CNN BREAKING
NEWS
Terrorist Attack on United States
Aired September 11, 2001 - 08:48 ET
=======================================
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: This just in. You are
looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade
Center, and have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into
one of the towers of the World Trade Center.
CNN Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling
our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened. But clearly,
something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end
of the island Manhattan.
That is, once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center.
VINCE CELLINI, CNN ANCHOR: We could see these pictures. It's obviously something
devastating that has happened. And again, there are unconfirmed reports that a
plane has crashed into one of the towers there. We are efforting more
information on the subject as it becomes available to you.
LIN: Right now we've got Sean Murtagh -- he is a CNN producer -- on the
telephone.
Sean, what can you tell us what about you know?
SEAN MURTAGH, CNN PRODUCER: [This is,
ah, Sean Murtagh. I just was, ah, standing on the ah -- ah,
vice
president of finance -- vice president of finance for CNN.
]
CELLINI: Shaun, we're on the air right now. What you can tell us about the
situation?
MURTAGH: Hello?
CELLINI: Yes, Sean, you are on the air right now. Go ahead. What you can tell
us?
MURTAGH: I just witnessed a plane that appeared to be cruising at slightly
lower-than-normal altitude over New York City, and it appears to have
crashed into -- I don't know which tower it is -- but it hit directly in the
middle of one of the World Trade Center towers.
LIN: Sean, what kind of plane was it? Was it a small plane, a jet?
MURTAGH: It was a jet. It looked like a two-engine jet, maybe a 737.
LIN: You are talking about a large passenger commercial jet.
MURTAGH: A large passenger commercial jet.
LIN: Where were you when you saw this?
MURTAGH: I am on the 21st floor of 5 Penn Plaza.
LIN: Did it appear that the plane was having any difficulty flying?
MURTAGH: Yes, it did. It was teetering back and forth, wingtip to wingtip, and
it looks like it crashed into, probably, 20 stories from the top of the World
Trade Center, maybe the 80th to 85th floor. There is smoke billowing out of the
World Trade Center.
LIN: Sean, what happened next? Does it appear to you that the plane is still
inside the World Trade Center?
MURTAGH: From my angle -- I'm viewing south towards the Statue of Liberty and
the World Trade Center. It looks like it has embedded in the building. I
can't see, from my vantage point whether it has come out the other side.
LIN: Did you see any smoke, any flames coming out of engines of that plane?
MURTAGH: No, I did not. The plane just was coming in low, and the wingtips
tilted back and forth, and it flattened out. It looks like it hit at a slight
angle into the World Trade Center. I can see flames coming out of the side of
the building, and smoke continues to billow.
LIN: For our viewers who are just tuning in right now, you are looking at live
picture of the World Trade Center tower, where,
according to eyewitness
Sean Murtagh -- he is the vice president of finance and eyewitness to what he
describes as a twin-engine plane -- or possibly a 737 passenger jet -- flying
into the World Trade Center. It appears to be still embedded inside the
building.
Sean, are you in a position to hear whether any sirens are going, any
ambulances, any response to this yet?
MURTAGH: Not from my vantage point. I am probably 1 1/2 to two miles from the
World Trade Center.
LIN: Sean , thank you so much for your eyewitness account there.
Right now, we want to go to our affiliate NYW, reporting on this as we speak.
JIM RYAN (ph), WNYW REPORTER: Did you see what happened, sir? Did you see what
happened? What happened?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in the PATH train, and there was a huge explosion
sound; everyone came out. A large section of the building had blown out around
the 80th floor.
RYAN: Was it hit by something, or was it something inside.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was inside.
RYAN: It was inside.
----------------
CELLINI: Again, you are looking at pictures now. We understand from a
CNN
vice president, Sean Murtagh, who was an eyewitness to this, that a commercial
jet has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. You can
see the smoke billowing out. There are flames billowing out there, a
commercial jet crashing into one of these towers. At this point, we do not
have official injury updates to bring you. We are only now beginning to put
together the pieces of this horrible incident.
LIN: Just a few second ago, we were tuning into one of our affiliates in New
York, WNYW.
We want to go to an eyewitness on the telephone right now.
Jeanne, what can you tell us what you saw?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can tell you that I was watching TV, and there was this
sonic boom, and the TV went out. And I thought maybe the Concorde was back in
service, because I've heard about that sonic boom. And I went to the window -- I
live in Battery Park City, right next to the twin towers -- and I looked up, and
the side of the World Trade Center exploded. At that point, debris started
falling. I couldn't believe what I was watching.
LIN: Jeanne, we are continuing to look at pictures of this devastating scene,
according to Sean Murtagh, vice president of finance, who witnessed what he
described as a twin-engine plane, possibly a 737. e was almost absolutely sure
it was a large passenger jet that went into that.
Jeanne, you are saying you didn't see anything initially. You didn't see a plane
approach the building?
YURMAN: I had no idea it was a plane. I just saw the entire top part of
the World Trade Center explode. So I turned on the TV when I heard they said
it was a plane. It was really strange.
LIN: Were you living in New York during the World Trade Center bombing?
YURMAN: No, I wasn't.
LIN: Fortunately so. When you say a sonic boom, did you feel anything? Were
things shaking in your apartment?
YURMAN: Yes, you could feel it. It was a gigantic sonic boom. The TV went off
for a second and went back on. And the windows -- you felt the vibrations on the
windows.
-----------------
LIN: ... eyewitness here to a loud sonic boom, she described, as she was sitting
inside her apartment, and she looked up and saw the side of the World Trade
Center exploded into flames and black smoke.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Winston (ph), can you see -- are you on the north side there
where the plane made contact?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, when you say a huge hole, one of our earliest witnesses,
Libby Clark (ph), said not much of the plane came down off the building, much of
it went...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it went totally into the building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's in the building, from what you can see?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd say the whole takes about -- It looks like six, seven
floors were taken out.
(Some witness accounts of the
2nd crash:)
[Second plane hits South Tower]
And there's more explosions right now -- hold on -- people are running, hold on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should hold on just a moment. We've got an explosion
inside...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The building's exploding right now. You've got people
running up the street.
Hold on, I'll tell you what's going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, just put Winston on pause there for just a moment...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, the whole building exploded some more, the whole top
part. The building's still intact, people are running up the street. Am I
still connected?
Let's just take some of our pictures from News Chopper 7.
Now, one of our producers said perhaps a second plane was involved, and
let's not even speculate to the point, but at least put it out there that
perhaps that may have happened.
The second explosion would certainly back the theory from a couple of eyewitness
that the plane fuselage perhaps stayed in those upper buildings.
Now if you look at second building, there are two -- both twin towers now are on
fire.
Now, this was not the case, am I correct, a couple of moment ago. This is the
second twin tower now on fire. And we're going to check on the second flight, if
perhaps that had happened.
This all began at about 8:48 this morning. Again, what we know in case you
are just joining us, a small plane, not a Cessna-type or five or six seater, but
instead, perhaps a passenger flight ran into the north side of the World Trade
Center.
As you can see, the second explosion that you are looking at now in the second
twin tower has spread much debris, much more debris than the first explosion of
the first accident. If there is -- is Winston still on the line with us?
OK, he's not there.
But do we have -- I'll just talk to my producer. Do we have eyewitness that
perhaps sees better than we do from the pictures?
Again you can see that there is debris falling off.
OK, we actually have an "Eyewitness News" reporter, Dr. J. Atlasberg (ph) who
was downtown at the time and he is on the phone with us live.
Dr. J., what can you tell us?
DR. J. ATLASBERG (ph), REPORTER: Hello, Steve.
I'm actually uptown at 86th and Riverside. I can see the World Trade Center from
about half the building up to the top. And about five minutes ago, as I was
watching the smoke, a small plane -- I did -- it looked like a propeller plane,
came in from the west. And about 20 or 25 stories below the top of the
center, disappeared for a second, and then explode behind a water tower, so I
couldn't tell whether it hit the building or not. But it was very visible,
that a plane had come in at a low altitude and appeared to crash into the World
Trade Center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. J, we're going to take a look at videotape just moment
ago of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center.
That is spectacular pictures. I don't know if you could see the plane,
and
that too was a passenger plane, if perhaps some type of navigating system or
some type of electronics would have put two planes into the World Trade Center
within it looks like about 18 minutes of each other.
You want to go -- we have another copy. There is the second plane. Another
passenger plane hitting the World Trade Center.
These pictures are frightening indeed. These are just minutes between each
other. So naturally, you will guess, and you will speculate, and perhaps ask the
question: If some type of navigating equipment is awry, the two commuter planes
would run into the World Trade Center's at the same time.
Our director -- you are speaking in my ear at this point.
You are looking at live pictures right now of the World Trade Centers.
Again, we now have two passenger planes within 18 minutes of each other
smashing into the World Trade Center.
Dr. J., are you still with us on the phone?
ATLASBERG: I'm still with you, Steve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. J, this is just frightening pictures indeed. And I would
assume, or you would naturally think that...
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You have been listening to some of the coverage
provided by affiliate WABC out of New York City.
Let's go now and check our other affiliate WNBC to get the latest -- I'm sorry,
WNYW, WNYW, live coverage here of this amazing picture we're getting from lower
Manhattan, two planes, one hitting each of the twin towers, at the World Trade
Center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... very difficult too. They come by and they say, what
happened, what happened? And you just got to say, something hit the building and
then something hit both buildings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw clearly -- we didn't see the first one, but we saw
clearly that a plane deliberately crashed into the -- one of the upper floors of
the World Trade Center, that was the second plane. So two planes crashed
into the upper floors of each of the World Trade Center towers. And I'm just --
I understand now that the Port Authority Headquarters are in one of those
buildings somewhere near that location.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jim, I don't know whether we've confirmed that this was an
aircraft, or to be more specific, some people said they thought they saw a
missile. I don't know how people could differentiate, but we might keep
open the possibility that this was a missile attack on these buildings.
Ali (ph), I must say that we have an eyewitness who said it was a large plane
that crashed first. And then as we were watching the live picture here in
the studio, we saw a plane crash into the -- crash into the other tower of the
World Trade Center. And again, let's to be sure, there it is. There it is, the
plane went right through the other tower of the World Trade Center.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is a very hard thing to watch.
HARRIS: These are incredible pictures that we're watching this morning,
thanks to our affiliate WNYW in New York.
You are looking at this picture, it is the twin towers of the World Trade
Center, both of them being damaged by impacts from planes. We saw one happen at
about maybe nine minutes before the top of the hour, and just moment ago, so
maybe 18 minutes after the first impact, the second tower was impacted with a
-- by a another -- what appeared to be, another passenger plane.
In fact, we've
got some tape replay of that.
Do we have the tape available right now?
Here is the tape. You see the plane coming in from the east side and it goes
into the building with the flames and the smoke billowing out the other side
of the tower. It's hard for me to tell exactly which is the north side and which
is the south side. But it appears it's coming out of south side there.
Incredible pictures. These happened just moments ago, and I believe we have
someone with us on the line, Ira Furman? We have IRA Firmer, former NTSB
Spokesman. You are watching these pictures as well with
us, are you not?
IRA FURMAN, FMR. NTSB SPOKESMAN: Yes, I'm with
you on CNN.
HARRIS: What can you make of what we have seen, particularly
with this replay
we just saw moments ago?
FURMAN: That's absolutely inexplicable. There shouldn't be any aircraft in that
area, much less something heading what looked like deliberately for the World
Trade Center tower.
HARRIS: You don't think there is any this could be any kind of an accident, no
kind of a navigational equipment failure or some sort of a navigational quirk by
beacons or whatever?
FURMAN: No, you've got incredibly good visibility at this point, and no
pilot is going to be relying on navigational equipment in such a circumstance
that would cause them to crash into the World Trade Center.
HARRIS: How far out of way from an approach to either La Guardia or Kennedy
would a plane have to be to hit the World Trade Center?
FURMAN: There are approach these come up along the Hudson River, which to the
west of the World Trade Center, and those aircraft usually wind up going into La
Guardia. So you can come within a mile owe two of the World Trade Center. But it
is such a visible object as you are approaching New York City, that it's just
not possible for a pilot during the daytime to have taken a course that would
put it right into the World Trade Center. The second occurrence within a few
minutes is beyond belief.
HARRIS: As you could see, there definitely is no weather problem. So weather
would definitely be ruled out as a factor in this case?
FURMAN: Yes, the course is a normal course for commercial pilots coming into New
York. It certainly appeared from the video on CNN, that the second aircraft
was heading for the tower, and that it was a commercial-size aircraft.
HARRIS: Could you tell, have a better idea what size of plane was? It was kind
of hard for me to tell. You are expert in the matters.
Could you look at the
tape and tell me what size the plane was?
FURMAN: It would have to be slowed down, and you need more than one angle on it,
because you want see how many imagine engines are on it? The shape of the tail.
HARRIS: Guys, could we replay the tape right now? Do we have the tape right
now of the second plane impacting. We're going to put that tape on in just a
second. Here we are about to roll it now.
If you can, sir, I don't want you to speculate. But if you can, give us idea
what you might think might be at play here, what kind of plane we're talking
about, or at least what size, if we're talking about one that would hold say 100
people, one that would hold 300 people. From what you see -- back the tape up
further than that, guys.
Here we go.
FURMAN: It's very hard to get a perspective on it. I don't know how far away we
are with this. But that looks to me like it could be certainly a passenger
jet and one of those aircraft that could hold 100 or more people. I caution you
at this point to wonder whether or not that airplane was occupied by more than
just a pilot or crew. We don't necessarily know that there were any passengers
aboard that airplane.
HARRIS: Understood, understood.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Daryn Kagan joining the conversation here. Sir, but
there is no indication there would be any air traffic on purpose in the area of
the World Trade Center at this time of day, or any time of day for that matter?
FURMAN: Not directly into the world trade center?
KAGAN: No, but even close to it? you.
FURMAN: You would be clearing the World Trade Center by a few miles. Normal
operations. And when you are looking at the pictures that you see, with all this
smoke and fire and all of that, it's just absolutely unbelievable to think that
a flight crew that wouldn't ordinarily see the World Trade Center, wouldn't
ordinarily be on course would not see this as flaming beacon to avoid.
KAGAN: Let me ask you this about the airspace. Given that it appears two
airplanes have flown into the World Trade Center in 18 minutes, is it possible
to shut down the airspace and keep another plane from doing something just like
it?
FURMAN: I don't think that this represents an accident.
And so I don't think that we're talking about having to now keep other aircraft
away. This picture that CNN is broadcasting live is probably from a range of a
couple of miles away, and you can see that.
KAGAN: No, certainly that. But if there was somebody intentionally trying to do
the same thing again, is there a way to shut down the airspace to keep things
out?
FURMAN: You can't shut down the airspace. There is no gate, there is not fence
in airspace. All you can do is broadcast that that airspace is closed. But if
someone is intent on breaking through it, that happens with our military
airspace all the time off the coast.
HARRIS: I want to bring up a couple points if I may. We have been told that
President Bush has been informed of this incredible tragedy happening in New
York. He did have an event scheduled at 9:00 this morning, which we were going
to cover here, and he has just canceled that event. We expect he will have some
comments fairly soon, and we will bring those to you live the moment that we
understand he is available. But I'd like to ask you once again, Ira, if I can
get to back asking you about this particular crash. Is it possible that those
who are tracking planes, either at La Guardia, can give us some more information
about exactly what happened here. Were these planes I guess using beacons to
come in, or was there some sort of identification of these planes, as they
approach the New York area?
FURMAN: Yes, there should be, if they were under air traffic control. You've got
one eyewitness telling you that The first aircraft flew from Westchester and
flew down through Manhattan, and directly into the World Trade Center,
presumedly the north tower. And now you've got -- you're showing the other
aircraft coming in, looks to me like it would be from the West, into the other
tower.
Those planes could be, should be, normally would be under air- traffic control.
But it is also entirely possible for aircraft to fly into, through or over New
York, or in this case into a building in New York, without being under the
control, and we use that word advisedly. All that means is information is what
air traffic control is. And just operate and do whatever they want, if they
don't follow the rules of air traffic control.
HARRIS: Ira Furman, we thank you very, very much for your insight. And the
longer we talk, the less convinced many will become that this was an accident.
We thank you very much for your insight.
KAGAN: More information on that just ahead.
Now we want to bring in Todd Harris (ph). Todd on the scene, saw what happened.
Todd are you with us?
TODD HARRIS: Yes, I had a perfect view, and the plane was coming in. I
noticed it a second before it hit the building. It looked like it was moving
slowly, and it lined itself up to hit the building directly.
KAGAN: Are you talking about the first plane or the second plane?
HARRIS: The first plane.
KAGAN: Now, Todd, tell us exactly where you are, where you had this great view.
HARRIS: I was on highway 278, like a dead-on view of the side that hit building.
KAGAN: All right, Todd, hang on, we're going to continue our conversation. Leon
has something to jump in here with.
HARRIS: Yes, I'm checking the wires even as we speak. The Associated Press is
reporting right now that the FBI in Washington is investigating reports that
these two plane crashes the result of foul play. There is a report here by the
Associated Press of a possible plane hijacking. They don't say two. But they say
a possible plane hijacking.
Let's go to Kelli Arena who's on the phone right now from Washington -- Kelli.
Kelli Arena, are you there? .
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm here.
HARRIS: What have you learned?
ARENA: Hi there.
Well, an FBI official has told CNN that they are investigating, but they have
not yet determined whether or not this was indeed a terrorist act. The official
that I spoke to said that so far, there has been no communication, no one
claiming responsibility for either of those crashes. There is an investigation
under way. If there is anything to be said officially, it will come out of the
New York City field office of the FBI, which is right now involved in that
investigation to find out whether or not it was.
But I have to tell you, I repeat, right now the FBI has not determined whether
or not this is a terrorist act, although they are investigating.
HARRIS: All right, thank you very much. Kelli Arena, we appreciate that.
Daryn, back to you.
KAGAN: All right, let's go ahead and bring back in Todd Harris. Todd, are you
still with us?
We don't have Todd.
OK, once again, if you're just joining us, the breaking story that we're
following out of New York City. Within the span of 18 minutes, two separate
planes crashing into the World Trade Center. The rescue operations under way,
not clear -- we will show you -- this is second plane, after first tower already
on fire. Let the pictures tell the story.
You saw it live here on CNN as it
happened the plane crashed right into the side of World Trade Center, causing a
huge explosion.
And we're showing you live pictures now. Smoke and fire taking place in both
towers of the World Trade Center.
HARRIS: It appears that second plane that we actually did have on videotape
actually turned. And I have to think, I'm not an expert in these things, so
I don't know, but it would seem as though that move actually may have caused
much more damage.
These are incredible pictures, as you can see here.
KAGAN: Let's keep the pictures here. Joe Tractsonburg (ph) joining us on the
phone. Joe, are you with us?
JOE TRACTSONBURG: Yes, I am.
KAGAN: Can you tell us what your vantage point is and what you've seen so far?
TRACTSONBURG: Well, I heard on the radio that one of the towers was on fire. And
we went to a high point in our building, which is on the 25th floor, and you had
a clear view of the both World Trade Centers and the one that was smoking hard,
and there was another plane that was flying low, and we just looked at it,
and before we know it, it was just kamikaze, boom, right into the other tower,
and mass explosion, windows flying. It was horrible. I'm still distraught
looking at it.
KAGAN: Were you close enough to see or get a general idea of what kind of plane
that was that flew in the second time?
TRACTSONBURG: Well, I'm not an expert on planes, but
it didn't seem like a
big passenger jet. It was smaller type plane, because it made some pretty
radical turn, and flying low. And you're not used to seeing big planes
flying over Manhattan, because I don't think you're allowed to. But it was
pretty tough.
KAGAN: And explain to me again, what your vantage point is, where you are in the
city looking at this?
TRACTSONBURG: We're in Chelsea. It's -- like 25th Street, 7th Avenue, it's clear
looking all the way downtown, and you could see the building, you know, the
whole downtown, because it's a clear day, and it's a disaster.
KAGAN: And once again, describe for us what you saw as that plane went into the
second building.
TRACTSONBURG: That plane just flew straight into the second building on the
downtown side it appears. It was just a huge explosion. And smoke just
immediately, fire started immediately coming from the second tower as it hit,
and there was glass flying everywhere.
KAGAN: Looks like we have a little bit of audio problems. So I'm going to say
thanks to Joe Tractsonburg for talking to us and telling us what he saw.
We are watching it right here, live on CNN, as that plane went it. He had a
closer vantage point, and as you can see, as you heard, Leon,
he doesn't
think it was a big jet, but a smaller plane, from where he could see it.
HARRIS: Well, we do have the tape of a recounting by another eyewitness.
We want to go to some tape we're getting from our affiliate WABC in New York,
where they interviewed an eyewitness who saw the second crash as it happened.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.01.html
|
ABC News Special Report
"Planes crash into World Trade Center"
September 11, 2001
=======================================
(coverage begins 8:53 AM Eastern Time)
CHARLES GIBSON, co-anchor:
Now by the entire ABC Network. "Good Morning America" was in progress in
the East Coast and the Midwest, but we're joined by the entire network
just to show you some pictures at the foot of New York City. This is at
the World Trade Center. Obviously a major fire there. And there has been
some sort of explosion. We don't fully know the details. There is one
report, as of yet unconfirmed, that a plane has hit the World Trade
Center. And you can see that there is smoke there coming out of at
least two sides of the building.
DIANE SAWYER, co-anchor: And as you said, there are two towers, the
tallest structures in Manhattan--on the island of Manhattan. We're trying
to get people on the telephone to see what more we can learn. We have
no idea if it was a plane. Was it in any sense deliberate? Was it an
accident? It does seem to be that there is considerable and--and truly
terrifying damage on some of those floors at the top.
GIBSON:
This--this angle is a little
deceptive. As you know, there are two Trade Center towers, and the second
tower there is hidden behind the first. This is really almost
the picture postcard of New York City. It's the--that and the Empire State
Building, I guess, are the two most recognizable symbols of New York.
There you can see the two--well, we had there just briefly the other angle
of the World Trade Center towers. But this is confined to one of the
towers on the upper floors. These buildings--I think they're 110 stories
each. So this would be in the--in the top 15 or 20 floors there.
SAWYER:
We also have Don Dahler on the phone. And you know he's been with
us on"Good Morning America" for a long time.
And, Don, where are you and what do you know?
DON DAHLER reporting: I'm about four or five blocks just north of the
World Trade Center. And at about 10--I would say 10 minutes ago, 15
minutes ago, there was a loud sound that I can only describe it--it
sounded like a missile, not an airplane. Then there was a
loud explosion and immediately lots of screaming out on the streets.
And I don't want to cause any speculation, but that's the only way I
could describe the sound. And it was definitely not the sound of a prop
plane or anything like that.
SAWYER: And am I right? Are you a pilot?
DAHLER: Well, I have flown. I do not have a pilot's license, but I--I
grew up on military bases. and I know the sounds of jets. And--and I've
been in war zones and--and heard those kinds of different sounds. So,
again, not to cause any kind of undue speculation but the sound itself was
not of a prop plane. It was perhaps a jet. But it could have been a
missile as well.
GIBSON: Can you give me--was it--was it a whining sound, Don, or what?
DAHLER: Yes. It was--it was a--how to describe it. It was a high pitch,
but it had a--a--a whooshing sound. Not--not like a prop plane.
GIBSON: Huh. And you didn't see anything actually in the air?
DAHLER: No. I wasn't looking out. But we looked out immediately. You can
see quite a lot of damage. If it was an airplane, it had to be huge
because it hit way up in the World Trade Center. It--I would say it's
probably--probably a good 5/6ths of the way up to the top. There's a
considerable amounts of flame. There's damage on two sides that I can see.
On the very north facing side there's--where it looks like the largest
amount of damage--there's a gigantic hole that encompasses a number of
floors. I would say, maybe, 10 to 15 floors. And then on the left side,
which would be the east side, there's considerable damage as well, and
lots of flames and smoke coming out of it.
GIBSON: You know, I--I don't know that people outside New York realize it,
but these two buildings are essentially cities in and of themselves. I
mean, there's 30 to 40,000 people, if I remember the number--and I'm doing
this from memory--number of people who actually work in these buildings.
And this obviously occurred at the time that people were coming to work.
SAWYER: Don, are you saying this sound was striking enough that you
heard it before you saw anything?
DAHLER: Absolutely. I--I noticed it before the explosion, I noticed a
very--a sound like something was very low and shrieking across the sky.
And then I heard the explosion.
GIBSON: And which of the two towers is this, because, again, we're just
seeing an angle that's a little deceptive.
DAHLER: This is the west tower.
~
SAWYER: As we've heard before, we said earlier that there was at least one
speculative report that an airplane had crashed in, whether deliberately
or accidentally we don't know, and there are continuing reports from
people who say that--that they saw an airplane, one woman saying that she
saw a jet going in.
So, again, Don, a jet screaming that low could be consistent with what
you heard?
DAHLER: Absolutely. It could be consistent with what I heard. What I
know I did not hear was an airplane, any kind of a prop plane, and I
think looking at the damage, I don't think there's any way possible that
it would have been a pop--prop plane. It's just too much damage to the
building.
~
SAWYER: We've just got a report that the Associated Press is now
reporting that it was an aircraft. So that's one more witness weighing
in, or at least one more source weighing in on the fact that it was an
aircraft of some kind.
GIBSON: And as Don Dahler reported, this occurred about 15 or 20 minutes
ago in downtown New York, and New York time that would have been about 20
minutes or a quarter of 9. This is a time when literally tens of thousands
of people are coming to work at the World Trade Center.
~
GIBSON: Absolutely, no indication that this could have been related to
that. Right.
Don Dahler--ABC's Don Dahler, who is on the scene--Don, just give me
some description again of what you're--what you can see now.
DAHLER: Well, we see--it appears that there is more and more fire and
smoke enveloping the very top of the building, and as fire crews are
descending on this area, it--it does not appear that there's any kind of
an effort up there yet, now remember--Oh, my God!
SAWYER: Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
GIBSON: That looks like a second plane has just hit ...
SAWYER: Terrible!
DAHLER: I didn't see a plane go
in. That--that just exploded. I...
GIBSON: We just saw another plane coming in from the side.
DAHLER: You did? I was--that
was obscured from my view.
GIBSON: That second explosion, you could see the plane come in just
from the right-hand side of the screen, so this looks like it is some
sort of a...
SAWYER: Oh, my!
GIBSON: ...concerted effort to attack the World Trade Center that is under
way in downtown New York.
SAWYER: We will see that scene again just to make sure we saw what we
thought we saw.
GIBSON: We're going to give you
a replay of what we just saw, and I--I must admit, I thought it
was some sort of fire equipment or some sort of observation plane, but it
was obviously designed to attack the World Trade Center.
We're going to show you
that--here's a replay of the videotape.
(Replay of videotape shown)
GIBSON: In a second, that looks like a good-sized plane, came in and
hit the World Trade Center from the other side. So this is obviously,
or would seem to be, and again I'm dealing in speculation, but it would
seem like there is a concerted attack against one of the towers of the
World Trade Center under way.
SAWYER: We had seen a plane coming in from the other direction earlier. I
had noticed it. Had you, Charlie? I didn't know if that plane had been
circled wide and came back from another direction, but we all watched it,
and I just assumed...
GIBSON: Don, could you hear that? Could you hear that plane as it came
in?
DAHLER: I did not hear that
plane, but I had to step inside the window because the fire
crews were so loud--the sirens--that I couldn't hear you.
GIBSON: I got you.
DAHLER: I did see the explosion,
but the side of the building that the plane entered was just outside of my
view, so all I saw was this huge fireball and the explosion.
GIBSON: Well, the shot that we've got is now just from one side of the
World Trade Center, but this is the shot again--this is moments ago of
this--of this second plane coming in, and this is now in slow motion.
(Replay of videotape shown)
GIBSON: Ah, this is terrifying--awful.
SAWYER: We watch powerless. It's a horror.
GIBSON: All right, we're going to go back to live coverage now. You're
looking at live pictures, and there is the second fire, which was
brought about by this second plane that hit the tower, and Don, from
everything I can see, it was the same tower that was hit the first time,
right?
DAHLER: No, it's the second tower. It is the...
GIBSON: It's the other tower.
DAHLER: It is the other tower that was hit.
GIBSON: My mistake.
DAHLER: They targeted--from your--from what I'm seeing on television, from
your view, they are--the two towers are in--one is in front of the other
one, but it was definitely the second tower that was hit about halfway
down, not quite as high, and from my view here, it does not seem to be
as--as big, as much damage as the original. It--I don't know if that means
it was not as big a plane or what. I did not see the plane go in,
but it's--I mean, it's horrendous damage, but it doesn't seem to be the
gaping hole through two sides of the building like on the first one.
SAWYER: Don, from your vantage point, can you see if there are people
coming out down below?
DAHLER: I don't--I can't see the bottom of the base of the building.
GIBSON: There's the wider shot of the two towers now. Both towers have
been hit by planes now in the last half-hour, and again, I say, we are--we
are totally powerless in knowing what's going on here, except that it
would obviously appear this is--can't be a coincidence like this. It
would, obviously, be some sort of a concerted attack against both towers
of the World Trade Center. This is--again, we're going to show for the
third time this tape of the--of the airplane flying in and hitting the
World Trade Center.
(Replay of videotape shown)
GIBSON: This is slo-mo, slow motion of the plane coming in and hitting
the obscured second tower of the World Trade Center, and you can see
flames coming out. And I can't see the plane coming down. You know, if
it just...
DAHLER: Charlie, that's a commercial size jet. That is--that did
not look like...
GIBSON: No, that's a good-sized airplane. That's...
DAHLER: Yeah, that is--that is not a little commuter plane. That was a
good-sized jet.
GIBSON: And I can't tell if it actually flew into the building or if it
just clipped it with a wing. And if it did, of course, then there's
the frightening prospect that the plane would have crashed right on the
streets of--very busy streets of New York.
DAHLER: Yeah.
SAWYER: It seems--and this is a small hope--that the fire may have gone
out from the first sight. I don't know if we can get the camera in close
enough or not. It doesn't mean that the smoke isn't terrifying and deadly.
DAHLER: Diane, I can see from here the orange flames. The fire has not
gone out. In fact, it looks as if it's encompassing a part of the building
that was not initially a part of the original explosion. I can see it
moving over to the left side, which would be the east side of the first
side of the building, almost all the way over to the edge. The--the
backside is almost totally enveloped in flames that I can see from here.
GIBSON: Yes, it--with that kind of smoke, there's got to be an awful lot
of flame in there. And--and I think all of us have thought at one point or
another about the fact that these buildings, though they are so majestic
as they stand above the skyline of New York, that it's very difficult for
emergency workers or firefighters to--to fight these. We have a witness
who has called in to speak to us. His name is
Karim Arraki.
Mr. Arraki, did you, as I understand, they're telling me in my
ear--is it true that you witnessed the first plane hit the tower?
Mr. KARIM ARRAKI (Eyewitness):
Yeah.
GIBSON: Could you--could you give me some sort of a description of it?
Mr. ARRAKI: I was sitting in my car here in Greenwich, you know.
I just saw the plane was coming
down from the left side and going straight to the building, you know, and
go inside.
GIBSON: It actually went inside the building?
Mr. ARRAKI: Excuse me?
GIBSON: It went in--it flew right into the building?
Mr. ARRAKI: I saw it come up
from the left, and I saw the plane coming through to the building, go
inside. A small plane.
GIBSON: You say small plane. Was it a jet?
Mr. ARRAKI: Excuse me?
GIBSON: Was it a jet plane?
Mr. ARRAKI: No, no. It was
plane, you know, like they teach the people to pilot plane--small plane,
you know. It was that kind of plane.
GIBSON: You mean like a small single or double-engine prop plane?
Mr. ARRAKI: Yeah.
Double-engine, yeah, yeah, yeah.
GIBSON: Right. And it actually went into the building there on the upper
floors?
Mr. ARRAKI: Yes, going into the
building, and I never saw that plane before. It's like something--I don't
know, it's like they work with the motors--I never saw a plane like that
before! Yeah!
GIBSON: All right.
Mr. ARRAKI: (Unintelligible).
GIBSON: Mr. Arraki, you are down in that area right now, then?
Mr. ARRAKI: Yeah, I'm in Greenwich here on Northmore Street.
GIBSON: Can you--can you tell if there's a large number of fire equipment
and--and emergency equipment on the scene?
Mr. ARRAKI: Excuse me?
GIBSON: Can you see fire equipment or emergency equipment on the scene?
Mr. ARRAKI: I don't know. The fire is upstairs on the building and the
second plane is--is--all the buildings now.
GIBSON: And did you see the second plane come in?
Mr. ARRAKI: Yeah. I--I
saw--yeah, I saw the second plane, it go boom. I--I heard, you know. I
just wake up my head like that I saw the side, too.
GIBSON: And that second plane much larger than the first?
Mr. ARRAKI: Same. Same, two
both. Both same.
GIBSON: They're both the same?
Mr. ARRAKI: Yeah.
GIBSON: Because the pictures we see, the second plane looks rather
large.
Mr. ARRAKI: No, is going
inside, too. Is going inside the building, too. And the second hole it's
smaller than the other one.
GIBSON: And it actually also penetrated the building? You could see it
go in?
Mr. ARRAKI: Yeah, inside.
Inside, inside. No planes outside, no planes.
GIBSON: Now, can you see if there are people fleeing the building? We
don't have shots yet from street level. Can you see if there are people
leaving the building?
Mr. ARRAKI: No, I can't see, because I told you, I'm on Northmore in
Greenwich. I just saw up the building, I don't see downstairs.
GIBSON: So you're in Greenwich Village?
Mr. ARRAKI: Yeah. I 'm on
Greenwich Street in Northmore.
GIBSON: Oh, I see, on Greenwich Street. OK, I can--no, that's--that's just
a local street. For people who don't know New York, that is right in the
vicinity right nearby, but not actually on the site of the--of the World
Trade Centers.
ABC's Peter Jennings is at the anchor desk uptown here in New York, and is
now in position.
Peter, I suspect you are looking at exactly the same pictures. Well, I
know you're looking at the same pictures we are.
PETER JENNINGS, co-anchor: We are, Charlie, we've been watching it from
the beginning. We--we'll be watching this for much of the day. There is
chaos in New York at the moment. There have been not one but two
incidents, as Charlie and Diane have so ably reported, so far, the
second one coming at 9:03 when television was on live and you could see
what was clearly a jet aircraft flying into the second trade tower.
Both trade towers, now, these 110-story high towers, have now been hit.
There is chaos here. Or there's chaos in the immediate area.
There is confusion in Washington because now everybody is engaged in this.
The Pentagon is involved in this, all the intelligence services are
engaged in this in the morning, and as we look at those towers, let's
just simply keep looking at these towers this morning. And if you have the
feed at home--I actually don't have it here, so if somebody could please
make sure that I have the photo--pictures of what's going on.
~
JENNINGS:
In Washington at the moment, the presumption that this is a terrorist
attack, according to ABC's John McWethy, although it's very difficult at
the moment for anybody to get a clear indication of what has actually
happened because it happened so quickly. The first attack coming just
before 9:00 Eastern time, the second attack,
which we could all watch,
those of us who are watching television, occurring at 9:03, just three
minutes.
The president is in Florida and he has already been told of what is
happening. These trade towers have always been--have always been, and
you may have heard it already this morning, regarded as a prime target for
this particular act of terrorism. As you know, there was terrorism at the
World Trade Center before; 1993, there was a huge bombing attack on the
trade centers. These are the two at the southwestern corner of the island
of Manhattan, just prime pieces of real estate of interest to anyone who
wishes to hit either New York City or the United States in a very, very
visible and vulnerable way.
We have with us at the moment Lindsay Grimm, a witness who was in the
building on the phone.
Lindsay, can you hear me?
Ms. LINDSAY GRIMM (Eyewitness): I can hear you.
JENNINGS: Can you tell me what you know?
Ms. GRIMM: Well, I actually, just to clear things up, I wasn't actually in
the building. I was in the World Financial Center, which is directly
behind it.
JENNINGS: OK.
Ms. GRIMM: And I was--I was--our part of the building faces the
section, the courtyard where the World Trade Center is. We ran to the
window right after we--we felt this, kind of this sonic boom, as if it
were an earthquake, and something just wasn't right. We ran to the window
and somebody yelled, 'Oh, my God, a plane just flew into the World Trade
Center.'
JENNINGS: Now, is this what we think of as the first one or the second
one?
Ms. GRIMM: I--it was the first one, because I was actually outside for
the second one.
JENNINGS: And the first one appears to have gone into the southern tower,
am I correct?
Ms. GRIMM: Correct.
JENNINGS: And the second one--did you see the second one?
Ms. GRIMM: I was--I had my back facing. I was running as fast as I--well,
not running, but walking at a brisk pace away from the two buildings when
I heard it, and people just started screaming and running.
~
JENNINGS: Anything else that you know that you'd like to add?
Ms. GRIMM: Just as I was coming out of the building, I heard somebody
sort of ushering people away and they were saying,
'You guys got to get out of here.
It's bombs.'
JENNINGS: Many thanks, Lindsay Grimm, who saw this occurring, at least the
first--hesitate to call it an attack--the first incident. We'll continue
to call it for now, and very much the second one now. That's what it looks
like, both of the towers in--twin trade towers are now on fire. We have no
idea whatsoever the measure of casualties inside or the measure of damage
inside, though you can only imagine it. The New York City Office of
Emergency Management said to us a short while ago they do not know what
happened yet.
Want to check in very quickly with the president of the United States.
John Cochran with the president in Florida. John:
JOHN COCHRAN reporting: Peter, as you know, the president's down in
Florida talking about education. He got out of his hotel suite this
morning, was about to leave, reporters saw the White House chief of staff,
Andy Card, whisper into his ear. The reporter said to the president, 'Do
you know what's going on in New York?' He said he did, and he said he will
have something about it later. His first event is about half an hour at an
elementary school in Sarasota, Florida.
JENNINGS: Thanks, John. John Cochran with the president. The
president's in Florida today pushing his education reform. It will get
wiped off of the agenda today in view of this extraordinarily serious
accident.
For those of you who don't know, the twin trade towers, and it's a popular
destination for tourists when they come to New York City. It has financial
offices in it, it has government offices, it has lots of access on the
top, above where this accident--actually where this incident actually
occurred--where tourists come. It's one of the great views in New York
City, and people gather there, certainly at the foot of the building,
fairly early in the morning to be able to go and see it. The two
collisions, the two incidents have occurred about two thirds of the way
up. John Miller, we haven't--(clears throat) excuse me--we haven't had an
aircraft fly into a building in New York, as far as I know, since just
after the second world war when a...
MILLER: The Empire State Building.
JENNINGS: ...plane flew into the Empire State Building.
MILLER: That's right. A B-52 flew into the Empire State Building then,
and this is--this is really the first time there's been anything like that
since.
JENNINGS: John, I was listening as you and Chris Isham, one of our
investigative unit, wandered up here to the rim just a short while ago,
saying, one of you, I think, 'This was something that was waiting to
happen.' Who were you talking about? What are you talking about?
MILLER: What we were talking about is, there's been a great frustration
since the bombing of the World Trade Center, which the suspects later told
federal authorities were intended to take the building down, that it
didn't have a larger effect. And US intelligence, FBI people, for years
have heard that they've always wanted to try and finish that job off, to
take the buildings out, and it was another viable target. Interestingly,
ironically, whatever you want to call it, the World Trade Center just
hired, two weeks ago, the head of the FBI's national security division for
counterterrorism in New York to augment and take over their security,
pretty much aware of the level of threat, that this is a symbolic target.
JENNINGS: One of the things that anybody mounting security in the World
Trade Center himself will not be able to necessarily appreciate is what
has happened at some distance. And there are a couple of reports,
speculative at the moment, drifting around, including one on the
Associated Press which says the FBI is investigating reports of a plane
hijacking just before the World Trade Center actually crashed.
And John McWethy, our national security correspondent, is with us in
Washington.
John, what do you know?
JOHN McWETHY reporting: Peter, we do hear that there was a hijacking.
It is not clear where that hijacking occurred at this point, but it is one
of the many things that US officials are scrambling to try to get a handle
on at this point.
JENNINGS: Anything else, John? What happens at the Pentagon at a moment
like this? I know everybody springs into action, but what do they do?
McWETHY: What happens is there is a particularly counterterrorism cell
within the Joint Chiefs of Staff that goes into an emergency basis at this
point. They're investigating all aspects of air traffic in the area, all
intelligence that, as they sift through it, may have given them some
indication that something was happening. At this point, though, there
were no warnings, they say. This morning, as they go back through this
information, they may cull through it and find some clue, but at this
point, they believe there was no warning.
JENNINGS: Thank you very much, John. Would you please call us back as soon
as you have something which would call into question immediately, of
course, the notion of counterterrorism in an incident like this. No,
nobody who saw--watching "Good Morning America" today, for example, saw,
at least those of us working on television, saw a first plane crash into
the building. Much of the country watching television this morning will
have seen the second plane crash into the other tower, and we have, as you
can see from a distance there, until we get our cameras on the ground
producing material which we can put on the air,
a pretty limited view.
(Footage of second plane crash)
~
JENNINGS: As we wait to get a better grasp of--of what now becomes a
rescue operation of people in the twin trade towers, we're reminded here
that the US officials, according to Pentagon sources, have no warnings
today of any kind of terrorist attack, and if you listen to the news
on a regular basis, you hear the Pentagon warning Americans worldwide of
some impending terrorist attack. Here we are in the height of commercial
America with--with no warning whatsoever, no intelligence whatsoever, as
far as we can tell, at least, in these first couple of hours.
~
JENNINGS:
President Bush is, by the way, going to speak very shortly to the nation
about this, and then he's going to return to Washington, and we have on
the phone our principal aviation analyst and expert, John Nance.
Good morning, John.
JOHN NANCE reporting:
Morning, Peter.
JENNINGS: What would you like to contribute to this, because one knows
that it is indeed possible to fly an aircraft into a building if one
intends to do so.
NANCE: If one intends to do so, that's correct. And, unfortunately, when
you've got something that has been as--as worrisome target as--as the
World Trade Center, regardless of the way we hardened it up on the ground,
they have apparently--whoever "they" is--picked the one vulnerable area.
The thing that is most disturbing to me is not only the fact, of course,
that there are people, more than likely, in that building that have been
directly affected by this, but that we may have an innocent load of
passengers. The flash of that second aircraft across the screen is
disturbingly close to what you would call the platform of an Airbus 319 or
an Airbus 320. Also of a 767 or something of that nature, and that's a
large airplane.
JENNINGS: John, let me go slowly with you because--and we'll actually
put it on the screen again, very slowly, so that we can come across the
screen. Are you able to identify specifically the type of aircraft by
looking at this videotape as it comes across? Can we roll that, please?
NANCE: I'm--I'm watching that right as it comes across the screen, and
it--it is more than likely not a Boeing 737. That--that profile, Peter, is
very close to an Airbus A320, A319.
JENNINGS: And who flies the Airbus 320, 318?
NANCE: We have quite a few airlines.
JENNINGS: OK. So...
NANCE: Very few private ones.
JENNINGS: Yeah. And--and with--and John comports a little bit here with at
least these initial reports that the FBI is investigating reports of a
hijacking just before the second crash occurred.
~
JENNINGS: Similarly, John, if you look at the two buildings, it does
appear, at least in the northern tower there, or the left tower as you see
it on the screen, below the incident, the building at least looks like on
the outside reasonably secure and people will have a long, horrendous,
terrifying walk down in a darkened building, but at least will be able to
get out on the ground.
By the way, Claire Shipman--ABC's Claire Shipman just called in. She's
been checking with the FBI. She also says that the FBI had no warning
whatsoever.
~
JENNINGS: Well, it would also suggest, as best you can tell looking at it
from this very sort of antiseptic environment that we are all in our
newsrooms, is that the reaction has been fairly quick. New York City
has an Office of Emergency Management. It's over here on the west side.
It's a great bunker from which the city...
MILLER: Ironically, it's located in the World Trade Center complex,
although not in the--in the twin towers, right next door.
JENNINGS: Just north--north of the trade towers...
MILLER: Right.
JENNINGS: ...in the World Trade Center, in the other northern trade center
there. And on an occasion like this--this is not one they--they absolutely
anticipated when they got going--they were talking, very concerned with
chemical and biological warfare. They've got extensive plans about that
which they very often demonstrate to the press.
Going to interrupt myself and everybody else just a second because
one of our senior producers, Mark
Obenhaus, is on the phone, and
he saw the incident.
Mark, can you hear me?
Mr. MARK OBENHAUS: I do indeed, Peter.
JENNINGS: Go ahead.
Mr. OBENHAUS: Well, I was leaving my house to go to work and I walked down
the street to go to the subway. I was at the corner of Franklin and
West Broadway, and as I was approaching the subway, a tremendous roar went
over my head and--and I looked up immediately, and it was a plane much
lower than I've ever seen a plane in lower Manhattan, and
it was a large plane. I
couldn't identify it as anything specific except that
it was a commercial jet
certainly. And it--it--my eyes followed it because this is approximately
15 blocks from the World Trade Center, and it--it just slammed right into
it and was completely engulfed by the--by the building. It was
extraordinary. No--no wings flew
off, nothing like that. It
just went directly in, creating this sort of cavern-like hole
and--and suddenly, then, big, big flames started protruding from it and
then, of course, smoke. And--and then debris started just catapulting
and, of course, the area that we're in, there's a great deal of foot
traffic and people are just approaching and beginning to just gasp at--at
just the sight of the building itself, even if they hadn't seen the actual
incident, the actual impact, just the sight of this huge building engulfed
in flame with this massive, cavernous hole in the side of it.
And we stood there--I can't tell you the amount of time, I would estimate
about 15 minutes, and--and, of course, there's all kinds of services
coming down, fire department and so forth, and then suddenly, from my
vantage point, which would be north of the building, the sec--the far
tower suddenly explodes in flames. Yet again, a similar kind of event and,
as you now see, I've run down the street to my home where I've had the
television on and I saw that that, too, was another airplane. It--from our
vantage point you couldn't tell what exactly it was that hit the--hit
the--hit the second tower, but it was a similar, seemingly almost bomb
blast and with flames and debris protruding wildly from--from the
building.
JENNINGS: Mark, let me ask you a couple of more specific questions. You
now, confirm for us, I think, that it was the first attack on the tower
that you saw.
Mr. OBENHAUS: Yes.
JENNINGS: What direction was the aircraft coming from?
Mr. OBENHAUS: It was coming from the north.
JENNINGS: It was coming from the north down over Manhattan itself?
Mr. OBENHAUS: Yes. Well, it would have been flying, roughly, over the west
side. I'm--I'm on, as I say, west Broadway, which is probably a quarter
mile from the river, so it was a direct path north--from the north into
the--into the north tower.
JENNINGS: Do you remember whether it had two engines, three engines, or
four engines?
Mr. OBENHAUS: I do not. It was very quick. It struck me, you know, the
profile--the body of the plane was of such scale that
I immediately identified it as a
commercial jet. I didn't--I couldn't--it happened so quickly I
couldn't tell whether it had windows on the side or what, but it could
very well have been some sort of a--a transport plane.
But it was a
large, large plane, as opposed to, occasionally down here you do
see smaller, prop planes or smaller aviation stuff that flies around here
sometimes, doing movies and things like that. But in all my years down
here, and I've lived down here for about 20 years within walking distance
easily of the building, I've never heard anything like this, and that's
what--that's why I--I just immediately glanced up, and I just followed the
track of this sound and this huge plane that was swooping over my head.
JENNINGS: Could you see any markings on it whatsoever?
Mr. OBENHAUS:
No. I did not. It was too--too quick. I--I--I can't give you any
kind of identifying help on--on what it was.
JENNINGS: Do you remember what color it was? Was it...
Mr. OBENHAUS: I--my impression was--was that it had a tan coloration to it
However, the sun, it was very low in the horizon, and I think kind of
orange, and it may have been simply the color of the sun reflecting off a
silver exterior. I--I really am not sure of that.
JENNINGS: OK, Mark. Anything else? What's the--what's the--the--what's the
mood and the environment down there at the moment, if it's not hard to
imagine.
Mr. OBENHAUS: Oh, I can't tell you. In everyone who--who glimpses it close
up. It's quite different seeing it from the ground than on the
television pictures I'm now looking at. But it's close to you and
you--you see what the impact must have been like and you see the kind of
devastation that has--has incurred by the--by the buildings. And it's
just--it's--it's--frightening is, perhaps even too mild a word.
~
JENNINGS: Many thanks. Mark Obenhaus, one of our senior producers on
the phone, who saw the incident, describes it as a large plane, not sure
what the color was, not sure the number of engines it had, which, in
his mind--he's a very experienced reporter--reflects the speed and
surprise with which this aircraft--this is the first one we're talking
about now, just before 9:00--approached the World Trade Towers from the
north, causing the first huge gap in the building. And Mark describes the
plane being engulfed in some respects by the building. Didn't see wings
fall off. Saw it go absolutely, totally, almost as he described it, into
the building itself.
And we now have had--one of the enormous difficulties about terrorism,
everybody knows, is that you--you almost immediately get a claim of
responsibility and you may get several. And people's suspicions get
ramped up given the obvious nature of people who they think or know are
involved in terrorism around the world.
There has been a claim of
responsibility, according to the Reuters News Agency, made to Abu
Dahbi Television in the Persian Gulf,
from something called the
Palestinian DFLP. The Palestinian DFLP is something called the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It has been for many,
many years one of the most militant of the Palestinian organizations.
Has been involved in violence before. Has been involved in--in--in other
actions before. And it is the first organization to claim responsibility
for this, though we have to caution you in all the obvious ways, before
the day is over, there may be any number of people who claim
responsibility.
The White House, of course, is--is--is--has leapt to the forefront of
people's concern this morning.
And there is a plane circling the White House at the moment. And they're
clearing the grounds there. We have--that's a report which may
be misleading in that it may presume an attack where as we just discovered
a moment ago that what we had was an additional airplane in New York
airspace was a security operation. I think probably most Americans know
that there is no building in the country which is--which is heavily
defended--I shouldn't say deemed secure--but...(network audio
difficulties)...but a battery of anti-aircraft missiles on the top of
the White House itself.
We've had incidents, as you know, in the past, several years ago where
a small aircraft landed in the White House--in the White House garden and
the pilot mentally deranged, as I recall at the time, was killed. But
the White House is certainly, certainly been very heavily defended. And
this plane circling the White House adds to the trauma that people are
feeling today but we have no idea precisely what that means.
~
CLAIRE SHIPMAN reporting: Well, that's what we're trying to figure out
right now. All we know is it's this gigantic plume of smoke coming from
behind the old Executive Office Building. And we're told that the White
House itself, the West Wing at the very least, is being evacuated. The
personnel from there are being asked to leave. We've sent people running
over there to try to find out what it is. But we don't know yet.
JENNINGS: Now the old Executive Office Building is to the--slightly to
the west and a fraction to the south. So we are looking southwest from
a camera just across Lafayette Park which is north of the White House. The
White House is to the left side, out of your picture. Maybe even the
cameraman could give us some appreciation.
But you have no idea. Was that an explosion? Did you hear anything?
SHIPMAN: We did--we did not hear it. In fact, we were trying to figure out
from the White House what security precautions they were taking around the
White House in the wake of the apparent attacks on the World Trade Center.
And we suddenly just saw this smoke rising from behind the old
Executive Office Building. We have people on their way there now but
it's like nothing I've ever seen. We've never seen that kind of smoke
coming from--from anything that would ordinarily occur here.
~
JENNINGS: Claire, let me interrupt you for a second. We now have that
fire confirmed at the Pentagon. I have John McWethy at the Pentagon.
If you can hear me, John, please get in touch immediately if you can and
brief us in--John McWethy has actually been evacuated from the Pentagon.
And parts of the Pentagon are, indeed, being evacuated.
Want to hold our breath here, it seems to me, for a second
and--and--and--and--and not get into a mode that the country is under
attack. But we now have two attacks on the twin trade towers center, US
buildings, city buildings completely evacuated in New York City. We have
this mysterious black smoke at the southwest corner of the White House
which is to say there's something going on behind the old Executive Office
Building. We now have a report that fire has been confirmed at the
Pentagon. ABC's John McWethy, our Pentagon correspondent who's been
plugging in as quickly to the intelligence and counterintelligence units
there this morning, has been temporarily evacuated. But that is as much as
we know for sure at the moment.
~
JENNINGS: OK. We do know--or at least the Associated Press is now
reporting that an aircraft crashed near the Pentagon. And the West Wing of
the White House, as Claire Shipman told us, was evacuated amid these
threats of terrorism.
~
BLAKEMORE: I'm down at 12th Street. It looks like we're more than a mile
north of this very surrealistic sight. Business has completely come to a
stop here. Looks like through lower Manhattan people standing in the
streets, cell phones aren't working. A few of these phone booths, such as
the one I'm talking to you from now, are working. One man just shaking
his head said to me a few moments ago, 'I was supposed to be at a meeting
in the building at 10:30 this morning. And then I saw the second plane hit
the tower and this flash of light.'
~
JENNINGS: OK, Bill, talk to as many people as you can. Call us back when
you can.
Let's return to Washington visually, at the moment. Just take a look at
that picture. That smoke behind the Executive Office Building, which is
right next to the White House, we now believe is from a fire in the
courtyard of the Pentagon, or at least where an aircraft appeared to have
crashed in the general vicinity of the Pentagon. Now the Pentagon is
southwest from the White House, across the Potomac River, and what we
think we may be seeing there--emphasis on think--is smoke in the distance,
rather than immediately behind the Pentagon.
~
The Pentagon is, indeed, exactly what it's described. Just on the other
side of the Potomac River from--from the Capitol, and there you see fires
burning in the courtyard of the--the Pentagon confirming what we had--what
we've been told almost immediately by eyewitnesses. We've also been
told it was a plane crash. So our--our belief for the moment is an
aircraft has crashed into either the courtyard itself or into that
particular side of the building. Parts of the Pentagon have been
confirmed--you can hear it. Just listen.
~
JENNINGS: As we look at the Pentagon, again we have to say that sometimes
the camera and the eye don't see precisely what is happening. We have
now had eyewitness reports from--our sources on Washington say they did
see a plane crash in the vicinity of the Pentagon. We're looking at it
from the western--from the Washington end which would be to the east of
the Pentagon, slightly to the north east of the Pentagon itself. And it
looks very much as if there is fire in the courtyard itself--in that
central courtyard. But you can see a small plume of smoke on the--on the
northern side of the building as well. At least, I think it's the no--yes,
it is. The northern side of the building as well, and we're not absolutely
certain.
~
JENNINGS: Let's go to the trade towers again because, John, we now have
a--what do we have? We don't...
MILLER: It looks like a new plume--a new large plume of smoke.
JENNINGS: Well, it may be that something fell off the building. It may be
that something has fall--yet we don't know, to be perfectly honest. But
that is what you're looking at, the current--that's the scene at this
moment at the World Trade Center.
~
DAHLER: Yes, Peter. Don Dahler. I'm four blocks north of the World Trade
Center. The second building that was hit by the plane has just completely
collapsed. The entire building has just collapsed,
as if a demolition team set
off--when you see the old demolitions of these old buildings. It
folded down on itself, and it's not there any more.
[Reprinted at:
s3.amazonaws.com;
emperors-clothes.com] |
"An
Opcentre is a command facility for strategic communications.
"Kelly
Guenther is a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist whose work has
appeared in The New York Times, Vows, Time, Newsweek, The Knot and New York
Magazine Weddings issue." -
