aides into the surrounding streets. By late in the day, though, officials said the House and Senate would convene Wednesday. The first order of business: a resolution condemning the attacks.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the U.S. air traffic system shut down for the first time in history.
Law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the plane that struck the Pentagon was an American Airlines jetliner that had taken off from Dulles International Airport on a scheduled flight to Los Angeles.
Officials said one of the passengers was Barbara Olson, the wife of Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who argues Bush's cases before the Supreme Court.
Vice President Dick Cheney was in Washington, and conferred with Bush by telephone from a secure part of the White House, according to presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer. He added that first lady Laura Bush and the president's twin daughters also were safe.
In a briefing, Bush aide Karen Hughes sought to assure the public that despite the ``despicable acts,'' the government was functioning smoothly. She added that while the New York stock exchanges did not open for the day, the financial system continued to operate, including the Federal Reserve Board.
During the day, aides said Bush spoke with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and New York Gov. George Pataki as well as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
``The leadership of the Defense Department is OK. The secretary is OK,'' Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood told reporters.
Authorities immediately began deploying troops, including a regiment of light infantry, in response to an attack for which they said there had been no advance warning.
Officials said two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center, and a third into the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed 80 miles (128 kilometers) southeast of Pittsburgh, and one lawmaker, Rep. James Moran said after a Marine Corps briefing that ``it was apparently intended to hit Camp David,'' the presidential retreat in the mountains of Maryland.
The military denied shooting it down. ``We have not shot down any aircraft,'' Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold, who oversees the defense of continental U.S. airspace from NORAD, said in a statement.
Bush and others spoke freely about terrorism being the cause, and already there was speculation about those responsible.
The military was ordered to ``Threat Level Delta,'' the highest level, at least in the Washington area, according to Air Force Capt. Tatiana Stead at Andrews Air Force Base.
``This is the second Pearl Harbor. I don't think that I overstate it,'' said Sen. Chuck Hagel, referring to the attack 60 years ago that surprised the U.S. intelligence apparatus and propelled the country into World War II.
AP-CS-09-11-01 1728EDT
How it happened: The day the Trade Center came down
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 17:16
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By MATT CRENSON
AP National Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday, American Airlines Flight 11 left Boston for Los Angeles. It and three other California-bound morning flights from the East Coast never reached their destinations.
All apparently were hijacked by terrorists. Nothing was immediately known about how the planes were commandeered, but radar records show that Flight 11 headed west to Albany, New York, then veered south.
Clyde Ebanks, vice president of an insurance company, was at a meeting on the 103rd floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center when his boss said, ``Look at that!''
He turned and saw a plane go by and hit the other tower.
It was 8:45 a.m.
For Peter Dicerbo and 44 co-workers at First Union National Bank, it was the start of their workday _ a beautiful day, with sunlight glinting off the Hudson River and streaming though the windows on the 47th floor of the Trade Center's north tower.
And then, ``I just heard the building rock. It knocked me on the floor. It sounded like a big roar, then the building started swaying, that's what really scared me.''
Harriet Grimm, inside a bookstore on the Trade Center's first floor, heard a large boom, ``and then we saw all this debris just falling.''
About 18 minutes later, Luigi Ribaudo _ who works nearby in the Tribeca neighborhood _ heard what he thought was a plane making a strange noise. He looked up; he saw a plane that was too low.
``It was going to hit something and it hit and exploded inside,'' he said.
Two towers, two direct hits.
The chaos was immediate.
Dicerbo led his 44 colleagues down 47 flights of stairs. He staggered away from the building, his clothes torn; the workers were stunned, dazed and coughing.
``The minute I got out of the building, the second building blew up,'' said Jennifer Brickhouse, 34, from Union, New Jersey, who was going up the escalator into the Trade Center when she ``heard this big boom.''
``All this stuff started falling and all this smoke was coming through. People were screaming, falling, and jumping out of the windows,'' from high in the sky.
Emergency vehicles flooded into lower Manhattan. No one knew what happened; the towers, target of a terrorist bombing in 1993, seemed to be ground zero once again. Witnesses reported seeing people jumping from upper floors of the buildings.
Five kilometers (three miles) away, sheets of office paper fluttered out of the sky.
President George W. Bush, visiting schoolchildren in Florida, heard of the attack at 9:05 a.m. Less than 30 minutes later he appeared on television to reassure a country that hoped this day would never come.
``Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country,'' the president said. ``I've ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act.''
After his appearance, Bush flew to Barkdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, which had been secured for his safety. Later he flew to Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska.
Vice President Dick Cheney and first lady Laura Bush, who were in Washington during the attacks, were also taken to safe locations.
At about 9:40 a.m., an airplane crashed into the Pentagon. The nerve center of the nation's military burst into flames and a portion of one side of the five-sided structure collapsed, sending billows of smoke over the capital.
The White House's West Wing was evacuated about 15 minutes later, when Secret Service agents learned that it too, might be a target of the terrorist attacks. Soon tens of thousands of government employees were pouring out of offices all over the nation's capital.
By then the Federal Aviation Administration had grounded air traffic nationwide, for the first time in history.
At 9:50 a.m. _ an hour after the first crash _ One World Trade Center collapsed.
There were reports of an explosion soon before the tower fell, then a strange sucking sound, and then the sound of floors collapsing. Then an incredible surge of air, followed by a vast cloud of dirt, smoke, dust, paper and debris. Windows shattered. People screamed and dived for cover.
``I heard the largest, loudest collective scream I've ever heard,'' said Melissa Easton, who was watching from the roof of her apartment building about 20 blocks away.
Several miles away, office workers could look down the Avenue of the Americas and see the gray shroud that enveloped the remaining World Trade Center tower. What they could not see was the carnage, as people stumbled away from the devastation caked in dust, pieces of cloth clutched to their faces. Ash blanketed the streets and sidewalks like snowfall.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said firefighters were caught in the collapse and that some may have been killed.
It was like the aftermath of an unimaginable natural disaster. Only this catastrophe was manmade, and it wasn't over yet.
At 9:58 a.m. one of those still airborne planes, a United Airlines flight from Newark to San Francisco with 45 aboard, was heard from. A 911 operator in Pennsylvania answered a call from a man who said he had holed up in an airplane's rest room _ and the plane was going down.
``We are being hijacked!'' the caller said.
The man said he had heard an explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane. Then his signal broke up, and he was gone. United Airlines Flight 93 crashed about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Pittsburgh.
Then, at 10:30 a.m., the second tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.
The top of the building exploded with smoke and dust. There were no flames, just an explosion of debris and dust and smoke, and then more vast clouds swept down to the streets. People were knocked to the ground onto their faces as they were running from the building toward cover. And then the same huge clouds of smoke, dust and debris and came through the buildings and blocked out the sun.
``I just saw the building I work in come down,'' said businessman Gabriel Ioan.
By then, the gravity of the morning's events was resonating across the country. Military units in the Washington, D.C., area were ordered to ``Threat Level Delta,'' the highest alert level. Governors in several states activated National Guard units. In Alaska, heightened security was ordered around the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) oil pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.
Possible terrorist targets were shut down. International borders were sealed. In San Francisco, the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges were closed. Major corporations, including Coca-Cola in Atlanta and the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, shut their doors for the day.
Visitors to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, were turned away. Major League Baseball called off Tuesday night's games. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences indefinitely postponed television's Emmy awards.
At New York hospitals, hundreds of people lined up to donate blood.
The rest of New York took on the eerie hush of a city under siege. With public transportation shut down and major bridges and tunnels closed to traffic, walking became the only way to get anywhere. Thousands clogged Manhattan bridges, leaving the city on foot. Throughout the metropolitan area, people stunned by the day's events walked about as if in a daze.
``To have such devastation is horrifying,'' said Easton. ``You think small-scale first _ my sister-in-law works there. Then it expands to thousands who work there, who were on those planes. Then you get the notion that it might not be over. And then you just can't take it anymore.''
AP-CS-09-11-01 1655EDT
Officials investigate how Logan security was breached on two
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 17:45
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note AMs
By JUSTIN POPE
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) _ Hundreds of investigators descended on Logan International Airport on Tuesday trying to determine how terrorists commandeered two nearly identical jetliners that took off just moments apart and then crashed them into New York's World Trade Center.
Authorities said they received no unusual communications from American Flight 11, which left Boston at 7:59 a.m. with 92 people aboard or from United Flight 175, which departed 15 minutes later, with 65 people. Both were bound for Los Angeles, but both 767s were apparently hijacked and deliberately crashed into the twin towers in downtown Manhattan.
``Everything seemed normal when they left Logan,'' said Joseph Lawless, public safety director of the Massachusetts Port Authority. ``We don't know how the hijackers accomplished what they did.''
Logan airport was evacuated and was to remain closed until further notice.
Lawless said the two jets that left Boston were believed to be the two that crashed in New York. Also Tuesday, an American Airlines jetliner that took off from Dulles International Airport crashed into the Pentagon and a plane from Newark International Airport crashed in Pennsylvania.
``It may be this was the most clever plot in the world and there was no way to stop it, but the starting assumption should be something is badly awry and we're going to go over every step,'' said Philip Heymann, a professor at Harvard Law School and an expert on terrorism.
Planes waiting for takeoff at Logan were returned to the gates as air operations ceased nationwide. As the news spread, stunned passengers were first moved beyond security checkpoints and then evacuated entirely from the airport.
``There was silence,'' said Todd Hicks, who had hoped to return home to Eaton, Colo., after visiting his fiance in Cambridge. ``I think people are dumbfounded that it could happen with all the security in place. We take our security for granted.''
More than 150 state police detectives joined FBI and other federal investigators at Logan, said State Police Lt. Paul Maloney. He and other officials refused to discuss details of the investigation.
Lawless said Globe Aviation Services Corp. operates security checkpoints for American Airlines at Logan. Danielle Crosby, the human resources manager for the Boston office, refused to comment, referring calls to the company's headquarters in Irving, Texas. A woman who answered the telephone at the headquarters also refused to comment.
Lawless said Huntleigh USA Corp. provides checkpoints for United Airlines. No one answered the telephone at the company's Logan office Tuesday.
In 1999, the major airlines at Logan and Massport were fined a total of $178,000 for at least 136 security violations over the previous two years, though an air travelers group said at the time that the violations were likely typical of major airports.
In the majority of incidents, screeners hired by the airlines to staff checkpoints in terminals routinely failed to detect test items, such as pipe bombs and guns.
Also in 1999, a teen-ager who said he wanted to impress the Israeli intelligence agency allegedly sliced through a fence and settled into an empty seat on a British Airways jet and flew to London.
``We have a very high security standard here,'' Lawless said Tuesday. ``We consider ourselves as secure, if not more secure, than any other airport in the United States.''
Numerous experts said only a police state could implement truly impenetrable security.
``It shows that given the democratic society we live in it's next to impossible to catch a truly diabolical yet brilliant attack,'' said Richard Gritta, an expert on airport security at the University of Portland, Ore..
``The terrorists are trying to undermine the confidence of the average U.S. citizen in the safety of U.S. transportation,'' he said. ``And I think they've done a pretty good job.''
AP-ES-09-11-01 1731EDT
Devastating attacks show evidence of sophisticated planning terrorists' covert skill
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 16:26
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note AMs.
By ADAM GELLER
and
JIM KRANE
Associated Press Writers
NEW YORK (AP) _ The nearly simultaneous attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon using commercial airliners point to a meticulously planned strike that may well have employed trained pilots, experts on terrorism said.
``No pilot, even with a gun to his head, is going to fly into the world towers,'' said Gene Poteat, president of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers.
``They (terrorists) flew the planes themselves,'' he speculated.
The means used in the attacks echo other recent terrorist incidents, but on a scale few imagined.
``It is shocking but not a surprise. The components of these things have been seen before,'' said Brian Jenkins, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based security consultant to the Rand Corp., and former member of the Clinton administration's Commission on Aviation Safety and Security.
Analysts said that while counterterrorism officials have examined the risk of attacks on strategic buildings using commandeered commercial jets, they were more fearful of the massive loss of life that could result from the use of chemical weapons.
``There's been an increased focus on biological and chemical terrorism, in terms of mass casualties,'' said Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project, a Washington, D.C.-based research group focused on international terrorism.
Tuesday's attacks did not appear to require mastery of science.
Instead, analysts were impressed by the meticulous timing.
``I do find it amazing that it was this sophisticated and coordinated an attack,'' said attorney Victoria Toensing, who started the Justice Department's terrorism section as a deputy attorney general during the Reagan administration.
Many hijackings fail before planes ever get off the ground, and so the takeover of multiple planes demonstrates considerable planning and expertise, she said.
While operating the planes required substantial know-how, such attacks likely relied more on overall orchestration, said Tim Brown, senior analyst with Global Security.org in Washington, D.C., which researches proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
``This goes to prove the whole argument that you don't need weapons of mass destruction, all you need is an airliner loaded with jet fuel,'' said Brown.
``The actual skills of the individual operators isn't particularly great, but the imagination to recognize the vulnerability and exploit it succesfully in an orchestrated manner,'' he added.
Jenkins and Brown said methods used in recent hijackings and terrorist attacks have led analysts to question the focus by the Pentagon and intelligence agencies on terrorists striking the United States with nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
In terms of cost of materials, Brown surmised that the airliner attacks cost even less than last year's bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen, which killed more than a dozen U.S. sailors and hobbled a high-tech vessel worth around $1 billion. That attack required only a few thousand dollars in chemicals and a speedboat.
The greatest asset of the attackers who orchestrated Tuesday's strike was to remain undetected by U.S. intelligence and law enforcers.
The terrorists used the sophisticated concept of ``redundancy'' _ incorporating several separate, coordinated attacks _ that allowed the operation to continue even if one group was detected.
``Even if our intelligence people were following one of the guys around, that didn't compromise the other cells. They were still able to operate,'' Brown said. ``The core competency of these people was to remain invisible to U.S. intelligence. If they can do that successfully, they can do whatever they want.''
Jenkins noted that the devastating strikes appeared to be the first major terrorist use of suicide attacks in the United States.
Analysts say suicide bombings or attacks were previously considered unlikely because any attacker who agrees to commit them needs to keep an unstinting level of blind faith while away from his home support base.
``We believed or hoped that the tactic of a suicide bombing would not be exported,'' Jenkins said. ``This is a new threat for us.''
___
EDITOR'S NOTE: Associated Press writers John Christoffersen and Anick Jesdanun contributed to this report.
AP-CS-09-11-01 1614EDT
Alaska military bases placed on high alert following terrorist
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 16:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note ADDS new grafs 4-6 with Coast Guard closure of trans-Alaskapipeline oil loading. Johnn is cq in 32nd graf; No pickup.
By MARY PEMBERTON
and MAUREEN CLARK
ANCHORAGE (AP) _ Military bases in Alaska were placed on high alert Tuesday and the FBI was coordinating with other federal agencies following terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Tim Woolston, spokesman for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which operates the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, says the company is on a heightened level of security. Woolston would not comment on specific measures to protect the 800-mile pipeline, which transports 17 percent of the nation's oil, but said the company can respond quickly.
``We have the capability _ for a variety of reasons _ to shut down the pipeline in a matter of minutes,'' Woolston said.
The Coast Guard ordered the Port of Valdez closed as a precaution, ceasing crude oil loading operations. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Brad Wilson of Juneau said he was not sure when the oil terminal would again open.
``We're assessing security concerns,'' Wilson said.
At a press conference, Gov. Tony Knowles said a Fish and Wildlife Protection vessel was patrolling outside the Alyeska terminal in Valdez.
Robert Burnham, an assistant special agent in charge for the FBI in Anchorage said his agency was on a state of heightened alert.
``Right now we have no information of any direct threats to any sites in Alaska,'' he said. ``I don't think anyone has a handle on this yet.''
Burnham said the FBI would be coordinating with other agencies including the Anchorage Police Department and the federal office of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The agencies were checking buildings and FBI agents were being sent to the airport, Burnham said.
Burnham said the FBI was offering oil companies any additional security measures they felt were needed. BP (Alaska) and Phillips Petroleum are the two largest oil companies operating in Alaska.
Anchorage police briefly ordered downtown Anchorage evacuated shortly after 10:30 a.m. after flight officials lost contact with a Korean Air
Lines inbound flight. Knowles said air officials in Anchorage received an emergency transponder signal from the aircraft, indicating low fuel or a highjacking. Knowles said the military command sent fighter jets to intercept and escort the aircraft 160 miles from Anchorage. The transponder signal turned out to be a low fuel indicator.
The evacuation of major hotels and federal buildings was canceled a few minutes later. The jet was diverted to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
Planes nationwide were grounded, including those at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, the nation's sixth-largest cargo airport, and the Fairbanks and Juneau airports.
Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch activated the municipality's Crisis Alert Team at 6:20 a.m. and police, fire and other public safety departments were elevated to double shifts.
Alaska Airlines said its flight from Washington, D.C., was diverted to Madison, Wis. Two Alaska Airlines flights that arrived overnight in Juneau were not being allowed to take off.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Joette Storm said the agency ordered a ``national ground stop'' grounding all nonmilitary and non-law enforcement aircraft.
``This is the first time a national ground stop has been imposed,'' she said. Normal midmorning air traffic would be 4,000 to 4,500 aircraft, Storm said.
An estimated 700 people were stranded midmorning at the Anchorage airport, said City Manager Harry Kieling.
``We have bus service set up. We are identifying shelters right now and will be moving them to them,'' Kieling said.
The grounding applies not only to major commercial aircraft but to air taxis, charter flights and hunting and fishing guides.
Before a press conference this morning, Gov. Tony Knowles said he was concerned for hunters in the field who were expecting to be picked up and may not have heard of the terrorist attacks.
At the press conference, he also expressed concern for medical flights.
``We're working out right now, as best we can, ways we can accommodate those needs,'' he said.
A Coast Guard spokesman said, however, that they had been authorized to fly in emergency or lifesaving situations.
Knowles said 22 international morning flights were expected in Alaska. At Fairbanks International Airport, two diverted jets were on the ground and three more were on their way by midmorning. International flights using Alaska air space were being asked to divert to Fairbanks. Flights also were diverted to Kenai and King Salmon.
A freighter carrying mail from Anchorage to Juneau arrived Tuesday morning but was not allowed to leave the port.
Federal buildings in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau were open but security was heightened. Six Anchorage police officers armed with shotguns stood guard at the entrances to the federal building in downtown Anchorage, checking employee identification.
Gov. Knowles' spokesman Bob King said the Alaska Emergency Coordination Center at Fort Richardson was activated at 6:30 a.m.
``They're on a heightened level of preparedness. They were activated and will remain activated,'' King said.
The Alaska National Guard leadership was meeting in response to national orders.
``Right now they're following national authority,'' King said.
Elmendorf and Eielson Air Force bases and Forts Richardson and Greely were placed on full military alert.
Maj. Johnn Kennedy, chief of public affairs for the Air Force's 3rd Wing fighter group at Elmendorf said access to the base was being restricted. Those trying to get on the base will have a long wait.
``Obviously, as a result (of the attack) we're on an increased measure of protection,'' Kennedy said. ``But we're going to let anyone on base who needs to be here. But it may take awhile this morning.''
Maj. Bryan Hilferty at Fort Richardson said there were long waits to get on the base as well. He said those who did not need to get onto the base were being asked to stay away.
Alaska's congressional delegation was also watching the tragedy.
``Words cannot express the anguish and horror we all feel at today's tragic news,'' Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, said. ``I can assure you that the perpetrators of these murders will be rooted out and brought to justice.''
The attacks began when two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center around 9 a.m. EST. The twin towers later collapsed.
Within the hour, an aircraft crashed into the Pentagon, and the White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol were evacuated.
In western Pennsylvania, a United Airlines flight bound from Newark to San Francisco, a Boeing 767, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The plane had been hijacked and all 45 on board perished.
AP-WS-09-11-01 1552EDT
Bush promises full force of U.S. government will track down
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note To UPDATE with Bush in Nebraska, SUBS 2nd graf, ``The resolve..., SUBS 10th graf, He then ..., with 2 new graf; minor editingbelow to conform
By SONYA ROSS
Associated Press Writer
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. (AP) _ As chaos unhinged New York and Washington, President Bush deplored the acts of ``a faceless coward'' and commanded the United States military to high-alert status worldwide.
``The resolve of our great nation is being tested. But make no mistake, we will show the world that we will pass this test,'' Bush declared Tuesday as terrorist strikes on the nation's centers of commerce and government forced him into virtual hiding. He was secreted between military installations here and in Nebraska.
The United States received no warning of the attacks on the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center towers, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. For now, Bush was concerned about the victims, not any failure of U.S. intelligence.
``First things first,'' Fleischer said. ``There will come an appropriate time to do all appropriate look-backs. His focus is on events this morning.''
Bush considered making a televised address to the nation Tuesday night after joining by teleconference a meeting of his National Security Council in Washington.
``Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended,'' he said from this tightly guarded Louisiana air base.
With the White House itself under threat of attack, the president's whereabouts were kept secret. He made a brief statement from a conference room here, assuring Americans that he is in regular contact with his command post in Washington: Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the White House national security team.
``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,'' Bush said, his back to a pair of American flags and the portraits of Air Force leaders.
``We have been in touch with the leaders of Congress and with world leaders to assure them that we will do whatever is necessary to protect America and Americans.''
He then boarded Air Force One at 1:30 p.m. EDT for a secret destination that turned out to be Offett Air Force Base in Nebraska. From the plane, he telephoned New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
White House officials were sensitive to any appearance that Bush was not at the helm. Fleischer said Bush wanted to be in Washington, where Cheney led the crisis operations center at the White House, but ``he understands that at a time like this, caution must be taken'' with his location.
The president lingered in Louisiana for just 90 minutes. Military fighter jets escorted his arrival from Florida where he had intended to make an education speech.
At the first reports of attacks on New York's World Trade Center, Bush told his Sarasota elementary school audience that he was hastening back to Washington. All of that immediately changed _ and he was diverted to Louisiana _ when a plane slammed into the Pentagon, and Washington, too, was under attack.
Secret Service agents took the extraordinary step of ``sweeping'' White House aides for explosives and weapons before they were allowed to board the president's plane for his flight out of Sarasota.
On Capitol Hill, first lady Laura Bush, who was to have made her debut testifying before the Senate on education, tried to soothe a horrified nation.
``Parents need to reassure their children everywhere in our country that they're safe,'' she said grim-faced as she and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., announced their hearing was postponed.
Mrs. Bush and a handful of aides were whisked by motorcade straight to a safe and secret location away from the White House, which had been evacuated but for the small corps of foreign policy advisers who manned the basement Situation Room.
Mrs. Bush and her sequestered group huddled around a single TV in their hide-out and channel-surfed for the latest news, according to one person in the group. She spoke with her husband by a secure military phone line before he took off from Sarasota, Fla., and also checked with her twin daughters at college to make sure they were safe.
Fleischer said the 19-year-old girls, Barbara at Yale University and Jenna at the University of Texas, were also moved to secure locations.
___
Associated Press writer Sandra Sobieraj contributed to this report from Washington.
AP-CS-09-11-01 1541EDT
Japan's prime minister orders heightened security at U.S. bases after attack
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note RECASTS throughout to UPDATE with forces in Okinawa going onalert, Korean statement.
TOKYO (AP) _ U.S. military bases in Japan went on alert and Japanese police were ordered to tighten security outside their gates following a series of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, officials said Wednesday.
On the southern island of Okinawa, home to more than half of the 47,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan, military television and radio bulletins announced that all units had been ordered to the highest of five states of alert.
A U.S. military spokesman in Tokyo confirmed that tighter security measures had been taken by base authorities around the country but declined to provide details.
``We are increasing force protection levels but obviously I won't talk about any specific actions we are taking at the moment,'' said Col. Jeanette Minnich, director of public affairs for U.S. Forces Japan.
Meanwhile, Japan's prime minister instructed senior police and defense officials to increase security around U.S. bases.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave the order after assembling members of his Cabinet at his official residence late Tuesday for an emergency meeting to discuss the incidents, his spokesman said.
``He has instructed security authorities to give the utmost vigilance to the American presence in Japan, including American forces,'' said Deputy Press Secretary Tsutomu Himeno.
A spokesman for the National Police Agency said on condition of anonymity that the order for tighter security had been passed along to local police stations but added that it was unclear what measures had been taken so far.
In Yokota, home to a large U.S. air base 33 kilometers (21 miles) west of Tokyo, local police dispatched a riot control vehicle and two patrol cars, said spokesman Kazuo Ishizuka.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Chief Yasuo Fukuda said at a news conference early Wednesday that there were no reports of disturbances at U.S. bases.
Two planes smashed into the World Trade Center in New York on Tuesday morning, and an aircraft also crashed at the U.S. Defense Department in what was seen as a coordinated attack.
Koizumi also sent a message to U.S. President George W. Bush in which he said he was ``shocked'' by news of the apparent attacks and expressed his sympathies to the American people.
In neighboring South Korea, where 37,000 U.S. troops are based, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement denouncing the assault.
``The government and people of the Republic of (South) Korea strongly condemn the heinous terrorist attacks on major U.S. facilities such as the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon,'' the statement said.
South Korea's National Policy Agency strengthened security around the U.S. Embassy in downtown Seoul and other U.S. facilities around South Korea, said Kim Sang-kyong, a police spokesman.
Last Friday, the U.S. State Department expanded to Japan and South Korea a worldwide terrorist warning issued in June. (gs-ss-kh)
AP-CS-09-11-01 1541EDT
Federal lawmakers say attacks are evidence of vulnerability
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:40
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note AMs. LEADS throughout to ADD additional comment.
By MALIA RULON
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Members of Ohio's congressional delegation said apparent terrorist attacks in New York and Washington were evidence of our nation's vulnerability.
``It's hard to comprehend the gravity of this and the tragedy of this,'' Sen. Mike DeWine said from an apartment about 10 blocks from the Capitol.
``This was a sneak attack on the heart of the United States that was not prevented,'' he said.
``It was a well-coordinated attack. It demonstrates the sophistication of our enemies and the ability of our enemies to inflect incomprehensible damage on the United States.''
There was no official comment on who was responsible for planes crashing into the into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.
``Our enemies today are more elusive and they are harder to identify and they have the potential to strike really anywhere in the United States,'' said DeWine, R-Ohio, who is a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. ``You're going to see a mighty effort by the United States to go after and identify the terrorists and destroy them and eliminate them. This is war. We have to react accordingly.''
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on National Security, said ``America will have to respond.''
``I'm just praying for our country, for the people that have been killed and injured,'' he said.
Rep. Steve Chabot said the attacks represented ``a declaration of war against our nation.''
Rep. Pat Tiberi called Tuesday ``one of the saddest days of our history as a nation.''
``You have to question U.S. intelligence efforts at this point. Obviously, there was a break down,'' said Tiberi, a Republican. ``You certainly have to find out what happened.''
Republican Sen. George Voinovich said resources must be available to prevent any similar attacks.
Also, ``We must identify those who committed these cowardly acts _ as well as those who encourage them through actions or silence _ and make them fully pay for their crimes,'' he said.
Rep. Tony Hall, D-Ohio, said the United States ``must spare no effort or expense in tracking down these terrorists and bringing them to justice before the entire world. If we allow innocent American civilians to be targeted without making the perpetrators pay, we invite further attacks.''
Rep. Paul Gillmor, R-Ohio, said he was in his office when news reports of the New York crashes were broadcast.
``My first reaction was concern about the safety of the people,'' Gillmor said from an apartment about a mile from the Pentagon.
Rep. Tom Sawyer said he and his staff were watching news reports when the Pentagon was hit.
``We were watching New York on the television and the Pentagon out the rear window,'' Sawyer said from an apartment near the Capitol. ``It has an almost cinematic quality to it exempt that it's live and in real time and with real people and real places involved.''
Sawyer, a Democrat, said the attacks are an indication that ``no nation is safe.''
``It's an act of war against the United States of America. Except, unlike Pearl Harbor, we don't even know who the cowards who perpetrated this terror are _ yet,'' he said.
Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, called the attacks ``the most tragic event that has occurred in my lifetime.''
``It's obviously an attack on everything that we hold dear as a country,'' he said.
``This has the capacity to change the way we live our lives in this country,'' he said. ``I don't think we will ever feel as secure as we have in the past.''
AP-CS-09-11-01 1532EDT
Sports events canceled in wake of attacks
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:40
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note UPDATES with women's soccer tournament canceled
By RON BLUM
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Sports events were canceled across the United States Tuesday in the wake of deadly terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Major League Baseball postponed its entire schedule of 15 games, while the minor leagues, their regular season over, postponed postseason games in all nine leagues that were to play Tuesday.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig made the decision about 3 1/2 hours after the attacks began in New York.
``In the interest of security and out of a sense of deep mourning for the national tragedy that has occurred today, all major league baseball games for today have been canceled,'' Selig said in a statement. ``My deepest sympathy and prayers go out to the families and victims of this horrendous series of events.''
It was other the fourth time the major leagues postponed an entire day's schedule, aside from labor strife or weather, according Scot Mondore of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The others were Aug. 2, 1923, when President Warren G. Harding died; June 6, 1944, when Allied forces invaded France in World War II; and April 14, 1945, two days after the death of President Roosevelt.
Yankee Stadium, perhaps the building that most symbolizes American sports, was evacuated within 90 minutes of the first attacks on the World Trade Center.
Government officials increased security outside the 78-year-old ballpark, located in the South Bronx, more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the World Trade Center.
``The ballpark is ringed with police,'' Yankees spokesman Rick Cerrone said after leaving his office.
The PGA Tour canceled Thursday's starts of the World Golf Championship and two other tournaments.
Commissioner Tim Finchem said the American Express Championship in St. Louis, featuring Tiger Woods and top players from tours around the world, would begin Friday with 36 holes.
``This is a sad, sad day in America,'' Woods said after playing a practice round, which he began about two hours before the initial attack on the World Trade Center.
The Tampa Bay Classic will open with 18 holes each on Friday and Saturday and a 36-hole conclusion. The same schedule has been applied to the Buy.com Tour event in Oregon.
With air traffic shut across the country, several golfers were unable to get to St. Louis. Among those stranded were PGA champion David Toms, Phil Mickelson and Davis Love III.
In hockey, the Toronto Maple Leafs postponed their trip to training camp in Newfoundland after Canadian airports grounded all outgoing flights.
Major League Soccer postponed all four games that had been scheduled for Wednesday night, while a women's soccer tournament in Columbia, Ohio, that involved national teams from the United States, Japan, Germany and China, was canceled.
The National Football League was mulling whether to postpone this weekend's schedule.
``Regarding Sunday's games, we will make no decision today,'' league spokesman Joe Browne said. ``We'll gather information and speak to several parties within the next 24 to 48 hours.''
In Nyon, Switzerland, the Union of European Football Associations said this week's games will take place as scheduled despite the terrorist attacks.
The Swiss-based International Olympic Committee expressed a ``profound sense of shock and disbelief'' at the attacks.
IOC president Jacques Rogge expressed ``deepest sympathy'' to the families of the victims and sent letters of condolence to President Bush, the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Salt Lake City Organizing Committee.
The 2002 Winter Olympics are to be held in Salt Lake City in February.
AP-CS-09-11-01 1531EDT
Experts suspect Osama bin Laden, accused architect of world's worst terrorist attacks
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:39
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photo Advisory ISL101, NY185
By KATHY GANNON
Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ Highly coordinated and unprecedented in scale, Tuesday's attacks in the United States called to mind the man suspected of orchestrating some of the world's worst terrorist acts: Osama bin Laden.
No one has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attacks, and the Afghan government which plays host to bin Laden rejected speculation he was involved. One expert cautioned against assuming bin Laden could pull off such a complex operation.
But other experts said the millionaire Saudi exile was the most likely suspect.
``I can think of only one person who could pull this off'' _ bin Laden, said Harvey Kushner, a terrorism expert at Long Island University in New York.
``When you think of the coordination this took, it's historic. When you think of the measures that will have to be put into place to ratchet up security in the United States, it's monumental,'' Kushner said in New York. ``This opens up a new era in the history of terrorism.''
A London-based Arab journalist said Tuesday that bin Laden's followers warned his newspaper by telephone three weeks ago of a major attack.
``They said it would be a huge and unprecedented attack but they did not specify,'' said Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper.
The callers had made similar threats previously ``but this time it seems his people were accurate and meant every word they said,'' he said in London.
But the Taliban, Afghanistan's ruling Islamic militia, said bin Laden lacks the resources for such an operation.
``We have tried our best in the past _ and we are willing in the future _ to assure the United States in any kind of way we can that Osama is not involved in these kinds of activities,'' Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil said in Kabul.
Anthony Cordesman, a terrorism expert from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, warned against assuming bin Laden is to blame.
``There is a level of sophistication and coordination that no counterterrorism expert had ever previously anticipated, and we don't have a group that we can immediately identify that has this kind of capability,'' he said.
The United States has called bin Laden the architect of some of the worst acts of terrorism against Americans: the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa and last year's bombing of the USS Cole.
The FBI has a $5 million bounty on bin Laden's head. The State Department calls him ``one of the most significant sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world today.''
Stripped of his Saudi citizenship, bin Laden has been hiding for five years in Afghanistan under Taliban protection.
He has repeatedly called on Muslims worldwide to join in a jihad, or holy war, and has declared war on the United States in religious edicts faxed to the outside world. All U.S. citizens are legitimate targets, he has said.
``I'm fighting so I can die a martyr and go to heaven to meet God. Our fight now is against the Americans,'' bin Laden was once quoted by Al-Quds Al-Arabi as saying.
Last spring, bin Laden instructed activists attending a Muslim convention in Afghanistan to prepare the next generation for the jihad.
``Issue a call to the young generation to get ready for the holy war and to prepare for that in Afghanistan because jihad in this time of crisis for Muslims is an obligation of all Muslims,'' he said in a statement read at the May gathering.
Bin Laden's group met earlier this year with the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad and the Egyptian al-Gamma al-Islamiya ``to put in place a common strategy against the United States,'' Middle East expert Antoine Sfeir noted Tuesday, citing European intelligence sources.
But if he is involved, bin Laden and his followers probably acted alone Tuesday, Sfeir said in Paris.
``Bin Laden is the one with the financial means and the human needs and the logistic means,'' Sfeir said.
Bin Laden came to prominence fighting alongside the U.S.-backed Afghan mujahedeen _ holy warriors _ in their war against Soviet troops in the 1980s.
But former friends and followers say he turned against the United States during the Gulf War, and began campaigning against America from Saudi Arabia.
Disowned by his family, bin Laden _ believed to be in his 40s _ is said to have moved in early 1996 with a band of followers to Afghanistan, where is allegedly operates several training camps.
Earlier this summer, a federal jury in New York convicted four alleged bin Laden associates in connection with the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa, also a coordinated attack.
In retaliation for the bombings, President Clinton ordered missile strikes on bin Laden's suspected hide-out, and Washington and the United Nations have exerted diplomacy and sanctions to get Afghanistan to hand him over.
It refuses, saying the United States has no evidence linking bin Laden to terrorism.
___
On the Net:
http://www.dssrewards.net/english/Bin_Laden.htm
AP-CS-09-11-01 1529EDT
Shares prices collapse, oil and gold soar in reaction to U.S.
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:39
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note UPDATES in graf 16 with OPEC secretary general pledgingsupport for price stability
By BRUCE STANLEY
AP Business Writer
LONDON (AP) _ Shocked investors sent European share prices into a free fall and panic buying caused oil and gold prices to soar in response to the terrorist bombings Tuesday in New York and Washington.
The London Stock Exchange evacuated its headquarters in the city's financial district as a precaution against a possible attack, although a spokesman said trading was continuing at an undisclosed alternative site.
The International Petroleum Exchange suspended trading of crude oil and refined products for an hour to catch up on an unusually heavy volume of transactions, while gold trading on the city's bullion market fizzled earlier in the afternoon.
Investors dumped shares on all major regional stock markets on news of the bombings, and stocks _ already battered from several days of heavy selling _ plunged further through the afternoon. Among the biggest losers were stocks in insurance companies and airlines, after hijacked passenger planes plowed into both towers of the World Trade Center.
``It's a disaster. It throws the whole market background into chaos ... Banks, insurers will fall the most _ anything that's exposed,'' said Mike Lenhoff, a portfolio strategist at London brokerage Gerrard.
``The tragedy postpones recovery and continues to put pressure on corporate profits.'' he said.
The FTSE 100 index of British blue chip shares closed down 5.7 percent from Monday's close to 4746.0. British Airways, which canceled its remaining flights to the United States after the attacks, was the biggest loser on the London exchange, diving 21 percent.
The Deutsche Boerse's Xetra DAX index of leading German shares plummeted twice that far, by 11.4 percent, to 4,137.43, before recovering somewhat to close the day 8.5 percent lower at 4273.53.
The Paris Stock Exchange's CAC 40 index tumbled 7.4 percent to 4,059.75.
The Mib30 index in Milan, Italy, finished the day at its lowest closing level since October 17, 1998 _ down 7.7 percent at 29,112. Trading of 10 Italian stocks, including Pirelli, Telecom Italia and Banca Fideuram, was suspended after they neared a loss limit of 10 percent for the day.
European insurance companies, some of which would face claims from damage due to the bombings, fell sharply in Europe. In Zurich, Swiss Re shares fell 13 percent, Baloise declined 11.1 percent and Swiss Life slipped 7.8 percent.
The world's largest reinsurance company, Munich Re of Germany, said it too could face large claims. ``But the group is adequately prepared to bear such events even of this dimension,'' company spokesman Rainer Kuppers said.
Contracts of North Sea Brent crude oil for October delivery shot up dlrs 3.60 to dlrs 31.05 per barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange, before the exchange suspended trading for a half hour. The suspension was later extended to an hour, as staff struggled to process the large volume of trades booked after the spate of bombings.
The October Brent price settled back to finish at dlrs 29.06 a barrel after trading resumed.
The IPE took 110,378 orders until it suspended trading at 1450 GMT. By contrast, traders placed 70,230 orders for all of Monday, IPE spokeswoman Jenny McLaughlin said.
OPEC would do its part to keep oil prices stable, said the organization's secretary general, Ali Rodriguez. ``We will do everything possible, everything in our power, to maintain stability,'' said Rodriguez said in a radio interview in Caracas, Venezuela.
Gold surged along with oil. Trading grew thin after the Comex Commodity Exchange division of the New York Mercantile Exchange closed in the United States.
``Some trading houses decided to stop quoting at that point,'' said Suzanne Capano, a spokeswoman for the London Bullion Market Association, an industry group of gold traders.
The price of gold was later fixed at dlrs 287 per troy ounce _ a jump of dlrs 15.50 from Monday afternoon.
Trading on the London Stock Exchange continued at an unspecified location after LSE evacuated its headquarters building, Exchange Tower, in the heart of London's financial district.
``In response to events unfolding in the U.S., the London Stock Exchange is evacuating Exchange Tower as a precaution. We have contingency arrangements in place, which means that we will continue to run the market through to the close,'' spokesman John Wallace said.
He refused to say for how long the exchange planned to operate at its temporary location.
Some banks and companies based at Canary Wharf, a center of London's financial services industry, let their employees leave work early, said Sarah Marrington, a spokesman for Canary Wharf Group PLC, which owns and manages the site.
Among them was U.S. financial services firm Bear, Stearns.
(bs-rb)
AP-CS-09-11-01 1529EDT
Muslim-Americans fear backlash; clergy hold prayer services after terrorists attack
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:22
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Muslims worried about a possible backlash against them after Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, while clergy from other denominations urged their congregations to pray for the dead.
Gahzi Khankan, a Muslim leader, said he has been here before, sitting in his home watching TV images of a building turned to dust _ the federal building in Oklahoma City.
On Tuesday, he recalled the attacks against his fellow Muslims after that 1995 bombing by disgruntled Army veteran Timothy McVeigh. The Council on American-Islamic Relations says more than 200 Arab- and Muslim-Americans were victimized.
``Please do not start speculating and pointing the finger at us,'' said Khankan, a New York leader of the council.
The Islamic Association of Raleigh, N.C., and other groups representing Muslim- and Arab-Americans in that city, shut down a mosque and closed an Islamic school after receiving anonymous threats, said Wael Masri, an association member.
``There's a sense of fear, of panic,'' Masri said.
Arshad Majid, a member of the Islamic Center of Long Island, said Islam _ like Christianity and Judaism _ condemns both suicide and hurting civilians.
``We're concerned that the actions of a small number of extremists is likely to paint with a very broad brush the large population of God-fearing, peace-loving Muslims in America,'' he said.
Between 6 million and 7 million Americans consider themselves Muslim, according to a study released in April by professor Ihsan Bagby of Shaw University in Raleigh.
Several Muslims have been convicted in high-profile terrorist acts in the United States, such as the previous bombing of the World Trade Center and a shooting spree outside the CIA offices in Virginia, both in 1993.
Too many Americans equate those acts by individuals with Islam, said Sheik T.J. Al-Awani, president of the School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Va.
``Muslims in this country would think this is unacceptable,'' Al-Awani said. ``I can't accept anything against any American citizen. I'm Muslim. I'm also American. I love America.''
Clergy from other denominations joined Muslims in condemning the attack, and organized special prayer services nationwide.
Bishop Kenneth Angell of Vermont urged Roman Catholic parishes in his state to pray for the dead. In Washington, Catholic bishops held a Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
David Harris, executive director of American Jewish Committee, said staff at his New York office left to donate blood, went to hospitals to volunteer and searched for relatives who remained missing.
Archbishop Edward O'Brien, who leads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the military, was in an annual retreat in Washington with 50 armed services chaplains when word of the attacks reached them.
``We had one priest at Fort Meyer, who was told, `Come back. The bodies are coming in,''' O'Brien said.
AP-CS-09-11-01 1511EDT
Heightened security imposed on federal, military installations
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:21
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note UPDATES throughout with effect on fire aircraft, governor'squotes, security heightened at INEEL.
By DAN GALLAGHER
Associated Press Writer
BOISE, Idaho (AP) _ Heightened security was initiated in federal buildings statewide and the gates were closed to nonmilitary visitors at the Mountain Home Air Force Base on Tuesday following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, the country's control center for fire suppression, was considering how the ban on domestic flights could affect its operations.
A University of Idaho expert on terrorism said the perpetrators in the explosions succeeded by shutting down Wall Street, much of federal government and air traffic.
``This is exactly what terrorism is designed to do,'' said Rand Lewis, director of the Martin Institute for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution at the university. ``It paralyzes what Americans think are sacred and it occurred with impugnity.''
Security was strengthened at all federal buildings across Idaho, said the U.S. Marshal's Office in Boise. But most remained open on Tuesday.
``Trials are still being conducted, the courts are still being conducted. The system is operating,'' said Jim Benham, U.S. marshal for Idaho.
The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory continued to run, but security was beefed up at the entrances.
``All employees are working under security procedures and must obey security officers' requests,'' site spokeswoman Leanne Medema said. ``All vehicles entering the INEEL are searched and package mail is being interrupted. We have reduced business by nonemployees to the site.''
Military installations were placed on a ``high-alert'' status.
Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said he has spoken with Gen. Gary Sayler, the acting adjutant general for the state, and the National Guard facility at Gowen Field near Boise has been ordered to that status.
The gates at Mountain Home Air Force Base were closed to everyone except for military personnel and their families, said Tech. Sgt. Terry Hunter, a base spokesman.
``The only information we have is we're at heightened vigilance because of this,'' he said.
``It would appear from all indications that the United States is under attack,'' Kempthorne said. ``The scenes we are seeing, and when you speculate about the massive loss of life, it is horrifying. The World Trade Center has been demolished, the Pentagon has been attacked, and the White House has been evacuated. It's incredible what is taking place.''
Firefighting aircraft also are affected by the nationwide grounding of planes, said Janelle Smith at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.
She said some areas might be exempt, but she was not certain.
``Like everybody else, we are in the process of assessing the situation for how we'll be impacted by the nationwide grounding,'' she said.
There were 78 aircraft, both fixed-wing and helicopters, assigned to fires on Tuesday.
U.S. Sens. Larry Craig and Michael Crapo closed their Washington offices and sent staff home.
``In this nation, any attack committed on our soil is an act of war,'' Craig said. ``Although we do not yet know who is responsible for today's attack, be assured, the United States will seek them out and respond with a vengeance.''
``I appreciate the efforts of the many state and local officials and businesses that working very hard as we speak to prevent more of these attacks and to help with recovery efforts,'' Crapo said.
Lewis was headed east to consult with federal officials on the attacks, but was stranded in Moscow. He teaches classes on terrorism at the University of Idaho and Washington State University.
He said he was worried about the attitude of the American people if the violence was perpetuated by a Middle Eastern terrorist group.
``This is not the Arabs, not the Muslims,'' he said. ``We have a huge Muslim population in this country which is very supportive of the United States.''
Lewis said airlines flights into the United States undergo sophisticated security checks but domestic flights often have nothing more than metal detectors which may not be sensitive enough.
Considering the air highjackings decades ago, Lewis said that transportation security will likely be intensified.
AP-WS-09-11-01 1511EDT
Attack shuts down train, plane travel in Connecticut
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By DIANE SCARPONI
Associated Press Writer
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) _ The terrorism attacks in New York City stranded Connecticut commuters desperate to get home and stalled traffic at airports, train stations and highways statewide Tuesday.
Metro North Railroad service to and from New York was suspended for a time; later, only northbound trains were running.
Stranded at New Haven's Union Station, Lili Packer wept as she worried about her daughter, Stacey, who works only a few blocks from the World Trade Center.
Stacey Packer called her mother to say a plane had crashed into the center, but by late morning Lili Packer had not heard from her since.
The elder Packer lives in New York and had not heard from her husband, either.
``If I just knew they were OK,'' she said, crying. ``I really just want to know that my family is OK.''
The 113 scheduled flights at Bradley International Airport were halted, as at airports all over the country.
A family from Sydney, Australia, visiting Connecticut for a wedding last weekend was unable to fly to Washington as planned. Jan and Blair Hostetler and their son, Mark, had to reclaim the six large suitcases they had already checked for the flight.
``This happens in other places but not here,'' Jan Hostetler said. ``This reads like a novel.''
Later, after checking into an airport hotel, they heard from a daughter who was worried about their safety. Blair Hostetler reassured her that everyone was OK.
Then he became quiet.
``My good luck is someone else's tragedy,'' he said.
Julie and Chuck Caldwell, scheduled to take a flight to Anchorage, Alaska, said they would have to explain the delay to their 3-year-old son, Paul _ and explain why he would have to throw away his water pistol so they could get through airport security.
Gov. John G. Rowland called the incident ``our country's worst nightmare, the most horrific moment in all of our lives.''
He said all road construction on state highways has been suspended, and the usual number of state troopers on patrol was doubled.
Doug Falkenburg, who lives in the Battery Park area near the World Trade Center, said he was on the telephone when he heard a crash.
He thought an airplane had crashed into the river, then saw people staring at the buildings.
Falkenburg said he went to the school his children attend and saw the second airplane hit the tower.
``There was a huge explosion. A huge ball of fire coming out of it. It was terrible. I saw somebody jump out of the tower. People were crying, in tears,'' Falkenburg said.
He decided to take the children by train to their house in Massachusetts for the time being.
``I just figured I better get out of this thing,'' he said at the New Haven station.
___
Associated Press reporter Kathryn Masterson contributed to this report.
AP-ES-09-11-01 1505EDT
Maryland declares state of emergency after terrorism attacks in NY
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note AMs
By DOUGLAS KIKER
Associated Press Writer
BALTIMORE (AP) _ Maryland declared a state of emergency Tuesday in the wake of devastating terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Officials closed all but vital state and local offices, and clamped down on security statewide.
Gov. Parris Glendening and top staff evacuated the State House complex and traveled to the Reisterstown headquarters of the Maryland Emergency Management Agency.
Public safety officials were on a ``heightened state of alert'' and the governor urged citizens to avoid panicking.
``Marylanders should remain calm, follow the instructions of public safety officials and come together _ as all Americans do in times of crisis _ and do all they can to help our friends and neighbors in need,'' Glendening said.
Glendening said state officials received from a federal agency several days ago a ``threat list'' of targeted sites, which included the State House in Annapolis.
A few Maryland facilities were on the list, said the governor, who would not elaborate, noting it would be inappropriate to name them while state officials were still securing them. He also declined to identify the agency that provided the list.
All state workers _ except for emergency, public safety and critical transportation officials _ were sent home, Glendening spokesman Mike Morrill said. The governor authorized counties statewide to shut down schools at their discretion.
At Andrews Air Force Base, officials instituted ``Increased Force Protection,'' which means extra security measures were enacted, base spokesman Bobby Jones said.
Fort Detrick, home to the Army's main germ warfare laboratory, was placed on ``Force Protection Condition Alpha,'' spokesman Charles Dasey said. Police at the gates stopped cars without identification stickers and even searched some with stickers.
Authorities at Aberdeen Proving Grounds said the military ordnance testing facility was on heightened alert. The base's two military airfields at the proving grounds operated during the day, spokesman George Mercer said.
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley said the city took steps to ward off any further terrorist attacks.
``We are taking every precaution to prepare our city as best as any city can be prepared for something like this,'' O'Malley said.
Dump trucks formed barriers around City Hall, and streets across the city were closed off to prevent a possible car-bombing attack, officials said. Route 83 south of St. Paul Street also was closed to keep it clear for emergency personnel, police commissioner Edward Norris said.
Quick response team members wearing riot gear and carrying submachine guns were positioned around downtown Baltimore as a precaution, Norris said.
``There have been no direct threats to Baltimore, but people are starting to get very antsy and edgy,'' Norris said.
The Federal Aviation Administration shut down airports nationwide Tuesday. Baltimore-Washington International Airport accepted incoming flights already in the air when the shutdown was announced but it did not allow planes to depart, spokeswoman April Thompson said.
All train and bus traffic in and out of Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore was stopped.
At BWI, Victor Burford, 55, of Toledo, Ohio, was about to board his flight to Cleveland when news of the attacks spread through the airport. He and other stranded travelers gathered around televisions showing disaster scenes.
``I'm dumbfounded about it,'' Burford said. ``It's a horrible disaster.''
All over Maryland, officials stepped up security at potentially vulnerable sites.
The state Department of General Services police were placed on ``heightened security status,'' spokesman Dave Humphrey said. State government buildings were restricted to employees only, he said.
The agency coordinated its efforts with the state police and with the executive protective division, which is in charge of security for Glendening and Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Security was increased at Constellation Energy Group's Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, spokesman Karl Neddenien said. Plant supervisors were in touch with federal authorities, Neddenien said, and took additional security and safety measures.
Federal government offices in the Maryland suburbs of Washington closed for the day and all employees were told to leave their offices immediately.
The campus of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis was shut down, with no one allowed to leave or enter the grounds.
In Montgomery County, one of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Search and Rescue Teams was activated, county fire spokesman Pete Piringer said.
The team sent five medic units to Arlington, Va. to assist federal officials, and the search and rescue team has gone to the Pentagon where a plane crashed into the military headquarters, said Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan.
AP-ES-09-11-01 1505EDT
Hundreds of thousands stream out of Manhattan by foot
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:13
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photo Advisory Y
By RICHARD PYLE
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Throngs of stunned New Yorkers fled Manhattan by foot, streaming across bridges and flowing northward along avenues in a great tide of humanity following attacks on the World Trade Center.
Office workers began filling the Brooklyn Bridge minutes after the first airplane slammed into the buildings. They looked back in horror as first the south tower and then the north tower collapsed in huge clouds of smoke.
With all public transportation shut down and the southern tip of Manhattan closed to traffic, New York's avenues soon became rivers of pedestrians.
``How do I get back to the Bronx?'' said Tim Chung, 47, an employee of the New York-New Jersey Port Authority, who walked down 64 floors after the first plane crashed into floors above his office.
From a passerby, the answer came: ``Walk.''
On the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge, Hasidic Jews from a local synagogue stood in the burning sun in black garb, handing out cups of water to tired refugees. One man gave out free Italian ice. On one bridge, pedestrians helped an elderly woman over a fence separating a roadway.
The Rev. Distefano Simeon, the pastor of St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Greenwich Village, stood on the corner of Green and Houston streets watching the passing crowd with amazement.
``Which way to the Brooklyn Bridge?'' asked a woman.
``That way,'' Simeon said. ``But it's a long way. You've got a lot of walking to do.''
Simeon, like everyone else, was trying to grapple with the enormity of the disaster that had struck his city.
``The degree of hatred must have been incredible. And the degree of planning,'' he said. ``I can't believe this.''
Another priest, John Cassese, stopped by to report that throngs were at St. Vincent's hospital offering to give blood. ``There must be 3,000 or 4,000 people over there,'' he said.
As the exodus continued, reporters, photographers and rescue volunteers tried to fight their way back through the tide.
One of them, a hulking construction worker with goggles and hardhat who identified himself only as Mike, said a tour in Vietnam had not prepared him for the shock of the terrorist attack.
``I just want to try to get over there and help some people if I can,'' he said, and he disappeared into the throng.
AP-ES-09-11-01 1502EDT
State emergency center activated; many workers sent home amid heightened security
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:03
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note AMs
By ROBERT O'NEILL
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) _ Workers and tourists abandoned city landmarks and state buildings to an eerie quiet, and acting Gov. Jane Swift moved to the state emergency bunker after terrorist attacks Tuesday on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Two planes originating from Boston were apparently hijacked and crashed into the twin towers. Both towers crumbled after massive explosions and scores were believed dead.
``It's an unspeakable tragedy,'' Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said. ``It cuts to the heart of all of us. Life in America has changed forever.''
One plane was American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked after takeoff from Boston en route to Los Angeles. Ninety-two people were on board, including the pilot, John Ogonowski, 52, of Dracut.
United Airlines officials said that Flight 175, bound from Boston to Los Angeles, also crashed. United's pilots union said Flight 175 hit the Trade Center but the airline did not immediately confirm that.
Acting Gov. Jane Swift called the attack an assault on democracy, and rebuffed an attempt by Secretary of State William Galvin to suspend Tuesday's special primary in the 9th Congressional District, to fill the seat of the late U.S. Rep. Joe Moakley.
``We will not bend to the terror that has been inflicted on our citizens and our nation,'' said Swift, speaking from bunker, a Cold War relic in Framingham. ``The election will continue.''
The airport was evacuated for a security sweep, and relatives of those believed on board the flights were taken to a nearby hotel.
Most of the state's 55,000 state employees were sent home, and the 1,500 state-owned buildings around the state were locked and secured with extra police, said Vin Cirigliano, deputy superintendent of state office buildings.
Several colleges closed or canceled evening classes.
Boston police moved to high-profile areas in the city, such as City Hall, which was evacuated. The U.S. Coast Guard set up barricades around the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor.
Menino ordered the historic Faneuil Hall closed as part of a citywide order closing all government buildings.
The popular Quincy Market hosted only small clusters of tourists and workers at the lunch hour while the normally bustling streets of the financial district held just scattered pedestrians and cars.
``We're supposed to be the greatest country in the world, but these terrorist groups still do this,'' said Frank Evans, as he watched the horror on a wall of televisions at E-Trade in Boston. ``Why did thousands of people have to die?''
All state courts and federal buildings were closed. Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford and Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee were put on alert. In Springfield, the federal building was evacuated.
``Now I appreciate the feeling people had at Pearl Harbor, the outrage,'' Rep. Frank Hynes, D-Marshfield, said as his staff was evacuating the Statehouse.
A flood of emergency calls after the crashes overwhelmed the state's cellular 911 system, according to State Police Lt. Paul Maloney.
``We are asking people not to use cellular 911,'' he said. ``Emergency calls may be lost as a result of these people using cellular 911.''
Both confusion and a strange calm were evident in the terminals at Logan International Airport immediately after the attack.
Mark Pratt, an Associated Press reporter, was on the taxiway in an American Airlines plane headed for London on Tuesday morning when the pilot announced the plane was returning to the gate because of a security issue. Passengers later discovered what happened.
``A few people started crying when they heard what happened,'' Pratt said. ``Most people were just in shock, basically saying, ``Thank God it wasn't our plane.''
Two of Boston's tallest buildings, the Hancock and Prudential towers, were evacuated, as were several in the financial district. Some workers said they were being sent home because trading had shut down in New York. Others said they evacuated because of fear over similar attacks.
``Everyone's petrified,'' said Jeff Leerink, president of an investment banking firm in Boston, as he and his 140 workers left their building. ``I have a sick feeling in my stomach.''
Scores of people waited in line at area blood banks.
In downtown Boston, residents were transfixed by the reports of the tragedy.
``We've never lived through anything like this, our generation,'' said a teary-eyed Jennifer Blaise, 23, as she drank coffee at the Pour House, a bar across from the Prudential Center. ``I think everybody here has shed some tears.''
AP-ES-09-11-01 1453EDT
Attacks prompt state of emergency across Virginia
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 15:02
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note COMBINES urgent series; ADDS details; minor editing
Photo Advisory Y
By BOB LEWIS
Associated Press Writer
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Gov. Jim Gilmore declared a state of emergency Tuesday after attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, giving him power to instantly mobilize military and police forces statewide.
Gilmore said there was no threat to Virginia that prompted the declaration. The step was taken to allow the governor to instantly dispatch the state's police, National Guard and emergency personnel just as he would in response to devastating storm.
``The people of Virginia should remain calm about this. There is no direct threat to the commonwealth that we are aware of,'' Gilmore said during a news conference.
The governor acted after a wave of attacks against preeminent national financial and military structures, including the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Arlington. Gilmore heads a federal anti-terrorism panel that concluded that such an attack was a high probability and that the nation was woefully unprepared for dealing with it.
``We will over the next days and weeks begin to absorb the human tragedy involved here,'' Gilmore said. ``This is the world we live in, and it is a very, very dangerous world and there are a lot of people who are not friends with this country.''
Gilmore put 300 Virginia Guard troops _ mostly medics, military police and engineers _ on active duty and put the entire Virginia National Guard on heightened alert. That includes a squadron of Guard F-16 fighter jets based at Richmond International Airport, an administration source said.
Security was tightened around the state's military bases in Hampton Roads, including the Norfolk Naval Station, the world's largest. Security was also heavy at the massive ports in Hampton Roads, one of the nation's major shipping gateways.
Gilmore closed all northbound lanes of Interstate 395 from the from the Capital Beltway into Washington and closed the George Washington Parkway. Both are major freeways that pass near the Pentagon.
Security was tightened at the state Capitol and state office buildings nearby, but most state workers remained on duty. Only state workers in buildings that share space with federal agencies were sent home.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond imposed tight security around its downtown tower, and some private employers such as First Union Bank sent their workers home from their high-rise offices for the day.
Seventy members of Virginia Task Force One, one of only two urban response teams that respond to international disasters, were sent to the Pentagon to help rescue trapped workers.
A similar unit based in Virginia Beach was also pressed into service, though Gilmore said he was not clear whether it would be sent to New York or to the Pentagon.
Authorities were stopping and searching vehicles entering the Hamton Roads and Monitor-Merrimac bridge-tunnels.
In northern Virginia, officials were evacuating office buildings. Masses of people roamed the streets in Rosslyn, talking on cell phones and trying to hail taxis.
The Center for Innovative Technology near Dulles International Airport was also closed because of reports that one of the planes used in the attacks took off from the airport about 25 miles from Washington.
Federal courts in Virgnia shut down Tuesday. Some colleges canceled classes, and others opened counseling centers for students. Many public schools kept students inside, and some canceled after-school activities.
George Washington's Mount Vernon closed, largely because of its proximity to the nation's capital and military bases, spokeswoman Jennifer Saxon said. Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate near Charlottesville, closed ``out of respect for the victims, not out of fear of terrorism,'' said spokesman Wayne Mogielnicki.
Four top executives of the State Corporation Commission were about to enter the South Tower of the World Trade Center when the first attack occurred, said SCC spokesman Ken Schrad. None of them was injured.
Insurance Commissioner Alfred W. Gross, Deputy Insurance Commissioner Mary M. Bannister, Manager of Audits for the Insurance Bureau Earnest L. Johnson III and Senior SCC Counsel Peter B. Smith were on their way to a 9 a.m. meeting on the 54th floor.
The first plane hit the other tower as the four arrived, Schrad said. ``Al (Gross) called in and said, 'We're OK,''' Schrad said.
AP-ES-09-11-01 1450EDT
Northern neighbor accepts international flights bound for United States, tightens border after terror attacks
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 14:59
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By TOM COHEN
Associated Press Writer
OTTAWA (AP) _ Dozens of international flights bound for the United States headed instead to Canada after Tuesday's terrorist attacks, as the northern U.S. neighbor condemned the carnage and tightened security in major cities and along the American border.
A Foreign Affairs spokesman said on condition of not being identified that the border had been sealed, but road traffic continued to cross bridges at Buffalo, New York, and elsewhere.
The Peace Bridge at Buffalo was shut for about 20 minutes, the Canadian Broadcast Corp. reported, then reopened under tight security with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police checkpoint closely searching vehicles headed for the United States.
Airports in eastern Canada accepted planes headed for U.S. destinations but diverted because most U.S. airports were shut down after at least four hijackings that led to the seized airliners crashing into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington and elsewhere.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien, in a written statement, said it was ``impossible to fully comprehend the evil that would have conjured up such a cowardly and depraved assault upon thousands of innocent people.''
``There can be no cause or grievance that could ever justify such unspeakable violence,'' said Chretien, who canceled a trip Tuesday to Halifax, Nova Scotia. ``Indeed, such an attack is an assault not only on the targets but an offense against the freedom and rights of all civilized nations.
``We stand ready to provide any assistance that our American friends may need at this very, very difficult hour and in the subsequent investigation.''
The Canadian military was put on alert and major government and tourist sites, such as Parliament Hill in Ottawa and the CN Tower in Toronto, were closed. The U.S. Embassy in Ottawa also was closed.
At the airport in Ottawa, the Canadian capital, an announcement late Tuesday morning said all flights to the United States had been canceled.
Dozens of unscheduled landings were expected at the Canadian military base at Goose Bay in Labrador, a small community several hundred kilometers (miles) north of Halifax, Nova Scotia, with limited hotel space.
``We filled up two hours ago,'' said Sherry Beaucage, a reservations clerk at the Albatross Motel. ``There's nowhere near the hotel space needed to accommodate them. It's pretty devastating.''
Dozens more diverted flights were expected at the airports in St. John's, Newfoundland; Moncton, New Brunswick; and Halifax, Nova Scotia. A secondary runway at the Halifax airport was closed in order to park the additional aircraft, spokeswoman Karen Sinclair said.
The Toronto International Film Festival, which has attracted major Hollywood figures since opening last week, canceled all events Tuesday.
AP-CS-09-11-01 1438EDT
Wall Street comes to halt on World Trade Center collapse
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 14:53
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note UPDATEs with Wednesday trading to be decided later today;Deutsche Boerse evacuation
By LISA SINGHANIA
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ U.S. securities markets came to a halt Tuesday after a terrorist attack leveled the World Trade Center and left the nation's financial center in chaos.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said all exchanges had decided to close. The announcement followed a suspension of trading on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market. The American Stock Exchange had already decided to close for the day.
``As a safety precaution while the tragic events of today are sorted out, the securities markets have decided not to open for trading today,'' SEC chairman Harvey Pitt said in a statement. ``We strongly support that decision.''
A conference call was scheduled for Tuesday evening to determine whether trading would resume Wednesday. But it was likely it would be days before activity fully resumed because of the devastation of the World Trade Center and the damage caused surrounding businesses by two planes that crashed into the center's twin towers.
The trade center is located a few blocks from the New York Stock Exchange in the area known as the Financial District. Its towers were among the tallest skyscrapers in the world and a distinctive part of the city's skyline prior to their collapse Tuesday morning.
The New York Mercantile Exchange, where energy futures are traded, is in the nearby World Financial Center, which was not directly hit in the plane assault. Additionally, many of the nation's investment firms have at least some of their operations in the area, and the extent of the physical _ and emotional _ wreckage could limit their ability to restart quickly.
The World Trade Center attack and other assaults at the State Department and on the Pentagon in Washington added to the paralysis and terror already engulfing the area.
``The two explosions were incredible and at the point of explosions all you could see outside were personal belongings and office supplies raining outside,'' said Bob Rendine, an American Stock Exchange spokesman, whose office is down the block from the NYSE. ``We're staying here. We think it's safer to stay inside then go outside at this point.''
Thousands of companies sent their employees home for the day, putting tens of thousands of New Yorkers into the streets after public transportation was shut down as a precaution against further attacks.
Business and trading in other parts of the country also were affected. The Chicago Board of Trade suspended all trading. Overseas, the London Stock Exchange evacuated its building but said trade will continue from an alternate site. The Toronto Stock Exchange ended its trading in mid-morning. Taiwan, which is about half a day ahead of the United States, said its markets would be shuttered Wednesday. And the German stock market, the Deutsche Boerse AG, was evacuated due to a bomb scare.
Around the country and world, the investment community was focused on the fate of people working in the World Trade Center affected by the apparent terrorist attacks.
``I'm just worried about people who are there,'' said Robert Harrington, head of listed block trading at UBS Warburg's office in Connecticut.
AP-CS-09-11-01 1448EDT
Taliban condemn attacks in U.S., deny bin Laden's involvement
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 14:49
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note SUBS 10th graf `But Abdul ... ' to ADD that Muttmain isspokesman for the Taliban's leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar
By KATHY GANNON
Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ Afghanistan's hardline Taliban rulers condemned the devastating terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Tuesday and rejected suggestions that Osama bin Laden could be behind them.
``We have tried out best in the past and we are willing in the future to assure the United States in any kind of way we can that Osama is not involved in these kinds of activities,'' the Taliban's foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil told reporters.
Muttawakil said Tuesday's attacks were ``from a humanitarian point of view surely a loss and a very terrifying incident.'' Asked whether the Taliban condemned the attacks on the United States, he said: ``We have criticized and we are now again criticizing terrorism in all its forms.''
Bin Laden, the exiled Saudi millionaire indicted in the United States on charges of masterminding the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998, has lived here since 1996 under the protection of the ruling Taliban religious militia. Washington accuses him of running an international terrorist network.
After Tuesday's attacks, a London-based Arab journalist said followers of bin Laden warned three weeks ago that they would carry out a ``huge and unprecedented attack'' on U.S. interests.
Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said he received a warning from Islamic fundamentalists close to bin Laden, but did not take the threat seriously.
``They said it would be a huge and unprecedented attack but they did not specify,'' Atwan said in a telephone interview in London.
``We usually receive this kind of thing. At the time we did not take the warnings seriously as they had happened several times in the past and nothing happened. ``This time it seems his people were accurate and meant every word they said.''
Atwan, who interviewed bin Laden in 1996 and has since maintained contacts with his followers, said he believed the attack on the World Trade Center in New York was the work of ``an Islamic fundamentalist group'' close to bin Laden.
But Abdul Hai Muttmain, the spokesman for the Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, dismissed allegations that bin Laden could be behind the attacks in the United States.
``Such a big conspiracy, to have infiltrated in such a major way is impossible for Osama,'' Muttmain told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He said bin Laden does not have the facilities to orchestrate such a major assault within the United States.
The Taliban say bin Laden's communications have been taken away from him, but several sources close to him _ including his family members in Saudi Arabia _ say bin Laden has regular access to satellite telephones and other sophisticated communication equipment.
Meanwhile, foreign aid workers and even Taliban commanders, who have spoken on condition of anonymity, say that the number of Arab nationals in Afghanistan has increased in recent months.
``They are in Kabul, Herat, Jalalabad. They have training centers in every province of Afghanistan,'' said one Taliban commander, who would not give his name.
The Taliban, who espouse a harsh brand of Islamic law, have resisted U.S. demands to hand over bin Laden.
After the attacks in East Africa three years ago, Washington retaliated with a blistering missile attack in August 1998, sending more than 70 Tomahawk cruise missiles into eastern Afghanistan apparently targeting training camps operated by bin Laden.
The U.S. attacks killed about 20 followers of bin Laden's but bin Laden escaped unhurt. Since then he has been forced by the Taliban rulers to stop giving interviews and making statements.
In Kabul foreign aid workers were keeping a low profile and security measures were heightened with most expatriates being advised to stay in their homes for fear of retaliatory attacks from the United States should evidence implicate bin Laden.
But Muttawakil said there is no fear among the Taliban.
``Since there is no reason for an attack and we are not expecting any reprisal attack we are not taking any precautions,'' he said.
AP-CS-09-11-01 1438EDT
Pentagon workers: ``The whole building shook''
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 14:32
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press writer
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) _ It almost seemed like a stream of refugees. Pentagon employees walked several miles down a closed highway, next to the graves of Arlington National Cemetery, looking for a way to get home.
The workers all described the same scene: a deafening blast that shook the building. Those who could could glimpse outside saw a huge fireball.
Terry Yonkers, a civilian with the Air Force, was in the building at the time of the attack.
``All we heard was a huge blast. The whole building shook,'' Yonkers said.
Immediately after the explosion he described ``screaming and pandemonium,'' that soon settled into an orderly evacuation.
None of the workers had any idea of the number of casualties. Twenty-six people were being treated Tuesday afternoon at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, for injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to more serious injuries that required surgery. Ten were being treated at Inova Alexandria hospital, with nine in fair condition and one in critical.
The Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team, trained to remove people from building collapses, was disptached to the Pentagon Tuesday afternoon.
At the Pentagon, Marine Maj. Stephanie Smith helped one victim, who was suffering from smoke inhalation and a leg injury.
The injured ``were covered with smoke and their uniforms were covered with smoke,'' Smith said. People were bloodied and soaked with water from the sprinkler system, she said.
``You felt it more than you heard it,'' she said of the blast.
She and her coworkers had already been alerted to the attacks in New York before the Pentagon crash. She thought at the time that she was also a potential terrorist target.
``It's something you think about every day when you work in this building,'' she said.
Many of the people walking through the Iwo Jima Memorial and next to the cemetery were trying unsuccessfully to call friends an family on jammed cell phone lines. People leaving Washington had walked an hour or longer trying to escape the gridlocked city.
In nearby Rosslyn, most office buildings were evacuated midmorning, leading to jammed roads and confused commutes.
AP-ES-09-11-01 1419EDT
Arafat said he is horrified; Palestinians celebrate in the streets
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 14:30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note INCOPRORATES BC-Mideast-US
By KARIN LAUB
Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM (AP) _Thousands of Palestinians celebrated Tuesday's wave of terror attacks in the United States, chanting ``God is Great'' and distributing candy to passers-by, even as their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified.
Across the Middle East, governments condemned the attacks _ except for Iraq whose TV played a patriotic song with the words, ``Down with America,'' as it showed the towers of the World Trade Center in New York falling.
The United States has become increasingly unpopular in the Middle East in the past year of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, with Washington widely seen as siding with Israel against the Arab world. Some residents of the region reached further back in time to explain their anger, saying they felt Tuesday's attacks helped settle old scores with the United States, including over its involvement in the 1991 Gulf War.
There was no claim of responsibility, though many Palestinians said they believed Osama bin Laden, the renegade Saudi Arabian millionaire and terror mastermind, was behind the attacks.
Several militant Palestinian groups involved in terrorism against Israel quickly distanced themselves from the events in the United States.
Sheik Ahmed Yassin, whose Islamic militant Hamas group has carried out a series of suicide bombings in Israel, most recently on Sunday, said he was not interested in exporting such attacks to the United States.
Yassin suggested that it was not in Hamas' interest to incur U.S. wrath. ``We are not ready to move our struggle outside the occupied Palestinian land. We are not prepared to open international fronts, however much we criticize the unfair American position,'' Yassin told reporters in Gaza City.
A small PLO faction, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, also denied involvement. Earlier Tuesday, two Arab satellite stations in the Gulf had received anonymous claims of responsibility on behalf of the DFLP.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 4,000 people poured into the street in celebration. Demonstrators distributed candy, several gunmen shot in the air and marchers waved Palestinian flags.
Nawal Abdel Fatah, 48, wearing a long black dress, threw sweets in the air, saying she was happy because ``America is the head of the snake, America always stands by Israel in its war against us.'' Her daughter Maysoon, 22, said she hoped the next attack would be launched against Tel Aviv.
Palestinian police detained TV cameramen and news photographers covering the rally and confiscated their film. Palestinian security officials said the footage harmed the Palestinian national interest.
There were no reports of celebrations elsewhere in the West Bank and Gaza.
Arafat and his top advisers huddled at his seaside office in Gaza City, watching the events unfold on television. ``We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable,'' he later told reporters.
``We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people.''
Elsewhere in the Middle East, some residents said they were saddened by the loss of innocent lives, but that the United States had created a lot of enmity.
``It's like doomsday,'' said 53-year-old carpenter Furat Ahmed Ibrahim in Baghdad, Iraq, as he looked up from painting a table. ``I feel sorry for the innocent people, I do not like this happen to them, the same way I do not like to see what the Americans and British have been doing to our people in the last 11 years,'' Ibrahim said, referring to sanctions imposed on Iraq after the Gulf War.
Fatima Karim, a 63-year-old Baghdad woman, said two of her three sons were killed during the war that forced Iraq to retreat from Kuwait. ``I am waiting for the third to get old enough to take revenge against the Americans,'' she said.
``Now God is doing the job instead,'' she said.
kl
AP-CS-09-11-01 1423EDT
Western U.S. takes precautions in wake of terrorist attacks
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 13:45
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By PAULINE ARRILLAGA
Associated Press Writer
Airports, government buildings _ even casinos on the Las Vegas Strip _ shut down or stepped up security Tuesday as terror gripped the western United States in the wake of a series of terrorist attacks on the East Coast.
``I'm sure I'm thinking the same thing every city and government employee in the country is thinking. Who's next?'' said Jim Fitzpatrick, a programmer for the city of Phoenix, where some doorways into the state Capitol and City Hall were locked to limit the number of entry points.
As flights nationwide were grounded, shocked passengers huddled inside Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport while outside security towed all vehicles parked at terminal curbs.
In Denver, the entire airport was evacuated. ``I'm absolutely terrified and frightened. I'm worried about everyone,'' said Jerry D'Amato, a New York City accountant attending a court hearing in Colorado.
Two American Airlines jets, both headed for Los Angeles, slammed into the World Trade Center Tuesday morning, sending the twin towers crashing to the ground. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon, leaving a giant, smoke-filled hole in the building that houses the nation's military.
Two other flights also headed for California and apparently connected to the coordinated attack also crashed. A United Airlines flight bound for San Francisco went down near Pittsburgh, while another United flight headed for Los Angeles crashed at an undisclosed location.
With four of the targeted planes headed to California, officials there took no chances. Government workers were sent home as landmarks across the state closed down, including Knott's Berry Farm in Orange County, the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and the city's 74-story Library Tower, at 1,700 feet the tallest building west of the Mississippi River.
At Los Angeles International Airport, people gathered at ticket counters in search of information.
Ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and California remained open, although federal officials were on high security alert looking for any signs of terrorist activity.
``It's chaos,'' said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Mack said local INS officials made the call to keep the border open because they were unable to reach officials in Washington, D.C.
In Utah, officials were reviewing security plans for the 2002 Winter Olympics, although Gov. Mike Leavitt vowed the games would go forward as scheduled. ``We have a strategic plan in place and we will continue to strengthen it. Today's event only strengthens that resolve,'' Leavitt said.
Elsewhere, others also refused to give in to the fear.
In Washington state, Gov. Gary Locke ordered the state Capitol building closed to the public but refused to evacuate the building and said it would reopen as soon as possible.
``We are not going to shut down the government,'' he vowed. ``The last thing we want to do is give the terrorists any satisfaction.''
AP-CS-09-11-01 1333EDT
Pandemonium, horror outside Trade Center as people jump, towers
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 13:31
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Shortly after the first explosion, an elevator opened at One World Trade Center. A man stood inside, engulfed in flames.
It was just one of the horrific sights at the scene of the terrorist attack on New York's tallest buildings.
Kenny Johannemann, a janitor, said he and a second person grabbed the man, put the fire out, and dragged him outside. Then Johannemann heard a second explosion _ and saw people jumping from the upper stories of the Twin Towers.
``It was horrendous; I can't describe it,'' Johannemann said as he stood, shellshocked, outside the building afterward.
Clemant Lewin, a banker who works across street, said that after the initial explosion, he looked out the window and also saw people jumping from the building from as high as the 80th floor, including a man and a woman holding hands as they fell.
``I'm traumatized for life,'' Lewin said. ``Someone needs to take responsibility for this. This was somebody's father, this was somebody's sister, somebody's mother. We should have seen this coming. I'm disgusted.''
As most people fled the area, others were drawn to it _ desperate for information about friends and relatives who worked there.
``I don't know what to do,'' a weeping Alan Rivera said as he stood behind barricades, hoping for word about his niece, who worked in the Trade Center. ``I can't get through to her on the phone. ... No one can tell me anything.''
Seen from West Broadway through billowing brown and black smoke, Tower 2 tilted across the street. Ash, 2 inches deep, lined the streets. Scores of police and firefighters emerged from the sealed-off area, gasping for air.
At least three explosions could be heard, perhaps from gas lines.
After the initial blast, Housing Authority worker Barry Jennings, 46, reported to a command center on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center. He was with Michael Hess, the city's corporation counsel.
They were the only ones there. They felt and heard another explosion, probably the collapse of one building. He broke a window and screamed for help. Then they went down a stairwell.
``I told Hess, `We've got to try to get out of here.''' They got to the lobby, or what was left of it. ``I thought I was dead. The whole building shook. ... I looked around, the lobby was gone. It looked like hell. It was like a bad movie.''
Though covered in soot, Jennings was not physically injured. He said Hess escaped safely as well.
Clayton Hill, 23, who works for an Internet company, was ordered out of the subway at Chambers Street just after the first plane hit the Trade Center. He joined a crowd of hundreds looking up at the gaping hole, then saw bodies tumbling out, one after the other.
``Everyone would just let out a gasp'' as each victim fell, Hill said.
Then the tower collapsed and the crowd panicked, Hill said.
``People starred running like crazy,'' he said. ``I was running and looking back. It was insane.''
Robert James, 43, manager of a Modell's sports store near the Trade Center, was in the basement when he heard the explosion, then emerged to see at least five bodies fall from the skyscraper.
``They looked like rag dolls,'' he said. ``It was like the kind of thing you see in movies.''
He was nearby for the 1993 Trade Center bombing, James said, adding, ``I don't think I'll work down here any more.''
AP-ES-09-11-01 1317EDT
State-by-state reax to terrorist attacks, including reaction of New York City
Source: AP - AP Wire Service
Sep 11, 2001 13:05
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editors Note REWRITES thruout to UPDATE, add detail on more states.
By The Associated Press
Precautions taken in various U.S. states and New York City in the wake of the terrorist attacks:
The Federal Aviation Administration shut down airports nationwide.
_ALABAMA: Security increased at military bases including Redstone Arsenal, site of the Army missile command and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
_CALIFORNIA: Airports closed, as are other landmarks, including Knott's Berry Farm in Orange County, the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and the city's 74-story Library Tower, at 1,700 feet the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. State on high alert. State's Emergency Council convened as Gov. Gray Davis requested heightened security at all state buildings.
_COLORADO: City and state officials stepped up security around government buildings. City opened an emergency preparedness office in the basement of City Hall, where representatives of police, fire and health agencies, public transportation officials, Denver International Airport and utilities were gathering.
_FLORIDA: Security heightened at federal courts. Walt Disney World evacuated and closed its parks and shopping and entertainment complex. Space shuttle operations halted, 12,000 employees of Kennedy Space Center sent home. Increased surveillance, with helicopter patrols and extra gate checks in place. Skeleton crew remains at launch control center.
_GEORGIA: All flights at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, the nation's busiest, stopped. The CNN Center, world headquarters of Cable News Network, closed to the public, although journalists at CNN and The Associated Press remained.
_ILLINOIS: Sears Tower shut down, state government buildings in Chicago and Springfield closed. National Guard on state of heightened alert in Illinois.
_INDIANA: Federal offices on alert.
_KENTUCKY: Southern Governors' Association canceled annual fall meeting so governors of Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia could head back to their states.
_LOUISIANA: Upper floors of the 34-floor Capitol building closed. Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which handles supertankers in the Gulf of Mexico, suspends operations. State's 19 oil refineries on alert.
_MARYLAND: Officials tightening security throughout the state. Security heightened at Andrews Air Force Base. Baltimore-Washington International Airport taking arrivals not departing flights.
_MICHIGAN: Tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, closed to car traffic and security increased along the Canadian border. Internal Revenue Service closes 18 Michigan offices.
_MINNESOTA: Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport shut down. Evacuation of the 51-story IDS Center, the state's tallest building, located in downtown Minneapolis. The Mall of America, in suburban Bloomington, and World Trade Center in St. Paul closed.
_NEBRASKA: State employees responding to requests for blood donations. Security was heightened at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha. Churches in Norfolk and Fremont areas holding or planning prayer services for victims.
_NEVADA: Security increased at casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, at federal buildings across the state and Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas. Flights suspended.
_NEW JERSEY: Airports and river crossings into New York City closed. Traffic reported snarled on the New Jersey Turnpike. At Newark International Airport, officers with shotguns blocked the road leading to Port Authority offices and the air traffic control tower.
_NEW YORK: Security clamped down across the state. Security increased at border points. Gov. George Pataki canceled his New York City events. NEW YORK CITY: Elections called off. Airports closed. Trading on Wall Street suspended. United Nations building evacuated. Offices throughout Manhattan closed. Subway lines citywide shut down. Grand Central Station and Penn Station closed, commuter trains running only out of Manhattan to evacuate. Cellular phone service crippled. Regular phone service congested. Evacuations from Wall Street to the United Nations. Lower Manhattan closed to all but emergency vehicles. Bridges and tunnels into Manhattan closed. Rockefeller Center property managers urge tenants to go home.
_NORTH CAROLINA: Military bases prepared for possible change in status. At Raleigh-Durham International Airport, spokeswoman Mirinda Kossoff said a strategy meeting was planned with the Federal Aviation Administration.
_OKLAHOMA: Gov. Frank Keating ordered all state office buildings closed. Oklahoma City police created a one-block perimeter around the jail, where bombing conspirator Terry Nichols is housed.
_PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia International Airport closed. National Park Service officials meeting to determine whether the city's high-profile tourist attractions like the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall would be closed.
_SOUTH DAKOTA: Commercial flights from Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Pierre and other South Dakota cities grounded.
_TENNESSEE: Department of Energy's nuclear weapons and research complex in Oak Ridge put under heightened security. All flights from Tennessee's major airports grounded. Planes were allowed to land.
_TEXAS: Some office buildings evacuated. Flights out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport canceled and Austin-Bergstrom International closed. City Hall in El Paso closed.
_UTAH: Security tightened at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden. The Deseret Chemical Depot near Tooele is at highest alert. Salt Lake International Airport shut down and some federal employees sent home.
_VERMONT: Federal buildings in Montpelier and Burlington open. State's lone atomic plant placed on heightened security.
_VIRGINIA: Navy installations throughout Hampton Roads, home of the world's largest Navy base, placed under an increased security condition. The 192nd Virginia Air National Guard 192nd fighter squadron, an attack unit of fully armed F-16 fighter jets that will patrol the nation's East Coast, were put on alert with orders to down any unauthorized aircraft.
_WASHINGTON: Airports and military bases throughout the state boosted security. Outgoing flights canceled at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, but planes allowed to land. Federal Court House in downtown Seattle on high alert.
_WEST VIRGINIA: Chemical plant security heightened. Flights out of Charleston's Yeager Airport, West Virginia's largest, suspended. Capitol Complex evacuated, increased security at other state buildings. Federal courthouses closed.
AP-CS-09-11-01 1300EDT
