In the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, hijackers flew two airliners into the World Trade Center Tuesday, collapsing both towers into flaming rubble, and crashed another aircraft into the Pentagon, shutting down the government and financial markets and spreading fear throughout America.
The casualities were expected to climb into the thousands.
Hours later, a fourth airliner, bound from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, went down in western Pennsylvania. Authorities were not immediately certain whether this crash was caused by terrorists.
Since then, at least five Arab men have been identified as suspects by authorities in Massachusetts, according to unnamed sources cited by The Boston Herald.
Two of the men were linked to a rental car that was seized in the central parking garage of the Logan International Airport. The car was found to contain flight-training manuals written in Arabic, The Herald reported.
For the first time ever, the Federal Aviation Administration closed all airports across the nation and ordered U.S.-based airlines to cancel all domestic and international flights until at least noon Wednesday. European aircraft were diverted to airports in Canada. Amtrak suspended service along the Northeast corridor.
"This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that’s ever taken place in the world," said Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane’s Transport in London. "It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list ... I would name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden."
An associate of Bin Laden was scheduled to be sentenced today for the bombing of the American embassy in Tanzania. The hearing was to be held in the federal courthouse near the World Trade Center.
President George W. Bush, who was in Florida at the time of the attacks for a speech on education, was ferried first to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and then flown to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, "Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts, he said.
"Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended."
The Army deployed troops in Washington, D.C., including an infantry regiment. The Situation Room at the White House went into full operation. Authorities went on alert from coast to coast, the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico were sealed, and security was tightened at strategic installations.
The nation huddled in shock and mourning. Events across the country were canceled. Major League baseball postponed its daily schedule of 15 games for the first time since D-Day in 1944.
"This is the second Pearl Harbor," Sen. Charles Hagel, R-Neb., told reporters in Washington. "I don’t think I overstate it."
The terror began shortly before 8 am when American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 carrying 81 passengers and crew, was hijacked shortly after leaving Boston for Los Angeles. It flew south to New York, swept to the bottom of Manhattan Island, and flew squarely into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
The Herald reported that a stewardess on the flight was able to make a cell phone call and reported the seat number of one of the hijackers.
About 18 minutes later, another plane slammed into the second, southern tower, tearing a hole through the building about halfway up and sending a fireball and debris spewing outward. This plane has been identified as United Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles with 56 passengers, two pilots, and seven flight attendants.
"I heard a plane fly overhead," said Park Foreman, 37, an Internet security consultant. "Then I looked out the window and saw the first tower on fire. I saw another airplane approaching from the south. I put my camera on it and followed it straight into the building. It looked like it went right through.
"A huge fireball erupted from all four sides. Three seconds later, I felt the shock wave. My heart just went into my stomach.
"I saw the second tower fall. I saw it collapse. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. You could see people jumping out of the tower on fire. That moment changed my life."
Shortly afterward, the Pentagon took a direct hit. The nation’s military nerve center exploded into flames and part of one of its five sides collapsed. Secondary explosions sent smoke billowing across the Potomac River and into Washington. Glenn Flood, a Pentagon spokesman, said there were "extensive casualties and an unknown number of fatalities."
The Pentagon, the White House, and the Capitol were evacuated, as were other federal buildings in Washington and New York. The president was in Florida at the time. Vice President Dick Cheney was in Washington, and he and First Lady Laura Bush were taken to a secret, secure location.
In Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 carrying 45 people from Newark International Airport to San Francisco, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. No survivors have been reported.
Federal aviation officials are reporting that the transponders, the equipment that sends the plane’s airline, flight number, speed, and altitude to air traffic controller’s radar screens, had been turned off on all four planes that crashed Tuesday.
Controllers watching their radar screens at Washington Dulles International Airport spotted an unidentified aircraft flying at unusually high speed directly toward the White House early Tuesday morning, and warned authorities minutes before the Boeing 757 turned tightly and circled around to slam into the Pentagon, according to federal aviation sources.
The controllers couldn’t identify the plane because the transponder had been turned off. The plane was later identified as American Flight 77.
The skill with which the plane was flown, including the knowledge of how to turn off the transponder, raised the probability that a trained pilot was at the controls, possibly a hijacker.
Sources were not specific about the times of the events but said that after leaving Dulles, the plane continued west for a while. At some point, apparently after turning off the transponder, the plane turned back toward Washington with no radio contact.
The plane would have appeared on radar screens as an unidentified blip, called a "primary target"—something commonly seen by controllers when an aircraft doesn’t have a transponder or is a military aircraft flying with its transponder turned off. But the airspace around Dulles, Washington Reagan National Airport and much of Washington is designated "class B" airspace, meaning no one is supposed to fly there without a working transponder and permission from a controller.
The sources said Dulles controllers noticed a fast-moving primary target in their airspace east-southeast of the airport, where it shouldn’t be, headed directly toward the restricted airspace around the White House.
But as they watched, the plane began turning to the right away from the White House, circling a full 270 degrees to the right and approaching the Pentagon from the southwest. It then dropped below radar level, disappearing from the controllers’ screens, shortly before hitting the Pentagon about 9:30 am, less than an hour after two other aircraft hit the World Trade Center towers in New York City.
Afghanistan’s hard-line Islamic Taliban rulers condemned the attacks and rejected suggestions that bin Laden was behind them. Bin Laden has been given asylum in Afghanistan.
In Europe, American allies expressed remorse for the loss of life and solidarity in the fight against terrorism. On the West Bank, Palestinians were reported to have cheered and passed out candy.
All across America, officials evacuated public buildings, anticipating more attacks.
The United Nations in New York and Sears Tower in Chicago were closed. Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. were also evacuated.
