NEW YORK � Two planes crashed into the upper floors of both World Trade Center towers minutes apart today in what President Bush said was an apparent terrorist attack, blasting fiery, gaping holes in the 110-story buildings. There was no immediate word on deaths or injuries. The president ordered a full-scale investigation to "hunt down the folks who committed this act." The twin disasters happened shortly before 9 a.m. EDT and then right around 9 a.m. EDT. In Washington, officials said the FBI was investigating reports of a plane hijacking before the crashes. Heavy black smoke billowed into the sky above the gaping holes in the side of the 110-story twin towers, one of New York City's most famous landmarks, and debris rained down upon the street, one of the city's busiest work areas. When the second plane hit, a fireball of flame and smoke erupted, leaving a huge hole in the glass and steel tower. "Today we've had a national tragedy," Bush said. He called it "an apparent terrorist attack." Ira Furber, former NTSB spokesman, discounted the likelihood that it was an accident. "I don't think this is an accident," he said on CNN. "You've got incredibly good visibility. No pilot is going to be relying on navigational equipment." "It's just not possible in the daytime," he added. "A second occurrence is just beyond belief." The towers were struck by terrorist bombers in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. All New York City-area airports were shut down, and several subway lines were immediately shut down. Trading on Wall Street was suspended. "The plane was coming in low and ... it looked like it hit at a slight angle," said Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, the network reported. "I was watching TV and heard a sonic boom," Jeanne Yurman told CNN. "The side of the World Trade Center exploded. Debris is falling like leaflets. I hear ambulances. The northern tower seems to be on fire." Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about three miles from the tower. A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency is pursuing reports that one or both of the planes were hijacked and that the crashes may have been the result of a suicide mission. The source stressed that the reports are preliminary and officials do not know the cause of the crashes. "It certainly doesn't look like an accident," said a second government official, also speaking on condition of anonymity. 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 Sarasota, Fla., 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. from AP report

It is being reported that one of the towers has collapsed. The White House and other national offices are being evacuated.

TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AT DROOL IN THE US FROM YOUR FRIENDS IN AUSTRALIA WE ARE THINKING AND PRAYING FOR YOU ALL DURING THIS HORRIBLE MOMENT IN HISTORY. TAKE CARE ALL OF YOU!!! GOD BLESS ALL OF US!!

Now, there's a report of another hijacked plane headed toward Washington DC. Both World Trade Centers have totally collapsed!

This is like the Pearl Harbor of the world's terrorists.

Topic 1180 [current]: Terrorist attack on the World Trade Center #84 of 98: Kim Bassett (kimage) Tue Sep 11 '01 (07:52) 26 lines I've been watching ABC coverage through both collapses. Judging from the commentary plus live pictures: - There does not appear to have been a third plane impacting the WTC towers. If there is a third plane, ABC hasn't mentioned it in the last 30 minutes. - For the first collapse, the top floors above the point of impact began collapsing, the stress and failure cascading downwards all the way to the bottom. The second collapse appeared to start from the lower floors, upper floors dropping downwards. - Neither tower toppled significantly to the side; there was worry of a triage center being taken out in the second collapse, but both towers *predominantly* slid downwards. No info about damage or harm to adjacent buildings. - One small plane confirmed hit the pentagon. Scattered talk of a car bomb outside the State Department, including a smoke plume visible in the background of shots of White House evacuations. - No casualty figures as yet. The numbers are likely to be horrifying, from the plane hijacks alone.

From the NYT, reporting on Bush's statements: Mr. Bush who was said to be on his way back from a visit from Sarasota, Fla., to Washington has ordered that "the full resources of the federal government" be used to carry out a full investigation to find out who was responsible for the World Trade Center attacks. "Terrorism against our country will not stand," he said, before ending by leading a prayer for victims of the attacks.

By Charles Babington washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Tuesday, September 11, 2001; 10:10 a.m. Minutes after two airplanes crashed into New York City�s World Trade Center towers this morning in a what appears to be the gravest terrorist attack ever in America, a large airplane-caused explosion and fire took place at the Pentagon and explosions were reported at the Capitol and the State Department. At about 10 a.m., one of the 110-story World Trade Center towers collapsed, and the second tower collapsed about 30 minutes later. The tragedies stunned the nation and prompted officials, fearing still more attacks, to evacuate the Capitol, the White House, State Department and other federal buildings. Flights were canceled at all major airports in the nation. At about 10:20 a.m., the Associated Press reported the a car bomb explosion outside the State Department, senior law enforceement officials said. Shortly before the Pentagon fire ignited, President Bush called the New York disasters "an apparent terrorist attack on our country." He hastily departed from Florida, where he had scheduled an education speech, and returned to Washington. Early details were sketchy, but the New York attacks seemed certain to cause heavy losses of life and many injuries. There were reports that an American Airlines 767 had been hijacked earlier today on a scheduled flight from Boston to Los Angeles, and apparently was one of the planes flown into the giant towers that dominate lower Manhattan�s skyline. The second crash, which touched off a giant fireball in one of the tower�s upper floors shortly after 9 a.m. EDT, took place as many Americans watched live on television. New York�s airports were quickly closed, the New York Stock Exchange was evacuated, and millions of Americans watched in horror and disbelief as news of the Pentagon fire soon followed. In Florida, Bush pledged to use �the full resources of the federal government government to help the victims and their families" and �to hunt down and find those folks who committed these acts."

Topic 1180 [current]: Terrorist attack on the World Trade Center #101 of 101: Gallatin (rickmoffat) Tue Sep 11 '01 (08:00) 3 lines Big explosion at the London Stock Exchange? I'm getting all this via super-slow web feeds, but we've got video footage of huge smoke plumes there? Can anyone confirm? We got the footage off http://news.bbc.co.uk

This is like the Pearl Harbor of the world's terrorists.

Terry Where are you located? Are you safe? I am in Sydney and watching CNN International and Fox News Cable. It is now 11 am NY time (1 am 12 Sept/Wed Syd time) - they are reporting and showing on screen - 2 Towers now collapsed (I watched the 2nd one collapse!) Am flabbergasted - what can one do?

Topic 1180 [current]: Terrorist attack on the World Trade Center #105 of 106: Colin Brayton (blindone) Tue Sep 11 '01 (08:02) 11 lines I saw the second attack from an elevated subway station in Brooklyn. The plane just veered into the building and the explosion shot through the building. We all gasped, people were weeping, dude I gave spare change to mutters, "Tragedy day ..." My friend Velma was working in the South Tower of the WTC. I just pray that she has not returned from Chicago today. Cannot reach her. Cell phone communications are out here. The plume of smoke is blowing east and south across the river, with fragments of debris shimmering in it: I thought at first it was a fantastic flock of seagulls ... BBC (www.bbc.co.uk) is about the only online news I can get ... I am going downtown Brooklyn to donate blood ... God help us.

I'm in Austin, Texas, Mary, our airport is shut down. All planes in the air have been ordered to land at the nearest airport, nationwide, not just in Austin. I'm here with a bunch of folks at work watching Fox News. No work is getting done today, or very little. The horror is mounting and we're staying calm, but this is the worst tragedy in my lifetime in this country.

"What can one do?" Stay calm and pray.

FAA confirms that there are several planes that are currently unaccounted for (evidently hijacked). No telling where this thing is going.

I got through to MSNBC. Definitely not new, but here's what they are saying: NEW YORK, Sept. 11 � Americans reeled in horror Tuesday as the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history sent planes crashing into the World Trade Center in New York, toppling the twin 110-story towers. An explosion later rocked the Pentagon in Washington. The White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol building were evacuated. Military jets patrolled the skies above both cities. The FAA grounded all civilian aircraft nationwide, but not before reports of another large aircraft crashing in Western Pennsylvania. President Bush vowed to �hunt down the folks who committed this act.� THE FATE OF those in the twin skyscrapers was not immediately known. Authorities had been trying to evacuate the thousands of people who work in the twin towers, but many were thought to be trapped. �I swear I�ve never seen anything like this,� said MSNBC�s Ashleigh Banfield. �This whole place is like a complete war zone.� At the Pentagon, eyewitnesses saw an aircraft crash into part of the sprawling complex. Walls were later seen to have collapsed. An earlier report of a car bomb exploding outside the State Department was later denied. In New York, the aircraft struck minutes apart, starting fires and sending smoke billowing out of the skyscrapers. The top of the south tower later collapsed onto the street below. The first crash happened shortly before 9 a.m. ET. MSNBC.com reporter Martin Wolk, who was inside one of the towers, said the lights flickered and then a loud bang was heard. People panicked and started to flee the building. When they reached the lobby, smoke started to fill the building and people could see debris falling and many cars outside were damaged. �It was sheer pandemonium, people were screaming and crying, afraid to go outside because of the falling debris,� Wolk said. �We looked up and it looked like the top 20 floors were in flames.� Another bystander described a barrage of debris raining down on the sidewalk below. Advertisement Shortly after 9 a.m., a second aircraft was seen crashing into the other tower. Broadcast cameras already watching the scene filmed the second plane as it slammed into the tower and exploded in a huge fireball. A half hour later, President Bush made a brief statement to reporters, calling the disaster a �national tragedy� and attributing it to terrorists. He did not cite any specific terrorist groups but vowed to �hunt down the folks who committed this act.� U.S. military jets reportedly took to the skies to shoot down any unidentified aircraft, and congressional leaders were taken to secure locations. A plane was reported to have been circling the Capitol building before the evacuation. American Airlines later acknowledged that one of its flights had been hijacked Tuesday morning shortly after leaving Boston en route to Los Angeles. In the wake of the crashes, New York airports and the Lincoln Tunnel were closed as precautionary measures. The stock exchanges in New York also did not open. Large holes were visible in sides of the 110-story buildings. The tops of the twin towers were obscured by the smoke. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about three miles from the tower, one witness said. Click on the image for reports of the terrorism attacks. In an earlier terrorist attack, the center was bombed on Feb. 26, 1993, killing six people and injured more than 1,000 others. Terrorist Ramzi Yousef and three others were convicted of orchestrating the attack. Three other indicted co-conspirators remain at large. Traffic entering New York City from New Jersey was at a standstill approaching the Holland Tunnel as motorists stood outside their cars watching the fire. Across the country, highrises like Chicago�s Sears Trade tower were being evacuated as a precaution. Buildings were also being evacuated in London. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Terry Our own Australian Prime Minister is in Washington DC. Am staying calm but busy collecting news. Cannot get on to BBC.UK - for those Spring readers who want a confirmation on the bombing in London.

I'll post it as soon as I get it. Some of this stuff may be unconfirmed, read all this with caution. I lot of wild stuff is floating around. I'll post it all and you decide.

rc3.org: September 11, 2001 Part of the Pentagon has collapsed. There are reports that Osama bin Laden warned the U.S. three weeks ago that we would suffer an unprecedented attack. Still awaiting more details on this. ABC is reporting that there was not a car bomb at the State Department after all. The BBC is now reporting that F-16s have been sent to intercept a hijacked plane that is headed for Washington, DC. This must be the plane mentioned earlier. The plane from Pittsburgh that crashed in Somerset County is not the plane that is being intercepted. The BBC is reporting that the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was a 767, not a 747. According to a correspondent in Greece, I hear the following (none of this have I confirmed myself): The first plane was a 747 from American Airlines (capacity 158). (This doesn't sound quite right, 747s hold more than that. Perhaps this plane was a 737 or 767.) The second plane was a 767 from United Airlines. (The BBC is reporting that the UA plane is a 737B.) The plane that hit the Pentagon was a small passenger plane. Another 747 out of Pittsburgh was hijacked, tailed by U.S. fighters, and crashed at Somerset County Airport in Pennsylvania. This may be the plane that I mentioned earlier as being hijacked. (Some are reporting that this plane was shot down.) Both towers of the WTC have now collapsed. No idea whether this was due to further explosions or loss of structural integrity caused by the original explosions. The 911 control center for New York City is (was?) in the World Trade Center. Needless to say, it's down. Yet another plane has been hijacked and is reportedly headed toward Washington DC. All international flights approaching the U.S. have been diverted to Canada. Congressmen have been evacuated to an underground bunker. I've heard many comparisons to Pearl Harbor at this point. Explain to me again why we pump all that money into the NSA and CIA? How did we have no idea that this was coming? A car bomb has exploded outside the State Department. I've now heard from a number of sources that the second tower collapsed completely after it was hit by a third plane (the second to hit that tower in particular). This was just a rumor, there was no third plane to hit the WTC. I'm finding it hard to get to online news sites. You can get a live audio stream from the BBC World Service at Yahoo Broadcast, that's what I'm listening to. Latest news: all flights in the U.S. are grounded, and all planes were ordered to land at the nearest airport. One of the two towers of the WTC has collapsed (at least partially). According to the news, there can be up to 100,000 people in the WTC at any given time. Terrorists have attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon by deliberately crashing planes into them. One of the planes that crashed into the WTC was a hijacked American Airlines 767 out of Boston, I don't know about the others.

From Indiatimes.com: 'Bin Laden warned of US attack' LONDON: Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden warned three weeks ago that he and his followers would carry out an unprecedented attack on US interests for its support of Israel, an Arab journalist with access to him said on Tuesday. Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper said Islamic fundamentalists led by Bin Laden was "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. "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." Atwan has interviewed Bin Laden and maintains close contacts with his followers. ( REUTERS )

NHK sez that CBS reports that 11 planes total have been hijacked, and four are still whereabouts unknown.

This topic has been linked to drool, geo and other conferences here temporarily while this story is unfolding. It will be eventually unlinked.

FORT WORTH, Texas American Airlines confirmed today that it lost two aircraft in tragic incidents this morning. American said the flights were Flight 11, a Boeing 767 en route from Boston to Los Angeles with 81 passengers, nine flight attendants and two pilots; and Flight 77, a Boeing 757 operating from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles with 58 passengers, four flight attendants and two pilots.

This is something that we will all remember in future years, like when JFK was shot, we'll remember where we were and what we were doing when this happened. I was in my car heading to Austin on 183 listening to a sports show when Bucky Goldbolt broke the news and I switched to the local news station to hear more. I was coming up on North Lamar.

11.28 AM NY Time/1.28 am (Wed 12 Sep)Sydney Listening to AustBroadcastingCorp (AustBC) - a CNN reporter getting live feed (can hear in the background). Reporting follows : United Airlines NY to San Francisco has crashed. in addition to those that were reported on the media earlier... Washington to LAX and Boston to LAX.

I have been listening to our news in UK since this terrible news broke and the London Stock Exchange and Canary Wharf have been evacuated as a precautionary.

11.36 AM NY Time/1.36 am (Wed 12 Sep)Sydney AustBC is reporting that the Talliban is reported to have announced that they will be holding press conference soon.

Colin Powell time.

An aside: US attacks slam eurostocks; insurers hit, oil climbs By Sophie Walker and Louise Ireland LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A series of deadly attacks on U.S. landmark buildings sent European stock markets into a nosedive on Tuesday, with insurance shares taking the brunt of the pressure while investors scrambled to scoop up oil stocks.

Some street celebrations in Palestine.

I got through to MSNBC. Definitely not new, but here's what they are saying: NEW YORK, Sept. 11 � Americans reeled in horror Tuesday as the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history sent planes crashing into the World Trade Center in New York, toppling the twin 110-story towers. An explosion later rocked the Pentagon in Washington. The White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol building were evacuated. Military jets patrolled the skies above both cities. The FAA grounded all civilian aircraft nationwide, but not before reports of another large aircraft crashing in Western Pennsylvania. President Bush vowed to �hunt down the folks who committed this act.� THE FATE OF those in the twin skyscrapers was not immediately known. Authorities had been trying to evacuate the thousands of people who work in the twin towers, but many were thought to be trapped. �I swear I�ve never seen anything like this,� said MSNBC�s Ashleigh Banfield. �This whole place is like a complete war zone.� At the Pentagon, eyewitnesses saw an aircraft crash into part of the sprawling complex. Walls were later seen to have collapsed. An earlier report of a car bomb exploding outside the State Department was later denied. In New York, the aircraft struck minutes apart, starting fires and sending smoke billowing out of the skyscrapers. The top of the south tower later collapsed onto the street below. The first crash happened shortly before 9 a.m. ET. MSNBC.com reporter Martin Wolk, who was inside one of the towers, said the lights flickered and then a loud bang was heard. People panicked and started to flee the building. When they reached the lobby, smoke started to fill the building and people could see debris falling and many cars outside were damaged. �It was sheer pandemonium, people were screaming and crying, afraid to go outside because of the falling debris,� Wolk said. �We looked up and it looked like the top 20 floors were in flames.� Another bystander described a barrage of debris raining down on the sidewalk below. Advertisement Shortly after 9 a.m., a second aircraft was seen crashing into the other tower. Broadcast cameras already watching the scene filmed the second plane as it slammed into the tower and exploded in a huge fireball. A half hour later, President Bush made a brief statement to reporters, calling the disaster a �national tragedy� and attributing it to terrorists. He did not cite any specific terrorist groups but vowed to �hunt down the folks who committed this act.� U.S. military jets reportedly took to the skies to shoot down any unidentified aircraft, and congressional leaders were taken to secure locations. A plane was reported to have been circling the Capitol building before the evacuation. American Airlines later acknowledged that one of its flights had been hijacked Tuesday morning shortly after leaving Boston en route to Los Angeles. In the wake of the crashes, New York airports and the Lincoln Tunnel were closed as precautionary measures. The stock exchanges in New York also did not open. Large holes were visible in sides of the 110-story buildings. The tops of the twin towers were obscured by the smoke. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper came drifting over Brooklyn, about three miles from the tower, one witness said. Click on the image for reports of the terrorism attacks. In an earlier terrorist attack, the center was bombed on Feb. 26, 1993, killing six people and injured more than 1,000 others. Terrorist Ramzi Yousef and three others were convicted of orchestrating the attack. Three other indicted co-conspirators remain at large. Traffic entering New York City from New Jersey was at a standstill approaching the Holland Tunnel as motorists stood outside their cars watching the fire. Across the country, highrises like Chicago�s Sears Trade tower were being evacuated as a precaution. Buildings were also being evacuated in London. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Terror attacks paralyze Washington, New York By Shelley Emling and Marilyn Geewax Cox News Service Tuesday, September 11, 2001 WASHINGTON � An apparently coordinated series of terror attacks struck the nation's capital and its largest city this morning, destroying both towers of the World Trade Center in New York and shutting down most government operations. An airliner struck the north tower of the 110-story World Trade Center about 8:45 a.m. EDT, followed about 18 minutes later by a second apparently deliberate crash into the south tower. A little more than hour later, the south tower collapsed, and the north tower folowed it. In the capital, a fire forced the evacuation of the Pentagon, reportedly after another aircraft struck the building. A car bomb explosion and fire was also reported at the State Department, which was evacuated along with the Capitol and the White House. The Federal Aviation Administration suspended all aircraft takeoffs across the country. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attacks. According to unconfirmed reports, a Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for at least one of the attacks. "There will be hell to pay in the weeks and months ahead," said Neil Livingstone, a terrorism expert in Washington. "This basically amounts to a declaration of war." President Bush, visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Fla., 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. Terrorism against our nation will not stand." The sound of sirens on Capitol Hill added to the tension as vehicles headed to emergencies in the city. Downtown streets were gridlocked as an air of panic began to spread among workers who poured from buildings. Smoke billowed from the Pentagon, just across the Potomac River from the District of Columbia. "I saw the tail of a large airliner. . . . It plowed right into the Pentagon," said an Associated Press Radio reporter. "There is billowing black smoke." Shortly after the Capitol building was evacuated, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said there was an "unauthorized plane" in airspace in the Washington area. "People are trying to figure out where it is. That's all I can tell you right now," Kerry said. In New York, black smoke poured from the international landmark, and paper and debris rained onto the streets. By 9 a.m., thousands of people already were at work on the upper floors of the World Trade Center. Casualties were impossible to determine immediately, but were likely to number at least in the hundreds. Ira Furman, a former spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said it was unlikely the acts were caused by pilot or navigational error. "It is beyond belief," he said. "Planes can come within a few miles of the World Trade Center, but a pilot would never come this close." One witness, Mary Cozza, said she heard a loud "boom" before seeing the crash. "I looked up and saw a plane that looked like it was flying too low," she said. "It looked like it was aimed right at the World Trade Center. We saw the crash. Shattered glass was pouring down. It didn't look like a giant airliner. It didn't look like it was swerving out of control or anything." The World Trade Center has been the target of terrorism before. In February 1993 a terrorist bomb rocked the Manhattan skyscrapers. The World Trade Center is one of the nation's most well-known structures located in the heart of the U.S. financial district, one of the city's most heavily populated areas. Many major financial and technology companies are housed here and it's only a 10-minute walk from the U.S. Stock Exchange. The stock exchange suspended trading just after the crash.

cnn.com (hard to get to now): AMERICA UNDER ATTACK World Trade Centers collapse after planes hit, 10,000 emergency workers head to scene Plane hits Pentagon, part of the Pentagon collapses American, United both confirm losing two planes each Bush calls trade center crashes terrorist act Federal buildings, United Nations evacuated FAA grounds all U.S. flights, sends trans-Atlantic flights to Canada Israel evacuates embassies U.S.-Mexico border closed Non-essential NATO employees asked to leave Brussels HQ

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Terrorists struck the United States Tuesday morning in harrowing, widespread attacks that included at least three commercial jet crashes into significant buildings. � In the first attack, a plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan shortly before 9 a.m., followed by another plane into the second tower about 20 minutes later. Both towers later collapsed. � About an hour later, a plane crashed into the Pentagon, part of which later collapsed. � American Airlines told CNN that it lost two planes in "tragic accidents:" Flight 11 from Boston with 81 passengers and 11 crew aboard and Flight 77 from Washington Dulles airport with 58 passengers and six crew aboard. Both planes were en route to Los Angeles � United Airlines Flight 93 airliner headed from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, crashed near Somerset, Pennsylvania -- police said initial reports indicated no survivors. United also confirmed the crash of Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles. � The Pentagon, the White House, the State Department, the Justice Department, the Capitol, the CIA and all other government buildings in Washington evacuated. � President Bush cancelled an appearance in Florida to return to Washington, calling the crashes "apparent terrorist attacks" and "a national tragedy." � In the first ever national ground stop of aircraft, all flights nationwide have been stopped at their departure airports. � All international flights were diverted to Canada. � Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, said in reaction to the news of the terror attacks that "we want to tell the American children that Afghanistan feels your pain and we hope that the courts find justice." � In New York, more than 10,000 rescue personnel rushed to the scene. The entire downtown area of Manhattan was evacuated as far north as Rockefeller Center, according to an official at an emergency command post. � Israel has evacuated all its missions around the world. � The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta was evacuated. CDC was preparing bioterrorism teams in case they become necessary. � Philadelphia landmarks were also evacuated. � In Chicago, the Sears Tower was evacuated; United Nations in New York evacuated. � The New York Port Authority said it had closed all bridges and tunnels into the city. � U.S. stock markets were closed after the New York attacks. � NATO sent home all non-essential personnel from its Brussels, Belgium, headquarters. � Border between the United States and Mexico closed.

Nation: United plane crashes near Pittsburgh; 3 other flights missing The Associated Press PITTSBURGH (September 11, 2001 11:59 a.m. EDT) - A United Airlines plane crashed Tuesday morning just north of the Somerset County Airport. United said it was also "deeply concerned" about another plane, Flight 175, a Boeing 767, which was bound from Boston to Los Angeles. American Airlines said Tuesday it had lost two planes with a total 156 people aboard, Agence-France Presse reported. The United Boeing 757 was enroute from Newark, N.J. to San Francisco. The United plane crashed about 10 a.m. about 8 miles east of Jennerstown, according to county 911 dispatchers, WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh reported. "It shook the whole station," said Bruce Grine, owner of Grine's Service Center in Shanksville, about two and one-half miles from the crash. "Everybody ran outside, and by that time the fire whistle was blowing." United identified the plane as Flight 93. The airline did say how many people were aboard the flight. On behalf of the airline CEO James Goodwin said: "The thoughts of everyone at United are with the passengers and crew of these flights. Our prayers are also with everyone on the ground who may have been involved. "United is working with all the relevant authorities, including the FBI, to obtain further information on these flights," he said. The Somerset County airport, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, in a small, rural facility that does not handle such aircraft. Because of the attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration had ordered all departing flights canceled nationwide, and any planes already in the air were to land a the nearest airport. The plane crashed shortly after the order was issued. The crash came the same morning that terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the twin 110-story towers collapsed. A plane also hit the Pentagon in Washington

By BETH GARDINER, Associated Press LONDON (September 11, 2001 12:02 p.m. EDT) - Terrorist strikes in the United States quickly reached a global audience Tuesday, with leaders around the world watching live coverage of an aircraft hitting the World Trade Center. Audiences were transfixed by the awful images from New York, where both World Trade Center towers collapsed. Key indexes sank on world stock markets and some European airlines canceled flights to the United States and recalled planes already in the air. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the American people over the terrorist attacks, calling the "terrible tragedies," the Kremlin press service said. "This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today," said Prime Minister Tony Blair, who canceled a speech at a trade union conference. "It is perpetrated by fanatics who are utterly indifferent to the sanctity of human life, and we the democracies of this world are going to have to come together and fight it together." President Jacques Chirac of France, in a nationally televised statement, called the attacks in the United States "monstrous" and expressed his solidarity with the American people. "France has just learned of these monstrous attacks, there is no other word for it, that have hit America," Chirac said from Rennes, in the western region of Brittany. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his top aides followed the events at his seaside office in Gaza City, gathered around a TV set. "I send my condolences to the president, the government and the people for this terrible incident," Arafat said. "We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable." In Berlin, Foreign Ministry officials huddled in a crisis meeting, and Parliament's vice speaker Anke Fuchs told lawmakers a "terrible catastrophe" had happened. Virtually all German TV channels switched to live coverage. "This is pure mass murder," one commentator said. Scandinavian Airlines System, SAS, rerouted three airplanes bound for New York and one for Washington from Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Flights to the United States were suspended from Portugal, and the Belgian airline recalled two flights on the way to the United States, diverted others to Canada and canceled all planned flights to the United States. In Thailand, Suranand Vejjajiva, a spokesman for the office of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said they were watching the news in disbelief. A spokesman for Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said: "The president has been monitoring the events since an hour ago and she condemns what is obviously the worst terrorist attack on a leader of civilized society." Broadcasters around the world broke into programming to show images of the disaster. "It's incredible. I thought I was watching a Hollywood movie," said Hong Kong school teacher Doris Tang.

Agence France-Presse MOSCOW (September 11, 2001 12:15 p.m. EDT) - Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Bush on Tuesday that the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington "must not go unpunished", the Interfax news agency reported. "The series of barbaric acts directed against innocent people fills us with indignation and revolt," said Putin in a telegram to Bush. "Such inhuman acts must not go unpunished," he said.

(September 11, 2001 11:18 a.m. EDT) - Timeline of U.S. Attacks - Plane crashes into tower of World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, shortly before 9 a.m. Eastern. - Second plane crashes into the second tower of the World Trade Center, shortly after 9 a.m. Eastern. - President Bush, in Sarasota, Florida, calls the crashes "an apparent terrorist attack" and a "national tragedy." - An aircraft crashes near Pentagon, just outside of Washington D-C, in Northern Virginia, about an hour after the attacks in New York. - Government buildings in Washington, including the Capitol and the White House, are evacuated with officials citing a credible threat of a terrorist attack. - The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all aircraft takeoffs nationwide. - Shortly after 10 a.m. Eastern, one World Trade Center tower in New York collapses, about an hour after being hit by plane. - American Airlines says one of the planes that crashed into the Trade Center was American Airlines Flight 11, hijacked after takeoff from Boston en route to Los Angeles. - Senior law enforcement officials say car bomb explodes outside of State Department in Washington, D-C. Federal protective services later denies car bomb attack occurred. - Financial markets suspend trading in the wake of the attacks. - Officials at Somerset County Airport say a large plane crashes in western Pennsylvania, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, at about 10:00 a.m. - The second tower of the World Trade Center collapses at 10:28 a.m. Eastern. - Fourth explosion rocks the collapsed remains of the World Trade Center, at about 10:38 a.m. - Authorities across the country go on alert, tightening security at strategic facilities and evacuating high-profile buildings. U.S. monuments and museums in Washington DC are closed. - Securities and Exchange Commission says all financial markets are closed for the day.

Dan Rather reports Bush is going to make a statement from an Air Force Base in Louisiana in a few minutes.

All 4 flights that crashed were apparently bound for California. When did the airlines first realize that something was wrong? The plane from Boston that crashed into the WTC was bound for Los Angeles. Topic 1180 [current]: Terrorist attack on the World Trade Center #199 of 199: Jerry (jmcarlin) Tue Sep 11 '01 (09:47) 6 lines CNN says 4 plans lost/missing: 2 American and 2 united. They said that they *think* that one of them might be one that hit the Pentagon. CNN is also reporting that bin Laden is increasingly being blamed.

Salon confirms military is at Delta. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/09/11/bombings/index.html There is no higher military alert than Delta.

I'm on Long Island, 40 miles east of the city...was at work when this happened. several of my friends work in NYC, one of them in 7 World Trade, a building next to tower 2. i'm so scared right now... how could anyone do something like this?! 10K people work(ed) in each of those towers, not counting the tourists, people on the streets, etc. i feel sick.

I hope your friends are ok Liz.

People have been comparing this to Pearl Harbor. Most of us were not born at the time of that event. The feeling today's events conjures in me is the fear I lived through in 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis. At that time, only one man stood between us and WWIII. If we could trace these attacks to one country, we would now be at war. And I doubt that even JFK could prevent it.

Incidentally, 45-50 thousand people work in the two WTC buildings...not 10K.

unidentified source: Friend of mine in Scotland, who is monitoring a lot of news feeds and has a bunch of friends in US military bases, is giving me info that I can't find _anywhere_ else- he claims that 12 (!) planes are still en route to the US, not all over the Atlantic, and that are not responding to hails. Anyone know anything about this?

Incidentally, 45-50 thousand people work in the two WTC buildings...not 10K.

I think I heard somewhere that 55,000 or so were killed in the Vietnam war, the toll here is going to be horrorific.

yes, charlotte..what I meant was 10K per tower in just the offices, minimum capacity. full capacity is closer to 20-25K per tower. it doesn't matter the toll; one life is too much. thanks, terry. I'm praying for all who have friends or relatives in downtown.

Colin Powell said: "A great tragedy has struck our country and it will not affect the nature of our society,'' he said. ``We'll find out who's responsible for this and bring them to justice.''

Agreed, Liz. Sorry I misunderstood. Also sorry my post appeared twice. Must have been cause I "refresh"-ed. Terry, thank you for making this site available when it is impossible to get news elsewhere.

Yes, Terry, thanks for the email about the topic ..I'm in the UK, we turned on the TV just after the first plane hit and have been following the news since. Our prayers and thoughts are with all those concerned and I hope that my friends on Spring get good news about people they know. In the City of London the Stock Exchange closed, and several major buildings were evacuated and the City closed. All US banks and institutions here are on high alert. There were reports an hour or so ago about another plane crash in Pittsburg which appeared to be related. Also a report of another hijack plane heading for Washington ..... sorry I don't have any details ...anyone else have any news??

In Hawaii, on the Bis Island, all schools are closed as is the airport (throughout the state, actually). On Oahu, all military personnel are to report to their stations, Pearl Harbor all ships staffed. Arizona Memorial closed. This is ghastly. Beyond anything Hollywood could dream up. Be calm, stay home, donate blood if you can, (even call for it here) and PRAY. Thanks Terry!

There's news of this above in this topic. The other hijacked plane went down, it was the same plane that went down in Pittsburgh. �I JUST SAW the building I work in come down,� said businessman Gabriel Ioan, shaking in shock outside City Hall a cloud of smoke and ash from the World Trade Center behind him. �I just saw the top of Trade Two come down.� MSNBC.com producer Steve Johnson, standing about six blocks from the towers in lower Manhattan, was also an eyewitness to the collapse. �About five minutes before the tower fell you could see people jumping from the upper floors. I watched six either fall or jump ... The police rolled up [in] vans. Suddenly the top of [the tower] just shattered into tens of thousands of pieces. You could see the walls peel away. The whole thing just disappeared. Then the smoke came up. The cops started yelling, �Get back! Run! Get away!� I ran inside a hotel, and it went black outside because of the dust.� Nearby a crowd mobbed a man on a pay phone, screaming at him to get off the phone so that they could call relatives. Dust and dirt flew everywhere. Ash was 2 to 3 inches deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified. �I was in the World Financial Center looking out the window,� said one woman. �I saw the first plane and then 15 minutes later saw the other plane just slam into the World Trade Center.� Firefighter Jimmy Grillo, with Ladder 24, had blood running down his face from an injury to his nose. Grillo was in the lobby of the World Trade Center after the first blast and when the second blast came, he was trapped in the debris. �We crawled in the debris toward the light�. There�s a bunch of guys still trapped in there,� Grillo told MSNBC.com�s Johnson. �PEOPLE SCREAMING ... DIVING FOR COVER� Another eyewitness, AP newsman Dunstan Prial, described a strange sucking sound from the Trade Center buildings after the first building collapsed. �Windows shattered. People were screaming and diving for cover. People walked around like ghosts, covered in dirt, weeping and wandering dazed.� �It sounded like a jet or rocket,� said Eddie Gonzalez, a postal worker at a post office on West Broadway. �I looked up and saw a huge explosion. I didn�t see the impact. I just saw the explosion.� Morning commuters heading into Manhattan were stranded as the Lincoln Tunnel was shut down to incoming traffic. Many left their cars and stood on the ramp leading to the tunnel, staring in disbelief at the thick cloud of smoke pouring from the top of the two buildings. On the streets of Manhattan, people stood in groups talking quietly or watching on television at ground-level network studios. Terror attack on the U.S. � Main story � MSNBC's Wolk: On the scene in Manhattan � Witnesses describe terror in the towers � World reacts with horror � Markets, airports, U.S. border shut after terror � Newsweek: An icon destroyed � Exodus in Washington � Live video coverage � Discuss the attacks on MSNBC's bulletin board Joan Goldstein, communications project leader for The Associated Press, was on a bus from New Jersey at about 8:50 a.m. when she saw �smoke pouring out of the World Trade Center building. We said, �Oh, my God! The World Trade Center�s on fire!� Perhaps 10 minutes later, �All of a sudden, there was an orange plume, a huge explosion. It shot out the back of the building. Everybody on the bus was just moaning and gasping,� said Goldstein, who wept and trembled as she spoke. The plume was from the second plane, but she didn�t see the plane because of the thick smoke. She tried to call friends who work there, but couldn�t get through. �It was the most horrible thing I�ve ever seen in my life,� said Goldstein. GIVING BLOOD At St. Vincent�s hospital in Greenwich Village, people waited in long lines to give blood. They were taken according to blood type. Hundreds of donors � perhaps as many as a thousand � looked like a tapestry of New York citizenry. �There are all kinds of people � young and old, black and white, students and professionals waiting to give blood,� said Harry Barandes, a graduate student at New York University. Ambulances continued to arrive intermittently. The shock on people�s faces was shaken free only by the sirens that blared in the background. Meanwhile, volunteers wandered among those waiting in line, asking if anyone was hungry or thirsty. �There are really kind citizens passing out food and water,� said Barandes. �The outpouring of goodwill is amazing.� Further from the disaster scene in upper Manhattan signs went up that blood drives had begun. SURREAL SCENE, EERY CALM �There�s a huge smell of char in the air. People are walking with masks, with their shirts off. People trying to get out [of the area] any way. People are crying, watching in disbelief. [It�s] total shock.� � MICHELLE PRELI MSNBC.com producer In Brooklyn, across the East River from Manhattan, �the situation is chaos,� MSNBC.com producer Michelle Preli reported. �The Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge are just full of people covered in white ash. There�s a huge smell of char in the air. People are walking with masks, with their shirts off. People trying to get out [of the area] any way. People are crying, watching in disbelief. [It�s] total shock. It seems all the medical units, ambulances fire services from Brooklyn [have been called in].� Although the city itself is in shock, it hasn�t really reached uptown Manhattan yet. On the Upper West Side, where you could see police helicopters standing in the sky like sentinels along the Hudson River, it is all eerily calm. �There are people eating in the restaurants,� said Andras Szanto, a staff member at Columbia University. �It is a glorious sunny day � after a rainstorm of biblical proportions last night � and this perfect fall day makes it even more surreal. �At first sight everything seems normal,� Szanto continued. �Then you notice strangers hudddled around radios, students gazing at TVs in the cafes, lines at the bank for cash.� A sign on a Starbucks coffee shop says, �Due to the terrorist attack we are closed today.� �A homeless man is reciting the list of the day�s unspeakable horrors,� said Szanto. �There are small strange differences that translate the larger horror into minute changes: For the first time, for example, the majestic gates [protecting the campus] of Columbia University have been closed shut.� CROWDS STREAMING ON FOOT �The mass of the city, this huge population, had to get out of the city and they seemed to be doing it very matter of factly.� � PRELI Five hour after the towers collapsed people were still streaming on foot across all levels of the Manhattan Bridge as they left the disaster area. �What was most amazing was how calm people were,� said MSNBC.com�s Preli, who had been in her car just blocks from the disaster as splinters of debris rained down looking oddly like confetti. �Maybe everyone was just in shock. But the mass of the city, this huge population, had to get out of the city and they seemed to be doing it very matter of factly.� The Associated Press contributed to this report.

German stock exchange threatened by bomb attack. They are closing.

�THERE HAVE BEEN the most terrible, shocking events taking place in the United States of America within the last couple of hours,� British Prime Minister Tony Blair told union leaders in Brighton, southern England. �We can only imagine the terror and carnage there and the many, many innocent people who have lost their lives.� Blair, who had been due to deliver a key policy speech, cut short his visit and said he wanted to return immediately to London to monitor the unfolding events. He sent his deepest condolences to Bush and the people of America.

�This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today. It is perpetrated by fanatics who are utterly indifferent to the sanctity of life,� he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the attack as a terrible tragedy, according to Kremlin spokesman Alexei Gromov, and convened a special meeting of his defense and security officials. Putin also offered his condolence to the United States. France�s president, Jacques Chirac, in a live televised address, condemned the attacks and expressed his solidarity with the American people. Advertisement �France has just learned of these monstrous attacks � there is no other word for it � that have hit America,� Chirac said from Rennes, in the western region of Brittany. In Berlin, Foreign Ministry officials huddled in a crisis meeting, and Parliament�s vice speaker, Anke Fuchs, told lawmakers a �terrible catastrophe� had happened. Virtually all German TV channels switched to live coverage. �This is pure mass murder,� one commentator said. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder convened an unprecedented meeting of his security council, and air traffic authorities said all European flights to the United States had been suspended. The council meets rarely and is the government�s main body in times of crisis. Besides Schroeder, it includes the foreign, defense and interior ministers and several others. MIDEAST REACTS Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his top aides followed the events at his seaside office in Gaza City, gathered around a TV set. �We completely condemn this serious operation. ... We were completely shocked. It�s unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable.� An anonymous caller told Abu Dhabi television earlier on Tuesday that a radical Palestinian group was responsible for the attacks, but the group later denied any involvement. Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Israel�s Army Radio it was �simply a tragedy.�

The Pittsburgh plane crash is the one they believe was also headed for Washington DC, with some speculating that it might have either the Capitol (building) or White House as its target. How they could come to that, I'll never know. Two planes were targeted at the WTC (one at each tower). The Pentagon is an enormous building (sq ft-wise). All the planes (4) had California as their destination which would give them the maximum amount of fuel any aircraft would have onboard.

Hi, just heard that a passenger from the PA crash had a cell phone in the bathroom and reported that they were being hijacked..."this is not a hoax". guess not. Also heard that there were 6-8 planes in the air that would be allowed to land at the Nashville airport. My daughter's fiance's sister is an intern at St. Vincents. She is alive. Just heard that there were over 100 victims there, 2 dead, but I had heard earlier that the vestibule was stacked with fatal burn victims. Hope that was a rumor. love,Eliz

All the German and European people want to express their condolence to the people of the United States! Our prayers are with the victims and their families! God bless you! Your Tobias

From the eyewitness reports on the BBC it appears that the second plane flew slowly and directly into the south tower of the WTC. Its likely that the terrorists flew the planes. CNN is talking about the lead time that air traffic controllers had that the planes were off course. One made a sharp turn at Albany and headed south. They are also talking about the tapes of the controllers trying to talk to the planes. Just speculation right now - the tapes are not yet available.

My thoughts and prayers are with those whose families are affected by these tragedies. All German TV channels do reports now. Something however disturbs me in some way: in the first chapter of Tom Clancy's novel "Executive Orders" a plane crashes into the capitol and kills everyone inside. Seems like the wrong people read that book.... BlackB

BlackB, I've had the same thoughts about giving the truly warped mentally bad ideas for their terrorism in books and movies. FCC, federal agencies shut down after terrorist attacks Along with most other federal agencies, the FCC has closed its offices and sent its employees home in the wake of apparent terrorist attacks this morning in New York City, Washington, DC, and elsewhere. The FCC has issued no emergency declaration nor other special instructions to the Amateur Radio community. The ARRL has advised amateurs to stay alert to instructions from local authorities. President George W. Bush has announced that the US military is on high alert in the US and abroad. US air traffic was shut down after two airliners struck the twin towers of the 110-story World Trade Center in New York City this morning within a short time of each other. The building's towers partially collapsed in the wake of the collisions. An aircraft subsequently crashed into the Pentagon, and another aircraft crashed near Pittsburgh, reportedly after being hijacked. American Airlines and United Airlines both have acknowledged that they have lost planes this morning. More than 260 died in the crashes. Thousands were believed injured in New York City; there's no estimate on the number killed. New York City-Long Island Section Emergency Coordinator Tom Carrubba, KA2D, said there has been no request for any Amateur Radio Emergency Service response at this time, although hams have been requested to assist the American Red Cross. New York City's emergency management offices are located in the World Trade Center. He said he was alerting all amateurs, especially ARES and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service personnel, to get prepared and to stand by. Carrubba said he's in the process of setting up a command channel on a linked repeater system that will cover the area from New York City into Long Island's Suffolk County. Kenneth Goetz, N2SQW, reports New York State RACES is operational on 3.993.5 and 7.248 MHz handling emergency and governmental-type traffic. He asked amateurs to avoid these frequencies. In the Washington, DC, area, Virginia SEC Tom Gregory, N4NW, says Virginia ARES has been put on alert but has not yet been activated. ''I've asked everyone to monitor the emergency frequencies and to keep a full tank of gas.'' He said the attack on Washington has resulted in a massive traffic jam as workers in DC attempt to leave the capital; cellular telephone communication was next-to-impossible. While no emergency nets are in operation yet, Gregory said all repeaters would be available as well as 7.243 MHz and 3.947 MHz on HF. Virginia RACES reportedly has been activated at the state emergency operations center at Virginia State Police headquarters in Richmond as a precautionary measure. The FCC's Riley Hollingsworth today suggested that the amateur community remain calm but ready. He invited amateurs monitoring any suspicious radio activity to contact him, and he will relay relevant information to the FCC duty team. He advised monitors to tape such radio traffic, if possible. Should a state of war be declared, Amateur Radio would not automatically be shut down. This requirement was eliminated prior to the Gulf War.

first chapter of Tom Clancy's novel "Executive Orders" The kamikaze plane attack on the Capitol Building was the plot of the book before that one: Debt of Honor. The pilot was part of the plan, which took out the entire government. You don't need eyewitness reports on BBC. The second plane attacking the WTC is on video on every news channel. You could probably have watched it live, just as you could watch both towers crumble. It is very likely the terrorists took over flying the planes as no US pilot - even with a gun pointed at his/her head - would steer into any occupied building.

Karen: my Mom mentioned the book this morning. Ominous. I cannot explain my grief and sadness. My thoughts are with all those people, so, so many lives that are forever changed. I can't get out of my head that some people actually saw the horrified faces of those passengers in those hijacked planes - waiting to die in vain. And all those people who went to work and never came back. God bless us all.

I'm in Atlanta. The area around CNN Center which is in downtown Atlanta, has been sealed off and all public access to CNN Center itself has been stopped. I guess as lots of the the world gets it global/US news coverage news via CNN, it is a facility the authorities don't want messed with. All malls, schools and universities here etc are closed. At 3pm Eastern, 10-12 international flights are still in-bound to the US and have been given clearance to land. They are all from the Pacific Rim countries in bound to West Coast Cities.

President Bush just landed at Straegic Airforce Command in Nebraska. So it appears the President and his advisors, are not going to orchestrate a response to this catastrophe from the White House.

German TV Broadcasting stopped for 15 Minutes!!! " A moment of silence for our Brothers and Sisters in the USA!!!"

Inbound planes from the Orient are being allowd to land in Honolulu if they have gone beyond the point of no return, but with a fighter escort from Hickam AF Base. Nothing is outbound. Even the tour planes are grounded. Nothing is in the air!

More stuff about the cellphone call, from an AP News story: "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."

So it appears the President and his advisors, are not going to orchestrate a response to this catastrophe from the White House. No. The book on these types of situations calls for moving the president, et al, around to *secure* locations. Unfortunately, our wonderfully free press is publicizing all the known locations for government backup ops. Why don't they just give the addresses?

The airports are closed until noon tomorrow BTW.

Thanks Tobias and all who have expressed condolences. Actually we are all one little world. We need to relearn the art of getting along on a tiny planet. This American appreciates your concern very much!

Why don't they just give the addresses? I know! Geez, here they are saying he's in a secret location, in NEBRASKA??? hello???? They evacuated all of Boston today. The one question I ask, that no one an answer is HOW THE HELL DID HIJACKERS GET PAST SECURITY AT LOGAN????????????? (Makes one wonder about the security personnel at the airport now?)

Karen, exactly so. The set the plane down and suddenly we all knew exactly where he was! I hate that!!! The media needs to learn some responsibility!

stratfor.com: The Intelligence Failure 1745 GMT, 010911 By George Friedman As of this moment, what is clear is that a substantial number of civilian aircraft were hijacked this morning by pilots with sufficient ability to maneuver those multi-engine aircraft into collisions with major buildings. The flights originated at a number of airports. Each incident required the presence of at least one and probably more hijackers, each prepared to die in the attack. Mounting an attack of this sort is not simple. In the case of the World Trade Center, the collapse of the towers indicates massive delayed explosions. This means either the planes were loaded with explosives or that massive explosive charges were planted in the buildings to go off later. This is supposition, but a secondary explosion is a necessary factor for explaining the collapse. This means many individuals had to be involved in the operation. There had to be a coordinated effort spanning several continents, timed to occur at roughly the same time. At best guess, dozens of people had to be involved. Messages had to flow, coded or otherwise. Yet no human intelligence sources appear to have been among or near the conspirators. No significant messages were intercepted or decoded. For U.S. intelligence to have missed an operation of this magnitude indicates one of two things. First, the competence of U.S. intelligence is overrated or the willingness of policymakers to heed warnings has declined. In either case, the system is badly broken. Alternatively, the sophistication of terrorist counter-intelligence has improved to such an extent that the prior level of expertise bought to bear is simply no longer sufficient. Whether we are facing a decline in U.S. intelligence capability or an increase in counter-intelligence blocking the United States, Sept. 11, 2001, will go down as one of the major intelligence failures in U.S. history. George Friedman is the founder and chariman of STRATFOR.

From salon.com Sam Skinner, former transportation secretary under George Bush Sr., directed a "security enhancement task force" after Pan-Am flight 103 was shot down in 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. I'm looking back on my experience after Pan Am flight 103. We created offices for security in several departments and we enhanced the methods at every airport, so I'm very, very surprised that they were able to accomplish this. The fact that they could get through three airports on four flights without anyone picking it up, shows that this was a very well-organized attack -- probably with some inside help. We've concentrated most of our time and energy on international aircraft. We focused on that threat because they may have been coming in from international airports where security was lax, or going to international locations, in which it would be easier to hide people who would profile as terrorists. So the fact that four domestic flights were hijacked is entirely shocking. I don't know of any scenario that allowed for this. This is not an amateur performance. It must have had support from strong organizations or governments. You would have had to have at least four inside people, at airports with access to planes with full fuel loads. You'd have to have them plant weapons at the same moment without being detected. And I find it hard to believe that any American pilot would deliberately fly into the building, so I also have to assume that they managed to get an experienced pilot on board. The timing of it is also amazing. All the planes were close to their targets but the crashes occurred at around the same time. This was very well-executed, and as a result, security measures as we know them today will be enhanced substantially. What that will be is too early to tell. But there will a lot of money spent on devices; I also think there will a higher scrutiny of employees and of cargo. You can get pretty draconian, and I think we'll see that whole new level of scrutiny. This is different than what we've ever seen in the past. This isn't just blowing up airplanes, this is using airplanes as a tool of death.

Covering the Attack An Eyewitness Speaks By Ed Hashey Special to Poynter.org [Editor's note: Ed Hashey is a member of Poynter's visiting visual journalism faculty and an affiliate of Mario Garcia New Media Group.] I keep playing this back in my head. It just did not seem real, nor would I ever have imagined such a series of events happening this morning. It is true: Everything seemed to be in slow motion. I arrived here Sunday night with my wife. She was going to spend the whole week with me for my birthday. I reported to work yesterday as a consultant at The Wall Street Journal. Monday we just came up with the work load for the next few weeks. I came back to the hotel at midtown Manhattan, had dinner with my wife, Jeanne, where we discussed our day's events and plans for tomorrow. Jeanne said she want to come in with me to the downtown area on Tuesday morning and visit the top of the World Trade Center. She found a two-dollar discount coupon. The next morning we both ate breakfast and my wife decided she was not feeling well enough to join me this morning. So I left for work this morning at 8 a.m. I got on the number 9 train from Times Square, and read a chapter in my book. Before you knew it, it was 8:40 a.m. and I was at the World Trade Center station at Cortland Street. I got off the train, walked up to the street exit, and right as I saw daylight, I heard a huge explosion and then many pieces of metal debris, some the size of car hoods, were falling all around me and a very large crowd of people. We all responded by trying to go back in the train station exit, but there were too many people trying to exit, and so we all squeezed against the side of the World Trade Center. After a while, the debris stopped falling. We crossed Liberty street, and looked up and saw the first tower engulfed in flames. Eyewitnesses said a plane had crashed into the building high up. Then to my horror, I started seeing people jump to their deaths. As each person fell, I started praying. Many people fell, and we were not sure where to go or what to do. Then a loud noise of an aircraft became apparent, and I remember seeing a large airline jet smash into the next tower, followed by many flaming pieces falling all around us and many people being struck by debris and burning wreckage. I ran into an entryway of the building across the street and saw debris take out windows. A large crowd of pedestrians outside was hit as they were on their way to work. At that point the police ordered a mass evacuation, and I remember thinking this was a terrorist act. It was just too coincidental too be anything else. I decided to just start running north up Broadway. By the time I reached Chambers Street, I kept trying phones to call my wife and say I was OK, but nothing was working, all circuits busy, my cell phone did not work. So I just got on a train and ran to my hotel room. My wife was in tears, and I was shaking like a leaf. I as still shaking and very sad, then I witnessed the towers falling on the news channel, and I just stood there in disbelief. I am sad, angry, nervous, happy to be alive, but humbled by others' deaths today. I can't stop seeing the visions of bodies falling. I still pray for their families, but the world will never be the same again. I'm very sorry to be writing this.

UK news is saying that the US President has gone to Nebraska because that's HQ when the USA is on a war footing. To all my old friends in the US, and the new ones I've made here on Spring recently, my thoughts and prayers are with you on this dreadful day. Take care, all of you.

HOW THE HELL DID HIJACKERS GET PAST SECURITY AT LOGAN????????????? Well, considering these were domestic flights, I suspect that security is a little more lax. I remember listening to an NPR story not too long ago about how airport security employees have such a high turn-around, and most aren't unionized.... I'm in LA where things are eerily quiet. Schools are still in session, but they've cancelled a lot of events tonight (the Madonna concert, Latin Grammys, MLB games, etc..). Some production studios (the major ones anyway) have also shut down for the day. I'm trying to get work done, but it's just too difficult.

Alas, Babylon... Maryland has been declared a state of emergency. The military post S. works on is at its highest security level, there are massive amounts of agent stored there. Schools, colleges, programs, everything is closed. Hospitals have canceled all elective surgeries to stay ready for victims. I was in D.C. on Monday, sight-seeing with my aunt from Dallas. She tried to call us all afternoon, but there were no available circuits until 3:30. It is so quiet--there's not a car on the road (everyone's watching TV I guess) or a plane in the sky. Weird. I can't even process it all yet.

pastebomb alert -- bruces *8-( that peculiar parade-going-in-the-wrong-direction has passed ... maybe we'll find out what that was, at some point ... people are now out of their offices for lunchtime, still almost no traffic, but the shops are open and people are hanging out watching the clouds of smoke ... the view towards the south is unimaginable ... much more jet activity ... -Ken ______________________________________________ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://post.openoffice.de/mailman/listinfo/spectre NYC, Fifth Avenue & 19th St. ... people are walking in large crowds in the middle of Fifth Ave., heading south, as if in a parade. Many more have been standing, looking south, for hours now, as if waiting for something else to happen. It's just clouds of smoke now where the WTC used to be... Some people have radios, portable tvs. Few people's cell phones are working. Apart from the downed antennae, the circuits are just jammed, regular phones are jammed, too. The only traffic seems to be ambulances. Apart from the sirens, it is eerily quiet for midday ... fighter jets are flying overhead now ... -Ken ______________________________________________ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://post.openoffice.de/mailman/listinfo/spectre another meaning for spectre.... Pandemonium envelops reporters incapable of expressing much more than shock. The highways in lower Manhattan are loaded with an exodus of refugees escaping downtown. Electricity has been shut don in lower Manhattan. Airports are in chaos. Everything has a surreal siege status. No official word other than a short statement from Bush early this morning. His plane from Florida will not go to Washington where Chaney is "in charge" at the White House. more soon, Tim ______________________________________________ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://post.openoffice.de/mailman/listinfo/spectre i can just report, that here at ZKM in karlsruhe we are also totally shocked, following the news on German tv and CNN for hours and don't know really what to say as angst is emerging of the events. what will happen now? will this event to exponentiate the use of terror between south and north, between east and west? most embarassing seems the clean, totally emotion-less face of G.W. Bush. cannot believe that this is an eqiuvalent reaction of his. (is he in drugs?) best to all, anke ______________________________________________ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://post.openoffice.de/mailman/listinfo/spectre ______________________________________________ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://post.openoffice.de/mailman/listinfo/spectre The national guard has been called up in NYC -- Its like a war zone, they are predicting the death toll as being in the thousands -- 40,000 people work in the two towers and were in the process of arriving for work when the first plane struck -- I witnessed the collapse of the second tower, from a roof about a half mile away-- the city is shut down -- there are still three or 4 more planes unaccounted for -- the pentagon was also attacked and severely damaged -- with large lost of life-- a plane was brought down near camp David -- I placed part of the blame for this turn of events on the Bush administration's failure to intervene in Palestine, his failure to send observers and his failure to condemn Israel's policy of assination against Palestine leaders. This is truly a horror. Saul ______________________________________________ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://post.openoffice.de/mailman/listinfo/spectre . y

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ bruce -- i'm putting together a piece for tomorrow's paper on how the internet reacted/helped/hurt in the face of this disaster. i need help. if you see or hear anything that would feed into this story, please let me know. if you've got anything to say, please give me a quote. i am working out of my home. 540 347 1960. garreau@well.com or garreauj@washpost.com. i'll need to start writing 4-ish eastern time, although i can push later than that for good stuff. please pass the word to anybody else who can help. thanx. joel Joel Garreau The Washington Post 202 334 6269 voice 202 334 5587 fax garreauj@washpost.com "But I keep hitting these typewriter keys. What a magician is the subconscious. If only it would work regular hours." -- Raymond Chandler, "The Long Goodbye" 21ST CENTURY DETERRENCE AND TODAY'S ATTACKS Washington, D.C., September 11/PRNEWSWIRE/ -- Responding to today's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Robert David Steele, author of ON INTELLIGENCE: Spies and Secrecy in an Open World (AFCEA, 2000), said: "The tragedy of today's coordinated attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon--with other targets expected shortly--must be regarded as the Pearl Harbor of the 21st Century. Our national leaders have wasted ten years since the end of the Cold War, failing to understand that it is instability, poverty, oppression, disease, and cultural conflict that require the USA to expend billions of dollars on stabilizing and nurturing the Whole Earth." Mr. Steele goes on to note, ""As Robert McNamara and others have pointed out, 'at least two thirds of the world's people--Chinese, Russian, Indians, Muslims, and Africans'--see the United States as the single greatest threat to their societies, because of our 'intrusive, interventionist, exploitative, unilateralist, hegemonic, hypocritical practices' of 'economic imperialism' and 'intellectual colonialism'." The capitalist party is over. It is time to give Colin Powell what he needs to save the world--only by saving the world can we save America." On this occasion Steele and Professor Stephen Cimbala have re-released their earlier warning on the need for a new concept of deterrence in the 21st Century. Their joint communiqu can be downloaded quickly (539 words) from http://www.oss.net/Papers/white/TodaysAttacks.doc. Mr. Steele concludes: "America is the greatest country in the world, but we have lost sight of our moral foundations, failed to listen to our great strategists Zbigniew Brzezinski and Stephen Metz, and completely closed down the U.S. Department of State and our foreign assistance endeavors. It is time for a Global Marshal Plan that respects the fact that the Whole Earth is a closed system; that does not trivialize today's attacks as terrorist events; and that wakes up to the fact that money cannot buy security in a world where asymmetric power is now in the hands of the people that we have been ignoring and sidelining for over a century." Mr. Steele is available for telephone interviews at (703) 242-1700. His high-resolution photograph can be downloaded from http://www.oss.net/Papers/white/AuthorPhoto.gif. Various white papers on the 21st Century threat and what to do about it are at http://www.oss.net/White.html. SOURCE: Open Source Solutions, Inc. -0- 09/11/2001 /CONTACT: Robert Steele, OSS CEO, 703-242-1700, or bear@oss.net/ /Web site: www.oss.net

Ted Olsen's wife Barbara, ironically, was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. ABC News reported that a KAL airliner had been "forced down" and boarded by the military in Canada - not sure when. Barbara Olsen was able to contact her husband by cell phone, and reported that all the passengers had been herded to the rear of the aircraft.

Apparently its being suggested now that the 4th plane, that crashed near Pittsburgh, was intercepted and brought down by US forces after it failed to respond to air traffic control and refused to identify itself, and it was on a heading for Camp David - am in UK but have just had this from a friend in Chicago - does anyone know if this is true?

Bush is at Offutt AFB in Omaha, home of the Strategic Air Command. Boston has not been evacuated. Logan Airport has been closed and people have been asked to leave. The only aircraft flying over Boston today are delta-wing military aircraft, perhaps an F-15 or F-16. I'm gonna guess that the hijackers somehow disabled the crew, perhaps with gas, which would be easy enough to get through security, and then took over the controls of the plane. This is just my own personal speculation. I expect our nation will now enter a phase of crisis fatigue.

Apparently its being suggested now that the 4th plane, that crashed near Pittsburgh, was intercepted and brought down by US forces after it failed to respond to air traffic control and refused to identify itself, and it was on a heading for Camp David - am in UK but have just had this from a friend in Chicago - does anyone know if this is true?

I have heard no reliable reports of how the fourth plane went down near Pittsburgh, but it's possible that it was forced down by an interceptor, as this plane was on a considerably later timetable than the first three. The military would have had time to respond.

A govt spokesperson has just refuted that rumor about shooting down the plane.

Rachael, all the info I've heard about the Pittsburgh plane has been unconfirmed, but I've also heard the same thing. Hopefully there will be more details later.

Terry, is your server on GMT?

Outside Omaha, Nebraska is the Strategic Air Command. Then there is Norad just outside of Colorado Springs. Been there. They don't welcome stangers!

from unidentified source: An attorney named Tom Humphries is being interviewed by Jennings now. He was on the 57th floor in one of the buildings--they cut into the interview in progress so I'm not sure which one--oh, it would have been the first building hit. 57th floor. Took him 45 minutes to get down the staircase. He said people were calm, and helping each other. Asked about whether there were lights, he said, "Last time there weren't, this time there were." (God. "Last time.") Only one stairwell was open, the others were blocked by smoke. The first building took some time before it imploded, and he thinks a large number of people got out. (The second building got hit later and collapsed sooner. I hope they were already evacuating after the first building was hit.) Jennings: "I must say I'm amazed how calm you are, after having been in the first bombing in 1993 and now this." Humphries chuckles briefly. "I'm happy to be here." Humphries says the evacuation down one narrow stairway was "a recipe for disaster" but everyone's calmness kept it from becoming one. He talked to someone from Tower 2, who was on the 88th floor. They started evacuating after Tower 1 was hit, and that person got out. He says, "I think the tragedy is, the police and fire people who were trying to help people were right under the building when that happened"--the collapse--"They were at ground zero." I think this simple interview has started to break through my wall of shock. Listening to a very calm man who was in the building and walked down 57 floors with thousands of heroically self-composed people describe that. I am, goddamnit, starting to believe this.

Terry, is your server on GMT?

Yeah, I need to fix that again. I keep setting it for CST and it reverts to GMT.

More unidentified reports: source a: Some terrorism experts are saying that the only ones who could pull this off are the CIA-trained fundamentalist terrorists in afganistan... we taught them to take down the local great satan -- the USSR -- and now they are turning their attention to the rilly rilly great satan. They do not have headquarters. they do not have known leaders. they are good with technology. They can organize. they are willing to die. they don't care if someone else takes the blame. This second hand from someone who is interviewing experts and pundits. source b: My guess is that the hijackers flew first class, maybe spent some time in the Red Carpet Club before boarding the flights, and didn't appear to be palestinian freedom fighters. Maybe Japanese businessmen if the announcement by the Japanese Red Army is accurate. And another report: BBC News reporting that a building close to the site of the WTC is at risk of collapse as a result of the towers collapsing.

Outside Omaha, Nebraska is the Strategic Air Command. Then there is Norad just outside of Colorado Springs. Been there. They don't welcome stangers!

They are identifying it as Building 7