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CNN Live Event/Special

America Under Attacks: Some Sense of Normalcy Returning to Pentagon

Aired September 13, 2001 - 06:37   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we turn to Bob Franken, who is standing outside the Pentagon with a view of the damage as well as the investigation going on there.

Good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And with the break of day, as you can see in back of me at the Pentagon, rescue workers are going to try and continue their grim task, trying to get into some of the areas that have proven difficult, because the obvious reason, of course, is that huge slab that's leaning after the collision with the airplane a couple of days ago.

Officials have already begun this work of bringing out some of the bodies on stretchers. The search continues. We do not have any official count on how many have been brought out, nor do we yet have a casualty estimate, although officials are now suggesting it's going to be in the 100 to 200 person range. They point out that there are about 150 who are Pentagon workers who are unaccounted for. And, of course, there were the 64 on the airplane. But no official figures yet, just the process continuing.

Now, there is a sense of normalcy they're trying to achieve here, if you can call it normalcy. All Pentagon workers are supposed to return at 8:00 a.m. Eastern -- in other words, in a little less than an hour-and-a-half -- to return to the Pentagon. Those who don't have offices, of course -- and there are going to be any number of those -- will be reassigned to other facilities.

So they're trying to get back to that normalcy, if you can call it that, as I said. Also the normal business of planning military operations, the foremost one being the retaliation that they're going to come up with -- the organized retaliation -- military action in all probability once they can decide who will be the target -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Bob Franken reporting live outside the Pentagon -- a lot of grieving still going on and anticipation of what they're going to find there.

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