Official: White House, Air Force One were targets
Sep 12, 2001
WASHINGTON -- Amid the grim accounting of the dead and injured from the airborne onslaught that toppled the World Trade Center and blasted the Pentagon, authorities said today they believed the terrorists had had other targets -- the White House and Air Force One.
"We had specific credible information that both were intended terrorist targets, and that the plane that hit the Pentagon may have been headed for the White House," said Sean McCormack, spokesman for President Bush's National Security Council.
The revelation came on a day when investigators pursued leads to Canada, Massachusetts, Florida and beyond, spurred by the horrors that continued to unfold in the ashes of New York and suburban Washington.
The financial capital remained closed after the attacks. Federal officials partially lifted a ban on air travel, allowing flights that had been diverted on Tuesday to finish their journeys and empty planes to be moved around. All other flights remained grounded.
Four stories that remained of the World Trade Center's south tower collapsed today after rescuers worked through the night to rescue any victims trapped inside.
Police evacuated would-be rescuers from the area as thick smoke and dust burst from the deformed structure.
"This is a dangerous situation," said police spokesman Sgt. Andrew McInnis. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.
What remained of the north tower was a seven-story high pile of rubble, twisted steel and shattered glass. Authorities did not know if it would also fall.
This morning, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said there were 41 known deaths so far -- clearly, a tiny fraction of the dead -- and 1,700 known injuries. He said 259 uniformed officers, including police and firefighters, remained unaccounted for.
"The best estimate we can make is that there will be a few thousand (victims) left in each building," he said. The mayor said rescuers had been in contact with one person buried in the rubble. Three police officers and a woman had been taken alive from the wreckage, Giuliani said.
Progress was slow. Cranes and heavy machinery were used, but only gingerly, for fear of dislodging wreckage and harming any survivors. Searchers with picks and axes worked slowly, too -- sometimes when they opened pockets in the debris, fires flared.
President Bush declared the attacks "acts of war." He said he would ask Congress for money for recovery and to protect the nation.
The focus of the investigation was on Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden, who denied involvement, though he "thanked Almighty Allah and bowed before him when he heard this news" of the attacks, according to a Palestinian journalist.
But sources told The Associated Press that investigators were looking into the possibility that four different terrorist cells were involved.
"This could have been the result of several terrorist kingpins working together. We're investigating that possibility," one law enforcement official said.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said authorities who reviewed intelligence had "numerous credible leads."
FBI agents searched a room at the Westin Hotel in Boston's Back Bay; they said the room was vacant, but they found information linking it a name on the manifest of one of the hijacked flights. They would not identify the man.
Law enforcement officials were said to be looking at possible bin Laden supporters in Florida. They were aided by an intercept of communications between his Florida supporters, and harrowing cell phone calls from victims aboard the jetliners before they crashed.
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