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CNN Live Today
Six Months After 09-11, Heartbreak Met with Courage, Resolve and Dedication
Aired March 11, 2002 - 13:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour, though, with remembrances of a day like no other. The events of September 11th horrified the world, but six months later, the world is reminded that hatred, and death and heartbreak were met with courage and resolve and dedication. Nowhere is that more evident than at ground zero.
Gary Tuchman back with us once again.
Got to be tough duty there today, Gary. Good afternoon.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bill. Good afternoon to you.
September 11th, 2001 was a beautiful, sunny warm day in New York City. It was a perfect day to be out on a balcony like the one I'm standing on right now across from World Trade Center, enjoying the early-morning sunshine. But if you were standing out here at 8:45 Eastern Time on September 11th, you would have seen a horrifying site close-up, just a few hundred feet away, an American Airlines flying from your left to your right, slamming into the north tower.
Eighteen minutes later, a United flight, flying right toward me, slamming into the south tower. That was a beginning of this catastrophe with ramification, will which likely never begin. Ground zero looks much different than a few weeks ago. Most of the rubble is now gone.
It will eventually costs $600 million to remove everything. Initially, authorities say it will cost $2 billion. But no one had any experience in this type of thing. They also estimated it will take until September to clear the whole area. Now they're saying, it should be cleared, perhaps by the end of May.
But the sad fact remains that most of the victims who died here, and there were 2,830 people who perished when those planes crashed into the building, most of them 2,000 have not had their bodies recovered.
In the first few weeks of this terrible incident, family members sat by their phones, hoping for phone calls that their loved were ones in the hospital, or they were found, or perhaps they even had amnesia. And then in the next few weeks and months, they waited by their phones, mostly waiting to hear if their bodies have been recovered. Now the fact is, most of the families, at least most of the families that we've talked to, don't anticipate that phone call coming yet at all, that their loved ones bodies have been recovered.
They still are finding some. Just last week, six bodies were found, including the bodies of two police officers, but everyone here is well aware that most of the bodies will never be recovered.
Ultimately, a permanent memorial will be built here, along with probably another office building of some type, with retail space, with office space, but the final determination has not been made. A special commission has been set up, but the ultimate authority rests with the mayor of the city of New York and the governor of the state of New York to determine what ultimately is built here.
However, tonight, a temporary memorial will be put into place for the first time. It is officially called "A Tribute in Light," 88 huge spotlights pointing to the heavens in two plumes to represent and symbolize the World Trade Center towers. You will be able to see it for miles around. If it's cloudy or visibility is bad, they won't be able to turn on the lights, because they don't want to interfere with planes, but if visibility is good, it will be a remarkable and poignant memorial that you will be able to see all over the New York area.
Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: Gary, I don't know if you will able to answer this question or not. I'll it a shot anyway. Has anyone seen this light display? Any rehearsals been done yet to help describe or explain to us what it will indeed look like?
TUCHMAN: What the lights are going to look like, it's almost a ghostly image, Bill, but certainly a very appropriate and honorable image, but a ghostly image of the towers that used to stand there. People are very pleased with this type of memorial for the most part, because it's not been taking up space. It's light. And they've had very strict rules in terms of as I was just saying with -- if the visibility is bad, they don't want to interfere with air travel, and they are vowing, because the lights are pointing to the sky, they won't point into any of the windows, but obviously, that would be something that would bother people who live around here. It's just going to point straight up, and people are saying that it should be quite a beautiful image. We'll look forward to seeing it tonight around 6:30 Eastern Time.
All right, Gary, thanks.
HEMMER: Right about sunset there, in Manhattan.
Gary Tuchman there, live from ground zero.
A reminder to our viewers, later tonight, we will have live coverage when those spotlights do go up toward the sky, 6:55 Eastern Time to be specific, is when we anticipate the first nights to being ignited there. Now to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a rural community about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. That is where United Airlines flight 93 went down when passengers decided to rise up against the plane's hijackers, who apparently wanted to crash into something, possibly in Washington D.C.
Ceremonies this morning included a children's choir at the crash site. Flight 93 was en route from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco when it was commandeered. The fact that it never made it to its ultimate destination possibly in terms of the hijackers. Again, the area of Washington is being called a tribute to the passengers heroism there on board.
Meanwhile, at the Pentagon, reflection and renewal again today. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, joined by the members of 29 coalition nations paused to remember the victims. He also toured the Pentagon's reconstruction effort, which is now ahead of schedule.
To Bob Franken, who knows more about this.
There is a target a deadline, finish it before 9-11 of '02, huh, Bob?
Good afternoon.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bill.
And of course this is where American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon six months exactly from this morning.
I want to show you something now that reflects the spirit of the construction that's taking place. If you look at the roof of the site where the plane crashed, you will see construction workers hard at work. Now, they have been given opportunity to take a day off. When was the last time you heard about a construction worker not taking day off when it was offered. It's extremely hard work, as you know. These men and women said, no, we want to beat the deadline, the deadline being September 11th. What they want is the entire structure rebuilt, the offices occupied. They are remarkably ahead of schedule.
Compare what you saw, Bill, with what we all saw on that awful day on September 11th. Now six months later, you are seeing a project that is ahead of schedule, and you're seeing a project where the collapsed wall is already replaced, and the final touches are being put on the -- the fine touches put on. Expect to finish well ahead of schedule -- Bill.
FRANKEN: They took it personally from day one. It was extremely important that the Pentagon be up running immediately, and as we witnessed, there was, in fact, day to day operation that began the next day, day to day operation that sometimes is overshadowed the tragedy here, as the Pentagon has very routinely gone about its dramatic work of conducting the war in which we now see still being played out in Afghanistan.
HEMMER: Talk about Donald Rumsfeld meeting with the coalition members in the military sense. Tell us more about that, Bob, this meeting and what transpired.
FRANKEN: Well, of course, this has been not just a military matter, but a diplomatic matter. The two of overlapped consistently, symbolized this morning when the secretary of defense was meeting with representative of 29 countries that are part of this coalition, assembling them -- of course, they assembled at the White House. Now they assemble here. To make the point that although the United States is really the one that is principally involved. There is a huge worldwide coalition that is necessary in the minds of the administration to conduct this war on terrorism, and this was way of saying thank you this morning, and making the statement over and over, this is just the beginning. The next phase of this war is under way now.
HEMMER: Bob, thanks. Bob Franken at the Pentagon there.
At the White House now, President Bush led a memorial service and looked ahead to the next steps in the fight to end terrorism. The president, joined by a host of world leaders and victims' families, once again urged a united front.
From the White House now and Major Garrett, who was there to witness it earlier today.
Major, good afternoon again.
MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Bill.
As Bob Franken was just talking about, coalition and the importance thereof, is an underlying and powerful theme as the White House and all of the administration marks six months since 09-11. Why is the coalition so important? Well, the White House believes that on the diplomatic, financial and military front, it simply cannot win this war against global terrorism alone.
It also recognizes and now admits something it didn't admit a couple of weeks ago, which is at the president's State of Union Address, where he invoked memorably that phrase "axis of evil" rankled some of its coalition partners, because they did not feel they were sufficiently apprised before the speech where the president was heading, talking about the axis of evil and the need to confront nations that may try to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist cells.
But the president in no way moved away from the underlying policy there, Bill. He said that the coalition must stay together, not only to eliminate terrorist cells, but also to make sure they never acquire weapons of mass destruction.
He told the audience assembled at the White House, the stakes were simply too high, not only for America, but for all the civilized world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some states that sponsor terror are seeking or already possess weapons of mass destruction. Terrorist groups are hungry for these weapons, and would use them without a hint of conscious. And we know that these weapons in the hands of terrorist would unleash blackmail, and genocide and chaos. These facts cannot be denied, and must be confronted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GARRETT: And if anyone missed it, that is to say the importance of the coalition and the overall war against global terrorism, when the president ended his remarks, he did not say what he almost always does, "God bless America," but instead "God bless our coalition" -- Bill.
HEMMER: Major, let's take you back, along with the president traveling in Florida six months ago. And curious to know, how did the president react when he was sitting inside of that classroom of kids and about to read a story when Andy Card came up and whispered the news in his ear, not once, but twice, I believe.
GARRETT: Well, let's set the whole scene. We were at Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, name of an elementary school that will now go down forever in the history books. The president as sitting, arrayed in front of him was a group of elementary school students. The president was about to open a book and start to read to them.
Now, it's important to know that by this time, the president was already aware that the first tower had been struck by a jet airliner. He had his suspicion about what was going on, but it wasn't until his chief of staff Andrew Card walked into that classroom and whispered these words into his ear "Tower two has been hit, and America is under attack" that the president has been understood -- probably just beginning to understand the full magnitude of what was transpiring in America on that very fateful day.
In the videotape, the president's face falls ever so briefly. He regains his composure. Andy Card leaves the room. The president carries on briefly with the students. Reporters motion to the president to try to get his attention to see if he will take any questions. The president very gently motions to the reporters, I'll have something to say later, we're going to carry on with this.
He doesn't say this, he doesn't even mouth those words, but signals with his eyes, back off, I'll talk to you in a couple of minutes, and carries on with the children, and then goes upon a very, very memorable day of travel for the president, and very intense conversations with all his most senior aides about how to proceed.
HEMMER: It would be an understatement to say that the point of hi presidency changed dramatically at that moment but indeed it did.
Major, thank you. Major Garrett from the White House.
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