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CNN Live Event/Special

America Under Attack: World Leaders Express Horror, Outrage

Aired September 12, 2001 - 19:00   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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: And now we want to go down to Atlanta to CNN's Mike Boettcher for the latest on what -- you've been working on in terms of investigation into all this -- Mike.

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, the investigation has been moving very rapidly, up and down the East Coast. Some of the leads been very fruitful. the FBI has been moving ahead in trying to identify the various suspects.

Now cars that investigators believe were left behind by suspected terrorists as Boston Logan Airport and at Portland International Airport have borne fruit for investigators, especially that car at Boston's Logan Airport where they found material written in Arabic, that investigators say was very helpful and positive.

Helpful how? Well, it apparently led to the identity of two suspects, Mohammed Atta and Marwan Yousef Alshehhi. Investigators went to Huffman Aviation in Venice, Florida, after they identified those two people, where they believe the two men received pilot training. Now CNN has learned those two men have commercial pilot licenses.

Now in another part of Florida, in Vero Beach, Florida, the FBI has apparently tracked down the identity of two other suspects. Police searched the homes of Adnan Bukhari and his brother Amir Abas (ph) Bukhari. Law enforcement sources believe they are both Saudi citizens and commercial pilots. One of the addresses listed for them is a post office box in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at Saudi airlines. So the bottom line is they have at least four suspects and four of those are commercial pilots -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right. Mike Boettcher. I know we -- this information is coming in in bits and pieces and we want to try to report it as it comes in. Mike Boettcher, thanks very much.

Well, we've been telling you, our colleagues in New York. Aaron Brown and others telling us about those rescue efforts in New York. People literally risking their lives now in order to see if there's anyone left alive in the rubble of the Wordl Trade Center. Right now, CNN's national correspondent Gary Tuchman is on the telephone to tell us what is going on with that building very much at risk -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, there is a deep feeling of unease in the lower portion of Manhattan tonight. The building is called 1 Liberty Plaza. It's a very tall, grayish black building. It is just to the east of where the two World Trade Center towers were. About two hours ago, I was brought to ground zero to see the 1,000, to 1,500 workers who are on the scene working at the wreckage. I was told when I was there they were deeply concerned about that 1 Liberty Plaza building and another building to the south that has a huge hole in it. These are very brave people. They are walking on top of wreckage and in some cases a 75-feet tall, lifting up heavy metal with the knowledge that two buildings nearby are vulnerable. Well, about 30 minutes after I was there, they started noticing that that 1 Liberty Plaza building started twisting and then windows started popping out of the building. Immediately an evacuation was ordered. And now all 1,000 to 1,500 people have evacuated the area. There is no one at the scene right now participating in the rescue and recovery.

In addition, members of the news media who were about four or five blocks away from the World Trade Center site, were told to immediately start moving back a couple of blocks to get further away from the building. The fear is, and we should make this very clear, there is no evidence this building is coming down. But there is a concern that it could happen. If the building did come down, and that's still a long shot in my estimation based on talking to people, it could potentially knock down other buildings nearby creating a very huge problem. And that's why the area has been evacuated. I should tell you, Judy, being at the site, one thing that I must stress, this a much worst disaster in terms of damage than I ever imagined even being four blocks away. When I got there -- we are talking about damage to maybe to 100 or 150 businesses that aren't part of the World Trade Center complex, some very substantial. There is debris and damage in a 10-square block area in each direction from the World Trade Center complex.

A morgue has been set up across from the World Trade Center in a damaged Brooks Brothers store. That's where people who have perished have been brought. And there is a center, a triage center, set up in the 1 Liberty Plaza building. So there might be a concern when you evacuated that building, what happens to the people in the triage center? Well, sadly there no one in the triage center because they haven't any survivors in the past several hours -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Gary, I have one more question I want to ask you, and as I do, I believe we're going to be able to show our viewers some very unusual pictures from the international space station. These are pictures of New York City from space. So that now I'm seeing this for the first time just as you are. The smoke you're able to see is clearly that coming from that area of lower Manhattan that Gary has been reporting on. Gary, I don't think you're in a position to see this. But it certainly does give us the bird's-eye view of the city, and just one more idea of the incredible devastation wrought by yesterday's acts of terrorism. Gary, one last question while I'm talking to you, how close now are the emergency personnel to the area of the devastation, given the risk of this 1 Liberty Plaza building, are people still in the immediate adjacent area?

TUCHMAN: I can tell you Judy, that many of the rescue and recovery workers are standing with me right now. And we're about four or five blocks away. People aren't getting very close at this point, because of the risk. I also wanted to mention, you're talking about the smoke that could be seen from space. It's a surreal sight here, because most of us are carrying masks with us, and wearing -- people are walking down the streets wearing masks, wearing bandannas over their face and their nose, because too much time spent without the mask and the bandanna leaves you with a sore throat because of all the fumes that have been prevalent here for the last day and a half.

WOODRUFF: All right, Gary Tuchman and we are now looking at, we're going to be showing you live pictures of the building. We've been discussing this -- this building at 1 Liberty Plaza, at risk of collapse. Although as you heard Gary say, there is no clear pro -- there is no clear evidence that it will collapse, but it is believed that there's just a good chance that it could happen, and given the horrendous devastation, that would mean the effect on other buildings nearby, people are out of there. They have been moved blocks away and everyone is watching this building close to the World Trade Center, but just giving you an idea of how many buildings are involved in what happened yesterday.

And even as we watch the scenes in New York, we are back here in Washington, following developments at the Pentagon. President Bush just visiting there a short time ago to inspect the damage himself. Our military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre is at the Pentagon right now -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, this visit by President Bush across the Potomac River to inspect the damage here at the Pentagon was marked by a moment of high symbolism as workers, rescue workers and firefighters unfurled a huge American flag from the roof of the Pentagon and hung it over the side of the building that was -- that took the brunt of that attack from an airliner right into the side of the building. That flag flew as President Bush personally thanked some of the rescue workers for their hard work, despite the fact that the Pentagon has now given up hope that there were any survivors left in the building. There were about 60 people injured who are being treated at area hospitals. President Bush spoke briefly to the workers and told them that this incident had simply increased his determination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Coming here makes me sad on the one hand. It also makes me angry. And our country will however not be cowed by terrorists, by people who don't share the same values we share, by people who are willing to destroy people's lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: The casualties in that section of the Pentagon has turned out not to be nearly as high as was initially feared. Pentagon sources now say that they think the number will end up being somewhere between 100 and 200 deaths, something that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld alluded to in a briefing earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We currently believe and are certainly hopeful that the number of casualties being reported in the press is high. As you know from your own observation out there, the work is still going forward, and we won't know for some time, precise numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: For all intents and purposes the fire in the Pentagon is out, although there are still some smoldering areas. Fire officials say technically the fire is simply under control. The big question now is what next, what in terms of a possible military response. That was presumably the subject of a meeting between President Bush and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld that took place in his office after this inspection -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: And Jamie, I presume that mean it's too soon to know what was discussed. Jamie, I just have one question. We think of people, members of our armed forces, as being a pretty stoic bunch if you will. But you've been covering that building for a long time, covering people in the military for quite some time. How are they affected by all this?

MCINTYRE: Well, I think it actually has resulted in a feeling of determination. There is a feeling that they were attacked, that this wasn't an accident, that it was a deliberate act. The people who describe the actual evacuation of the building, right in the aftermath of this incident, tell me that it was -- people were very calm despite the tragedy that was taking place around them. And there was a real of course, there's a real bond felt between members of the military.

By the way, this wedge is basically the Navy wedge and almost all the deaths are expected to be either in the Navy or the Army, which also had some offices nearby. But there's a real sense of resolve after this attack.

WOODRUFF: All right, Jamie McIntyre reporting from the Pentagon.

Well, as we've been hearing today, as the hours have gone by, new details, dramatic details surfacing about what happened onboard those planes before they crashed into the World Trade Center, into the Pentagon and the plane that crashed into a rural area in western Pennsylvania. CNN's -- that was United Airlines Flight 93.

CNN's Rusty Dornin tells us more about that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty-eight-year- old Thomas Burnett called his wife, Deena, from Flight 93 four times Tuesday. The first call he told her his plane was hijacked. A passenger had been knifed. On the second call, his wife told him about the crash at the World Trade Center. The third, Burnett wanted details about the Trade Center crash. His wife said it was like he was puzzling it out. By the fourth call, he'd made a decision with some other passengers.

DEENA BURNETT, VICTIM'S WIFE: On the last phone call, he said that a group of them were getting ready to do something and then he hung up and he never called back.

DORNIN: Did he say anything to you personally?

BURNETT: He did not and that I know, the reason he didn't is he was fighting to come home. He was -- he had every intention of being here that night.

DORNIN: Fifteen minutes before FLight 93 flew into the ground, another call. Mark Bingham, a San Francisco public relations executive, phoned his mother, Alice, who happens to be a United flight attendant. He told her he loved her.

ALICE HOGLAN, VICTIM'S MOTHER: I'm on a flight from Newark to San Francisco and there are three guys have to taken over the plane and they say they have a bomb. And I said, Mark, who are they? I said, Mark, I love you too. And I said, who are these guys? -- and then he seemed to be pulled away from the phone for a minute.

DORNIN: Hoglan says her son didn't seem panicked.

HOGLAN: His voice was calm. He seemed very much composed, even though I know he must have been under terrible duress.

DORNIN: Burnett also said her husband seemed very cool. In her heart she believes if the plane was averted from another target, her husband likely had something to do with it.

BURNETT: He went down fighting. I know he did. He, his adrenaline was going. He was not whispering. He was talking quickly and he was ready to do something.

DORNIN: Wednesday at Burnett's church in San Ramone, California, a remembrance of a man whose final moments may have been spent fighting for the survival of the passengers of Flight 93.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Well, once again now too, we are in Washington and in order to keep you updated, just a couple of details. Investigators fanning out from Boston to Florida and beyond pursuing any leads that they can. The FBI saying it knows the identities now of many of the hijackers. Today, as we just told you in the last few moments, crews did hang a large, huge American flag from the Pentagon. Meantime, the Bush Administration saying the plane that crashed there may have been aiming for the White House, or possibly that Air Force one was a target.

And in New York City, the rescue effort at the World Trade Center is on hold. It is believed that a nearby building may be about to collapse. No survivors have been found since this morning, Wednesday morning.

And now, for a few moments we want to consider what those at the Capitol and the administration and at the Pentagon have been thinking and talking about today and that is, what does the United States do now that this unspeakable act of terror, acts of terror, have been committed against this nation.

At the White House, our senior White House correspondent John King. Back at the Pentagon, CNN's Jamie McIntyre. John King, to you first. Just how much are they saying openly at the White House about what their options are?

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, we know the president met twice with his national security team today, the last time just before he headed over to that Pentagon, to the Pentagon, to greet rescue and relief workers there. They're not saying very much publicly at all except the president of course today calling this an act of war.

But they are saying here, though, is that the president is weighing his options, and we are told by senior administration officials that more and more, especially at that second National Security Council meeting today, there were discussions of potential U.S. military and diplomatic and other options to be taken down the road once they reach a conclusion point in this investigation.

Senior officials telling us there are "no absolutes" in the investigation so far. But also another official saying everything points to the network of Osama Bin Laden.

So the administration building a case here, having its own internal deliberations, and the administration very encouraged by international outrage. The president himself spoke to a half dozen world leaders today. The NATO alliance said it considered this, the attack on the United States to be an attack on the alliance. The president looking to build a broad international coalition. An administration official saying he hopes to use that coalition not only to respond to these attacks yesterday here in the United States but also to mount a broader offensive against terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... deliberate and deadly attacks which were carried out yesterday against our country, were more than acts of terror. They were acts of war. This will require our country to unite in steadfast determination and resolve. Freedom and democracy are under attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now as the president made that case in public today, Judy, a remarkable disclosure by the White House. The White House saying on the record it believed both the White House, the mansion where the president lives and Air Force One, the plane that carries him around the world, were potential targets in these attacks. Two reasons why. No. 1, the White House saying it has credible information that the plane that crashed into the Pentagon actually was initially targeting the White House and then at the last minute decided to change its target, veer off and hit the Pentagon instead.

No. 2, we are told by sources that another operating theory is that that plane that crashed outside of Pittsburgh was taking a turn toward Washington and some officials believe its target was Andrews Air Force base, that the hijackers believed that President Bush would be rushing back to Washington and that perhaps there was a plan to take that plane and crash it into Andrews Air Force base just as Air Force One was returning.

That administration sources say is why the president did not return directly to Washington and went to two military installations before ultimately returning aboard Air Force One to Andrews Air Force base with military fighter jets escorting him -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Just chilling pieces of information coming out. Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, as we listen to John and I know we want to ask you what the administration is finding out about all this.

I guess my question is, how much are they going to feel that they have to have before they decide to act?

MCINTRYE: Well, that's one of the key questions. And of course the impulse is to act quickly to show that the United States is capable of taking action right away, but of course that's often not the smartest things to do. So they are going to weigh the impulse to act quickly and have some military retaliation against the need to build a case and make sure that they know who it is that they want to strike.

There's two elements to this. One is enough evidence of who's responsible. That's something the FBI is gathering now, and then you need enough intelligence to know where that person or persons or organization or country is and how the best way to strike them is. And all of that would seem to indicate that it's going to have to take a little time.

And of course at the Pentagon today, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said that nobody should think that the fight against terrorism is something that you can do quickly. It is going to take, he said, a long, sustained campaign.

WOODRUFF: And John King, when we talk about the element of time, how much time does the White House think it has before it has to make some sort of decision one way or another?

KING: Well, I would just echo what Jamie said. Remember what happened a few years back when the Clinton administration launched strikes against suspected camps of Osama Bin Laden. If indeed the Bin Laden network is responsible for these attacks in the United States this week, one could make the case those Clinton administration attacks didn't do much, did they. This president not only wants first we're told, to have conclusive evidence in the investigation, but very much wants to build international support not only just among predictable US allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, two conversations with the Russian president Mr. Bush had today, a conversation with the Chinese president Jiang Zemin.

We are told the president hoping not only to respond both militarily and economically to these attacks, but also to try to use this to build momentum, to build some good thing out of this tragedy, momentum for a broader international effort to combat not only terrorists but the nations that harbor them and support them financially.

WOODRUFF: All right. John King, reporting from the White House. Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon.

Joining us now here in Washington Bill Bennett, a leading figure in the conservative movement in this country, former education secretary, former drug czar in two different administrations. Bill Bennett, what is now with Empower America, what is the right thing now for the United States to do?

WILLIAM BENNETT, CO-CHAIRMAN, EMPOWER AMERICA: Well, I think we have a moment of moral clarity right now in America, Judy. There is good and evil in the world. There is right and there is wrong, and I think everyone apprehends (sic) that, no matter what their politics, where they are ideologically. And now building on that moment of moral clarity I think we need to act.

We issued a statement today at Empower America, Jack Kemp and Jeanne Kirkpatrick and I, saying that Congress should declare war against militant Islam and that the United States should proceed as if in war, because it is in war...

WOODRUFF: Well, what does that mean?

BENNETT: ... to hunt down these folks.

WOODRUFF: But what does that mean? These people are scattered all over the globe presumably.

BENNETT: That means -- well, believe me, the United States can find a lot of them if he set our mind to it. I was -- I had some access to intelligence information when I was director of drug policy. You can know and find out an awful lot, and we already do know an awful lot.

But it means a couple of things. It means we need to be willing to kill some people, people who are leaders of these movements, if it is indeed these people who are responsible, and we need to explain to the American people that that's what's going to take.

The second thing is we need to persevere, because if we get as tough as we should get, we may see more attacks on the United States. It's a big country. It's a free country. It's an open country. And even with restrictions that we're going to see, you will never seal the borders of this country. We know that from discussions of the drug war. WOODRUFF: But let me -- let me just act you, Bill Bennett. Are you saying the United States should act before it has all the details that one would normally expect to have to make a legal case against someone or some group?

BENNETT: Well, it's not a matter of a legal case, Judy. We're not in a court of law. President Roosevelt didn't say to Japan that he was going to bring it to justice. He said he was going to bring Japan to its knees.

There's always more information to get. There's always more details to get. If your question is, "Do we wait until we have all the information?" no, because you never get all the information.

When you have enough, when you have beyond a reasonable doubt, one might say, borrowing from the law, a grasp or understanding of who is responsible, then you act.

I don't think this is rocket science, by the way, and I think our intelligence people probably already know who's responsible.

WOODRUFF: So do you have a timeline here in your mind?

BENNETT: The time matters less to me than that it be done well and that it be done without equivocation, that it be done with overwhelming force, and that we understand that we're in this for the long run. I was checking my timeframe.

World War II -- people may not realize it -- was 55 days before we got to the Marshall Islands after Pearl Harbor and 101 days after -- until we got to Tokyo. That may seem -- 55 days may seem like a long time after this one. I don't think we need to wait that long, not nearly that long. But when we do it, we should do it right and we should make it clear that we're in this fight for the long run.

This requires, if I could just say, not only something of our leaders. And I think our leader has passed his first great test.

I happen to know there was a lot of pressure on George Bush to stay away last night. And we heard these reports on CNN...

WOODRUFF: You mean to stay away from Washington, from the White House.

BENNETT: Washington because of these threats. But I understand, from all the information I have, is that he was the one who insisted on coming back. So score one for our leader. He's showing the courage.

Now the American people are going to have to be prepared to show some courage, too. They're going to have to put up with some inconveniences. They're also going to have to put up with spending more money on defense, with making sure we're in this for the long run, and whatever else it may take.

This is obviously a serious and well-prepared enemy that could strike at the heart of America like this. This is not any push-over operation.

WOODRUFF: But just to be clear again, Bill Bennett, are you saying -- I mean, is there a threshold at all which should be met before the United States, of information, before the United States moves to retaliate?

BENNETT: Yeah, there should be a threshold. We should be pretty confident that we're getting -- we're getting the right people. And I don't think that's going to be hard to meet. Somewhere beyond -- between preponderance of the evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt. And the track regard of a lot of these militant Islam organizations are such that they can give us confidence.

Notice what everybody else is saying, too, Judy, everybody, every Democrat, every Republican -- and I think we should hold them to it -- that it's not just these individuals and groups, but it's these nations, these states that sponsor or support. That could be a lot of people. That could be Syria, that could be Libya, that could be Lebanon, that could be Iraq and Iran. It could be China.

WOODRUFF: And if innocent people are hurt?

BENNETT: Innocent people are hurt in war. This country can select its targets and exercise, as we saw in the Gulf War, with incredible precision. But there is no doubt innocent people will be hurt. But a ton of innocent people were hurt yesterday.

They provoked it, they have asked for it, they should get it.

WOODRUFF: All right, Bill Bennett with Empower America, former education secretary, we thank you very much.

BENNETT: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: Good to see you and we appreciate it.

And we just want to let you know, I've just been told that over at the Capitol, which you can see behind me, preparations under way now for a prayer vigil, which should be getting under way in just a few minutes. When it does get under way, we will take you there live. But we want to show you some of the people, Senator John Kerry, of course, Democrat of Massachusetts. We just saw Senator Ted Kennedy passing in front of the camera. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

This looks like a pretty broad cross-section of familiar faces in the Congress, both in the House. That's George Miller on the right from the state of California. Congressman Miller. We see Pat Leahy of Vermont, Teddy Kennedy there on the left. We see a number of members. That's Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of the state of Maine. Senator Jim Inhofe, senator from Oklahoma. And a few others -- a few others we -- we see. And no doubt there will be a large turnout by members of Congress and others as this prayer service gets under way just outside the United States Capitol.

Now we want to go across the Atlantic Ocean to London, to our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, who's been taking a look today, Christiane, at the reaction of people around the world at what's been happening here in the United States.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judy, even this side of the Atlantic, they're calling it a declaration of war. The newspapers in England and across Europe have been blaring headlines today. Even the normally careful and sedate broadsheets have all got unmistakable commentary: "Assault on America," "Doomsday America." As I say, a declaration of war.

This is being taken incredibly seriously, as you can imagine here. Commentators have been talking about it for the last two days, and leaders have been stepping up one-by-one across Europe -- and indeed across the world -- to offer sympathy, solidarity and support.

There have been national security meetings in virtually every European capital, in Russia and in other places around the world. And there have been very practical steps taken, for instance, by NATO. Nineteen NATO representatives today in Brussels, in Belgium, their headquarters, invoked a Cold War-era treaty, in which essentially an attack on one member is an attack on all members, and all members are therefore committed to a mutual defense. They have said that this now they have taken. And if the United States decides that it want to and needs to take action, then NATO is at its disposal in that -- in that situation.

Apart from that on a human level, there have been many, many people across Europe who have simply come to U.S. embassies, who have put flowers, sometimes even soft toys, who have left messages. Flags have been flying at half-staff at government buildings, certainly in Britain and in other parts of Europe and around the world.

There have also been many messages of support from Arab countries, particularly the American Arab allies. They have condemned this act of terrorism, and also the 57 nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference condemned this saying that this is against Islam.

There have been incidents which have, quote, "sickened" some people who have been watching, and those are the celebrations -- very few of these we must stress -- in some parts of the world, notably in refugee camps, in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and the other parts where people have been celebrating this. Also in Iraq, which, as you know, is still in a state of low-level war with the United States. There have been support for this terrorist attack.

This is not just the single-greatest attack on the United States since World War II but the single biggest act of terrorism anywhere in recorded memory, and that is really being felt in a profound sense, of confidence has been shaken. A sense of insecurity is settling down. And people in Britain who I've been talking to say that, look, you know, of a certain generation, we grew up with the blitz. We know what it to be bombed, to see destroyed buildings. But when we saw what happened in New York, we felt sick, we've never felt like this before.

WOODRUFF: Christiane, I want to touch on something. I was just interviewing Bill Bennett, who's been very much a leader in the conservative movement in this country, former Cabinet secretary. He and others are calling for striking back and striking hard. There were a number of columns in America's newspapers today calling on the administration not to hold back, not to wait.

Based on what you know, the people you've been talking with, whether in London or elsewhere, what do you think the support would be? If the United States decided to move, quickly, before all the facts were in, what do you think the reaction would? What -- is there a threshold, I guess is what I'm asking, that people expect the United States to have of information before it moves?

AMANPOUR: Well, first of all, the prime minister of Britain, Tony Blair -- and Britain is, of course, America's staunchest and closest ally in Europe -- has basically said an attack on the United States is an attack on the rest of the civilized world, on the rest of the democratic world. He said that this means that we are all targets, that no one is immune, and therefore all countries have to unite in a front, a united front, against this kind of what he called evil.

He said that everybody has to unite, and he also said that Britain's interests were clearly engaged because he predicted that there would be hundreds of British casualties. Many, many Britons live and work in the United States, as do many nationals from other countries.

All this to say the groundwork appears to be being laid for some kind of response. I believe they think that it is inevitable if the United States comes to a conclusion that it has identified, identified the perpetrators and can do something.

On the other hand, there are people who say that while they do believe some kind of response has to be taken, they don't want to see the same kind of attack that happened in 1998, when cruise missiles were sent to Afghanistan and Sudan and when several, you know, innocent people, they say, were killed. There is a certain sense of carefulness here being taken.

What's going to be interesting is whether this administration sends out Secretary of State Colin Powell to coalition build. You know, this is the -- members of this administration have done this before. Colin Powell, secretary -- Vice President Cheney, these people were in the first Bush administration and know what it is to build a coalition, and it's going to be interesting.

And many people here are waiting to see whether that will be a next step, not just amongst allies but like in the Gulf War, other nations, to basically take sides, they're saying. It is a time now to take sides and take a stand and stand up and be counted.

WOODRUFF: All right. Christiane Amanpour reporting from London and also reflecting what we're hearing here. Some saying yes, move fast, but don't stoop to do what the terrorists have done to the United States.

Now we want to go quickly to New York City to CNN's John Voss at the scene in lower Manhattan of this shaky building at One Liberty Plaza -- John.

JOHN VOSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judy, we're a few blocks away from the World Trade Center. All day we've been speaking with some workers as they finish their work on the debris, on their searching mission, looking for survivors, looking for bodies.

A few that have stopped and have talked with us have told us some stories. One of the stories that we were told was how an American flag was found in the debris. How the workers stopped, they hoisted that flag upon a cell phone tower which once stood upon the top of the South Tower. They hoisted that flag, everyone stopped momentarily, they saluted that flag. They said it gave everyone a much needed morale boost.

Other stories come from people from North Carolina who simply got in their cars, drove here and tried to help. They say they were working in the cafeteria. They tell us they have found uneaten food. They've found laptops. They've found cell phones which are still charged. The same workers told us that when they look out of the cafeteria, they look upon that pile of rubble, and they tell us that whenever a body is found, or a body part is found, it's marked by a piece of orange plastic. And they say it seems as if there is orange plastic every ten feet. And they do tell us, though, that when a body is found or a body part is found, it is treated with incredible respect.

Other workers have told us that the fires which are still burning are setting off the ammunition, ammunition which we assume was in the guns of the police officers which are buried in that rubble.

Other workers tell us it has been an extremely frustrating day. Debris is still falling there and that every time that debris falls work must stop. They must evacuate the area, they must stop however briefly...

WOODRUFF: John, we're going to interrupt you now. John Voss, we're going to interrupt you now because we do want to take our viewers to the Capitol where a prayer vigil, prayer service, has just gotten under way.

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