We Remember

Composite Input Tue Sep 11 21:09:10 2001

experience that a huge amount of heavy equipment is needed in the area in order to continue the searching operation. You see it showing up?

We've seen every now and then fleets of bulldozers and other heavy equipment moving through back streets here, in the dark as it is just now. Every now and then a fleet of flashing lights and sirens will go by as the people working on the strategy here are trying to figure out how to get these pieces of equipment into position for what they're going to have to do in the the morning. We can see it's going be many days of a great deal of grim work to try to take it apart and to do what they can for anybody that they can find alive but it's going be morning before we can really see sit.

blakemore. One of the things people who aren't familiar with this part of new york may not fully appreciate is that the trade towers stood emphasis on stood, very close to the hudson river. And the west side highway, which comes down the west side of new york, past the world trade center and tucks around and goes up towards that's brooklyn in the map over to the right and across the brooklyn bridge and towards the brooklyn battery tunnel, the world trade center are very close to the edge of the river and all that stuff right underneath the world trade center at the moment is basically landfill. And so there is a very narrow physical window through which the relief operators can work. Here's the mayor.

very grateful for it and it will be stored in areas and probably over the next two or three days we will need it. Need it. And we'll do everything we can to support the efforts of the people who are trying to recover people from the debris and the horror that's taken place down there. The number to call, if you have questions, i'm not sure we can answer all of your answers, but at least we can try to answer it is 1-212-560-2730. That's 1-212-560-2730. If you have questions throughout the night and tomorrow, that's the number to call, rather than 191, which you should just call

We had over 1,000 emergency room visits today that we know of. So far, we had six fatalities that we know of, five at st. Vincent'S. Obviously and tragically, there are going to be more than that. But that's what we know of at this point. We had over 300 patients that were treated at st. Vincent's, over 160 at bellevue, 250 at beakman downtown hospital and the hospital -- these hospitals were probably the ones under the most stress, but they were able to get through. I want to thank all of the people that helped st. Vincent's getting the water that they ed and the support that they needed. Also, I'd like to say to people that might consider doing this, that services should be made in new york city tomorrow on a fair and the ektd tabl basis. Anybody that thinks they're going to gouge consumers or asking for extra amounts of money for food or anything else, we're going to have the police out there, so just be careful. This is a time in which we all have to cooperate and help each other. Atlanta fire street parking is suspended. Sanitation services will take place in most of the city, except obviously in the lower part of manhattan, where the sanitation department will be working to remove debris, which has already started. And the schools, again, will be closed tomorrow. And hopefully, we'll get them hope as soon as possible. Tomorrow, the effort will be at trying to recover as many people as possible and trying to clean up the horrible mess that was created by all of this. And i would ask people to cooperate as much as possible in that effort. If you have to come into manhattan because of your business is essential, then obviously do it. The upper part of manhattan will be open. But if tomorrow is a day in which you want to stay home, stay with your family and give comfort and support maybe to other people that have been affected by this, white be a good day to do that. The point that richie scherrer makes is that people are wonderful. We've had thousands of people that have come to help us when i was down at the site near the world trade center, i met a lot of the -- a lot of the national guards people that the governor has sent really wonderful young men and women. We have enough volunteers now. We have more volunteers frankly than we need at this point. What we need to do is to focus the efforts of the professionals that are there and being able to do the recovery and try to save as pane lives as we can, restore services as quickly as possible. We may be asking for more volunteers tomorrow and the next day and the day after. Right now we don't need any more volunteers.

hope that there are people who are still alive?

There's hope that there will be -- there are people that are -- that are still alive.

hampered by the darkness? What do you --

so that the area is being lit now so that -- i don't think the rescue effort is going to be hampered by the darkness. The rescue effort is hampered by the fact that there's still fire there. There is still unsound structures, and it's still dangerous, all the rescue effort is now taking place. If you're asking me if it's hampered, it's hampered because of the conditions, not because of the nighttime.

heavy construction equipment making its way down to lower manhattan, what is that going to be used for?

move debris out of the way so that emergency vehicles can get in and out quickly. So that we can get the ambulances in in a more expeditious fashion than we've been able to did. I want to thank the deputy mayor rudy washington who has spent most to have the day coordinating, getting that emergency equipment in the right place, ready to move. If you go along houston street, you'll see hundreds of pieces of equipment that are lined up to move in and to take debris out. Now they've started doing that. I think that's probably what you observed.

rudy guiliani getting close to the end of his time in office, not able to succeed himself here in new york city, saying there is hope. He said darkness has made things more complicated. But we've heard from several sources one of the first things they moved into the sight. U can see it both other the pentagon and here in new york city, you can see a large amount of temporary lights brought in, in some cases by the new jersey international gaurt. The mayor saying it doesn't come as any great surprise, they had a tremendous number of volunteers, volunteers for blood supplies, not only in new york, but around the country, people wishing to contradict and in true american volunteer spirit. Too many vool tears at the moment. He says the time has come to focus the effort. To our surprise, a little bit, he has given a number, which we'll repeat, given that he issued it, because i assume he knew he was talking on national television and not really to the press. You think i'm right on that, john? But there is a new york city number, 212-560-2730. And given the involvement and engagement of the country as a whole at the moment, i don't know how that line is ever going to handle what the mayor or you would like it to handle. But there is another line which is handled today. I think it's probably worth repeating. It's mr than worth repeating, something called the victims of crime hotline, which the attorney general mentioned to us some an hour or so ago. This is where people -- for people who are certain they have family members either involved in these aircraft or on the ground, and they can call this number, 1-800-331-0075. And leave a contact number. You're not going to get any information as best we understand it. Just leave a contact number which will tell somebody in government, which is ultimately running all this, that you are in need of information about a known crime. And let's turn to the bottom number, this is the fbi saying as it does in any major crisis or incident like this, anybody that knows anything, you can reach us on the web, www.Ifccfbi.Gov. Now, the fema help line, that's the federal emergency management administration, and we're not quite sure why their number is up there, unless people believe they can offer help to fema, which is the emergency arm or wing or department of the federal government, which swings into action at any national emergency like this, and organizes, particularly true in floods and fires and earthquakes where it's sort of superimposed agency that can help organize people on the ground, particularly true in smaller communities, seen a lot of it in the mid west, during floods and whatever mt here in new york, the message seems to be that new york, with what it has already required seems to be able to cope with what it has on its hands at the moment. There is that phrase from the mayor, there is hope. To amplify just a little on a story we began to tell you earlier, there's a story out of philadelphia just a short while ago, which say that a woman from monhall, pennsylvania, who was in new york called 911 in pennsylvania shortly after 8:00 P.M. To say that she, beg your pardon, her brother, her brother was still trapped under 40 feet of rubble near the forward hotel in manhattan. John help me, the forward hotel is the marriott hotel which used to be the vista hotel?

hotel. But it's the hotel that stands directly in front of the world trade center on west street.

gave specific directions to her where he was located, said he was there with two new york city policeman because policeman and firemen are under this as well, they were going one way when everybody else was fleeing in the other way. We don't know what her name is, and his name is, and it doesn't matter. But it is why on an occasion like this, there's always hope. And if you think about a building collapsing on itself, we've seen this before in earthquakes, and we are always astounded no matter where it is in the world, how primative the conditions that people survive for days and days on end. So the interactiveness of getting a, this place quiet, which is very hard in the next few hours so that people can work in there with some measure of efficiency, the importance of getting in the dogs, they're sometimes called mortury teams, but they're called that anyway. The federal government has sent ree of them to new york and a couple of the pentagon as well. The value of dogs, the value of searching as quickly as you can through the rubble almost invariably turns up success stories no matter where incidents like these occur. We've been joined by barbara walters, who i think is apalled as all of us by all of this. What have you been doing?

There aren't enough adjectives enough to describe how we feel. I talked a few moments ago to senator oren hatch who had some information. He said remember the millennium threat, we all remember, he said it was a very real threat, but they had the intelligence to be able to block terrorist attacks. He said a month ago there was a general report that a big attack was being planned and that they pulled a ship out of the persian gulf and he said they now have some data that says that people on the aircraft, these are his words, appeared to be associated with bin laden and furthermore he has information has people generally associated with bin laden, because he says it's more than one organization acknowledge with joy that a couple of the other targets were hit. He said, peter, that the next 12 to 24 hours are absolutely crucial, because if you don't find out who did this within 24 hours, they all go underground. And he considers this an act of war.

i know you have some other news as well, if senator hatch is anywhere near a television set and can hear us, we'd like him to come on and explain this in some detail. I think there's some skepticism around these remarks. These remarks have been around some time. That you have been repeated to you. There's an osama bin laden remark and i know people are desperate, and we'd like the senator to come on and explain what he mens. The connection to this ship, do you know what's referring to?

shouldn't guess, there may have been some attack on that ship. They pulled that ship out.

persian gulf ever since the attack on the uss cole in which 17 americans --

of the problem, part of the reason we haven't known as much is that the cia has been cut so much, their budget has been cut so much, we have not had the human intelligence to infiltrate the various organizations that we used to have prior 0 the '70s.

talking about communication between people who are associated with osama bin laden in the wake of this incident.

this incident. Is he talking about people talking about the operation in ways that you and i and millions of americans would not?

we have, before they were saying we think it's bin laden, we're not sure. He is saying i have some data, i have some information that says people associated with him acknowledge that it's happened. So more and more the finger points more definitely at bin laden. I also talked to senator john edwards who is a democrat from north carolina and is on the intelligence committee, is one of the, as you know, young fresh faces that some people say might be a presidential candidate. And he -- he didn't seem as definite. He had just talked to the head of the cia, and we have that, if you want to see that.

We'd like to hear part of your interview.

that earlier today you spoke to the head of the cia. Can you tell us anything about that discussion?

is that they're making real progress, that we're going to identify who's responsible for that, that we're as a nation going to hold them responsible.

osama bin laden. How do we know that?

I'm sorry.

dumb question, but are we sure that this was done by foreigners?

the public is certainly not sure. I think the director of our intelligence gathering activities feel like they've made real progress and have a pretty good idea of what's happening and who's responsible.

no? Are we sure it's not foreigners?

I'm sorry.

concern now for quite a while about terrorist attacks and had wanted more security. What should have been done?

there are some of us who have been working on some legislation a law that's directed at doing specifically that. Senator graham, bob graham, don feinstein and I have drafted legislation before this incident occurred that does three things, puts more resources, more money into fighting terrorism, two, coordinates all of the federal agencies, and i think there are 41 of them that are involved, who are involved in counter terrorism, creates a terrorism czar, to oversee that effort. And third, gives the director of the cia more legal authority to do what needs to be done to fight terrorism. I might add, barbara, i think that the people who have committed these acts on the united states who killed all those innocent men and women and children today underestimate the american people. And i think what they're about to find out is the american people are strong, they are courageous and they are rez lawsuit. Our response will be powerful.

kind of attack we saw on the united states today, terriblely if it was state sponsored, i think it would be war. I think we should treat is as an act of war.

combatting terrorism. We need to coordinate, to make sure that all of our agencies are working together in a coordinated fashion to fight these folks and number three, we need to make sure that the legal authority is in place so that the director of the cia, the central intelligence agency can do what's necessary to fight these people.

things that confused me, maybe in subsequent conversation with you -- he said if this is state sponsored terrorism it is war. Then he said it's war. Is he telling us something he knows about ho sponsored this act?

foreign act, could it be domestic? He said i can't answer that question. That's why i said, well you know a simple yes or no. I mean, are we sure that this is a foreign organization? So i found that -- and i kept pressing it. I found that a confusing myself.

if it's an individual, it isn't.

course. If it is state sponsored terrorism, the united states is to do certain things. Let me talk to john miller here for a second. John spent so much time on this. First of all you have a senator say to us now we're making real progress. But I can't say what it is. I would argue at a moment like this that if we're making real progress, someone has on able gags to come and tell the american people to they're making real progress, help them nd something.

someone might be the president. I think the box that the senator finds himself in and of course, you can't tell from his coded answer, when he says i can't answer that question, sit because I don't know or is it because he's the recipient of a briefing that he could answer that question if we were allowed to.

recipient of some information and was -- didn't feel he should give it out now.

have caused him to breach that classified briefing by giving the specific answer or how he knew, he'd be in violation of law and his clearance. That may be the stumbling block you found in those two sensitive and direct questions.

television commenting on a situation, but they don't want to go as far as i think probably the public, not just us would like them to go at the moment. He does say three other things, which I think are quite important at the moment. He is one of those people who has argued for more resources for the counter intelligence effort in the war against terrorism. There are lots of politicians like him. He's interested in having greater coordination between federal agencies. There's almost invariably a lack of coordination of issues on this between the cia, the nsa, the fbi, elements of the justice decht how bad is it, or is it okay?

It's always been worse. The cia used to be focused on foreign issues, the fbi largely on domestic. Since the fbi has become the lead agency in acts of international terrorism not on u.S. Soil, they've had to compare a lot more notes with the cia. You'll find that the fbi and the cia have a terrorism desk together at cia headquarters staffed by fbi people. Cia people are assigned to the fbi's joint terrorist task force. You see them pulling closer together. Any time you have the defense intelligence agency, the central intelligence agency, the fbi and the national security agency, you're going to have agencies that are competitive about who gets information, who distributes information to whom, and really, who gets credit for information, and breaking down the walls between those divides and letting that information flow freely has always been a difficulty sharing.

What do you think of the idea of a terrorist zar, that is somebody now who is going to be overall in charge of all of this which was his other discussion?

about, the sharing of information, the coordination of effort, that person would be for lack of a better term, the grownup that would divide up these agencies and say, no, this is what you're role's going to be, this is what you're going to do and stop competing or dividing efforts or duplicating them.

Thank you barbara for talking to him. As i say if you're talking to senator hatch, tell him we'd like to talk to him, because there are -- there are several other questions we would like to ask him, given what he told you, also what he's got out there floating around on the wire services as well. I want to just before we go to our next report, and as we look at lower manhattan, i want to remind you of some basic things. There is in the distance late this evening, the skeleton of the front entrance of the front entrance of one of the world trade towers on the west side of new york. That is what's left. We had that young man go down today and 110 stories up, you see that photograph on the right 110 stories up on the right would have been the top of the trade tower, the single trade tower, that, go back to the nighttime shot if you would, that is what is left this evening of the twin trade towers on the west side of lower new york city. 50,000 people worked in there, one of the hardest things to grasp all day is it happened just before 5900, how many people were at work? How many people managed to get out? How many people survived? First the attack on the building at 9:03 a.M., When the first attack occurred and the second -- sorry 9:03, just before 9:00 the first attack, then the second one at 9:03. Then when these buildings collapsed at 10:28 this morning. That is the number one question at the moment. Even paramount to find out who the perpetrators are. It is part of our job to throw the net around the world, talk to our assets about why, about why we might suspect one individual or another. And criticize, if we will, the fact that bin laden's name, osama bin laden saudi citizens, saudi millionaire, who has helped to finance a lot of operations in the world, in the view of the united states, it's inevitable in a moment like this that his name comes up to the top. Abc's joon coolly who has covered the middle east and intelligence matters in the middle east at every single level for us for almost 30 years points out that maybe bin laden is one of the obvious perpetrators here. But it's coolly's judgment acting on his own. He is aloner, he does not act in concert with government or we've not seen any evidence of that i believe, even though the taliban have given him some measure of protection. Fair comment?

The only indication is that bin laden's people according to u.S. Intelligence have cross trained with hezbulah, but not with iraq or libya. Let's hold this thought. Senator hatch has called us from washington. Senator hatch, do you hear me?

And whoever called who, you're being quoted pretty widely at the moment as inferring, you're a member of the senate intelligence committee, the senator republican on the jirb yar committee rather. You're being interpreted fairly widely as believing in the wake of this attack today that you know some connection between it and osama bin laden, true or not?

As a ranking member on the committee and as a twice member on the intelligence committee, i chatted with the top law enforcement people of the top people at the cia, they made it very clear that to me, that just about everything points in the direction of osama bin laden. There's no question that they intercepted information that included people associated with osama bin laden who acknowledge that a couple of targets were hit.

couple of targets were hit. Did you press the question?

give me that. This is -- these are people at the top of the cia. And I'm just saying that that's what they said. Keep in mind, bin laden said it was every muslim's duty to kill americans. We know that people associated with bin laden are taking pleasure in this attack. We know there's some data on poem on the aircraft who appear to be associated with bin laden. They're still studying this, they're not positive, but they appear to be associated with bin n. And you know, these are -- we also were pretty darn sure bin laden was behind the attack on the uss cole. So these are things that very, very serious, almost everything points to him. And it's a serious situation.

to underestimate the potential of mr. Bin laden. We're just trying to get at what you know today. Essentially --

associated press also said, quote, attributes to you the information that law enforcement has data possibly linking one person on one of the four ill fated flights to be members of bin laden's organization. Is that true, sir?

is some data on people on the aircraft who appear to be associated with bin laden. I don't know which aircraft. I didn't ask that question.

I appreciate --

still studying this and they're going to try and verify that, bring that down to reality. But these are all just matters that appear to be, you know, to be pointing in the direction of osama bin laden.

I appreciate very much, senator, getting you on the telephone this evening. You clarifying for that. Just to reconfirm before we lose you, as you told barbara walters and the associated press, you've been talking to u.S. Intelligence and they've told you they intercepted unications between bin laden supporters discussing the attack on the world trade center and the pentagon?

exact language, it was that they got information that included people associated with osama bin laden where they acknowledged that a couple of targets were hit. They didn't name the targets. But that you have to presume. These are -- this is top intelligence information that they told me i could comment about.

Thank you very much senator hatch. Appreciate you taking the time. Glad we were able to find you. The senator does confirm that what he said to the associated press and barbara walters is what he actually heard from senior officials in the cia, which takes us back to mr. Bin laden. There has been no one in the history of international terrorism who has -- who's been more elusive, who has stymied the united states to any greater degree. We were talking a minute ago about john coolly who has covered the middle east. He makes a couple of observations, they're all speculation, we're all involved in speculation today about bin laden. But john coolly says the taliban could in some way assist bin laden, giving him access, very interesting, john, to former afghan air force pilots who were trained during the soviet era when the united states was of course using afghanistan as a bulwark against the soviet union union. He points out that jane's defense weekly, one of the most authoritative defense journals in the world recently did a very -- did recent review of bin laden's military capability obally which they did conclude was impressive, well organized and very wealthy. And i think everybody knows that. Am i right, john?

I have to point out couple of interesting facts about bin laden. Underlining that i continue to join in speculation. Number one, we learned in the embassy bombing trial that bin laden had hired pilots and obtained surplus military aircraft to transport his people around, so there is a history of having trained people, professional aircraft pilots to fly big planes in this case, the smaller versions of the c-130. We also know from the same case that bin laden had recruited former egyptian military people who actually one of them sergeant ali mohammed became a us military advisor with special forces. So the idea that it would be far fetched for him to have imported the type of expertise who could give people and forgive the ier any of this statement, a crash course in how to operate a large jet is not as far fetched as you might think.

coolly should remind us. I should remind people at home, one of the only journalists who has gone to see osama bin laden. And inter vow him. We talking three years ago now?

1998. The statements he made that day really refer to the future. He said it will be a dark day for america, we will send their sons home in coffins and in boxes. He underlined not just people in military uniform, but civil afghanistans, too. They are all a target of this fetwa, unquote. It was the first time he underscored this is no longer bin laden against the forces of the u.S. Government, this was bin laden against the american people, civil afghanistans included. It was six weeks after he made that statement in july when he according to u.S. Officials, blew up the two east african embassies, thus carrying out the threat he made. He has threatened several times, including once recently to launch more attacks. In his latest video, essentially claiming credit for the cole attack or at least cheering it on.

appeared on middle east television, I think occurred at the time of his daughter's or son's wedding.

where he released kind of a training video showing himself shooting guns and showing u.S. Leaders and targets and so on. So he has underlined the threat that it's a continuing one.

at home. We're persisting with the questioning on this issue with anybody we talk to with the intelligence committee so that the country does not rush to judgment, even though as john miller and senator hatch most recently and others, john coolly our correspondent in the middle east made clear that osama bin laden is certainly a logical person to put at the very head of the suspect list. Abc's brian roske gives us a measure of the training that mr. Bin laden has been involved in.

a part of many of the terrorist schemes tied to today's prime suspect, osama bin laden. According to federal court records filed by prosecutors in new york, terrorists working for bin laden have often received train as pilots, some with u.S. Pilots lpss for large jets. In fact, some pilots say the turn, the second plane seems to have made in hitting the world trade center today would be difficult for an amateur to carry out.

looking for people who are trained to fly these planes, people who knew what they were doing, because no pilot would ever fly in and destroy everybody.

tracking him through his cell phone for several years, american intelligence officials reportedly lost track of him last year.

have been able to eavesdrop on osama bin laden for a long period of time. Then all of a sudden it all went silent. They weren't able to track him anymore.

laden has a pattern of making good on his threats and just three weeks ago, the middle east broadcasting company reported the latest warning from bin laden and his followers that the coming weeks would bear significant surprises during which american and israeli interests worldwide would be targeted.

the battlefields and the fighting quarters so that they can be prepared military tearly for the religion of mohammed to triumph.

the afghan desert. Brian ross, abc news, new york. Thank you for that. That's amazing. There's nowhere in the world, including john miller's trip to afghanistan to see mr. Bin laden at the time, there's nowhere in the world which does not have video from it in this day and age, whether it's provided by bin laden himself or whether on that rare and unusual occasion western reporter is able to get to him and sit down and question him about his intentions and his motives. To the pentagon now. To abc's john mcwethy.

You hear me all right? We're beginning to see the first small signs of the u.S. Military positioning itself to perhaps do something in the days and weeks ahead. There was an aircraft carrier, the uss enterprise that had switched out with another aircraft carrier in the persian gulf and was heading home. That carrier were are now told from pentagon sources has been ld to stop dead in the water, turn around and head back. For the persian gulf. That's number one. Number two, after the world trade center was hit and the pentagon was hit, we now know that the pentagon had large numbers of, of f-15s and f-16s on emergency alert. They moved into the airspace around new york and washington and secured the airspace. That is the first time to my knowledge, peter, that that has ever happened. Finally, one issue, peter, that was raised in the president's remarks earlier this evening that is critical to those of us that watched the pentagon and understand what some of the code is behind the words. The president said, we will make no distinction between the terrorists who did this act and those who harbor them. That is a critical statement, because what it is telling us is that the rules of engagement, that america is going to go after these folks under are going to be different than it has ever been before. The united states is not going to be bound by those tight issues of collateral damage. They are not going to worry nearly as much about the loss of innocent life as they have done before. It is a very important signal that the president has laid down tonight.

statement earlier, john. Does that not depend to some extent on who if anyone has collaborated with the terrorists that is to say state.

But what they are saying tonight peter, again, to use the example of osama bin laden, if this is an independent terrorist operation that he may have been involved in, the signature national is that the united states is going to go after the taliban and that is the government of afghanistan that is harboring osama bin laden. T as you may recall and other conflicts, the united states has been very, very concerned about the issue of what they call collateral damage, and that is the loss of innocent civil afghanistan life because of military strikes that the united states might take in retaliation. That is not going to be a concern apparently in this case if the united states launches some sort of military attack.

john, whether or not the united states would suddenly change its mind about collateral damage and civil afghanistans. It's been an essential point of pride in the united states when it has caused collateral damage that this is not something a nation does easily. Let me run through these nations that are at least -- if not on issue today, at least -- are you still there?

in conversation at all times like this. Iraq. The united states has detected detected -- think it's detected hugh sign's happened in terrorism in the past. There's no evidence, is there that saddam hussein and osama bin laden get along.

interests, peter. But they have very, very different religious interests. Osama bin laden does not believe in the things that saddam hussein does, and american officials know that they have had contacts and conversations, but the indications are that iraq and osama bin laden have not been able to see eye to eye on doing anything cooperatively.

I ran. Now iran is very much or principally at least, john coolly points this out is anti-taliban in afghanistan, not likely wants to encourage either the united states roth or taliban faxes that want to cause trouble in iran.

There have been major disbeauties wean the taliban and iran. They do not like each other. They have had casualties, have had hostages. In fact, iran has been supporting the one faction in afghanistan that has been fighting the taliban.

list here with which we've been familiar down with the last couple of decades, libya, khadafi is described by many people as a flake these days, better relations in africa because he wants to make a stronger economic base for libya and has shown no signs of being involved in international terrorism in last several years.

seen as the kind of terrorist threat he was before. He has lost a lot of the momentum in the drive that he was drying to do about 10 or 15 years ago. You are correct. He wants economic legitimacy because he now sees that as the only way his country is going to get out of the economic problems that it has had over the last decade.

which have been involved in violence, pakistan, very unsettled country in the world, recently be a coup, very close association with afghanistan, cannot imagine that pakistan would want to incur the roth of the united states.

On the one hand, but afghanistan and the taliban are their neighbors, the taliban and the fundamentalist islamic movement is beginning to have an important impact on pakistan on certain sections of pakistani society. So while pakistan would never support something like this, most anaylysts would say they can't control it either.

particularly at security services, which have been suspected of cooperating with terrorism before and cooperating with drug dealing going back and forth, there -- in some respects the loose cannon within an already unstable pakistan.

peter. We have to be very careful that we are not accusing pakistan of being involved in anything like this on the other hand, the pakistani intelligence service has supported some things that osama bin laden has done very co vertically.

often mentioned in sponsoring international terrorism is syria. People we check in with today would be really surprised if not horrified to hear that syria would want to incur united states anger to this degree.

contender, but again, both syria and iran do play in the israeli arab dispute and the whole issue of the foment on the west bank k and israel is something those countries do play in. There is no indication that that conflict is connected to what has happened today, no evidence at this moment.

Thank you. You end on an appropriate note. We are simply talking at the moment in many respects, giving what i hope is legitimate background in terms of the of the countries which have been involved in the constant conflict, involving the united states and part of that, the united states and the soviet union for many years, israel and the palestine afghanistans, extremist islam, not islam but extremist islam or muslims who regard the united states as an enemy and -- so that's the aim of contributing to that conversation.

what the cia or the white house actually believes at the moment in the wake of these astonishing attacks today on the trade towers and on the pentagon outside washington. And recall back to the reporting earlier today, one of those aircraft, abc's dan harris reported that at one point united airlines aircraft that went down in pennsylvania in fact at one point had asked for a change of flight plan for washington. The plane crashed sortly after that. We have no idea what that means. And in terms of the rest of the world's concern about this, we've talked a little bit about the height of the trade towers today. The tallest building in the world currently is in malaysia, in the capital, it has a name, the portronas towers, two towers much more futuristic looking than the trade towers today. It was evacuated in the wake of a threat to it as were many public buildings, malls entertainment centers, all across the united states and in many other places today. We've had a couple of visitors today, young photographers who were closer, i think to the aftermath of this scene in the world trade towers and a great many other people who tried to there, and we -- we asked connie chung to take a -- put together a piece on the photographers today who managed to get closer than most people to what was actually happening. Here's her report.

when the pilot witnessed an airplane crash into the north tower of the world trade center.

we may never forget, this one stands out. The extraordinary footage of an american airlines jet slicing through the number two tower of the world trade center. That kbj was captured by 40-year-old freelance camera man evan fairbanks who had been working two blocks away.

left side of the frame. And it lasted long enough for me to be able to identify it as a jet.

hitting the trade center tower, could you actually fa thom what you were viewing?

It was very surreal. I felt like i was in another dimension, we weren't even on the same planet. As the human stories start to emerge, we see more people, hear more names, it will become a lot more real to me. Right now, i feel like i'm still in the bubble of the day and the whole experience is just kind of mbing.

man for 16 years. Today he wasn't operating on experience. It was instinct. And that's what drew him back for one last shot. That's when the tower began to collapse.

finer, and i just saw this reverse mushroom cloud billowing down. I realized my proximity, and immediately just turned and started running north.

is the image that will haunt him and us for the rest of our lives.

coming out of nowhere, coming into the frame and disappearing into the side, into the south side of the tower as if a floor had been hollowed out and it was a hanger that it was just landing in. We've seen these images in movies and we know that it's all artificial, hollywood makes it. And it's hard to put together that it's real this time.

As everybody now knows. It's interesting in the middle east, political leaders have asked people not to celebrate this attack on the united states. It's interesting that a, even in nations which have historically had a long friendly association with the united states, including egypt, there has been a tendency among some people who have been more profoundly plit sized in the last several years to acknowledge this attack on the united states with pleasure. In cairo, it's reported tonight that some students, taxi drivers and shop owners actually crowded around television sets watching

saying in our what means congratulations. But it's fair to say knowing the region reasonably well, that there are a vast number of people in the arrest rab world who are deeply attached to the uz, a great number of people who have family living in the united states today. There are some towns on the west bank k, in the palestine afghanistan territories today, one that comes to mind is ramullah, a troubled city, where people from there historically live in the united states than do there as well. I think that is why governor pataki and mayor guiliani and certainly the political leaders in your town living elsewhere in the country have made a special effort today to call on people to be tolerant and understanding not to lay blame, let their prejudice run away with themselves. Because we don't know who did this. We do not know who did this. Any tendency we may have to lean in the direction saying one group or the other did it quickly reminds us of what happened in oklahoma city, we all thought it was one thing, it turned out to be someone else. John mcwethy is outside the pentagon. John, i gather now you have what

casualty figure.

peter. It comes from one of the fire chiefs who has been handling the operation here today. The arlington county fire chief is saying there could be 800 dead in the pentagon.

be, or are?

They do not have a body count because they still do not know even how many people are really missing at this point. He made an estimate by figuring out how many people were in the area that collapsed, plus the people that were in the airplane and that is how he came up with a figure of about 800.

Anything on injured at all?

Although they've been going out to the hospitals in northern virginia as needed, several hundred, we believe.

the pentagon, the military is actually in a better position to assess its casualties than anybody around the trade towers, it's got better records, can check people more carefully.

evacuating the pentagon. I walked to one office that was supposed to be meeting on the heli-pad outside in case there was a problem. They had to assemble somewhere else because that's where the plaeb came in. The medical teams came in rapidly, military and civil afghanistan to this building. So they had a plan, they executed the plan. No one dreamed that they would ever have to do it because of this kind of attack, but they did it very effectively today.

John mcwethy at the pentagon telling us, according to the fire chief, the arlington fire chief, there could be, could be, as many as 800 people dead in the attack on the pentagon. And lest you lose sight of it at all, this is where an american airlines flight, american flight 77, which was destined from washington dulles originally to the west coast had 58 passengers and 6 crew on board. This was the aircraft this boeing 757 which attacked the pentagon today. I can't think of any other words to use other than attack. And the fear of violence continues tonight. Abc's john miller, i gather has just heard of an incident in new jersey.

department has a report that the fbi is responding to new jersey because a truck reportedly loaded with explosives has been stopped by authorities on the road there and the men with that truck have been detained. Members of the joint terrorist task force according to the new york police officials are responding to question those people. Want to underline that all the phones to police headquarters and to the fbi from here seem to be disabled, so sorting through these reports to get specifics to sort them out can sometimes take time. But this is information that is in the possession of the police department, comes from the fbi and we don't know the exact significance of it.

Thanks very much. I guess it's also clear that abc news is going to stay on the air for an indefinite period of time. For a variety of reasons, one is to continue reporting the news, which is our job, and secondly, because of something that american historian once said to me many years ago that the television set is roughly equivalent to a koomp fire in the days as the wagon trains were making their days westward. There was a catastrophe on the trail. Some people pulled the wagons around, discussed what was going on, tried to understand, then within on the next day. And we do that in front of our television sets now in large measure today. We did it, you'll recall at the time of the challenger, we did it when president kennedy was assassinated. We've done it in any number of incidents. Whether we're watching television or contributing to it in some way, this is in some respects the national campfire to use that analogy. One of the things we try to do at the moment is to reach out and not in any scientific way try to understand how people are feeling about this, not just the man on the street, but in terms of trying to understand what people's attitudes are about things. We did a poll. An abc news poll has been conducted, one of them. And you may find it interesting. One of the questions asked, did the united states do all it could reasonably could to prevent these attacks? And there's a split right down the middle. 43% say yes, and 44% say no. Here's something very interesting. We asked people's whether or not they had confidence in the united states to find and punish those who were responsible, and we asked people whether they were very confident or somewhat confident. Quite an as on the mirbing 91% said yes. And only 9% said they had little or no confidence. Were people willing to give up some liberties, that's been a point of discussion throughout the day, were people willing to give up some liberties to support a crack down on terrorism? 66% in this poll very quick poll it's a limited number of people, only 600 people interviewed plus or minus 4%, all those usual statistics, but 66% of people said they would support sacrificing some of their liberties in order to crack down on international terrorism, on terrorism in general and 24% said no. Would you support military action? Against groups or actions responsible? 94% said yes. And 3 would you support military action even if it could mean war? Maybe this is not a surprise in the intensity of these early

no, fair to point out that none of us have any understanding of what a definition of war is at the moment. The last time the united states went to war was in the persian gulf. And it was a -- by conventional war standards, it was fairly casualty free for the united states. And we didn't even do as much -- the united states do as much damage to the iraqies as they had originally anticipated. Currented about fuert terrorist attacks here? Two more questions. Concerned about future terrorist attacks here? 87% of the people we asked said yes, seems like a sensible answer given what's happened today. 12% said no. Worried? This is where we've talked extensively today, but not extensively, but about the effect on the national psychology. Are you worried or someone, you or someone close to you may be victimized. 47% said yes. And 52% said no. So that's what we find in an early poll from our polling institute today, asking those very obvious questions in the wake of these attacks in new york and outside washington today. Those voices from the street are very, very important. Here's charles gibson with a report on them.

the city are on call. There is mayhem and chaos, people running everywhere, a clear late summer day turns into what feels like a nuclear winter. People are caught in the tower hanging out of windows, some jumping 80 floors to their deaths. Others hoping, praying to be rescued. As men and women head down trying to flee the building, fighters are racing up to do their job, only to become the first victims.

coming tumbling, cascading down. Some of the emergency workers who managed to make it out need to be treated themselves. Fire union officials say of the first 400 firefighters on the scene, 200 are missing. Probably killed. Meanwhile, there are reports at the white house that the pentagon has been hit. A spokes man for the pentagon said he had no firm number of casualties as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze. At 10:30 eastern time, the second world trade center tower collapses and minutes later a full scale state of emergency is declared in new york.

save as many people as possible.

they can to evacuate downtown manhattan, the scene quickly turns to triage. Initial reports say at least 2100 people have been injured, 600 of them taken to hospitals by mid afternoon, 5 dead on arrival. 1500 more were taken across new york harbor to new jersey's liberty state park and dozens of ambulances raced there as well. Meanwhile, up town, hundreds turned out to give blood.

at blood donation centers. And then late afternoon, 5:00 P.M., Still another building collapses, 7 world trade center ruined by falling debris from the twin towers. But overall, there are some stories of lives saved.

were just dragging people along with us.

continued through the early evening to contain the fire and smoke, but can't get to ground zero where officials fear many are dead including the passengers and crew from the american airlines plane. One of those passengers was barbara olson, the wife of the solicitor general ted olson. At this hour where the world trade center once stood casualties are expected to be overall in the thousands.

known to viewers of cable and to network television around the country is the only to the best of my knowledge, the only person who we have publicly identified today who has been killed and that of course is because as charles gibson pointed out before, she was in contact with her husband, the solicitor general of the united states while she was on a plane that had been taken over by terrorists. But as we heard from mayor guiliani earlier and we heard from governor pataki in part because, excuse me just one second. Okay.

and new york city have offices in the trade towers and because mayor guiliani simply knows so many people in new york city, they know that friends and associates have been killed and people in many, many parts of the country without any doubt know people who have worked in the trade towers or had offices in the trade towers. It is those people sitting on the edges of their seats perhaps trying to get through on the hotlines, the numbers that we will put up again as the evening ensues, desperately trying to seek information. And we don't have any in a personal way yet. The hospitals in lower manhattan have been to some extent overwhelmed. You see these scenes on the street as well as we do. And so you can appreciate just how enormously difficult it is at the moment to get to the point of identifying people on the ground. It has been easier and desperately sad for people who knew other people traveling on the four aircraft that were involved in these incidents today because there are passenger manifestoes and we know that the airlines have over the years improved tremendously their capacity to get in touch with relatives, remember after a 800, there was a scandal, twa was under tremendous pressure because the families of those people involved literally went out to kennedy airport and stood around desperately demanding information about their friends and relatives who were on that flight. And the airlines have become much better, so people and 266 people we believe were killed on those four aircraft today, 266 passengers and crew flying on those flights, which were taken over by terrorists and then directed at these essential american targets today. Now it's just a little better 8:00 on the western part of the united states today. And in a short while in the eastern part of the united states, some of the local television stations our affiliates up and down the country will be breaking away. I want to check in with cynthia mcfadden who has been down at the chelsea piers right on the river, on the hudson river on the west side of manhattan. You have been waiting expectedly all day because this was the place or this still is the place where people are expected to be brought?

place, peter, where people will be brought. We've just been told but it appears truly that doctors are going to be dispatched to ground zero. At this point, victims are trapped in the rubble. And they're sending a team of doctors to perform am takes at the site. And so the reason this place is empty filled with doctors and nurses but not with victims is because the victims can't get here. They're sending a team of doctors to the sight.

today at all. There's been a long line of ambulances behind you?

brought here, most of them not severely injured. They're still expected a massive influx of people. This place stands ready with operating rooms inside. They're going to dispatch teams to perform amputations on the site.

50 operating opportunities at chelsea. This is an enormous sports entertainment center on the west side of manhattan. It has been turned into a disaster preparation area at the moment and the federal government and the state government and the city and hospitals and volunteers from every aspect of the medical community had descended on these locations tonight to be ready, lest they are able to help. Governor pataki and the mayor said a short while ago, they've got enough volunteers at the moment. The reason that the governor called for doctors -- i'm going to dig through my notes here, see if i can find that number again, the reason that the governor of new york said they were put up a couple of phone numbers was because he made it very clear that while they have enough doctors at the moment, even though the tremendous pressure on the hospitals in lower new york particularly and burn victims have been taken to a variety of centers in new york and new jersey and connecticut and as far north as canada, not very far north when you think about it, to be treted, there is going to be a need for the people to be relieved. So the governor offered this number for doctors who wish to volunteer their services. 518- -- this is for doctors. 518-431-7600, 7600. And he also gave us another number for nurses shortage of nurses as everybody knows. He gave a number for nurses who wish to volunteer as 1-800-628-0193. 1-800-628-0193. This is not to imply a shortage or doctors or nurses at the moment. There are 50 operating here, 50 operating theaters set up in this huge sports complex as close as you can reasonably get to the world trade center, very close indeed on the west side highway that goes down the west de of manhattan who are there prepared to help. That is that skeleton, that skeleton of the front facade of the lower part of one of the trade centers. We've seen this many times. This horrendous result of the power of the collapse of at least one of the trade towers in and of itself when the intense fire started when these two large commercial aircraft went into these planes caused such fire, aided by aviation fuel so that the steel couldn't stand it melted, collapsed on itself and then simply collapsed floor by ploor down to the bottom.

seconds while some(you're watching k-e-t-v, channel 7, omaha. More complete coverage... This is ketv newswatch seven at ten)

today's attack on america... And how these scenes are felt here in the heartland. We'll update the preliminary investigation into four hijackings, and the assault on new york city's world trade center, and the pentagon. Omaha gathers in prayer tonight. Across the city, churches hold special services, remembering the dead, and the loved ones left behind. And the economic impact of all this-- lines stretch into the streets from gas pumps. Prices may jump more than 20 cents a gallon later tonight.

president george w bush promises to find the terrorists, and bring them to justice. There is no count yet of the dead and injured-- but it's likely to number in the thousands-- perhaps tens of thousands. Earlier this evening, president bush spoke to the nation.. From the oval office.(President bush: This is a day when all americans, from every walk of life, unite in our resolve for justice and peace.America has stood down enemies before and we will do so this time.None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.)

firefighters and police officers are among those killed in new york city. The attacks began there-- at the world trade center... And then continued at the pentagon in washington. Four passenger jets were hijacked-- two from boston, one from newark new jersey-- and a fourth from dulles airport outside washington. Some passengers were able to use phones during the last minutes of the flight. They say the hijackers used box-cutters and knives to stab the flight crew, and take-over the jets.

developments from k-e-t-v newswatch seven's trisha meuret. Just before eight this morning... An airplane crashed into one of the towers of the world trade center in new york city... The plane... Was going from boston to los angeles... When it was hijacked...(A big explosion happened... Some guy came out, his skin was off, I helped him out ... This is him all over me. ) Just minutes later... As millions watched live on television... A second jet slams into the other tower... It's another plane hijacked on its way to l- A... From boston.(We heard a big bang and then we saw smoke coming out...Everybody started running out and we saw the plane on the other side of the building and there was smoke everywhere and people were jumping out the windows over there...They're jumping out the windows, i guess because they're trying to save themselves, I don't know. )

hour... While the thousands inside try to evacuate... Then... They fall.(Nats ) one... After the other... Sending rescuers ... And victims...Scrambling. It's estimated thousands remain trapped in the rubble ... With all eyes focused on new york...Another tragedy... In our nation's capital. A third hi-jacked jet plows into the pentagon... The five- story building... Folds in on itself... Hundreds may be trapped inside.. The building burns for hours before rescue crews can enter.

jet crashes outside pittsburgh, pennsylvania...

reportedly headed for camp david ... Rescue crews continue to search for victims... And survivors... At each location... While all flights in the u-s will stay on the ground... Until at least noon...Wednesday. With more complete coverage, trisha meuret, ketv newswatch seven.

trying to determine who might behind the attack.. Some leaders say early indicators point to osama bin laden.. Bin laden is a wealthy arab now living in afghanistan. He's been tied to other terrorist attacks against americans overseas

confirm a nationwide security bulletin.. Officers are on the lookout for two men who might be connected with today's terrorism. They are driving a black 1999 international truck. It's described as a u-p-s style truck with a new york license plate...7-1-6-1-p-b it ft glenwood springs, colorado at 5 a-m.. And was headed to chicago and then new york. One man is five-foot- seven.. The other five-nine.

pounds.. And have short black hair .. There's no indication "how" the two men might be involved.

churches across the area held special services tonight. People are coming together, trying to make sense of this tragedy. K-e-t-v newswatch seven's cindy andrew is live at saint cecilia's cathederal.

came to this church tonight-- to pray for peace. They wanted to come together as a community and as a nation to search for answers. (Nat sound singing: Oh lord hear our prayer.) Residents of omaha fill the pews of saint cecilia's cathedral. People wipe away tears... They're trying to make sense of the attack on the united states.(Dennis young:I think it's terrible...Firefighter rescue people.) Hours after the attack there are still looks of disbelief.(Jodi kisicki:Just support each other...Trying to stay strong.) (Brad kisicki: Try to settle ourselves down ... Better about it together. ) Archbishop elden curtiss asks god to protect us from people of violence.(Elden curtiss: Keep us safe from weapons of hate.)

people gather to give each other support.(Nat sound: We're all here to stand together. We're all safe here.) (Rabbi: Out of compassion... At this moment.)

westside church to pray. Pastor tony lambert says with this tragedy there are opportunities.(We've watched people today think about their own mortality, and the need for something larger than themselves.. People are asking those questions.)

Somehow... This will all make sense.(We have to put our faith in a god that knows more and better than we do. It will make sense. We're seeing some of that already.)

earlier tonight that the community has really come together. The regular services will be held here tomorrow and more are being planned at other churches... As people continue to pray for peace. Cindy andrew reporting live thanks.

heartland.. How can we help? Folks in the omaha area spent the day collecting money and medical supplies for the salvation army.. So far tonight..That fund totals.. 38-thousand dollars.. An effort that shows just how good people can be. They came.. Little kids in hand.. To share what they had.. Cash.. Medical supplies.. And love.( James hansen, with the kids going home with no parents..They're gonna have to have something to hug and love.. We all need a little comfort right now.. Everybody does)(thank you very much) just hours after the attack.. Ketv's seven can help joined forces with journal broadcasting's 8 omaha radio stations.. To get the word out.(America steps up in a crisis..) Volunteers worked outside the z-92 building to take thousands of dollars in donations from listeners. (David vest, it's the least we can do.. If we're not rich americans.. We're still rich by standards of the world .. People need help.)(Susan eustice, we can get 100 percent of that donation to areas where it's needed the most.) Folks lined up.. Tears in their eyes .. They offered a check.. A few bills.. And questions..(Shake head, i just don't understand it.)(I find it overwhelming.. This is all I can do.)(Just like pearl harbor.. They don't know who they're messing with.) Little ones dropped coins in the collection box.. And their innocent words brought a bit a comfort.. And kindness.(That we're praying for them)

tomorrow morning at 7:30 at the z-92 building.. It's near 108th and L... You can also donate by "rounding it up" at bakers supermarkets.. Or just go to any first national bank or any commericial federal.

by giving money or donations, you can also call the american red cross. That organization is helping all people affected by the attacks. If you want information on where to donate blood, call 1-800-give-life. Or, if you would like to give a donation, call 1-800-help-now.

Rumors caused panic at local gas pumps. We found some stations charging double, almost triple their normal prices. K-e-t-v newswatch seven's tom elser is investigating... He joins us live to explain, tom? Rob,

is sending gas prices up. Triple a says expect to pay around two dollars a gallon.

than that...You may be getting ripped off. All over town .... People are lining up to buy gas...(This is just a bad dream. ) The lines were so long that at some stores... Police had to direct traffic.(This is one of many things have to go through the next week.) The customers starting arriving around mid afternoon ... The reason... A rumor.(I had a friend at work by tomorrow could be five dollars..Headed here like everyone else. )(So I figured since it's going up... Bunch of people did the same thing ) the rumor is wrong .... Prices are expected to go up...But no more than thirty cents a gallon. This bellevue store is charging much less than that. But in some parts of town... The prices have topped four dollars a gallon. Triple a calls it outrageous.... One customer spotted our camera at 20th and martha where the prices are high....She wanted to warn us. (Well I just bought it for 1.69 a gallon..Not that big of a line.) The warning comes to late for customers like barbara decker(do you realize how expensive it is... Oh my goodness.. Higher tomorrow. )

are expected to go as a result of today's violence.. .But triple a says if you're paying much more than two dollars ... Be careful.

to the gas station owner at 20th and martha? The one selling four dollar a gallon gas. No, and the employee we did speak with said she didn't know the reason for the higher gas prices. Thanks, tom.

security was stepped up here in the metro... Within an hour of the first attack...The city and county focused their attention on keeping city buildings safe... At the civic center... Extra sheriff's deputies evacuated cars from the area... The meter's in front of the building were closed... And the underground parking center shut off... The douglas county courthouse closed down for the day... And extra police were brought in to monitor the mayor's office... City officials say you can't be too safe. (We've placed our emergency onse unit on standby and are assisting at offutt air force base, the airport, and other locations. )(We are in unchartered waters here, but omaha is prepared as can be.)

woodmen building shut down services for the day, too...

the parking garage... And sent thousands of workers home. Union pacific's operations... Stayed in the building to run the trains.

lincoln is on its highest alert tonight. Soldiers put up extra barricades at the entrance of the base. Security is tight. These three cobra helicopters have been grounded. They were scheduled to be flown to fort drum in new york to be retired.

awaiting word from the pentagon to deploy troops and equipment to the northeast.

building's also under tight security. The state patrol, lincoln police, and capitol security patrolled areas in and around the building. Governor mike johanns was inspecting storm damage near the town of jackson before returning to lincoln. He cut his trip short to address the state.(Governor mike johanns: There is no reason to panic, but without question, this morning our world changed.) Governor johanns says there's no reason to believe any of the state's buildings or landmarks are in danger.

forced to land in omaha today say they were frightened when pilots announced there was trouble on the ground. Ketv newswatch 7's pamela jones talked to many of those folks. She's "live" at eppley airfield with "that" part of the story. By noon tomorrow, many of the stranded passengers may be headed back here to catch flights to their destinations. But for now -

thinking about their "own" troubles. Their minds are on the victims. (Just have faith in god. Just pray for them. I really am sorry for them.) Tears roll down alan rotter's face as he thinks about the people hurt and lost in tuesday's deadly attacks. But an announcement about the tragedy kept rotter's plane on the ground in omaha.(Made me kinda nervous. Scared, but then sad for what had happened. ) Rotter joins dozens of other passengers waiting for transportation at this red cross shelter. Passengers like mary leng. One of many whose flights were forced to land in omaha.(Mary leng/california-bound.I can't really believe it's real. It's such a shocking thing to have happened to these people. It's just very sad. )(Charles ward/going to california it was just shocking. Too much like a movie. )( ) Even passengers still scrambling to leave omaha say the victims remain on their minds. Jim hahn caught the last tuesday bus to l-a.(Terrible. Terrible.Just unreal. Shock.) Just unreal. Shock.) Back at the shelter - stranded passengers from laos find comfort in a friendly face from their homeland. Lormong lo opens his heart and home to four of the stranded.(This is a national tragedy for our country. So where each citizen can offer help, we need to chip in and provide a united front for our country. )

representative from united airlines tonight. She'll be back at the shelter at the downtown doubletree hotel tomorrow morning to announce travel plans. Until then, all passengers can do is wait... That's right. Most "other" transportation is booked. The shelter at the doubletree is prepared to hold hundreds - but they think maybe 50 people will stay there tonight. Pamela, thanks.

leaders tonight are calling for quick retaliation. They say the terrorists need to pay a very high.. And terrible price. But they stress... The nation will come through this dark day.

tuesday afternoon.. Offutt air force base is the capital of the free world. President george bush landing in air force one.. Just before two o'clock.(Hagel: America will never be the same again.) Nebraska senator chuck hagel calls the attacks.. America's second pearl harbor...Only worse. Because the blatant attack on innocent victims.

there must be a high price paid by whoever did this.(Sen. Chuck hagel: I don't know where this is going to lead, nobody does, there are many theories, many possibilities, but it must be well-known in the world, that america will never tolerate, never tolerate, this kind of loss.)

calling for swift and severe justice.(Sen. Ben nelson: What we need to say to the terrorist world is that if you are engaged in terrorism, or you're going to protect terrorism, that you're going to open yourself up to attack, not only from america, but I would hope from allies and all others who are put in jeopardy by these cowardly acts.)

me one of the most frightening things about the attacks.. Is how sophisticated.. And co- ordinated they were. Later.. We'll hear from an international terrorism expert..From right here in omaha.

heart of the nation's financial district. Coming up we hear from some the country's top business leaders who were in omaha today.. Remember: You can also follow developments around the clock..

The omaha channel dot com. Our more complete coverage continues in a moment... This is ketv newswatch seven at ten.

"business" leaders were gathered in omaha today... For warren buffett's annual "omaha classic" golf tournament.. But as ketv newswatch 7's carol kloss reports... Their hearts and minds were in new york rather than on their golf game. Flags flew at half staff at the omaha country club... Golfers lingered around tv sets listening for the latest on the crisis in new york. (Warren buffett: It scares the hell out of me. And it should scare the hell out of everybody.) With his guests grounded in omaha...

ahead with his charity benefit. (Buffett: They're our guests and we'll do our best to take care of them, but it obviously changes the tone of the whole thing.)(Jack schneider, allen & co: My stomach's in knots just thinking about it.) Jack schneider and clarke keough of allen & company investment bank in new york city... Helplessly watch from omaha.(Clarke keough: We both work down around the world trade center and so there's a lot of people you're try to so there's a lot of trade center and around the world we both work down (clarke keough: Omaha.(Clarke keough: We both work down around the world trade center and so there's a lot of people you're try to think of who are there, who might have been in this and just hope everything's o-k.) Rich edelman of edelman public relations company was on a flight from new york to omaha... When the trade center collapsed.(Rich edelman: On the one hand i feel very secure, on the other, I feel totally helpless. I have 3 little kids who are in new york and i can't talk to them 's making me nuts. Fortunately, i have email. ) (Buffett: I used to work right across from there, 7 world trade center, I was there when the first world trade center bombing took place, so it just makes people realize how vulnerable they are.) Buffett describes today's attack as "psychotic" acts from people who are "nuts" ... But he says the threat of nuclear attack should scare people even more. (Buffett: I do not know the extent of human damage yet, but it has to be huge, but it is not the limit of what people can do, unfortunately.)

coverage, carol kloss ketv newswatch 7.

buffett's guests visiting from new york is headquartered in the world trade center. She did not attend today's tournament... And we were not able to reach her for comment on today's tragedy.

Thousands turn out for a candlelight vigil.. It's held on the u-n-l campus...

complete coverage in a moment..

seven at ten .. <