Photo courtesy of Associated Press A jet, hijacked by
terrorists, crashes into the World Trade Center in New York
Tuesday.
By Michael Falcone and Linh
Tat
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Apparent terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade
Center Tuesday have left thousands dead and a nation stunned and
mourning after what may be the most atrocious mass killing in
recent U.S. history.
Damage from the morning’s attacks in New York and
Washington, D.C., was a devastating blow to some of the
nation’s icons:
“¢bull; The Pentagon burst into flames after a jumbo jet plane
crashed into it.
“¢bull; The 110-story World Trade Center Towers collapsed after
being hit by hijacked planes. Both aircrafts that slammed into the
Trade Center buildings were American Airlines flights. Both flights
were en route to Los Angeles International Airport.
“¢bull; A hijacked plane ““ United Airlines Flight 175
““ headed for San Francisco from New Jersey, also crashed just
south of Pittsburgh, Penn.
According to CNN and Associated Press reports at press time, 300
emergency personnel and 78 of the 400 firefighters deployed to the
World Trade Center are missing. Roughly 200 firefighters ““
including the New York fire chief ““ are presumed dead. There
were 266 people aboard the hijacked airliners. Thousands are
believed to be buried in the rubble of the Trade Center where
50,000 are believed to have worked.
At press time, U.S. officials had yet to officially name a
suspect, though some implicated Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden and
his group Al Quaida. The group has not claimed responsibility for
the attacks, and officials in Afghanistan, where bin Laden is
believed to live, denounced the attacks.
According to the Boston Herald, Massachusetts authorities had
identified at least five Arab men as suspects.
 Photo courtesy of Associated Press Pedestrians flee the
area around the World Trade Center as the center’s south tower
crashes following a terrorist attack on the New York landmark.
Political science professor Richard Baum speculated that escalation
of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East may be cause
for suspicion, but noted that no suspect has been confirmed.
“The FBI is warranted in accusing the bin Ladin group
““ the suicide bombings bear a strong family resemblance
““ but we must remember that we sort of rush to judgment about
Arab terrorism,” Baum said.
Bin Laden was to undergo a sentencing today at a federal
courthouse near the World Trade Center for his alleged involvement
in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa that killed more
than 200.
President George W. Bush delivered his first prime-time Oval
Office address in response to the attacks, Tuesday evening. The
president, who was in Florida at the time of the attack, was
ferried on Air Force One, first to Louisiana then to Nebraska
““ for his safety ““ before returning to Washington.
“˜”˜These (terrorist) acts shattered steel, but they
cannot dent the steel of American resolve,” he said.
Calling the attacks an act of “evil,” Bush reassured
Americans that federal buildings shut down Tuesday would reopen
today. Promising some retaliation against the perpetrators of the
attacks, Bush called upon Americans to “win the war against
terrorism.”
He ended his address, which lasted less than five minutes, by
asking America to pray for families of victims.
 Associated Press Firefighters battle a blaze at the
Pentagon Tuesday after the building took a direct, devasting hit
from an aircraft.
On Tuesday, blood donors lined the street outside hospitals and
thousands gathered for church services across the country.
Shaina Bressman, a student at Barnard College in Manhattan, said
Tuesday that aside from donating blood and offering prayers,
“there isn’t much people feel they can do.”
With Manhattan completely sealed off from the rest of New York,
the college’s commuters were housed on campus for the
night.
Seth Davis, an attorney in downtown New York, had just gotten
off the subway on Canal Street ““ one stop before the World
Trade Center ““ when the first plane hit the building at 8:45
a.m. Tuesday.
He and his co-workers also witnessed the aftermath of the second
attack from their office window:
“We were watching bodies, people jumping out of windows to
their deaths,” Davis said. “The bodies would just drop.
It wasn’t like you wondered why they were doing it; there was
no where else to go.”
Davis recalls people handing out water or helping others into
boats that transported civilians to New Jersey or the Brooklyn or
Queens side of New York.
“I saw people hugging each other that wouldn’t even
talk to each other on any other day,” he said.
Meanwhile, hospitals in New York were flooded with patients;
subway stations were shut down in the New York and Washington area;
and most phone lines were down.
Earlier in the day, federal buildings nationwide were evacuated,
the U.S.-Mexican border was sealed and the Federal Aviation
Administration’s mandate to shut down all air traffic
nationwide marked an unprecedented move. All flights to Washington
and New York airports that were already airborne when the first
crashes occurred were rerouted to Canadian airports.
 AP Photo People run from the collapse of World Trade
Center Tower Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 in New York. At 1:27 p.m.,
Washington, D.C., was declared to be in a state of emergency.
Guards with automatic weapons patrolled the White House and
military aircraft hovered above.
Later in the day, the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, was hit with
explosives. Soon after, U.S. officials quickly denied involvement
in the bombing, saying the violence was part of the country’s
ongoing civil war.
Tuesday evening, police arrested three men after discovering
what appeared to be explosives in their van as it was driving on
the New Jersey Turnpike. Though officials later denied the items
were bombs, they detained the men for questioning.
Many have likened Tuesday’s attacks to events 60 years ago
when 353 Japanese aircraft pelted the United States Navy with bombs
at Pearl Harbor, inciting Americans to enter into World War II.
“This is the second Pearl Harbor,” said Sen. Chuck
Hagel, R-Neb.
With reports from Rachel Makabi, Daily Bruin Reporter, and wire
services.