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New
York-Sept. 11, 2001
The Day The Sky Fell
Editors note:
The following piece reflects notes on the work of many hundreds
of AP staff members. It was impossible to list every person
who contributed to the audio, video, print and photo coverage
of the events of Sept. 11 or of the behind-the-scenes support
staff who also gave up vacations, time off and worked long hours
over many days to help AP deliver the news.
Howie
Rumberg had just finished the overnight shift in Sports,
briefed the day editor and walked out the doors of The Associated
Press' midtown headquarters. He was heading home to lower
Manhattan, waiting for the "E" train and listening
to commuters grumble that a stalled subway car in Queens was
making them late to work.
It was a little after 8 a.m. on Sept. 11.
At that moment, American Airlines Flight 11 was climbing into
the clear, blue skies over Boston.
Rumberg got off the subway one stop before the World Trade
Center, he heard sirens– nothing unusual, he thought.
But then he came upon a small, frantic group of people.
Everyone was looking up. Rumberg saw a "gaping hole in
the World Trade Center building, the crisp blue sky sharply
defining every jagged, burning edge." He ran home and
called the general desk.
Thus began an unimaginable day of tumult and gore and heartache
-- the worst terrorist assault on American soil, the bloodiest
moment in New York City's 400 years, the biggest story in
a generation, a day unlike any other in the 153-year history
of The Associated Press.
Before an hour was up, the hijack attacks had spread to Washington,
and later to the rural fields of Pennsylvania. Altogether
AP would file 25 NewsAlerts, 18 bulletins and two flashes,
and the lead story would come to say:
NEW
YORK (AP) – Mounting an audacious attack against
the United States, terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners
into the World Trade Center and brought down the twin
110-story towers Tuesday morning. A jetliner also slammed
into the Pentagon as the seat of government itself came
under attack.
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Over the hours and days to come, virtually
all staffers in every AP outpost threw themselves into what
NYC reporter Larry McShane called
"the story of our lives." They gave up weekends
and vacations and sleep, some not going home for days. They
stepped through rubble and inhaled the dust and smoke of the
trade center's ruins; they worked on, even as some feared
for the safety of friends and loved ones, even as some were
forced from their homes by the calamity.
Mostly, they told the era's most important story to a world
that hung on every word.
AP copy was quoted by broadcasters in
every time zone, on every continent. Online news sites grabbed
the latest developments from AP digital services. AP's The
WIRE site had 10 times the normal amount of traffic –
near capacity. Within hours nearly 200 newspapers printed
extra editions– many headlined simply "ATTACKED!"
or "TERROR" – to report the extraordinary events
to eager readers. Largely filled with AP stories and photos,
those editions sold out quickly. Several papers printed rare,
second "extras" with more details and more photos.
"Your people in New York and DC did a hell of a job today,"
wrote Jack Ryan, publisher-editor of the Enterprise-Journal
in McComb, Miss. "I think I speak for all of the PMs
across the country in saying that."
Wrote Chris Peck, editor of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane,
Wash., and president of the Associated Press Managing Editors:
"Your good work, no, your extraordinary work over this
last week has been a service to every newspaper, and every
citizen of the nation."
It
started as an Election Day
NY bureau supervisor Kiley Armstrong arrived on Sept.
11 expecting a busy day; the polls had opened in primary elections
to choose a successor to Rudolph Giuliani as mayor of the nation's
largest city, and most of the staff would be coming in late,
to work election night. Armstrong, broadcast editor Rich Mendelson,
writer Tom McElroy and Ula Ilnytzky were talking
about developments in a teachers dispute.
Then someone in the photo department began shouting about a
picture on TV – smoke pouring
out of one of the towers of the World Trade Center. The phones
went wild. Writer Richard Pyle called to report that
the smoke was visible from Brooklyn and burned paper was landing
in his neighborhood. From Police Plaza, Donna De La Cruz
dictated the shocking news: A plane had hit the trade center.
One floor down, General Desk editor Tommy Zoccolo and
PMs supervisor Marty Steinberg were startled by the same
images. Executive Editor Jon Wolman and Managing Editor Mike
Silverman "came running out of their offices,’’
Steinberg recalled. Steinberg filed a NewsAlert reporting the
crash, while national editor Polly Anderson called the
city bureau to take the first bulletin.
Accident or terrorism, no one knew. The desk fleshed out the
story with details of the 1993 trade center bombing – terrorism,
to be sure – and details on the plane that hit the Empire
State Building – an accident – in the 1940s.
"Then we all saw a second plane hit the second tower and
any parallels to the Empire State Building accident were rendered
to a footnote," said Silverman.
In the bureau, Armstrong, aided by national news editor Ann
Levin – scrambled to deploy writers and photographers.
Chief of bureau Sam Boyle and news editor William
Sweeney, both on late shifts due to the elections, headed
to work at warp speed.
Howie Rumberg, stunned by what he had seen at the trade
center, called the General Desk and gasped an explanation of
who he was and why he was calling. Sent back to the scene, he
found chaos and death. "Smoke was heavy and debris –
metal, glass, reams and reams of paper – was everywhere.
People were jumping from the high floors, some on fire,"
he recalls.
Rumberg encountered Mayor Giuliani and his advisers, including
Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. "Minutes later there
was a loud explosion and a large black cloud of soot and debris
rained down," Rumberg says. A second hijacked plane, United
Airlines Flight 175, had hit the south tower. "Everyone
on the street – reporters, police, rescue workers and civilians
– ran from the complex."
A NewsAlert moved from Washington: At an appearance in Florida,
President Bush said the trade center crashes were an "apparent
terrorist attack on our country."
Twelve minutes later, another plane crashed into the Pentagon.
Bob
Burns was at his desk at the Pentagon
AP military writer Bob Burns was at the Pentagon, pursuing
information on the New York attacks. Burns was not hurt. Rushing
through the huge building toward the explosion, he couldn't
be reached by worried managers. "U ok? check in when u
can," his news editor, Laura Myers, paged him. "i
cannot get thru on fone. i ok," he paged back.
AP Radio reporter Dave Winslow happened to be nearby
and saw the crash. Based on his eyewitness report, AP provided
a shocking bulletin that an airplane had hit the nation's military
nerve center.
Developments unreeled at an incredible pace. Steinberg moved
the first of two flashes reporting the collapse of the twin
towers; as he did, he wondered about a friend who worked on
the 65th floor of the south tower (as it turned out, he escaped).
With all eyes focused on the unimaginable story developing in
Manhattan and Washington, a NewsAlert arrived from Philadelphia:
An airliner had crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania. On any
other day, this alone would have been the top story.
Newsfeatures editor Bruce DeSilva was standing in the
head car of a commuter train as it crossed the bridge to Manhattan
when the World Trade Center caught his eye. A cloud of smoke
was billowing from one of the towers, apparently the moment
the first plane hit. Arriving at Grand Central Station, DeSilva
ran the 10 blocks to 50 Rock. Special Correspondent Helen
O'Neill was assigned to collect color from the scene and
write the story of what came to be known as ground zero. At
first she didn't know if her boyfriend, who works near the towers,
was OK. He was.
National writer Jerry Schwartz was crafting the main story and
national editor Pete Brown took over editing, working with Deputy
Managing Editor Kristin Gazlay and supervisor Sheila Norman-Culp
to weave the incredible events into a cohesive roundup. The
PMs copy went to 29 leads.
In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Philadelphia dispatched Todd Spangler,
Judy Lin, Martha Raffaele and Dan Lewerenz to Shanksville to
cover the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, with supervisor
Stephanie Nano singlehandedly desking that separate story in
New York. At 1:46 p.m. EDT, three-and-a-half hours after the
crash, AP reported the news that a passenger told an emergency
dispatcher in a cell-phone call: "We are being hijacked,
we are being hijacked!" Authorities later said they believed
passengers, aware of the earlier attacks, rushed the hijackers
and crashed the plane before it hit a target that authorities
speculated may have been the White House or the Capitol.
Photographers
race to the World Trade Center
As the words flowed, first fitfully and then in torrents, so
did pictures. Photos got a call from the husband of international
editor Bernadette Tuazon – from the balcony of their
apartment, two blocks from the trade center, he had seen the
first plane hit. Tuazon volunteered to set up a remote photo
editing station in her apartment, and headed downtown. Supervisor
Patrick Sison and equipment manager Tim Donnelly
rushed across 50th Street from AP headquarters and went up to
the Rainbow Room on the 65th floor, where Sison captured the
burning towers. His images moved barely a half-hour after the
crash.
Senior photographer Marty Lederhandler, who this year
celebrated his 65th year of AP service, was dispatched to get
crowd reaction. He caught stunned onlookers in front of St.
Patrick's Cathedral, then headed for the Rainbow Room. His shot
of the burning WTC towers, with the Empire State Building in
the foreground, would provide the iconic cover for New York
magazine.
Meanwhile, newswoman Karen Matthews heard the first crash
from her apartment seven blocks away. "I left ahead of
the official evacuation, carrying a toothbrush, a change of
underwear and my child," she says. A week later she would
be allowed only one visit to pick up essentials from her dust-covered
home. She covered the story while her 3-year-old daughter, whose
day-care center was destroyed, stayed with friends.
International desk editor Robin McDowell, expecting a
baby in six days, was on her day off when she learned of the
explosion. She left her SoHo home to get quotes, then walked
most of the way to Rockefeller Center. She would gave birth
to a son, Ty, 15 days later.
Richard Drew was backstage at a Fashion Week show, getting
ready to photograph pregnant models showing maternity styles,
when he heard the news and ran for an express subway. He was
framing a shot of the burning floors, high in the building,
when a police officer drew his attention to an awful sight –
people plummeting from the center's heights. Drew's photos,
horrifying and heartbreaking, would be in newspapers and on
Web sites worldwide.
Gulnara Samoilova, a retoucher in the Photo Library who
lived six blocks away from the trade center, was awakened by
sirens. She grabbed her camera and rushed to the street. She
captured the collapse of the first tower, and then focused on
the survivors – stunning, black-and-white photos of ash-covered
men and women.
With both towers burning, Howie Rumberg was two blocks north
and making plans with a New York Times reporter when they heard
"a loud, belly-shaking" rumble. "One of the towers
was falling seemingly in slow motion.’’ There was
heavy smoke and mass confusion. ``Everyone ran north, a cataclysmic
black cloud chasing us down. I found a pay phone and called
in to Helen O'Neill.’’ While he was on the phone,
he was beseeched by a group of panic-stricken construction workers.
One shouted, 'I have to call my Mom!'"
Suzanne Plunkett was in Brooklyn, getting ready to shoot
the DKNY fashion show when she heard the news. She took the
subway to Fulton Street, where she got powerful images of panicked
people running as the towers came down. She then turned and
ran for her life, wrapping her sweater around her face so she
could breathe. "When the cloud came, I really thought I
was going to die," she said. "I hid in an alley and
left a message for my dad that I loved him."
Dad was thinking of her, too, and called into the office. Yes,
he was told, Suzanne was safe.
National photographer Amy Sancetta, in town after shooting
the U.S. Open, worked her way down to a spot a block and a half
east of the World Trade Center, where she shot people running
from the burning towers. She hid in the basement of a parking
garage to escape injury and emerged to photograph people covered
with dust and debris.
Newswoman Sara Kugler voted after her overnight shift
and came out of her polling place in time to see flames shooting
out of one of the towers. She took the subway downtown and started
collecting quotes and color. Then there was "a sucking
noise followed by what sounded like another explosion, and everyone
scattered.
"We were chased by the cloud of debris and covered with
ash as we tripped over each other to get inside an office building
on Vesey Street. A firefighter ushered us into a room off the
lobby, which began to fill with smoke and ash. People couldn't
breathe very well, so he sent us into the basement, where he
hooked up a fan to stir the air. At that point, we thought more
bombs were being dropped on Manhattan …
Bernie Tuazon, meanwhile, snaked her way around police
roadblocks to her apartment building, cleared tables and prepared
to set up a remote editing and transmitting station. She fled
down a stairwell when the first building collapsed, and was
in the laundry room when she heard the second tower fall. She
ran outside, took pictures, then climbed 18 flights and transmitted
one photo before firefighters evacuated the building. She headed
back to the AP and was to live in a hotel room for weeks to
come.
Security
warnings, calls to evacuate
Security warnings began sounding throughout Manhattan and AP
editors feared Rockefeller Center might be evacuated –
in fact, in announcements broadcast throughout the building,
center officials repeatedly called upon workers to leave. No
one moved a muscle.
AP's Communcations Department quickly
made plans for three backup filing centers: Washington, which
is the normal standby in the event of communications trouble
in New York; the Waldorf Astoria hotel, where AP organized a
filing room with 15 laptop computers and high-speed Internet
connections; and at the AP technical center in Cranbury, N.J.
The Waldorf space was secured by Kris Goodfellow, former
director of AP's Graphics Department who happened to be at the
hotel for a meeting. Trenton Chief of Bureau Sally Hale
set up shop at Cranbury.
Director of Network Operations John Kiernan, network
engineers Rich Penna and Lou Procida worked to
reroute several AP circuits which ran through the World Trade
Center. They also worked with AT&T to add bandwidth and
improve access to The WIRE.
AP reporters were covering emergency precautions as they unfolded
across the United States. President Bush was whisked away from
a Florida school appearance and put aboard Air Force One, and
the plane was diverted to an Air Force Base in Louisiana and
then to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Neb. The accompanying
press corps was left stranded in Louisiana – except for
a tight pool. AP's Sonya Ross and Doug Mills were
the only print reporter and photographer to accompany Bush to
Nebraska and back to Washington.
It was straight out of the Cold War handbook, where White House
wire service reporters were to be spirited away with top government
officials in event of a nuclear attack. Sonya wrote a first-person
account of the trip in which an F-16 fighter jet escorted the
presidential party to Washington.
The Pentagon was evacuated, and Bob Burns was outside
when word came that another plane might be headed for the Pentagon.
When the threat passed he doggedly went back to work until midnight.
The White House also was evacuated, but correspondent Ron
Fournier stayed long after the building was emptied. The
Secret Service kept telling him to leave but he was filing NewsAlerts
and Bulletins until finally he was told a plane might be heading
to the White House. "I would have had the story all to
myself," he said ruefully. "Filing would have been
difficult."
In
Washington, Sandy Johnson directs coverage
In the bureau, CoB Sandy Johnson
was directing coverage and assistant bureau chief John Solomon
was organizing the earliest material from federal investigators.
Retired news editor Don Rothberg turned on his TV, saw the devastation
and came into the bureau where he was put to work helping Cal
Woodward craft his Vulnerable America story for AMs. The
Capital was evacuated and congressional correspondent Dave
Espo headed downtown where he would handle urgent leads
and roundups until October.
State Photo Center editor Tom Horan, who lives a couple
of miles from the Pentagon, photographed the crash and dropped
his images at the Alexandria home of colleagues Paul Alers
and Carolyn Cornish. With the Potomac bridges closed
to motor vehicles, Horan made his way to the office on a bicycle.
Eugenio Hernandez, an APTN staffer, was on his way to
work when he spotted the Pentagon attack. Borrowing a DVC camera
from tourists, he caught immediate reaction and fire billowing
from the building. The video was quickly fed to London.
In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Philadelphia dispatched Todd
Spangler, Judy Lin, Martha Raffaele and Dan
Lewerenz to Shanksville to cover the crash of United Airlines
Flight 93. At 1:46 p.m. EDT, three-and-a-half hours after the
crash, AP broke the news that a passenger told an emergency
dispatcher in a cell-phone call: "We are being hijacked,
we are being hijacked!" Authorities later said they believed
passengers, aware of the earlier attacks, rushed the hijackers
and crashed the plane before it hit a target that authorities
speculated may have been the White House or the Capitol.
Back in New York, AP President and CEO Louis Boccardi
was at the General Desk, conferring with editors as the story
developed. Wolman and Silverman directed coverage, while Deputy
Managing Editor Tom Kent coordinated story assignments
and maintained contact with AP's broadcast and graphics operations.
Within
minutes, the graphics staff prepared maps
Word of the attacks brought the Graphics staff streaming into
the office. Within minutes, the staff prepared maps and other
basic graphics; within hours, Graphics provided a detailed illustration
showing just how the towers were brought down.
Later, the Graphics staff turned to state-of-the-art software
to produce a 3-D illustrated map showing the damage around the
World Trade Center and the rescue efforts that were underway.
Assisted by MapShop co-developer ESRI, Graphics generated a
unique view of downtown Manhattan that clearly showed the extent
of destruction. Staffers extended their work days and work weeks,
producing dozens of graphics using satellite images, electronic
data collected at the scene and information from on-scene graphic
artists and reporters.
Datelines
worldwide, including Kabul
International
desk editors were overwhelmed with copy from almost every dateline.
Islamabad bureau chief Kathy Gannon happened to be in
Kabul, Afghanistan, reporting the story of relief workers held
there. Gannon and Amir Shah, AP's staffer in Kabul, immediately
went to work filing stories about terrorist suspect Osama bin
Laden and the Taliban government.
Gannon headed for Pakistan four days later while Amir, an Afghan
citizen, remained in Kabul, filing news copy, photos and video.
International editor Sally Jacobsen moved reporters and
editors into position as the U.S. contemplated its response
to the attacks. "Internationally, from the day of the attack
onward, AP dominated newspaper play," said deputy international
editor for World Services Larry Heinzerling.
Johnson in Washington and Jacobsen in New York both found themselves
operating minus one key deputy. Nick Tatro, deputy international
editor, watched passengers at Newark airport board United Flight
93 – the plane that soon would crash in Pennsylvania –
and then got on the very next flight to San Francisco from an
adjoining gate. His flight was canceled after word of the attacks.
Terry Hunt, assistant bureau chief in Washington, had
been in meetings at 50 Rock the previous day and was waiting
for his shuttle back home when the airport was shut down. Because
bridges and tunnels into the city were closed, neither Tatro
or Hunt were able to make it to AP headquarters that day.
Some
staff work 30 hours or more
In
Photos, Executive Photo Editor Vin Alabiso, deputy Sally
Stapleton and senior national photo editor David Ake
began organizing the troops, sending some up to the New York
bureau to help edit and shoot. Photo editors and photographers
on their days off began arriving at headquarters, some to stay
for 30 hours or more.
At the General Desk, Gazlay and projects editor Paula
Froke put a nation of AP correspondents to work on story
angles, while John Affleck directed the efforts of the
National Reporting Team. One of the team members, David Crary,
crafted the AMs mainbar with Schwartz. Another, Bob
Tanner, was among the first reporters called into New York
bureau after the disaster. He quickly fashioned a national reaction
story. National Writer Arlene Levinson grabbed a notebook
and went onto the streets, collecting material from horrified
New Yorkers as they fled midtown Manhattan or read the news
zippers in disbelief. She then returned to the office and wrote
a story on the security lockdown across
America. Religion writer Rachel Zoll captured U.S. Muslims'
immediate worries about backlash violence, and Americans' search
for meaning and comfort at their local churches, synagogues
and mosques. Young readers reporter Martha Irvine wrote
a story about children's fear –and questions – following
the attacks.
In Boston, Jeff Donn rushed to Logan Airport where two
of the hijacked airliners had taken off. He expected to have
a problem – two weeks earlier his wallet had been stolen,
including his two press cards. Regardless, he was able to walk
past police and security workers at the airport's Hilton Hotel,
where families of people who had been on the planes were assembling.
When he started interviewing a priest who was serving as a grief
counselor, a security worker rushed up and told him to leave.
He kept asking questions – and the priest kept answering.
When the towers collapsed, National Writer Sharon Crenson
located architects and engineers to produce an explanatory piece
that described why the buildings crumbled straight down rather
than tipping to the side and causing that much more havoc. Kit
Frieden, assistant newsfeatures editor, found out exactly
what businesses were located in the trade center and who worked
for them. Rhonda Schafner of the News and Information
Research Center painstakingly dug out names of companies and
employees, e-mailing the material to Frieden piece by piece.
She sorted through the most promising and handed the names to
AP science writer Malcolm Ritter, who started looking
for phone numbers the old-fashioned way – in local phone
directories. The Internet was too jammed to do it by computer.
Dolores Barclay, arts editor,
and Dan Haney, medical editor located in Boston, pitched
in as the list grew, calling family members. They chronicled
human stories of that day – stories about people who barely
escaped the horror, stories of phone calls from the burning
towers.
As the names of victims began to surface from widely scattered
sources, AP established a searchable database of people declared
dead. AP systems and computer specialists Mike Mokrzycki,
Tim Bovee and Josh Romonek, among others, working
with Sarah Nordgren and John Kelly in Chicago,
constructed a system that could be easily updated and searched
for information by AP staffers and members.
Investigations
begin to take shape
At
the beginning, the News and Information Research Center produced
dozens of glances and backgrounders to put the unthinkable events
into perspective: lists of previous hijackings and previous
terrorist attacks, fast facts about the World Trade Towers.
Later, as the investigations progressed, NIRC ran background
checks on all suspected hijackers and others arrested in connection
with the attacks. In Phoenix, for example, AP traced one suspected
hijacker to a flight school in Scottsdale, Ariz., then found
the owner of the school who confirmed he had taken classes there.
As the story moved into a more investigative phase, AP set up
central points for its own investigative effort. John Solomon
took the lead in Washington, coordinating with John Dowling
for domestic points and Paul Haven for overseas datelines.
There would be urgent copy from places like San Diego, Detroit,
Miami, Chicago, New Jersey, London, Hamburg, Moscow, Islamabad
and more.
But that would come later. On Sept. 11, the focus was the devastation,
and the human story.
Karol Stonger, an ex-New York staffer, called in updates
all day from Bellevue Hospital. Betsy Taylor, visiting
from the St. Louis bureau, contributed to the coverage, as did
stringer Francine Parnes, in town for Fashion Week. Theresa
Agovino, from Business News, roamed the streets looking
for survivors' stories.
Michael Luo, AP's newest national writer, was dispatched
to police headquarters. He got there by taxi, bus, walking and
running – only to find that City Hall and Police Plaza
had been evacuated. The director of emergency management told
Luo the staging area was at the police academy, some 25 blocks
away. He walked all the way, in time to cover the mayor's first
press conference.
From there, he walked to the trade center and spent the rest
of the day talking to rescue workers, doctors and firemen. He
called a college roommate who worked at the World Trade Center,
and heard how he fled down 50 flights of stairs as the building
shook and burned. A twist to the story: The man's younger brother
dashed from the Lower East Side to the towers looking for him,
and – incredibly – ran into him as thousands of people
fled.
It was Luo's first AP byline.
In
New York, not everyone was able to make it to work
Not everyone was able to make it to work. With tunnels and
bridges into Manhattan closed, Dave Minthorn, who heads
up editing and production of the "Across the USA"
package of state news briefs published by USA Today, made
his way to the Newark bureau where he worked by telephone
with General Desk editor Bill Gillen to deliver the
package on time.
National writer Deborah Hastings set off from her home
in Brooklyn on foot. She walked eight miles. Crossing the
Brooklyn Bridge, she fought against a human tide fleeing the
city. Ahead, she could see the towers burning. As she walked,
she collected notes on what she heard and saw, and when she
arrived at 50 Rock she emptied a notebook full of color and
detail into APs early reports on the attack.
Howie Rumberg was there from the beginning, of course.
He would stay at the scene the rest of the day, reporting
developments and collecting color. He arrived back at the
office at midnight, covered in soot, for his overnight sports
shift. He was sent home at 2 a.m.
He would spend the next three days at ground zero helping
the city's Health Department move equipment, tending to search
dogs, assisting lines of workers as they removed debris bucket
by bucket and reporting the story, always reporting the story.
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Comments:
“You
guys have been super. Great photos, great stories, on time and
well written”
-Jim Witt, Vice President and Editor
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“AP photos:
Awesome and much appreciated”
-Steve Bell, Managing Editor
The Buffalo News
“I just
tried to call you to tell you how much we admire the work AP
has done on the terrorist stories. I'm very impressed.”
-Jim Wall, Publisher
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
“AP did
a great job. We had no problem filling an eight-page special
edition that was on the streets by 2 p.m.”
-Joe Worley, Executive Editor
Tulsa (OK) World
“You’ve done an amazing job,
particularly when you consider the difficulties you had to overcome
in covering this story.”
-Tonnie Katz, Editor
The Orange County (CA) Register
The twin towers of the World Trade Center
burn behind the Empire State Building in New York, Tuesday,
Sept.11, 2001 (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler) 
The south tower of the World Trade Center,
left, begins to collapse after a terrorist attack on the landmark
buildings in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Gulnara
Samiolova)
Floodlights illuminate the damaged section
of the Pentagon as workers continue to sift through the rubble
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001. Firefighters and military personnel
put up an American flag to the right of the damaged area. (AP
Photo/Steve Helber)
People run from the collapse of World Trade
Center Tower Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 in New York. (AP Photo/Suzanne
Plunkett)
Dust and debris cover the ground and
cloud the air near the site of the terrorist attack on the World
Trade Center in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. (AP Photo/Bernadette
Tuazon)
As rescue efforts continue in the rubble
of the World Trade Center, President Bush puts his arms around
firefighter Bob Beckwith while standing in front of the World
Trade Center debris during a tour of the devastation, Friday,
Sept. 14, 2001. Bush is standing on a burned fire truck. Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani said 4,763 people have been reported missing
in the devastation of the World Trade Center. (AP Photo/Doug
Mills)
Pedestrians make their way across the Queensboro
Bridge as they leave Manhattan after the collapse of the World
Trade Center, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001(AP Photo/Ron Frehm)
Firemen are deployed near the site of the
World Trade Center in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001. (AP
Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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