Terrorist Attack September 11, 2001
Short ArticlesNewsMax.com
Tuesday Sept. 11, 2001; 4:35 p.m. EDT
Flight Attendants Stabbed Aboard Twin Tower Kamikaze Plane
A violent struggle with knife-wielding terrorists took place outside the cockpit of one of two hijacked planes before it slammed into the World Trade Center Tuesday morning, a flight attendant on board reported to American Airlines before her death.
"A flight attendant on that plane was apparently able to call the American Airlines operations center to tell them that two flight attendants had been stabbed and that the perpetrators had broken into the flight deck," ABC Radio News reported.
The plane was enroute from Boston to Los Angeles when it was commandeered by terrorists for its kamikaze mission.
Haig: America Is at War
NewsMax.com
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 12:05 p.m. EDTFormer Secretary of State Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr. told NewsMax the events of today mean "the United States is at war, it's that simple."
Gen. Haig thinks that the casualties from today's attacks may total tens of thousands of Americans - similar to the death toll from the Vietnam or Korean conflicts.
He noted that this war "has been raging for years" and suggested it has its roots in the Mideast.
"We know who the obvious culprits are - Osama bin Laden, Iraq, the Palestinians - because it is their cause that rallies these people," Haig said.
He had little doubt that one or more countries were involved in today's attacks.
Based on his military experience, Haig said the coordinated attack on U.S. targets took "several years" of planning. He noted this would have meant locating qualified pilots, people with military backgrounds, and significant funding.
"This has global tentacle," Haig said, adding that Iran and Libya should not be excluded from the list of suspects.
Haig believes that attacks on Americans and U.S. targets abroad that had gone unresponded or received just a "token response" led to this significant attack on U.S. territory.
Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Attack Devastates U.S. Business
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Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001WASHINGTON - The apparent terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center Tuesday not only destroyed one of the nation's major landmarks and threw the city into panic, it also devastated countless financial institutions housed in the 5-acre complex.
The two main towers, which collapsed after being struck by aircraft, each rose 110 stories and about 1,350 feet above lower Manhattan and were surrounded by several smaller facilities that also housed major financial, brokerage and government facilities.
In addition to the twin towers, the World Trade Center complex consists of a 47-story office tower, two 9-story office towers, the 8-story U.S. Customs House Building and a 22-story hotel, the New York Marriott World Trade Center.
The extent of the damage to these facilities following the collapse of the two main towers remained unclear as emergency services struggled to cope with the chaos and devastation.
The New York City government emergency command post was located in the 47-story office building, but reportedly had to be moved after the two towers crumbled.
In the two main towers, the largest private tenant was Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which occupies an estimated 10 percent of both towers, according to a financial market source.
Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm, had its headquarters between the 101st and 103rd floors in one of the towers. The commercial real estate broker Julien Studley had its headquarters offices on the 88th floor of one of the towers.
Other companies with offices in the towers themselves included Keefe Bruyette Woods, a small brokerage house, the mutual fund company Oppenheimer Funds, the Bank of Yokohama, the Bank of Taiwan, Fuji Bank and Trust and Fiduciary Trust.
American Express Financial Services and Merrill Lynch have major headquarters facilities in the complex but not in the towers themselves.
Of the government offices located in the facility, the New York and New Jersey Port Authority, which regulates the ports, tunnels and bridges of the city, were located in the towers and are presumed destroyed.
The Port Authority originally built the two towers in 1972 to 1973 and managed them for decades. The facilities were reported to have been in the process of sale at the time of the apparent attack.
The entire facility is located on top of an underground shopping mall with restaurants, shops and hotels. The damage to this facility remained unclear. It is estimated that 54,000 people work in the facility, while around 150,000 tourists daily visit the tower's observation decks, located on the 107th floors, and the underground shopping attractions.
Other infrastructure damaged by the attacks includes a major antenna system used for television broadcasting and many cellular and digital phone network antenna. Reports from New York City indicate that local television, radio and phone service as been widely disrupted.
The World Trade Center withstood a terrorist attack on Feb. 26, 1993, when a bomb planted in a truck exploded in an underground parking garage. Six people died and more than 1,000 other people were injured. Six men were convicted of the attack, which they said was in retaliation for U.S. support for the Israeli government.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: Domestic Terrorism
NewsMax.com
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 1:21 PM EST
Expert: Terrorists Chose West Coast Flights for Fuel Load
Hugh Sprunt, a columnist and analyst for NewsMax.com, reports the following:
One little technical tidbit that I haven't seen anyone mention in the media yet (possible newshook) -- the aircraft involved appear to have all been aircraft leaving the East coast for the West coast this morning.
One likely reason for this uniform selection is that the coast-to-coast flights would have a relatively full load of fuel on the planes -- that would mean more "bang for your buck" when the plane is crashed into the WTC Towers, The Pentagon, Camp David (apparently a miss), etc., since they would have relatively full tanks for he coast to coast flight (as opposed to a similar sized plane flying with a full load of passengers on a relatively short haul flight along the East coast, etc.).
The United flight that crashed 80 miles from Pittsburgh was probably intended to be used to crash into one of the builds attacked or another building. Since the flight crew would have heard what was going on over their radio (company radio if not normal A/C radios), that plane likely crashed because the crew knew they had nothing to lose and there was a battle in the cockpit for control of the plane that resulted in the plane's crashing. The President is aboard one of the two 747-200B's that can serve as "Air Force 1" now. I know something about those planes as well (aerial refueling capability, extra oil supply for each of the four engines -- planes can stay airborne 72=96 hours with aerial refueling. The US has likely bumped up to DefCon 3 or so (state of military alert) from the normal DefCon 5. Also -- policy decision: presumably if another highjacked plane is targeted on the White House or some other public structure where the loss of life could be high -- though WH has been evacuated apparently -- any US fighter aircraft on patrol in the area would be instructed to shoot down the airliner before it reached the target building, killing everyone on board the plane but saving lives overall. That might not be the case if the target was, say, the Washington Monument or some similar structure since there would not be that much additional loss of life in that case. . .
It is possible (though I don't think likely yet) that they will transfer the President to one of the NECAP aircraft (National Emergency Airborne Command Post -- the acronym is not perfect). One reason that I do not think they will do this (today anyway) is that the NECAP aircraft have been in a reduced state of readiness for some time now (due to the easing of world tensions, etc., ho-ho!). With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 4:51 PM EST
CIA Linking Arab States to Attack
A CIA sourece tells NewsMax that there are only a handful of countries that could have been involved.
Experts already believe that terrorists commandeered the jet aircraft that slammed into the Twin Towers and other targets.
Believing no U.S. pilot would do this, the belief is that the pilots were killed and qualified terrorist/pilots were used.
So far, planes used in the attacks were Boeing 767 and 757 models.
According to our source, the list of possible training sites, with simulators, are very few in the Islamic world.
The following countries or airlines have simulators capable of training pilots for such planes: Ethiopian Air, Ethiopian Air, Egypt Air, Gulf Air, Turkmenistan Air, Azerbaijan Air, Kenya Air, and the Saudi Airlines. There may be others, but this information may help narrow the list of suspects.
Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Timeline of Tuesday's Attacks
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Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001WASHINGTON - Here is the timeline of events in Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
8:45 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11, carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew members, crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. The flight was en route from Boston to Los Angeles.
9:03 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles, with 56 passengers and nine crew members on board, crashed into the south tower. The Boeing 767 aircraft had departed Logan International Airport at 7:58 a.m. The airline said, "Last radar contact with the aircraft was between Newark, N.J., and Philadelphia."
9:17 a.m.: The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all five airports in the New York City area.
9:30 a.m.: President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Fla., says the U.S. has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."
9:39 a.m.: An American Airlines Flight 77, highjacked from Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, was flown into the Pentagon. The flight had 58 passengers, four flight attendants and two pilots aboard. American Airlines said the jet, a 757, had been scheduled to leave Dulles at 8:10 a.m.
9:40 a.m.: The Federal Aviation Administration issued a National Ground Stop across the country Tuesday, a spokeswoman said. All flights nationwide were grounded.
9:45 a.m.: The White House is evacuated.
9:57 a.m.: Bush departs Florida for Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
10:05 a.m.: The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
10:10 a.m.: Part of the Pentagon collapses.
10:10 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93, en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco with 38 passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants aboard, crashes about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Authorities said there were no survivors.
10:13 a.m.: The 39-story United Nations building is evacuated. A total of 11,7000 people were evacuated "as a precautionary measure," a U.N. spokeswoman said.
10:24: The FAA announces that all inbound trans-Atlantic aircraft into the United States are being diverted to Canada.
10:28 a.m.: The World Trade Center's north tower collapses from the top down.
10:45 a.m.: All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated.
10:52 a.m.: Washington-area airports have been closed, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman says.
10:53 a.m.: New York's primary elections scheduled for today are postponed.
11:02 a.m.: New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani orders the evacuation of the area south of the World Trade Center.
11:18 a.m.: American Airlines says it has lost two planes. The airline says American Flight 11, a Boeing 767, en route from Boston to Los Angeles, and Flight 77, a Boeing 757 flying from Dulles Airport to San Francisco, had crashed.
11:26 a.m.: United Airlines announces the crash of United Flight 93 southeast of Pittsburgh.
11:59 a.m.: United Airlines confirms that Flight 175 has crashed with 56 passengers and nine crew members aboard.
1:04 p.m.: Bush, speaking from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., says the U.S. military has been put on high alert worldwide. He asks for prayers for those killed or wounded in the attacks. "Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts," he said.
1:48 p.m.: Bush leaves Barksdale aboard Air Force One and flies to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Neb.
6:41 p.m.: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld holds a news conference at the Pentagon. Rumsfeld announces the Pentagon will reopen for business today.
6:54 p.m.: Bush returns to the White House from Omaha.
7:15 p.m.: In a White House briefing Attorney General John Ashcroft said, "We will not tolerate such acts." He said the government had set up a Web site for tips, ifccfbi.gov.
7:25 p.m.: The congressional leadership holds a briefing on the steps of the U.S. Capital. Senate plurality leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., says Congress will reconvene this morning.
8:30 p.m.: President Bush addresses the nation from the Oval Office.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Palestinians Cheer Attacks Condemned by Arafat, Israel
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Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001JERUSALEM - As Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned the terror attack against New York and Washington Tuesday, smiling youngsters and adults waved Palestinian flags, cheered and passed out candy in the streets of Arab East Jerusalem.
Passengers in passing cars made the V-for-victory sign in satisfaction with the attacks of unprecedented magnitude that destroyed the soaring twin-towered World Trade Center in New York and set fire to the massive Pentagon military office building.
Arafat expressed condolences, from - he said - the Palestinian people to the American people, President Bush and the U.S. government.
"We totally condemn these serious and dangerous attacks," Arafat told newsmen in Gaza. "I was completely shocked. What happened is completely unbelievable."
A spokesman for Islamic Hamas, Abdel Aziz Ranteesi, said that his group was not standing behind the attacks and that he did not know who was guilty.
A senior leader of radical Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine told United Press International that his group was in no way involved. Early but unsubstantiated reports had suggested DFLP was connected to the attack. Saleh Zeidan, member of the DFLP Central committee, said: "I totally deny our involvement in the attack. We did not do it, and we have no relation to it."
In another part of this city holy to Christianity, Judaism and Islam, Israeli President Moshe Katsav offered his condolences to Americans, saying, "Everything must be done to defeat this phenomenon in which insane people will stop at nothing to disrupt daily life."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed his condolences to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel C. Kurtzer, offering any and all necessary assistance that Israel could render, his office reported.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres added: "If we can give even a tiny little bit of help, we would do so willingly. We feel so close to the United States and its residents."
Peres said Tuesday's attacks in the United States prove that the classical armies do not suit the new situation. "Completely new armies are needed," he said.
The attacks show "that even if you have an army, a navy, tanks and cannons it does not answer this kind of warfare," Peres said.
"This is a war in which the enemies sail over borders, have no uniforms, no identity cards, no warnings, and there is a need for a completely different strategic and tactical deployment to suit the new situation," he said.
Peres called for "recruiting" to this joint effort not only the U.S. but also Europe, Russia, India, China, "all the responsible states, because there is a global danger."
He said some countries house "terror centers" and must be told to liquidate them or face "all the consequences."
Sharon said in a statement: "The fight against terror is an international struggle of the free world against the forces of darkness. Together, we can defeat the forces of darkness."
The Israeli government announced a day of mourning, put its national rescue team on alert for immediate departure to the United States, and was collecting blood for victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Announcing its decision on a day of mourning today, Prime Minister Sharon told the American people: "Our hearts are with you. We bow our heads and share in the sorrow of the American people."
The Health Ministry and the Magen David Adom Blood Bank (Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross) asked people to donate O-type blood that would be flown out Wednesday. The call was issued late Tuesday night (local time), and about an hour later the director of Magen David Adom Blood Services, Eilat Shinar, told United Press International of "an unusual response."
The government also decided to dispatch the army's national rescue unit that has gained considerable experience in digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings, including the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, though nothing even close to the scale of Tuesday's disaster.
A small advance team was planning to leave Israel for the United States Tuesday night.
For its own security, Israel closed its air space to foreign planes, scaled down its presence in its embassies and other diplomatic offices abroad. The Foreign Ministry said it left only limited staffs at its diplomatic representations, but did not close them and increased protection of Israeli planes.
Later Israel decided to close all border crossing points to Egypt and Jordan and to tighten the closures around some Palestinian West Bank cities, evidently fearing the results of Tuesday's attacks in the United States might encourage Palestinian militants to launch their own attacks.
Israeli security sources said they suspected Osama Bin Laden, Iraq or Iran were involved in the attacks in the United States.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Domestic Terrorism
Israel
Middle EastReprinted from NewsMax.com
No 'Credible Claim' of Blame for Attacks
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Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001WASHINGTON - There has been no "credible claim of responsibility" from any group for the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, an administration source close to the situation told United Press International Tuesday.
Usually a terrorist attack evokes a number of claims of blame, almost of them bogus, from shadowy terrorist groups, especially in the Middle East. Normally, investigators have to sort out the false claims from the credible.
But Tuesday's atrocities were followed by an unusual silence.
The official said the series of attacks, representing the most lethal terrorist attack on U.S. soil in American history, appeared to have ended, at least for now.
Tuesday's attacks included the hijacking of several passenger airplanes, including two that were steered into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York and one steered into the Pentagon across the Potomac from Washington.
Casualties from both locations were expected to be very high. Both of the World Trade Center towers collapsed after the impact, stunning the nation with the sheer magnitude of the disaster.
An array of U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the FBI and military units, were sifting through an enormous amount of information Tuesday evening. "We're still looking at everything we can," the administration official said. "We're obviously hoping this may point to someone" as a suspect.
Meanwhile, the FBI was uncommunicative about what was quickly turning into the most intense investigation in bureau history.
Hundreds of FBI agents and representatives from a broad spectrum of federal agencies gathered in the FBI's Strategic Information and Operations Center deep inside bureau headquarters Tuesday. They immediately began to operate secure computer systems and communication lines, sifting through mountains of information, much of it coming from abroad.
The FBI sent out "sizeable" investigation teams to each of the crash sites. However, the overwhelming extent of the damage is expected to make for a lengthy investigation.
One potential suspect getting a particularly hard look from U.S. investigators is Osama bin Laden.
A renegade Saudi millionaire of Yemeni heritage, bin Laden has been hiding out in Afghanistan under the protection of the fundamentalist Taliban regime. Bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization have been blamed for a number of terrorist attacks against Americans overseas.
Two attacks laid directly at his door are the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998. The bombings killed 12 Americans and more than 200 foreign citizens, and wounded more than 5,000. Bin Laden is suspected of planning and financing those attacks, and is one of 17 people charged in the investigation.
Nine are in custody in the United States and London. The United States has offered a reward of up to $5 million for those who are still fugitive, including bin Laden.
However, at least one senior FBI official cautioned Tuesday that no one should jump to conclusions about the new attacks before the evidence is gathered.
Away from the FBI, the administration official said the terrorist attacks were bringing out a large measure of cooperation among federal, state and local agencies.
"The federal government is working cooperatively with all pertinent local and state governments and emergency response entities," the official said.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Domestic TerrorismReprinted from NewsMax.com
National Emergency
NewsMax.com
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001Palestinians Cheer Attacks Condemned by Arafat, Israel
8:36 p.m. - President Bush denounced today's "acts of mass murder" but said, "A great people has been moved to protect a great nation." See Text of Bush's Speech
Barbara Olson: 'Witty, Wonderful'
Alarmed Putin Calls for Retaliation
8:11 p.m. EDT - The New York City Fire Department said 200 firefighters were missing.
7:48 p.m. - The New York City Police Department announced that 78 of its officers were missing.
7:18 p.m. - Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a televised address that the U.S. would do whatever necessary to bring the terrorists to justice.
6:57 p.m. EDT - President Bush has arrived by helicopter at the White House. He is to address the nation tonight.
6:51 p.m. - The U.S. had nothing to do with tonight's explosions in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at a televised news conference.
6:41 p.m. - Air Force One, carrying President Bush, has landed at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and he will address the nation tonight, TV networks reported.
6:34 p.m. EDT - CNN reported that the explosions in Afghanistan were due to civil war, not U.S. military strikes.
The explosions began around 2:30 a.m. local time near the airport and came in rapid succession, seconds apart, making buildings shudder, the Associated Press reported.
6:10 p.m. - CNN has reported explosions in Kabul, Afghanistan, and shown footage of a nighttime fire there. The attack could be U.S. retaliation for today's terrorism attacks but also could be fighting from Afghanistan's civil war or some other cause, CNN said.
Terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has long found refuge in the fundamentalist Islamic regime of Afghanistan.
For Once, No 'Credible Claim' of Blame
Col. Lunev Warms of More Attacks, Possible Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction
'Act of War' Outrages Congress
Attacks Devastate U.S. Finance
5:23 p.m. - Reports to NewsMax from New York City indicate that TV stations are advising people experiencing flu-like symptoms to report to hospitals because of the possible threat of bioterror attacks.
World Leaders Rally to Support U.S.
4:48 p.m. EDT - Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that one of the passengers on the American Airlines jet that struck the Pentagon was Barbara Olson, the wife of Solicitor General Theodore Olson and the author of "The Final Days: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton White House."
Pentagon officials rejected rumors that the military had shot down the jet that crashed in Pennsylvania, CBS News reported.
4:34 p.m. EDT - Architects who designed the World Trade Center expressed shock that the 110-story towers collapsed after being struck by a hijacked passenger jetliner.
The World Trade Center was completed in 1976 at a cost of $350 million, and one of the towers had survived a 1993 attack by terrorists in an explosives-filled van that killed six people and injured more than 1,000 others, United Press International reported.
Lee Robertson, the project's structural engineer, addressed the problem of terrorism on high-rises at a conference in Frankfurt, Germany, last week, Chicago engineer Joseph Burns told the Chicago Tribune. Burns said Robertson told the conference, "I designed it for a [Boeing] 707 to hit it."
4:17 p.m. EDT - Roads into Washington have been closed, and only medical workers are allowed in, TV networks reported. The Pentagon injury toll was put at 58.
Government officials gave early details of two of the hijackings. A flight attendant called authorities from the airborne American Airlines Flight 11 reporting that two attendants had been stabbed and that intruders had broken into the cockpit, ABC News reported. This plane struck the World Trade Center. On the United flight that crashed outside Pittsburgh, a passenger called authorities from the plane with his cell phone saying the plane had been hijacked.
4:08 p.m. EDT - Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said: "For Israel it's a day of mourning. The only one that can save humanity from this terrible nature is the United States of America. ...
"It is like a declaration of war," he told CNN.
"It's a sophistication of the most evil kind ... the [retaliatory] measures must be as radical as the evil itself."
Israel is sending a plane with its crack rescue teams, Peres announced.
3:58 p.m. EDT - Abdel Aziz Ranteesi of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas said that Hamas was not behind the attacks and that he did not know who was.
"I don't believe that the Palestinians are responsible for the attacks in the United States," Ranteesi told United Press International. "The jihad of the Palestinians is against Israel and not against the American civilians."
A senior leader of Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine told UPI that his group did not carry out the attack on the World Trade Center in New York.
Saleh Zeidan, a member of the DFLP's Central Committee, said, "I totally deny our involvement in the attack. We did not do it, and we have no relation to it.
"The aim of that false phone call which claimed responsibility is aiming to harm the Palestinian cause," said Zeidan.
3:12 p.m. - Saudi terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden warned three weeks ago that he and his followers would carry out an unprecedented attack on U.S. interests for its support of Israel, an Arab journalist with access to him said.
Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper in London, said Islamic fundamentalists led by bin Laden were ``almost certainly'' behind the attack of the World Trade Center in New York.
``It is most likely the work of Islamic fundamentalists. Osama bin Laden warned three weeks ago that he would attack American interests in an unprecedented attack, a very big one,'' Atwan told Reuters news agency.
``Personally we received information that he planned very, very big attacks against American interests. We received several warnings like this. We did not take it so seriously, preferring to see what would happen before reporting it.''
2:15 p.m. - The jet crash at the Pentagon could have been much worse because the section hit was undergoing renovation and not fully occupied; about 40 people were being treated at hospitals, Fox News reported.
Forty to 50 planes that had been in the air have landed safely, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Major League Baseball games and Sunday's Emmy Awards have been postponed.
1:40 p.m. EDT - Israel has evacuated all its embassies worldwide after the terrorist attacks on America, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Residents of eastern Jerusalem, the West Bank and southern Lebanon were rejoicing at the attacks on the U.S.
1:10 p.m. - "Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended" President Bush said in a televised appearance from Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
"I want to reassure the American people that the full resources of the federal government are working to assist local authorities to save lives and to help the victims of these attacks. Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts."
He is touch with top officials in Washington, he said.
"We've taken all appropriate security precautions to protect the American people."
The military is on high alert, and "we've taken the necessary security precautions to continue the functions of your government."
The U.S. has notified world leaders it will "do whatever is necessary to protect America and protect Amnericans," Bush said.
1:02 p.m. - The death toll at the World Trade Center is estimated at 10,000.
12:57 p.m. EDT - The U.S. border with Canada has been closed, Fox News reported. Also, the hard-line Taliban regime of Afghanistan has condemned the attacks.
NASA reported that astronauts in the International Space Station can see the smoking rising from New York and Washington.
12:41 p.m. EDT - Air Force One has landed with President Bush in Shreveport, La., and a statement from him is expected soon, Fox News reported.
12:35 p.m. - The Pittsburgh plane crash was a failed attempt to attack Camp David, the presidential retreat, Fox News reported.
Officials in Boston have begun an "initial" investigation to determine if and how security was breached at Logan International Airport that reportedly allowed terrorists to board and hijack two passenger jets and crash them into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, United Press Internatinal reported.
Thousands of overjoyed Palestinians celebrated the deadly attacks on America, though their leader, Yasser Arafat, said he was horrified, the Associated Press reported from the West Bank.
An early report from London, quoting Abu Dhabi TV, said the communist terrorist group Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine took blame for the attacks, but Middle East Broadcasting later reported that the group denied involvement. The information has not been confirmed by any U.S. sources, Fox News reported.
12 noon - President Bush has placed the Atlantic Fleet on "Threatcon Delta," the highest possible alert, full war footing, Fox News Channel reported.
Bush is safe on Air Force One, TV networks said.
The death toll from the two plane crashes is 164, networks reported.
11:41 a.m. EDT - Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich appeared on Fox News Channel and described today's national emergency as an "act of war" and said he had no doubt the acts were orchestrated by states and state sponsors. He said the acts were on the par of "Pearl Harbor" or worse.
Observers have noted that the attacks occurred during the week the Camp David Accords on Mideast peace take place in 1978.
11:32 a.m. - Gen. Clark tells CNN that Osama bin Laden's terror organization is the only one that has claimed this kind of capability.
11:28 a.m. - United Airlines confirms loss of Flight 93 from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco.
11:22 a.m. - American Airlines confirms loss of two flights.
10:45 a.m. EDT - All federal buildings in D.C. have been evacuated.
10:43 - Hijacked plane crashed south of Pittsburgh. Officials investigating yet another hijacking, with the plane headed toward D.C.
10:30 - Second Tower (North) Collapses
10:30 - Another hijacked plane reported 20 minute south of Washington, D.C.
10:30 - U.S. congressional Leaders, top cabinet officials moving to secure facilities
10:20 - Report: Explosion at Capitol
10:15 - World Trade Center South Tower Collapses
10:13 - All U.S. buildings, Capitol Hill being evacuated.
9:40 - Plane Hits Pentagon
WASHINGTON - Federal officials said a U.S. Air plane has hit the Pentagon. The crash comes nearly an hour after two planes hit the World Trade Center building.9:30 - Second Jet Crashes into World Trade Center
9:20 - FBI Says At Least One Plane Hijacked
8:50 a.m. EDT - Plan Hits World Trade Center
New York - What appear to be commercial jets, possibly 737-type planes, have plowed into the World Trade Center, at 9 AM, causing what one eyewitness described as a "huge boom," after which debris started to rain down on the financial district below.Smoke is now pouring out of the 110-story towers, and several floors appear to be completely devastated.
The FBI is investigating a hijacking at American Airlines of a plane on route from Boston to Los Angeles. It is not known whether passengers were aboard.
The State department had issued, on Friday, a worldwide alert regarding Osama bin Laden and possible terrorist attacks. All parties were supposed to be on a 'heightened state of alert'.
The Lincoln Tunnel has been closed, and other New York airports have been closed. Armed Jets are patrolling Manhattan, ready to shoot down other threats.
President Bush has just made a statement, saying that we will "use the full resources of the Fedral Government to hunt down" the people who have perpetrated this act, and that: "Terrorism against our nation will not stand."
German police confirm Iranian deportee phoned warnings
Fri Sep 14 2001 16:44:18 ET
German police have confirmed an Iranian man phoned US police from his deportation cell to warn of the planned attack on the World Trade Centre.The Lower Saxony Justice Ministry has confirmed the man warned of the impending series of terrorist attacks, but had not been believed.
Spokesman Frank Woesthoff said the man phoned America "several times", but refused to give further details.
He said the US Secret Service had not told the ministry about the calls received from the Langenhagen prison until after the attacks.
"I cannot say anything about the man and the ministry does not know the content of the conversations," he added.
The Hanover daily newspaper Neue Presse reported the 29-year-old was dismissed as mentally unstable when he gave the warning of a terrorist attack to occur this week.
The ministry would not reveal when the calls had been made.
Friday September 14 12:05 PM ET
Mandela Urges Caution in Response
KIMBERLEY, South Africa (AP) - Former South African President Nelson said the Bush administration should think carefully before launching a military response to terrorist attacks in the United States.
``The countries - both the masterminds and those who have executed this action - must be accurately identified and punished, most severely,'' Mandela said Friday on a visit to the central mining town of Kimberley.
But, he added, ``the United States must avoid any course of action which will be as unpopular as that of the terrorists.'' He said Washington's response to Tuesday's airborne strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon ``must not be allowed now to raise, to intensify, hatred against the Arab nations and the Muslims.''
Mandela, 83, was awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for his role is bringing about a peaceful end to apartheid.
