|
==1031 AM > The FAA allows the resumption of flights by military
and law enforcement aircraft. [time.Sep.14.2001]
==1032 AM > Cheney calls Bush - who is
still circling above Florida - and claims that there is evidence that
terrorists are planning to attack Air Force One. See 1041
AM [wap.Jan.27.2002]
==1041 AM > Cheney again alerts Bush to an
alleged terrorist threat to Air Force One, and - supported by the Secret
Service - strongly urges the president to stay away from Washington.
Bush agrees without much discussion, and a few minutes later Air Force One
veers westward toward Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Cheney's claims
of a threat to Air Force One are later shown to be false, but the origins of
the story are obscure. [wap.Jan.27.2002 /
tele.Dec.16.2001]
==1043 AM > All remaining federal office
buildings in Washington are evacuated. Much of the Federal government
effectively shuts down, 250,000 federal employees pour into the streets, and
the city is paralyzed by massive traffic gridlock. A radio reporter warns
that "people are not paying attention to things like stop signs and red
lights today…" "It's turmoil. Mass confusion," said one
observer. [cnn.Sep.12.2001 / wap.Sep.11.2001]
==1049 AM > All museums and public
attractions in the District of Columbia are closed. [bro&c.Aug.26.2002]
==1052 AM > There are false news reports
that there are five hijacked planes still in the air. [bro&c.Aug.26.2002]
==1053 AM > New York primary elections are
canceled. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==1053 AM > At about this time, the
Department of Defense puts the US military on high alert worldwide, going to
DEFCON 3 status for the first time since 1973. Deputy Secretary of State
Armitage alerts the Russians just as they were about to commence a full-scale
exercise of their strategic nuclear forces. [clarke]
==1054 AM > All Israeli diplomatic missions
are evacuated. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==1057 AM > Governor Pataki closes all New
York state government offices. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==1059 AM > There are false news reports
that an ambulance exploded at the World Trade
Center. [fark.Sep.11.2001]
==1100 AM, approximately > There are false
news reports of a plane crashing into Camp David. At about the same time, there
are erroneous reports of another plane crashing in Kentucky, and of still
another plane landing in Rockford, Illinois, with a bomb on
board. [fark.Sep.11.2001 /
bro&c.Aug.26.2002 / ust.Aug.13.2002]
==1102 AM > Mayor Giuliani orders the
evacuation of south Manhattan. Many thousands of stunned,
dust-covered survivors and bystanders stream over the bridges from Manhattan.
A man holding his sobbing wife as they trudge along tells her, "Let's
walk over the bridge to Brooklyn. They can't hurt us in Brooklyn." On
the bridges people are remarkably calm, but once they reach the other side
some show signs of confusion and others sit down on the curbs and cry. Many
keep walking without a clear idea of where they are
going. [nyt.Sep.12.2001]
==1116 AM > The CDC is reported to be
preparing emergency response teams as a precaution against the possibility of
bioterrorism. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==1118-1159 AM > American and United
airlines publicly confirm the loss of the four hijacked
flights. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==1130 AM > Former NATO commander and
future presidential candidate Wesley Clark tells CNN that only bin Laden’s
group has the ability to launch such attacks. By late morning and early
afternoon, many authorities are publicly speculating that bin Laden is behind
the attacks. [ottc.Sep.11.2001]
==1145 AM, approximately > Air Force One
lands at Barksdale AFB near Shreveport. Fearful of being tracked by
terrorists, White House aides ask reporters to turn off their cell phones and
to refer to Barksdale as an "unidentified location" - but local
news stations have already reported Bush’s
arrival. [sal.Sep.11.2001 / 911cm]
==1200 Noon, approximately > After having
been unavailable for nearly three hours, CNN.com is back online in a
stripped-down version. See News
Coverage/Communication [fark.Sep.11.2001]
==1200 Noon, approximately > There are
false reports of a plane crash at Chicago. [cbs]
==midday > By this time, there are many
reports from around the US of tall buildings and government offices being
evacuated. [fark.Sep.11.2001]
==midday > The CIA is already briefing
Congress that bin Laden is a leading suspect. [lat]
==midday > Around this time, key
legislators - including House Minority Leader Gephardt, House Majority DeLay,
and Senate Majority Leader Daschle - are belatedly evacuated to an
unidentified complex in Virginia. One evacuee described the atmosphere in the
complex as something out of 'Dr. Strangelove.' [wap.Sep.13.2001]
==1202 PM > The Taliban regime denounces
the attacks. See International Reaction,
below [wiki]
==1204-1215 PM (EDT) > LA and San Francisco
International Airports are evacuated. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==1215 PM > The INS announces that the US
borders with Mexico and Canada are on the highest state of alert. Some border
crossings are closed. [cnn.Sep.12.2001 /
msnbc.Sep.22.2001]
==1216 PM > By this time, all civilian
aircraft in the United States have landed. [nwd.Sep.23.2001]
==1235 PM > Senator Orin Hatch says on CNN
that "the highest levels of the FBI and of the intelligence
community" believe that the attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda.
Also on September 11, Hatch tells reporters that the government has
intercepted a telephone call between al-Qaeda suspects discussing the
attacks. This information is highly classified, and the administration
uses Hatch’s indiscretion as justification to limit the information it
divulges to Congress. See Administration, Sep.12
[cnn.Sep.11.2001 / ctr.Sep.14.2001]
==1236 PM > At Barksdale AFB, Bush gives
his second short speech of the day, saying "Freedom itself was attacked
this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended," and
"Make no mistake: The United States will hunt down and punish those
responsible for these cowardly acts." Bush seems nervous, and the film
is jumpy and grainy. The speech is broadcast on the networks at 0104
PM. [nyt.Sep.16.2001 / ap.Sep.11.2001 /
cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==0110 PM > CIA analysts find two names of
known members of al-Qaeda on Flight 77's passenger list. Working
independently, an FBI team had found a link about three hours earlier. See
920 AM [susk2]
==0124
PM > Already under suspicion after confusing communications a couple hours
earlier, Korean Air Flight 83 transmits a hijacking alert signal while flying
over southern Alaska. The signal sets off immediate widespread
evacuations in Anchorage and emergency orders for tankers to put to sea from
Valdez. The local NORAD commander later stated that he was prepared to
shoot the airliner down if it appeared to be threatening an important
target. Flight 83 lands safely in northern Canada an hour-and-a-half
later. It has never been publicly explained why the pilot sent a
hijacking signal. [ust.Aug.12.2002]
==0127 PM > Washington, DC, declares a
state of emergency. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==0131 PM, approximately > With a reduced
entourage of aides and reporters, Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base in
Louisiana for Offutt AFB in Nebraska. Cheney has again convinced him to
avoid returning to Washington. [sal.Sep.11.2001
/ tele.Dec.16.2001]
==0144 PM > Five warships and two aircraft
carriers are ordered to deploy off the East Coast by the commander of the
Atlantic Fleet, acting on his own initiative. During the day, other
warships are deployed off the West Coast and
Hawaii. [cnn.Sep.12.2001 / clarke /
wap.Sep.12.2001]
==0145 PM > With muffled gas main
explosions in the background, small groups of firefighters and construction
workers begin carefully climbing over the great piles of highly unstable
debris at Ground Zero. Because of the heavy smoke and dust still in the
air, the threat of more collapses, the emotionally shattered state of many of
the rescue workers, and general disorganization, the rescue effort makes
little progress in the first few hours. [nyt.Sep.12.2001]
==0200 PM > The SEC closes all US stock
markets for the afternoon. [bbc.Sep.12.2001]
==0207 PM > The FAA reports that all
domestic flights have been accounted for. [wap]
==0230 PM > The FAA announces that there’ll
be no commercial air traffic until noon Wednesday at the
earliest. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==0230 PM > Senator John McCain calls the
attacks "an act of war." [wiki]
==0230 PM > 11 survivors, mostly members of
Ladder Company 6, are rescued from a portion of a stairwell that freakishly
remained intact as the North Tower collapsed around it. Even after
their rescue, they have to pick their way across 400 yards of unstable,
smoking wreckage while ammunition cooks off in the Secret Service arsenal
burning nearby. At one point, they must cross over a 12-inch wide steel
beam suspended over an abyss in the rubble. [msnbc.Sep.28.2001]
==0240 PM > Rumsfeld begins urging the
military to develop strike plans against Saddam Hussein as well as bin Laden,
although there is no evidence linking Saddam with the 9/11 attacks.
Rumsfeld writes: "Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and
not." Also on September 11, before retired General Wesley Clark
appears on CNN, he is encouraged by an unnamed individual from the White
House to implicate Iraq in the attacks. Clark later recalled the
exchange: "'You got to say this is connected. This is state-sponsored
terrorism. This has to be connected to Saddam Hussein.' I said, 'But--I'm
willing to say it, but what's your evidence?' And I never got any
evidence." These are perhaps the first steps in moving toward crisis and
war with Iraq. [cbs.Sep.04.2002 / nbc: meet
the press.Jun.15.2003]
==0248 PM > Mayor Giuliani says that 1500
"walking wounded" have been taken to a nearby park and 600 more are
being treated in area hospitals. The shaken Giuliani comments "I have a
sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost. The number of deaths will
be more than we can bear." Unfounded estimates of 50,000 dead in New
York are being bandied about. At triage centers and hospitals near
Ground Zero, the expected flood of thousands of injured survivors never
materializes, and medical staff wait hour after hour with nothing to
do. [wap.Sep.11.2001 / slash.Sep.11.2001 /
nyt.Sep.18.2001]
==0250 PM > Air Force One arrives at Offutt
Air Force Base in Nebraska. Bush is soon whisked down into an underground
bunker, designed to withstand a nuclear blast - ABC reporter Anne Compton
tells Peter Jennings that the president has gone "down the bunny
hole." [sal.Sep.11.2001 / tele.Dec.16.2001]
=By the afternoon, Bush’s failure to return to
Washington is causing concern across the political spectrum.
Conservative commentator William Bennett says "It cannot look as if the
president has been run off, or it will look like we can't defend our most
important institutions." A Republican fundraiser worries "I
am stunned that he has not come home. It looks like he is running. This looks
bad.'' [nyt.Sep.12+Sep.16.2001]
==Afternoon > The FBI recovers Mohamed
Atta’s travel bag, which had not made it onto Flight 11, and find Atta's will
and other evidence linking him to the attack. Also about this time, a man
reports that early that morning he had a sharp argument with several Arabs in
a white sedan over a parking space in the underground garage at Logan
Airport. The Arabs were al-Shehhi's group, who were about to hijack Flight
175. Police search the car and find documents with several names that appear
on the passenger lists of the hijacked planes, as well as papers providing
the first links with Florida. [inside /
obs.Sep.16.2001 / mcder]
==330 PM > The first high-level meeting
after the 9/11 attacks: from the bunker at Offutt Air Force Base, Bush
convenes a long teleconference with Cheney, Clarke, Rumsfeld, Rice, and
members of the National Security Council. CIA Director Tenet affirms that the
attacks were the work of al-Qaeda. Bush finally insists on returning to
Washington. He also orders that commercial air traffic be resumed by noon on
Sep.12, which proves to be impossible. [woodw1
/ tele.Dec.16.2001 / clarke]
==0355 PM > At a press conference, Karen
Hughes assures reporters "your federal government continues to function
effectively," but refuses to answer questions on where the president
is. [cnn.Sep.12.2001 / sal.Sep.11.2001]
==0400 PM > CNN reports that US officials
are saying "new and specific" information revealed in the hours
since the attacks give "good indications" that bin Laden is
involved. There's been speculation along these lines from the
beginning, but this is the first official public statement linking
al-Qaeda to the 9/11 operation. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==0410 PM > Building 7 of the World Trade
Center is reported to be on fire. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==0425 PM > The New York Stock Exchange,
the American Stock Exchange, and the Nasdaq announce that they will remain
closed Wednesday. In fact, the NYSE is unable to reopen until Monday,
September 17. See Sep.13-Economy [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==0430 PM > Bush flies out of Offutt Air
Force base, heading back toward Washington. [cnn.Sep.12.2001]
==0510 PM > In a Washington Post opinion
piece, prominent neoconservative Robert Kagan writes: "We should now
immediately begin building up our conventional military forces to prepare for
what will inevitably and rapidly escalate into confrontation and quite
possibly war with one or more (nations hostile to the US). Congress, in fact,
should immediately declare war. It does not have to name a
country." This idea of open-ended war without a specific target
will in fact effectively become US policy. Ironically, Kagan is a
senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. See
Sep.20 [wap.Sep.11.2001]
==0525 PM > The 47-story Building 7 of the
WTC collapses. Building 7 had already been
evacuated. [nwd.Sep.23.2001]
==0600 PM (early AM Sep.12 local time) >
The Northern Alliance launches heavy missile strikes against Kabul. At 730
PM, the US denies any involvement. [cnn.Sep.12.2001
/ wiki]
==0600 PM, approximately > Commuters
stranded in Manhattan line up for eight blocks for ferries to Brooklyn,
Queens, or New Jersey. For reasons that are not explained, officials at
several places in New Jersey require passengers to be fumigated as they step
off the ferries. [nyt.Sep.12.2001]
==0615 PM > Larry Kudlow, financial editor
for the conservative National Review, writes that Bush's tax cuts and energy
policies are essential to the struggle against al-Qaeda. Posted only 9
1/2 hours after the start of the attacks, this is one of the first public
attempts to exploit the 9/11 crisis to further the administration’s domestic
agenda. [natrev.Sep.11.2001]
==0640 PM > Defense Secretary Rumsfeld
holds a news conference in the Pentagon, and announces that the building
"will be in business tomorrow." [cnn.Sep.12.2001
/ wap.Sep.12.2001]
Bush arrives at Andrews Air Force Base,
near Washington
==0654 PM > Bush finally arrives at the
White House after flying from Andrews Air Force Base by
helicopter. [sal.Sep.11.2001]
==early evening > Secretary of State Powell
arrives at the White House after an eight-hour flight from Peru. He had been
unable to contact Washington all day, and apparently no attempt had been made
to contact him. [tele.Dec.16.2001 /
abc.Sep.11.2002]
==early evening > Less than 12 hours after
the attacks began, the first articles blaming Clinton for 9/11 appear on the
conservative websites WorldNetDaily and Accuracy in Media.
[conww.Sep.12.2001 / wdntd.Sep.11.2001 / aim.Sep.11.2001]
==0730 PM, approximately > "Dozens of
members of Congress from both parties stood side by side on the East Front of
the Capitol and declared they would stand united behind President Bush… After
their leaders spoke, the lawmakers unexpectedly punctuated their unity by
bursting into a rendition of God Bless America. Many lawmakers hugged.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, was in
tears." But even then there was some doubting - conservative
Congressmen Bob Barr of Georgia said there was a "tremendous question
about why we didn't have some warning." [nyt.Sep.12.2001
/ csm.Sep.17.2001]
==0745 PM > It is announced that at least
78 NYPD officers are missing, and that as many as half of the first 400
firemen to respond at the WTC were killed. Grief-stricken New York City
Fire Commissioner Von Essen says "The Fire Department will recover, but
I don’t know how." [cnn.Sep.12.2001 /
nyt.Sep.12.2001]
==0830 PM > Bush gives a brief prepared
address from the Oval Office. Overall, the speech is not a success, but it
contains the important line "We will make no distinction between the
terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them." The
significance of this statement - which the administration will come to call
the Bush Doctrine - will not be evident until later, when it opens the door
for military actions against governments as well as terrorist organizations.
According to Bob Woodward, Bush personally inserted the statement. He did so
after talking to Rice, who approved with some reservation, but without
consulting Cheney, Powell, or Rumsfeld. [sal.Sep.11.2001
/ wap.Jan.27.2002 / woodw1]
==0830 PM (0830 AM Wednesday local time) >
The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur - the tallest buildings in the world -
are evacuated after a receiving a bomb threat. [ap.Sep.12.2001]
==0900 PM > Bush meets with the National
Security Council, followed a half-hour later by a smaller meeting with what
will become his war cabinet. According to Bob Woodward, the
participants already generally understand that the attacks were carried out
by al-Qaeda, and there is strong sentiment for going after the Taliban.
Bush seems more confident and forceful than he appeared to be in his
televised speeches earlier in the day. He unrealistically demands that the
economy - including the Stock Market - become fully functional by the next
day. He responds angrily when Rumsfeld points out that international law
prohibits war for retribution, shouting "No. I don’t care what the
international lawyers say, we are going to kick some ass." When CIA
Director Tenet comments that al-Qaeda’s operations are so widespread that the
organization is a 60-country problem, Bush reportedly replies "Let's
pick (the countries) off one at a time." Bush also reportedly says
"This is a great opportunity," evidently already thinking of initiatives
extending far beyond the hunt for al-Qaeda. [wap.Jan.27.2002
/ clarke]
==late > Five Israeli citizens are arrested
in New Jersey, after angry witnesses reported that they were seen cheering
the attack on the World Trade Center. They are turned over to the INS,
which later judges them to be "removable from the United States."
[nyt.Sep.14.2001]
==night > Military police are guarding key
intersections in Washington. [nyt]
==late night > Trying to sound upbeat, a
top Pentagon official announces "Now we're getting confident we have
control of the air." [wap.Sep.12.2001]
==1100 PM, approximately > There are false
reports that a van full of explosives has been stopped on the George
Washington Bridge. [msnbc]
==1100 PM > There are false reports that
survivors are making cell phone calls from the wreckage of the Twin
Towers. [wiki]
==1108 PM > Bush and his wife are roused
from their sleep and briefly hustled down to a secure bunker, after the
Secret Service receives false reports of an unidentified aircraft in the
area. [wap.Jan.27.2002]
==1150 PM, approximately > The FBI reports
that it is investigating links some of the suspected hijackers had to South
Florida. [cnn]
Lost in the smoke in lower Manhattan, late morning,
September 11 [sipa]
American Public Reaction
==In America, the 9/11 attacks produce an
overwhelming and confusing mix of shock, horror, fear, rage, and grief.
==Just after the collapse of the Towers, a
hysterical woman stranded in south Manhattan screams "I just want to go
home. I want to go home. I need to get to my kids. I want this to stop."
A Washington Post reporter encounters a man standing on a corner, crying and
saying "I don’t know what’s happening." A Georgia State
student, unable to reach her father who works at the Pentagon, tearfully says
"It's scary. It's so scary. This is not something that is supposed to
happen." [wire.Sep.11.2001 / wap.Sep.11+Sep.12.2001]
==For many people, the predominant reaction is
anger. The attacks are frequently compared with Pearl Harbor, and - as
with the original Pearl Harbor - there is a powerful impulse for
revenge. For many months to come, this will translate into widespread
support for the radically more aggressive foreign policy that the
administration soon adopts.
=After several hours of stunned shock, by
afternoon newsgroups on the internet are full of outraged postings advocating
full-scale war and the use of nuclear weapons. Torture and
assassination are also popular topics, along with uninhibited racist
diatribes and calls for mob action. [sal.Sep.11.2001]
=Until the building was evacuated, a volunteer
at the White House phone bank took calls from the public. “People calling on
the phones were hysterical. They said, 'Do something now. Do it swiftly.
Don't be a wuss. Don't be moderate. Get Bin Laden.” A caller to a
Denver radio talk show said "It's time for a little school-yard justice…
Put the geographers on notice. We need to rearrange the map." In a
Kroger’s supermarket check out line in Gross Point, Michigan, an angry man
loudly says "Bush isn't going to stand for this. We'll take care
of it. One plane and an atom bomb. An atom bomb. That's all it will
take." A cashier turns to him and asks "Who are we going to
drop it on?" [wap.Sep.11.2001 /
scmp.Sep.13.2001 / nyt.Sep.12.2001]
==Sales of US flags at Wal-Mart on September
11 are up 1800% from a year ago. Ammunition sales are up 100%.
There is a brief spike in gun sales, but some gun dealers fear that they’ll
be selling weapons to enraged vigilantes, and suspend sales for a
day. [time.Sep.09.2002 / sal / csm]
==Candlelight vigils and other spontaneous
remembrance gatherings are held across the country for several days, and many
impromptu memorial sites appear. On Tuesday afternoon, in Union Square
in New York City, a 19-year-old student tapes down a piece of butcher paper
to give people something to write comments on, and soon there are over a
hundred sheets of paper laid out, covered with tributes and statements. One
message written repeatedly is "Why?" At another improvised
memorial site across the Hudson in New Jersey, someone leaves a message in
Spanish: "I cry and cry and cry for the city of New York."
[nyt.Sep.14.2001]
=At a vigil at the University of Texas in
Austin, a student holding a sign reading 'War Is Not the Answer' is
confronted by another student who says "If you don't want to stand
behind our president, get the fuck out of the country."
[sal.Sep.13.2001]
==Much later, gonzo journalist Hunter S.
Thompson characterized the long-term American response to 9/11 as "a
nationwide nervous breakdown." [sal.Feb.03.2003]
News Coverage and Communication
==A Long Island schoolteacher says of the
television coverage: "It's just surreal. It's just like a movie. And
every time you watch it, you expect it to have a different ending."
[csm.Sep.17.2001]
==The television networks soon begin
broadcasting uninterrupted news coverage, which they will continue to do for
almost four complete days, losing enormous amounts of advertising
revenue. Cable sports networks switch to news coverage. Cable
shopping networks shut off entirely. [nyt /
wap.Sep.12.2001]
==Television news shows the second plane
crashing into the WTC again and again. The news media are unsure how
graphic their coverage should be. ABC and MSNBC do not show people
leaping from the Towers; NBC, CBS, Fox, and CNN do, though NBC and Fox
executives decide it was a mistake. The New York Daily News prints a
close-up of a perfectly formed severed hand. A Daily News editor
comments "You can't do the story without doing the story. It's no time
to be squeamish." [nyt.Sep.13.2001]
==The attack on the World Trade Center knocked
out the broadcast antennas of all but one of New York City’s local television
stations, making them unable to transmit to anyone who lacked cable or
satellite service. Several radio stations were also
silenced. [wap]
==Internet news sites are swamped right after
the attacks. CNN.com, which normally gets about 14 million page views a
day, is suddenly overwhelmed with a viewing rate of 9 million hits an hour
and becomes inaccessible shortly after 0900 AM, along with most other major
news sites. But webmasters quickly increase their number of servers and
strip off advertisements and graphics, leaving only a few kilobytes of essential
text, and the news sites soon become usable, if
slow. [cnn.Sep.12.2001 / regis.Sep.11.2001]
==Telephone service is overwhelmed in parts of
the country, especially in Washington, DC, and in New York, where the World
Trade Center housed major communications nodes. "This is akin to
an earthquake times 10," says a spokesman for Verizon. British
Telecom reports a 6,000% rise in phone calls from Britain to the US.
E-mail is more functional. [wap.Sep.11.2001
/ gdn.Sep.12.2001]
==Unable to use the overloaded phone system
and desperate for news of their families or friends, people turn to the
Internet. Around late morning, New York programmer Bill Shunn sets up
an 'I'm Okay' list for his friends on his website. Others are soon
using the registry, and by midnight, when Shunn is compelled to shut off the
board due to high traffic, the list has thousands of names and messages from
around the world. The other survivor message centers which spring up
will handle an immense volume of activity over the next days. A UC Berkeley
survivor site set up early Tuesday afternoon has 580,000 hits within 24
hours. [William Shunn website / wap.Sep.13.2001]
Airport scene, Wichita, September 11
Institutional Chaos
==There are large-scale evacuations in New
York City and Washington, DC, but all over America, skyscrapers, government
buildings, offices, malls, and monuments are locked down. Disneyworld
and Disneyland, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, the Washington
Monument, the Statue of Liberty, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the Space
Needle in Seattle, and the TransAmerica pyramid in San Francisco are all
closed. In southern California, Knott's Berry Farm and the Museum of
Tolerance are shut down. 3,700 Starbucks coffee shops close nationwide.
No one is allowed near Mt. Rushmore. Most major sporting events are
canceled until next Monday at the earliest. An execution is postponed
in Texas. Dump trucks form a protective cordon around the Baltimore City
Hall. Zanesville, Ohio, postal workers padlock the loading dock doors
of the local mail facility. The Onion later runs a satirical article on
how the Cedar Rapids Public Library is beefing up its security to guard
against terrorist attacks. A panicky Denver municipal spokesman says
"I don’t think there’s any place in America right now that’s not at
risk." But in Las Vegas, casinos continue gambling without interruption.
[wap.Sep.11+Sep.12.2001 / wiki / cbs.Sep.11.2001 / scmp.Sep.13.2001 /
oni.Sep.26.2001 / ap.Sep.11.2001]
==Travel is largely paralyzed. With all planes
grounded in America until Thursday, Amtrack shut, and many bus lines halted,
many thousands are stranded all over the country and abroad. It’s
estimated that at least 80,000 travelers from Britain alone are stuck in the
US and Canada. [nyt / wap]
Visibly distressed, French President Chirac
speaks shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
International Reaction
==9/11 utterly stuns the world - Mexican
President Fox calls it "high-impact news." Nearly all
political leaders powerfully condemn the attacks and express sympathy and
support for America. The words 'shock' and 'horror' frequently recur in
the statements, most of which have a ring of sincerity unusual in official
announcements. European Union External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten
says "This is an act of war by madmen… This is one of those few days in
life that one can actually say will change everything." Many nations
around the world fly flags at half-mast. Even Cuba, Libya, and Iran
express outrage. Arafat very strongly denounces the attacks, saying
"It's unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable," but some public
reaction in the Middle East is unsympathetic to the US. Films of
Palestinians celebrating and passing out candy in the streets of Nablus don't
go over well in America. In Cairo, a pair of cab drivers watching
television coverage are heard to taunt "Bullseye!" and another
onlooker comments "Nice work!" Iraq is virtually the only
national government that expresses hostility to America - Iraqi television
comments "The American cowboys are reaping the fruit of their crimes
against humanity." Through a spokesman in Kandahar, Taliban leader
Mullah Omar denies the possibility that Bin Laden could be behind the attacks
and says "We have brought peace to this country and we want peace in all
countries." The Taliban Foreign Minister says hopefully "We
don't foresee an attack against us because there is no reason for it."
[wap.Sep.11.2001 / cnn.Sep.11.2001 /
afp.Sep.11.2001 / bbc.Sep.12.2001 / nyt.Sep.12.2001]
==In many national capitals, people leave
flowers, candles, or cards near US embassies over the next few days.
America was generally becoming markedly less popular internationally in the
previous months, but that trend is very sharply reversed in the aftermath of 9/11,
with great outpourings of public sympathy throughout the world. The
change will only be temporary. [sal]
==Non-essential staff are evacuated from
NATO’s Brussels headquarters, while NATO ambassadors hold an emergency
meeting Tuesday night. Several US embassies around the world are closed
and evacuated. [wap.Sep.11.2001 /
cnn.Sep.11.2001]
==Russia puts its air defense system on
'permanent alert.' Worldwide, many armed forces go into heightened states of
readiness. [wap.Sep.11.2001]
==Commercial flights are forbidden to fly near
London or Brussels. [bbc]
==European stock markets are in free-fall
after the attacks, reacting "with a mixture of fear and
bewilderment." The business editor of the BBC notes that oil
prices are rising sharply and concludes "From here, the threat of
recession looms large." But he also writes: "Suddenly,
worries about equity values, industrial output and rising unemployment became
utterly futile." [bbc.Sep.12.2001]
Terrorism and Counterterrorism
==On a videotape made a few weeks later during
an informal gathering, a relaxed bin Laden relates how he and some associates
listened to radio coverage of the attacks: "The brothers who heard the
news were overjoyed by it." Pakistani intelligence reports that
bin Laden changed his location within minutes of the 9/11 attacks.
[bern / ap.Sep.13.2001]
==Imprisoned al-Qaeda operative Moussaoui
cheers as he watches television coverage of the attacks in his secure
unit. [lat.Sep.17.2001]
==New York City’s anti-terrorist contingency
plans were regarded as some of the best in America. But the plans
concentrated on biological and chemical terrorism, and the city’s
anti-terrorist command center was located in the World Trade
Center. [econ.Sep.11.2001]
==Unnamed federal officials publicly claim
that they’d failed to detect any sign that indicated a major terrorist attack
was imminent. Morton Abramowitz, former head of intelligence and
research at the State Department, calls it a "massive intelligence
failure." An NSA employee writes "I want to know as a member of the
intelligence community how the fuck we didn't see this happening." A
terrorism expert at the Congressional Research Service calls it an
intelligence failure of "catastrophic proportions… How nothing could
have been picked up is beyond me—way beyond me. There’s a major, major
intelligence failure…" A CIA spokesman replies that "it doesn’t
serve any useful purpose to respond to such criticism."
[nyt.Sep.12.2001 / wap.Sep.11.2001 / poli.Sep.11.2001]
==The Boston Globe quotes a "former FBI
agent, who was based in Boston for more than a decade" as saying that
there are "a lot of terrorist cells in this area. It's a facilitator for
terrorist activity. There have been cells here of bin Laden's associates.
They're entrenched here. They're able to use this area because of the
proximity to New York and to fold into the local population, and they're able
to facilitate terrorist attacks." Louis Elisa, the former FEMA
regional director says categorically "It was obvious, then, that there
is a terrorist cell operating here in New England." In fact, no
evidence is uncovered that al-Qaeda ever had any active cells in New
England. [bog.Sep.11.2001]
==Congressman Don Young of Alaska says radical
environmentalists might be responsible for the 9/11 attacks. "If you
watched what happened (at past protests) in Genoa, in Italy, and even in
Seattle, there's some expertise in that field. I'm not sure they're that
dedicated but eco-terrorists -- which are really based in Seattle -- there's
a strong possibility that could be one of the
groups." [adn.Sep.12.2001]
Civil Liberties
==Many civil libertarians are immediately
apprehensive about the attacks' likely effects on public freedoms.
=Even as they are watching live coverage of
the 9/11 attacks, veteran civil liberties advocate Jim Dempsey and his
colleagues at the Center for Democracy and Technology grasp that there will
be a powerful push for intrusive new laws. "We all knew well enough
what it meant," Dempsey later said. [wap.Oct.27.2002]
=Village Voice commentator Natt Hentoff later
wrote that an "inveterate civil libertarian" friend of his said on
9/11 "This is going to cause a surge by government—local, state, and
federal—to shred the Bill of Rights. And it will be cheered by an
enthusiastic, indignant public." [vv.Sep.19.2001]
=Left-leaning Counterpunch predicts: "The
targets abroad will be all the usual suspects: rogue states… The target at
home will of course be the Bill of Rights." [cnp.Sep.11.2001]
=A widely circulated e-mail by Eric Raymond
says "If we accept 'anti-terrorism' measures that do further damage to
our Constitutional freedoms, that will have been a victory for
terrorism." But Raymond - a hard-core libertarian - also
eccentrically advocates that passengers should be encouraged to carry
concealed weapons onto airliners. The next day, John Montoya satirizes
Raymond’s pompous tone in a piece entitled 'Why the Bombings Mean That We
Must Support My Politics.' [Eric Raymond
e-mail.Sep.11.2001 / adequacy.net.Sep.12.2001]
=Internet pioneer and free-speech advocate
John Perry Barlow warns that "Control freaks will dine on this day for
the rest of our lives." [yahoo
groups.Sep.11.2001]
==Within hours of the attacks, FBI agents show
up at leading ISPs and e-mail firms, requesting that they be allowed to
install 'Carnivore' spy systems to monitor internet traffic. See
Sep.12 [wire.Sep.12.2001]
Muslims in America
==An Egyptian cab driver in New York’s East
Village tells a reporter "I want to pull over and cry. I love this
country. America tried to help everybody. God bless
America." [nyt.Sep.12.2001]
==The New York Times comments that Muslims
"across the country immediately braced for the backlash with the grim
panic of students rehearsing a duck-and-cover air-raid drill." Hate
e-mail began arriving at Muslim organizations within hours of the
attacks. [nyt.Sep.12.2001 / wap]
Miscellaneous
==Despite the chaos, there is almost no
lawlessness in New York City immediately after the attacks. A grand
total of six looting arrests were made in the city on September
11. [time.Sep.09.2002]
==Within hours of the attacks, World Trade
Center memorabilia - including purported debris from Ground Zero - is being
sold for inflated prices on online auction sites like eBay. One man who
bought a WTC souvenir ascribes a higher purpose to his transaction: "I
began to think that that is what America is all about, free trade. And that
is what these people lost their lives over. Not only their lives but those
who have fought for freedom in the past and those who will lose their lives
in the future." But many eBay users are disgusted by the
profiteering, and organize to sabotage the auctions by submitting false
bids. This in turn enrages the WTC sellers, one of whom accuses the
saboteurs of "terrorist acts… against Free Trade and Commerce" that
make them comparable to al-Qaeda. eBay finally shuts down the selling
of WTC souvenirs late on 9/11. [wire.Sep.11.2001
/ sal.Oct.15.2001]
==The first 9/11-related spams are reportedly
sent within an hour of the attacks. [cauce.Sep.12.2001]
==Millions of scraps of paper from the World
Trade Center flutter over Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn - office records
from vanished offices. One page found later predicts that authorities
"will continue to pursue a vigorous program of safety, service and
efficiency improvements at Logan Airport." Both of the airliners
that hit the Twin Towers originated from Logan.
[nyt.Sep.14.2001]
==Both of the two hijacked United Airlines
flights are handled by the same dispatcher. He stays at his post throughout
September 11, but at day’s end he immediately goes home and gets drunk.
Weeks later, he is still unable to look at a
television. [wsj.Oct.15.2001]
==Irish architect Ronnie Clifford narrowly
escapes death at the World Trade Center, only to learn that his sister and
his young niece were on the flight that crashed into the South
Tower. [bbc.Sep.12.2001]
==A reporter encounters a dazed telephone
worker among the crowd trudging over bridges from Manhattan into Brooklyn,
who says he was supposed to have been on the 103rd floor of the North Tower
by 8 AM. "I was running late," he mutters.
[nyt.Sep.12.2001]
==John L. Tishman, who had been the
construction manager of the World Trade Center when it was built, watches the
South Tower collapse on television at his corporate offices in
Manhattan. "He froze. He was just in shock," says one
of his executives. Soon afterwards, Tishman leaves for home without
saying a word. [nyt.Sep.12.2001]
==Seismographs at Columbia University register
the impact of the planes and the collapse of the buildings at the World Trade
Center. Won-Young Kim, the scientist on duty, is watching the Towers
collapse on television while his instruments are jumping. "I just
cried," he said. [nyt.Sep.12.2001]
==As of Jul.09.2004, the death toll from the
9/11 attacks is believed to be 2,992. 265 people died on the four
hijacked flights, including the 19 hijackers. Not including the loss of life
on the airliners, 125 were killed at the Pentagon and an estimated 2,602 died
at the World Trade Center. Of those 2,602, between 2,052 and 2,152 were
‘civilians’ (that is, they were not rescue personnel). The Fire Department of
New York lost 343 firefighters, "the largest loss of life of any
emergency response agency in (American) history," according to the 9/11
Commission. The Port Authority Police Department lost 37 officers and the New
York Police Department lost 23, the largest and second largest losses ever
recorded for any US police forces. The 9/11 attacks are generally
considered to be the bloodiest and most destructive terrorist operation ever
carried out. [911cm]
==The commander of the orbiting space station
reports that smoke can be seen rising from New York
City. [ap.Sep.11.2001]
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