University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 12, 2001 Page: 1 of 6
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Wednesday, September 12, 2001
University Press
A Four-Time Associated Press Texas Managing Editors Award Winner
Vol. 78, No. 3
American tragedy
Twin Towers, Pentagon, targets of terrorist attack
Thousands dead in NYC alone
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 morn-
ing. A jetliner also slammed into the
Pentagon as the government itself
came under attack.
Thousands could be dead or
injured, a high-ranking New York
City police official said, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
A fourth jetliner, also apparently
hijacked, crashed in Pennsylvania.
President Bush ordered a full-
scale investigation to “hunt down the
folks who committed this act.”
Authorities had been trying to
evacuate those who work in the twin
towers when the glass-and-steel sky-
scrapers came down in a thunderous
roar within about 90 minutes after the
attacks, which took place minutes
apart around 9 a.m. But many people
were thought to have been trapped.
About 50,000 people work at the
Trade Center and tens of thousands
of others visit each day.
American Airlines said two of its
planes, both hijacked, crashed with a
total of 156 people aboard, but said it
could not confirm where they went
down. Two United airliners with a
total of 110 aboard also crashed —
one outside Pittsburgh, the other in a
location not immediately identified.
Altogether, the planes had 266 peo-
ple aboard.
“This is perhaps the most auda-
cious 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 opera-
tion 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.”
Within the hour, the Pentagon
took a direct, devastating hit from a
plane. The fiery crash collapsed one
side of the five-sided structure.
The White House, the Pentagon
and the Capitol were evacuated along
with other federal buildings in
Washington and New York.
The president put the military on
its highest level of alert. Authorities
in Washington immediately called
out troops, including an infantry regi-
ment, and the Navy sent aircraft car-
riers and guided missile destroyers to
New York and Washington. The U.S.
and Canadian borders were sealed,
security was tightened at naval instal-
lations and other strategic points, and
all commercial air traffic across the
country was halted until at least noon
on Wednesday.
“This is the second Pearl Harbor.
I don’t think that I overstate it,” said
Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. The Dec.
7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor killed nearly 2,400 people
and drew the United States into
World War II.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said:
“These attacks clearly constitute an
act of war.”
In June, a U.S. judge had set this
Wednesday as the sentencing date for
a bin Laden associate for his role in
the 1998 bombing of a U.S. embassy
in Tanzania that killed 213 people.
The sentencing had been set for the
federal courthouse near the World
Trade Center. No one from the U.S.
attorney’s office could be reached
Tuesday to comment on whether the
sentencing was still on.
Afghanistan’s hardline Taliban
rulers condemned the attacks and
rejected suggestions that bin Laden
See ATTACK, page 2
Military
tightens
security;
Naval ships
sent to
New York,
Washington
•NORFOLK, Va. (AP)
— The Navy dispatched air-
craft carriers and guided mis-
sile destroyers to New York
and Washington after
i Tuesday’s terrorist attacks as
the president put the military
on its highest level of alert.
“We have been attacked
like we haven’t since Pearl
Harbor,” Adm. Robert J.
Natter said at the Norfolk
Navy base.
Natter, commander of
the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, sent
the ships to assist with
defense and medical needs.
The ships include the
carriers USS John F.
Kennedy and Norfolk-based
USS George Washington,
which were headed to New
York, an Atlantic Fleet
spokesman said. Each has a
crew of 2,500 to 3,000 sailors,
and the JFK’s airwing has
about 1,500 sailors.
The USNS Comfort, a
'hospital ship in Baltimore
harbor, also was made avail-
able.
Also deployed were
amphibious ships, guided
missile cruisers and guided
missile destroyers that are
capable of responding to
threats from the air and sea.
The amphibious ships were
carrying Marines and sailors
to provide security, surgical
teams and limited hospital
bed capacity.
Meanwhile, President
Bush ordered the nation’s
military to “high-alert sta-
tus,” and vowed to “hunt
down and punish those
responsible” for the attacks,
which were expected to carry
a high death toll.
The president was in
Florida at the time of the
attacks and was flown to
Barksdale Air Force Base,
See MILITARY, page 2
1
Students gather in the Setzer Student Center Tuesday to
watch news of the attack on the World Trade Center. See inside for more stories and photos.
UPRobert Alvarado
Orange students
in New York,
Englishman,
professional
pilot discuss
reactions
Daniel Chand
UP news editor
In interviews with the University
Press staff Tuesday, people in New
York City, England and a professional
pilot for an international carrier com-
mented on what they were experienc-
ing in relation to the terrorist attacks
on the United States.
Bridie Coughlan, an 18-year-old
Orange freshman at Marymount
Manhattan College in New York, was
awakened by her roommate on
Tuesday morning to see an unusual
site: huge clouds of smoke outside her
dorm window. Her dorm is a 45-story
high rise on East 55th Street.
She was watching the disaster as
we interviewed her on the telephone.
“It’s very scary,” Coughlan said,
trying to find words to describe what
she was seeing right after the attacks on
the Trade Center but before the two
..110-story buildings collapsed. “People
are running around (at the school).”
Coughlan, who is in her first week
at school in New York, said that the
mood around her dorms was “crazy
and insane.”
“Everyone knows someone who
works at the World Trade Center,” she
said. “Even the bum on the street
knows a hot-dog vender.”
After the towers collapsed, in a
conversation with her mother in
Orange, Coughlan said that the mood
in the area changed from “crazy” to
eerie.
“It’s strange that it’s almost peace-
ful outside,” she said. “The streets are
filled with people, and it’s almost like
they’re marching silently. In the after-
math, the commotion is there but it is
so silent.”
Adam Conrad, another Orange
freshman at Marymount, said that he
See REACTIONS, page 3
Faculty Reactions
Various views of nation’s condition
Kasey Jordan
UP editor
“This is truly a sad day in the history of
this country,” Lamar president Jimmy
Simmons said Tuesday in response to ter-
rorist attacks on the United States. “Our
hearts go out to the victims and their fami-
lies, and our thoughts and prayers are with
them. It is important that members of the
Lamar family — students, faculty, staff,
alumni and friends — support and help each
other as we all deal with this tragedy and its
aftermath.
“We are in contact with state officials,
are continuing to monitor the situation, and
will take appropriate action to ensure the
safety of the campus community. We will fly
the flag at half staff in honor of those who
have lost their lives in these unprecedented
attacks.”
Simmons said that he feels the Lamar
administration is fully prepared for the pos-
sibility of a student demonstration on cam-
pus.
“At this point we are monitoring the
situation very carefully. We will take appro-
priate action -(if needed),” he said. “As a
matter of fact, I think we have set up some
counselors in the Setzer Center. So, if stu-
dents feel that they need some counseling,
they can sure go over to the Setzer Center.”
Simmons said that he does not foresee
any campus-related violent reactions to the
crashes that have devastated American feel-
ings of security.
“I can’t look into the future, but we’re
monitoring the situation. If something hap-
pens, we’ll sure take the appropriate action
to ensure the safety of Lamar.”
Tuesday morning, Terri Davis, assistant
professor of political science, said that she
feels the effects of the tragedy personally as
a teacher of American politics. She says that
she has taught about government for 20
years and she is awed that the American
government is shut down.
“The most frightening thing at this
moment is, ‘Where is our government?”’
she said. “How do we convene to even dis-
cuss this issue. We are used to seeing these
pictures coming out of other places (other
countries). I think that it allows us to really
feel the pain that other nations have felt in
terms of domestic warfare.”
Davis brought her class to Mirabeau’s
See CAMPUS, page 3
President Bush
‘TERRORISM WILL NOT STAND’
BARKSDALE AIR
FORCE BASE, La. (AP) —
As chaos unhinged New York
and Washington, President
Bush commanded the full
force of the United States gov-
ernment to “hunt down and to
find” the terrorists responsible.
“Terrorism against our
nation will not stand,” he
declared Tuesday.
In Florida for a pair of
education speeches, the presi-
dent scrapped his schedule and
said, at the first reports of
attacks on New York’s World
Trade Center, that he was has-
tening back to Washington.
But, with the White
House evacuated under threat
of attack and his wife hun-
kered down in an unidentified
secure location, the president
and Air Force One were
rerouted — under escort by
military fighter jets — to this
Louisiana air base.
In a conference room dot-
ted by portraits of decorated
Air Force officers, the com-
mander in chief announced
that the U.S. military was on
See BUSH, page 2
Colin Powell
‘A TERRIBLE. TERRIBLE TRAGEDY9
LIMA, Peru (AP) —
Secretary of State Colin Powell
cut short his first official visit to
South America to return home
to deal with devastating terror-
ist explosions in New York and
Washington on Tuesday.
Before leaving, Powell
urged foreign ministers from
the Organization of American
States to quickly pass a democ-
racy pact as a clear collective
message against terrorism.
The charter was adopted
unanimously, and Powell
immediately left for Lima’s
military airport to fly back to
Washington.
“A terrible, terrible
tragedy has befallen my
nation, but it has befallen all
those who believe in democra-
cy,” Powell told the OAS
assembly.
“I hope we can move the
order of business to the adop-
See POWELL, page 2
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Jordan, Kasey A. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 12, 2001, newspaper, September 12, 2001; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500890/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.