Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

America Under Attack: Pentagon Cleanup Efforts Continuing

Aired September 13, 2001 - 07:21   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's move it down to Washington, where we're told President Bush is at work in the Oval Office beginning his day, once again considering the possibilities for a response in the wake of this unprecedented attack.

Over at the Pentagon, a very visible sign of that.

CNN's Bob Franken standing by in front of the Pentagon as the efforts there continue to pick through the debris and begin an investigation -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, there's a double emphasis here. There's an emphasis, of course, on trying to return to a normal setup. In about a little over a half hour normal business hours will begin and all the people who work here are expected to show up. At the same time, of course, there is the effort to try and find the fallen comrades who were a result of this horrible collision between the airplane and the Pentagon a couple of days ago. And the search and rescue effort now goes on day and night.

We have seen some of the bodies being taken out. We have not gotten any casualty figures, nor has the Pentagon given us any estimate about how many people they will ultimately find died in the building. We're told that there are between 150 and 200 who are unaccounted for, including those who were on the airplane. But the search goes on.

And it's a search that is being conducted to a large degree by the Fairfax County Urban Rescue Unit, which is a unit from nearby but it is a unit we've seen around the world. We saw them in Oklahoma City with their dogs. We saw them in Turkey in the earthquakes. And now we're seeing them close to home. And the person who is involved in this rescue who spent quite a bit of time inside the darkness says it's horrible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG LUKEY (ph): There is a lot of damage, more damage than I've seen before. It must have been like a furnace inside. The concrete holds the heat. The heat was there for a long time. In some areas you can still feel some of the heat. There's desks, computers, ceiling tiles that have fallen down, wires everywhere, chairs and a lot of very burned out areas. It must have been like hell in there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Lieutenant Craig Lukey says they have come upon some bodies. They have not come upon survivors. But they continue to look. Meanwhile, the American flag has been draped over the damaged part of this building, right next to it, in any case, a sign of hope, a sign of a desire to get back to normal operations here, normal, Miles. But things will never be the same -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: A bit more about normal operations. Employees at the Pentagon are reporting for duty this morning, are they not? And we're not just talking about a bare bones personnel?

FRANKEN: We're talking about everybody and of course that raises the obvious question where will those go who were assigned to the many, many offices that have been damaged or are unusable. And the answer is they are to report for work. They will be assigned facilities. They'll get back to the business at hand here and, of course, as we all know, one of the most important facets of that will be planning military operations that ultimately might be used in retaliation for what was done here and what was done in New York and what was done to the United States.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Bob Franken at the Pentagon for us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com