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CNN Live At Daybreak

America's New War: One Week Later, a Look Back

Aired September 18, 2001 - 08:50   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.
PAULA ZAUN, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, it was a week ago today that American Airlines Flight 11 took off from Boston to Los Angeles, taking off at 7:59 a.m., and crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45 a.m. with 92 people onboard.

Garrick Utley now takes us back to that horrific morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was such a beautiful morning in New York, a day to go to the park, if we had some free time. Or if it was off to work, at least we could make plans to see friends that Tuesday evening, or that Broadway show we've been waiting months to get tickets to.

(MUSIC)

UTLEY: And if we were working in the World Trade Center that morning, there was that magnificent view of a world which offered no threat to American life.

And then out of that clear, blue, peaceful sky, the unspeakable.

And then the unspeakable was followed by the unthinkable, that it could happen again.

The terrorists chose their target well, towering buildings are the city's identity; rooted in the bedrock of hard granite, they soar and thrust themselves ever higher, immovable, inviable monuments to work and for work that New Yorkers have built for themselves.

Until, the tallest monument became a trap, and then a tomb. Suddenly, a strange frightening storm covered lower Manhattan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope I live. It's coming down on me.

(SCREAMING)

UTLEY: And day turned to night.

Was there chaos and panic? Of course, there was. it followed by order, discipline and even a numbed calm during the massive exodus from lower Manhattan? Yes, it was. And there was something more. (on camera): In just a few hours this big city of eight million people turned into an intimate community of eight million people. Of course, there's always been this image of New York City as a tough town, and it can be, but when you cut beneath the surface, and Tuesday's trauma cut deeply beneath it, the reaction here was not that much different than what it would have been in any American town.

(voice-over): We have held nighttime vigils. Fire stations have become places of pilgrimage to honor those who died. An armory became a gathering place where hope dies slowly. A blood bank, an opportunity to give that most person gift of life, except there have been so few lives found under the ruins to save. Everyone in New York, it seems, knew someone or knew someone who knew someone who is missing. For a city that believe that no challenge is too great, this is going to be a test. And a sign that the city will pass that test was heard during President Bush's visit to the rescue worker.

(CHANTING, "USA")

UTLEY: It was a chorus of patriotism, a spontaneous oath of affirmation and determination; the toughness is still there.

On Monday it was time to get back to work. American flags were handed out to commuters on a ferry from New Jersey to lower Manhattan, where the welcoming skyline now has a gaping hole.

For those who drove to work, traffic was horrendous, delays interminable, New York life getting back to normal, or as normal as it can be now.

On Wall Street, the markets reopened.

(SINGING, "GOD BLESS AMERICA")

UTLEY: Yes, the markets did plunge, but they did function as the city does, a city where everyone desperately wants life to be the same as it was, and hopes it will be. Hopes.

Garrick Utley, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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