Rescue and Recovery

President George W. Bush will travel to New York today to survey the damage done by Tuesday’s attacks on the World Trade Center, calling on Americans across the country to pray for victims and their families in a day of “national prayer and rememberance.”

“I can’t tell you how sad I am, and America is, for the people of New York City,” President Bush said in a televised conference call with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and New York Governor George Pataki yesterday morning. “I weep and mourn with America.”

After a late-morning memorial service at Washingon’s National Cathedral, Bush will travel to New York, where rescue efforts are still underway to recover the thousands trapped inside the wreckage of the collapsed World Trade Center towers that were destroyed by two hijacked passenger jets Tuesday morning.

New York officials said yesterday that 4,763 people are unaccounted for, and many fear that no one else will be found alive in the rubble. Rescue workers continuing to sift through the debris from the 110-story twin towers yester day, but found no survivors.

Brief hopes of a miraculous rescue were dashed when reports that five New York City firefighters had been rescued from a trapped vehicle yesterday afternoon were discovered to be false. The five recovered men had actually been part of the day’s search efforts, and were rescued themselves after falling underneath a pile of debris.

In total, 94 bodies have been recovered, with the city of New York ordering 11,000 more body bags for the efforts.

In Washington, officials estimated that 190 people died in the Pentagon crash, including the 64 passengers and crew members aboard the crashed American Airlines Flight 77.

Despite moves toward normal operations, much of the country remained tense two days after the initial attacks. In Washington, D.C., the Capitol building was briefly evacuated after a bomb scare, sending members of Congress and thier aids scurrying down the Capitol steps. Near the same time, Vice President Dick Cheney was moved to Camp David in what administration officials called a “precautionary measure.”

And while air travel resumed in the U.S. at 11 a.m. yesterday following stricter safety guidelines, federal authorities ordered all three New York City-area airports shut down yesterday after detaining ten suspicious passengers.

The passengers were carrying tickets for flights dated Sept. 11—the date of Tuesday’s attacks—as well as multiple fake IDs, knives and flight certificates from Flight Safety International in Vero Beach, Fla., one of the schools where the suspected terrorists in Tuesday’s attacks were allegedly trained. The ten are being held tonight for questioning.

U.S. Goverment Response

The continuing fears around the country came as Congress worked to respond to the terrorist attacks, trying to provide $40 billion in emergency funding for law enforcement and rescue efforts underway. Congress also is working on a resolution to grant the use of force against other countries that may be involved with or harboring terrorists involved in the attacks.

While many politicians had spent recent weeks engaged in political squabbling over budget matters, the attacks on New York and Washington have united much of the country behind the recovery efforts.

“This is a national emergency,” said House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Ms.). “This is a national crisis, and we cannot worry about what the budgetary costs are. We have to get this done.”

A similar resolve shaped the Bush administration, which made several strong statements yesterday declaring that the United States would respond to what Bush declared “the first war of the 21st century.”

Speculation has continued to center around Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden and his possible involvment with Tuesday’s attacks. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday named bin Laden a prime suspect.

“We are looking at those terrorist organizations who have the kind of capacity that would be necessary to carry out the attack that we saw on the 11th [of September],” Powell said at a press briefing. “We haven’t yet publicly identified the organization we believe was responsible, but when you look at the list of candidates, one resides in that region.”

When pressed, Powell said the one candidate was bin Laden.

And while no definite plans for military action have been publicly outlined by the Bush administration, officials say they will wage “a campaign, not a single action” to destroy the terrorist groups responsible for Tuesday’s attacks, as well as to bring down the governments that harbor them.

Bin Laden currently resides in Afghanistan, leading to speculation that the U.S. may take action against the country in the near future. In a possible preparatory move, govermnment officials have asked Pakistani leaders to close their border with Afghanistan, provide any information on bin Laden and allow U.S. planes access to Pakistani air space in the event of a future military strike.

“It’s not just simply a matter of capturing people and holding them accountable, but removing the sanctuaries, removing the support systems, ending states who sponsor terrorism,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz.

During an interview with reporters in the Oval Office, a visibly shaken President Bush said the U.S. is resolute about coming together and “whipping terrorism, hunting it down, finding it and holding [those responsible for the attacks] accountable.”

“This is a terrible moment, but this country will not relent until we have saved ourselves and others from the terrible tragedy that came upon America,” Bush said. “Through the tears of sadness, I see an opportunity.”

--Staff writer Imtiyaz H. Delawala can be reached at delawala@fas.harvard.edu