WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 — President George W. Bush branded the attacks in New York and Washington “acts of war” Wednesday and braced a shaken nation for a long fight against the terrorists who orchestrated them. The manhunt took investigators from Florida to Canada and around the Internet.
“This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil,” said Bush, as officials revealed that the White House, Air Force One and the president himself were targeted a day earlier. “Good will prevail.”
In a new development, WNBC correspondent Tim Minton reports that just as the first World Trade Center tower was attacked Tuesday, a Port Authority Police source confirmed that a few miles away at John F. Kennedy International Airport, a dispute erupted between three Arabic-appearing men and the crew of United Airlines Flight 23. Like the United flight that was about to slam into the other World Trade tower, Flight 23 was bound for Los Angeles. The three men were ordered off the plane, but they reportedly refused. Emergency Service officers were called in and rushed to the boarding gate. By the time the officers arrived, the three men had vanished.
Meanwhile, 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 preliminarily 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 H. Rumsfeld predicted “a sustained and broadly based effort” against the terrorists when they’re identified. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Bush will oversee “a long-term conflict.”
Attorney General John Ashcroft said that 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 Tuesday. 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.
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 House Armed Services subcommittee 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.
As blame began to be apportioned, 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.
Most schools and many businesses were closed in Washington. The nation’s stock markets were to remain closed until at least Friday.
“The America in which we woke today is far different from the one in which we woke yesterday,” said Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
Fear spread beyond America’s borders. Threats of terrorism emptied skyscrapers in Malaysia and the Culture Ministry in Romania.
On Capitol Hill, Congress passed a resolution declaring the country was “entitled to respond under international law.”
Bush himself talked of war, though he did not seek a declaration from Congress. That would leave the question: Who is the United States at war with?
The attacks “were more than acts of terror,” Bush said. “They were acts of war.”
White House officials suggested it was premature to say whether Bush would seek a declaration of war. “We will continue to work with the Congress on the appropriate language at the appropriate time,” spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
Bush said he would ask Congress for an undetermined amount of money to rescue victims and “respond to this tragedy.” In a sign of how suddenly the political winds had shifted, aides suggested the Social Security surplus — politically untouchable just a few days ago — could be tapped to get Bush the money he needs.
The World Trade Center buildings collapsed, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. Photo: Robin Weiner, WirePix.
