8A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 13, 2001
Abi
m
Bush
calls terrorist strikes
'acts of war'
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush branded
the attacks in New YQrk and Washington "acts of
war" yesterday and braced a shaken nation for a long
fight against the terrorists who orchestrated them.
The manhunt took investigators from Florida to
Canada and along the Internet.
"This will be a monumental struggle of good ver-
sus evil," said Bush, as officials revealed that the
White House, Air Force One and the president him-
self were targeted a day earlier. "Good will prevail."
The known toll rose amid the rubble at the Penta-
gon and the World Trade Center, where rescue teams
searched for survivors. A few were found in New
York, but thousands of people were believed killed.
Bush asked Congress to provide billions of dollars
for rescue and for national security needs, promising
to spend "whatever it takes." He mulled a range of
military options to punish the terrorists and any
nation harboring them, while officials pointed prelim-
inarily to Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and a deadly
coalition of groups.
America's NATO allies bolstered Bush's case for
military action, declaring the terrorist attacks an
assault on the alliance itself. Bush sought to build a
global alliance with phone calls to leaders of France,
Germany, Canada, Britain and Russia; he talked
twice to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"An attack on one is an attack on all," said NATO
Secretary-General Lord Robertson. "The parties will
take such action as it deems necessary, including
armed force."
Defense Secretary Donald H4. Rumsfeld predicted
"a sustained and broadly based effort" against the ter-
rorists when they're identified. Secretary of State
Colin Powell said Bush will oversee "a long-term
conflict."
Bush said: "This battle will take time and resolve."
Attorney General John Ashcroft said teams of
three to six terrorists hijacked four planes and, using
pilots trained in the United States, put the aircraft on
their deadly courses.
Two struck the World Trade Center, one hit .the
Pentagon and a fourth crashed short of its target in
Pennsylvania.
Ashcroft said the White House and Bush's plane
also were targeted by terrorists, offering the theory as
others raised questions about Bush's actions Tues-
day. The president zigzagged around the country
aboard Air Force One - from Florida to a Louisiana
military base and then a base in Nebraska - before
returning to the White House in early evening.
Officials did not detail the "specific and credible
evidence" they said they had of the intended targets.
Twenty-four hours after the attacks, the fire was
finally out at the nation's military headquarters in
Arlington, Va., where 100 or more were believed to
have been killed. In New York, Mayor Rudolph Giu-
liani said 359 police and firefighters were unaccount-
ed for, a tiny fraction of the total presumed dead
there.
In support, Bush toured the smoldering Pentagon,
saying the devastation made him sad and angry.
"The nation mourns," he said, "but we must go on."
First lady Laura Bush visited victims in an area hos-
pital.
"I pra~y a lot," said Betty Smith of La Crosse, Wis.,
who hadn't heard from her son stationed at the Penta-
gon.
"I talk to friends when it gets real bad, and some-
times 1 cry," he said.
Fingers were pointed at U.S. intelligence efforts.
"It's an indictment of our intelligence system that
we had no forewarning." said Rep. Curt Weldon (R-
Pa.), chairman of the [louse Armed Services subcom-
mittee on readiness.
Defending his agency, CIA Director George J.
Tenet said that while U.S. intelligence didn't stop the
"latest, terrible assaults," it had stopped others.
The nation struggled to return to normal.
Government offices reopened and a bipartisan
group of lawmakers joined Bush at the White House
in a display of national unity. Limited air travel was
restored to allow stranded tourists to return home, but
regular flights were still banned.
After jacking up their prices Tuesday, several gas
stations lowered their rates after federal officials
threatened to take action.
AP PHOTO
President Bush sits with Vice President Dick Cheney during a National Security
Council meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House yesterday.
Airplanes remain grounded;
security heightened at airports
WASHINGTON (AP) - Thousands of pas-
sengers whose flights were diverted after Tues-
day's terror attacks began resuming their
journeys yesterday, but officials kept the rest of
the nation's commercial air fleet on the ground.
Federal transportation officials said they
won't reopen the skies to all planes until they
can ensure the safety of the passengers.
One plane that had been diverted to Canada
landed last night at an airport in the Northeast,
the Federal Aviation Administration said,
although it was unclear exactly where. Other
flights were also on their way home, the FAA
said.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta
said yesterday that only those flights diverted
Tuesday because of four hijackings and inten-
tional crashes would be allowed to continue to
their original destinations. Only passengers
originally on the flights could reboard, and
only after airports had imposed new security
procedures. Some passengers slept in the
planes Tuesday night.
Mineta could give neither a time nor a date
for full resumption of air service, stopped by
unprecedented government order after the
attacks in New York and at the Pentagon. He
said it was decided to indefinitely postpone full
restoration of service after aviation officials
discussed security problems with the FBI and
intelligence agencies.
"Safety is always of paramount importance,"
Mineta said.
At the same time, the FAA was hurrying to
put into effect new, more stringent security
procedures.
The Justice Department said one option
when service resumes is to put law enforce-
ment personnel on planes, a practice that has
been used in the past. Regardless of whether
that step is taken, U.S. marshals, the U.S. Cus-
toms Service and the Border Patrol definitely
will be part of increased security on the ground
at airports, Justice Department spokeswoman
Mindy Tucker said.
FAA officials said they did not know how
many flights were affected by the shutdown of
the nation's air transportation services. On a nor-
mal afternoon, about 5,500 flights are in the air,
including small private planes, the agency said.
Mineta said that in addition to permitting
stranded passengers to get to their original des-
tinations, the government would allow airlines
to move empty planes from airport to airport to
get ready for normal operations.
When asked when normalcy would return to
the air, Mineta replied: "I can't give you a date
or time as to when we will be back in opera-
tion. We're trying to make that determination
based on the safety and the security of the air-
line passengers and the airline operation, given
the intelligence reports that we are getting."
Mineta noted that officials had hoped to
accomplish that by midday yesterday. After
hearing misgivings about safety from FBI and
intelligence officials, however, "The determi-
nation was made to put off operations until we
are sufficiently secure in our own information
about when to resume operations," he said.
Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.),*a member of
the House Transportation appropriations sub-
committee, said federal law enforcement offi-
cials indicated that terrorist threats remain.
"They said it was too soon to relax our guard,"
Sweeney said.
A crowd gathers at the Northwest Airlines counter at the Mall of America to check on flight statuses
yesterday.
Rumsfeld alludes to
possible retaliation
'in the days ahead'
NOTICE:
ON-
I.
nQ'c~ps x
is e d a0
P ogCa aVe a
Cas h 1 cZCaSh a cue urd
S p a ' O U ouob, a r
va u Qadab e ou h'
i5 ca\ 't C
WASHINGTON (AP) - In remarks
suggesting U.S. military retaliation for
the terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington, Defense Secretary Don-
ald Rumsfeld told U.S. troops world-
wide yesterday that "in the days ahead"
they will be added to the long history
-of American military heroes.
"We face powerful and terrible ene-
mies, enemies we intend to vanquish,"
Rumsfeld said in a videotaped message
to all Defense Department employees
around the globe.
"The task of vanquishing these terri-
ble enemies and protecting the
American people and the cause of
human freedom - will fall to you," he
said.
Rumsfeld noted the U.S. military's
history of heroism.
"At the Pentagon yesterday, heroes
were here again. I know I am speaking
to many now --- especially those of
you in the field, those of you who wear
the uniform of our country --- who will
in the days ahead also be called
heroes," he said.
A text of Rumsfeld's remarks were
distributed by his aides at the Penta-
gon.
At a news conference, Rumsfeld told
reporters that an American response
must be "sustained and broadly based,"
though he did not refer specifically to
military retaliation.
Tuesday's attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon, he
said, were "the definition of a new bat-
tlefield."
"It is a different kind of conflict,"
Rumsfeld said. He spoke to reporters
in a grave tone at a news conference in
a Pentagon briefing room that still
reeked of acrid smoke from the smol-
dering fires.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman
of the Senate Armed Services Commit-
tee, expressed hope that the United
States and Russia might take "ioint
Meanwhile, a Navy aircraft carrier
sailed into the waters off New York's
Long Island yesterday and other war-
ships stood guard off the East Coast as
the U.S. military remained on high
alert against further terrorist attacks.
The Navy was preparing to send a
hospital ship, the USNS Comfort from
Baltimore to the waters off New York
City to provide emergency medical
assistance to the World Trade Center
victims. It said the ship is expected
tomorrow after taking on additional
supplies today in Earle, N.J.
Smoke continued to billow from the
area of the Pentagon where a hijacked*
American Airlines jet barreled into the
building at full throttle on Tuesday,
minutes after two other hijacked com-
mercial jetliners sliced into both towers
of the World Trade Center.
At his news conference, Rumsfeld
said an estimate from the Arlington
County Fire Department, which led the
fire fighting effort, that as many as 800
people may have perished in the attack
was "considerably high."
Rumsfeld would not provide an esti-*
mate, although reports from the mili-
tary services indicated the toll might be
closer to 150 -- mostly Army soldiers
-plus the 64 dead aboard the airliner.
Asked whether the Bush adminis-
tration was prepared to take bold
action against the perpetrators,
Rumsfeld replied, "Time will tell.
1'mi kind of old fashioned. I'm
inclined to think if you're going too
cock it you throw it" --- in other
words, if you threaten to retaliate
you must carry through.
"So my instinct is you go about your
business and do what you have to do,"
he added. "Anyone who thinks it's
easy is wrong. I think it will take a sus-
tained and broadly based effort."
Secretary of State Colin Powell said
President Bush was detennined to pun-
ish those behind the attacks. ___
hrs ,.
.
The Mcard Center
1000 Student Activities Bldg
515 E. Jeffrson St