Radio Canada International 9/11 coverage

[Music] Hal [Music] I'm Mary L Finley and I'm Rick mckenas Ray thank you for joining us with our ongoing live coverage of the suicide bombings in the United States today we are getting word at this point that there are explosions in Kabul there are fires burning pictures of being carried live it's not clear why but there are indications which came out of Washington just a little earlier this afternoon from us officials speaking on background on condition of anonymity that there were what they call unspecified indications the organization of AMA Bin Laden may have had something to do with today's suicide attacks and he of course has had considerable assistance from the Taliban in Afghanistan again this is an official on background but the fact of the matter is there are fires burning in cabul right now as we speak Rockets soaring overhead but it's unclear who's doing the shooting or why perhaps suggesting that some uh in the administration have decided who is behind the terror attacks today uh we are trying to get through to our correspondent in Washington at the moment um but we also have Frank caller on the line now uh still driving towards New York City Frank can we hear you better this time yeah I hope so Mar good afternoon again I'm standing actually on the grounds of a schoolyard in Elizabeth New Jersey looking down at the towers of Manhattan the flags actually in this schoolyard have been put at half staff uh as we talked about about half an hour ago there's a huge new and expanding cloud of smoke emanating from the site across a river from me in Manhattan it changed quite dramatically about 20 past the last hour from a dark gray to a much lighter color and that's at the point I think we faded out when I was driving that local radio indicated it then you indicated as well that another of the relatively smaller Towers had collapsed and was burning and that's the scene that I'm looking at now from across the river in New Jersey we were told earlier that Bridges and tunnels uh out of Manhattan were closed uh is are there people leaving now or what is this traffic scene the traffic scene is absolutely horrendous although I've just passed the Cordon in downtown Elizabeth uh where no cars can go further only cars can leave and I'm trying to walk at this point to get to the Waterfront so I can see a little more clearly and uh the streets here in Elizabeth New Jersey are now a Jersey City brother my apologies are very very quiet now what are the conversations of the people that you uh do here the conversations people are I'm sorry there's a bus going by my apologies the conversations that I've overheard are just people talking about uh uh how amazed they are it's such they have this part of New Jersey has uh bird's eye view and people are standing at the schoolyard just looking over with binocular some people are taking pictures it really it's the kind of thing you just can't ever imagine happening and people are talking about that one man walking along behind me talking to another young woman asking about somebody's mother uh who apparently was not in Manhattan today and it's obviously just transfix this community uh the city uh that used to be identified on a television show as as the city of 8 million Souls uh you think of the numbers of people around the United States and around the world indeed who know people uh or who are related to people working and living in New York they must all still be trying to ensure we they must be hoping that their loved ones are safe I I'm sure stopped on the interstate uh when I was driving up here with the taxi cab and uh there was a woman who pulled in just ahead of me heading for New York and as I mentioned earlier the interstate was absolutely empty coming into New York City uh gassing up and buying a coffee I chatted with her for a moment she had just flown down to Washington for the day her husband was actually in the First World Trade Center he was on the 60th floor I think she said not quite sure but anyway he is was able to get out very quickly and she has been in contact with him but she was understandably and trying to make way back to the city all right Frank we're going to go to Washington um as we said a few moments ago there uh are pictures of explosions in Cabell uh we're going to see if uh we can learn anything more about that we'll talk to you later thank you okay Mar Laura Lynch is our correspondent in Washington uh Laura can you hear me yes I can are you hearing seeing what we're hearing and seeing uh in kble yes I am I'm seeing the explosions and hearing about them and wondering where they're coming from because they certainly do seem to be coincident with the return of President Bush to Washington and his expected address to the nation within a few hours um perhaps I'm going to hold I'm going to hold you up there for just a second we have Jonathan Harley in Afghanistan could you spare with us just a moment Jonathan can you hear me and tell us what's going on there okay I'm standing at the edge of town in the Hotel InterContinental as I look across the Afghan Capital Cal we've been seeing explosions in the last 10 or 15 minutes or so across the Horizon they seem to be targeted artillery of sorts which appear to be coming from a very high flying plane uh they may even be targeting the airport it's not clear at this stage um exactly um where they're aiming out um or indeed where they're coming from but extremely dramatic and concerning scenes here in the Afghan capital and signs that this this this incredible incident is escalating in a extremely serious way I mean are you able to tell how many uh missiles there were do they appear to be uh what people expect cruise missiles perhaps uh look I think we're talking in in the vicinity of about a dozen is this a common event to see any missile fire in in in Afghanistan there is still much of a war going on there after all there there is a civil war still going on but the hasn't been shelling of carel for the last uh for the last couple of years so uh it would would be an incredible coincidence if it was related to the Civil walk Jonathan are the local media doing or saying anything reporting any of this well the was broken in the last couple of minutes so and the local media of course um is uh State controlled it's 2:30 in the morning here there's curfew which is imposed at 11:00 every night so uh we we can't expect anything from the local media if if this were any kind of retaliation for what happened today in the United States uh where would the likely targets be in Carell uh well in cell that's a good question obviously the airport would be one obvious one but uh the problem with that is that the airport's also used for humanitarian operations while the United Nations and the international Committee of the Red Cross um other targets Beyond Carell would would be the suspected bases of the South lad in jalad perhaps to um the east of here and down in canart is Southern tban stronghold where Bin Laden is is in hiding Jonathan the tban have said already today that they know nothing of what happened in America they don't have any hand in it can we take that as face value uh well I I don't think it'll be I think it'll come as cold comfort to many people who are putting the accus singer of the Taliban and ass mid L mid L is wanted by Washington for alleg terrorist activities the bombing of the American embassies in a in Africa 3 years ago now in which 220 people Di and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and in uh in New York um where seven people die he is Washington's um Public Enemy Number One and the Taliban has had him as a guest for the last 3 years or so in exchange for his support in their fighting the Civil War so I think that um the pans remarks earlier this evening local time won't be taken on face9 thank you Jonathan Jonathan Harley is a journalist in Afghanistan tonight and from Afghanistan let's go back to Washington Mar yes well we're joined by CBC correspondents Laura Lynch and Jennifer westaway uh does either of you have anything to report uh any any Jen on what's happening in Afghanistan oh Mary Lewis Laura Lynch here it's if you look at the timing of all of this President Bush had a teleconference call with members of his his top National Security advisors um he was in Nebraska at that point um that may have been within the last couple of hours or so and now you see these bombs falling in Afghanistan is it retaliation for a suspected attack by Osama Bin Laden well we will probably find that out uh sometime in the next few hours President Bush is expected to address the nation within about approximately 3 hours there are reports that other members of his cabinet uh Attorney General John Ashcraft perhaps others will also give brief statements to the nation perhaps within the hour as well and then we will start to find out whether this was indeed retaliation for the attacks in New York and here in Washington I I suppose that it's hard to get any information from your usual sources since most of the government has been sequestered in some Vault or other since the attacks this morning we have as as know we haven't seen very much of anyone in government we've seen President Bush appear before the cameras briefly Twice first this morning in Sarasota and then later in the day at an Air Force Base in Louisiana he hasn't been seen since then uh vice president Cheney is in a secure area of the of the white house uh other members of cabinet are in Secure areas around the city but they are all come apparently President Bush is returning to Washington and we'll be here later this evening to talk to Americans we've heard a fair bit about American warships being moved around being moved closer to American shes but does anybody know if the Americans have any warships perhaps cruise missile equipped to standing off close enough to get Afghanistan I I am not aware of any of that now you know that within the last few months there have been efforts to keep uh American ships in the Gulf uh well out from from land after previous attacks on ships in the Gulf right where they are positioned at this moment I can't say you know I should remind listeners who may have just joined us London is quite a center for Arab dissidents and Arab newspapers and one of the more credible ones there is aluts which says that some weeks ago it was alerted uh as it often is but alerted to a what to call a huge and unprecedented attack uh but nothing specific according to abdal Bari atwan who is the editor there has there been anything made of this report at all in Washington Rick I haven't seen anything talked about on that on that particular point there there's been an awful lot of speculation going on in the last few hours as you know about the operations of assama Bin Laden and how extensive his network is along with the denials from Afghanistan that he could have had any involvement in this we the thing we having we're having to wait for at this point is the official word from someone in government on exactly what they believe has happened Jennifer uh we had heard some uh officials or former officials earlier in the day in the United States saying calling this an act of War um what is is the feeling there at the moment well I've spent the day on the streets of Washington DC and at the moment the streets of Washington DC are very empty ones the people themselves who were wandering around earlier in the day just trying to get out of downtown um weren't talking War they were talking terrorism they weren't thinking that this was something that was going to be an allout military operation on the part of their government they were just looking for ways to be safe now I suspect as the hours go by and we find out what's really been going on in cabul we might end up with something that sounds a little bit more like America at War but people were very stunned today they really didn't know how to process what had happened this the sheer magnitude of the number of people who have died in New York that people just couldn't get their heads around it we had some tape from earlier in the day of of people trying to process the information it's crazy I've never seen a city like this before it was devastating it really was people was stressed out here the cars Every Which away people moving so quickly and whatnot was terrible when I came out the building to day they that's from earlier in the day Marylou when when people were trying to get through TR traffic jams and they had been evacuated out of federal buildings and once they were evacuated they then weren't allowed to go back in and get their cars so the traffic jams went on for some hours before they could get the people and all the traffic up out and into the suburbs and have what is now a very empty downtown core all right Laura Lynch and Jennifer westaway thank you very much we'll be talking to you later I'm I'm sure in Washington and Rick Anthony Germain I think is in Ottawa and standing by now yes I hope so hello Anthony are you there yes can you bring us up to speed on on the Canadian side of events happening in the US and around the world today well amidst a tense atmosphere given the astonishing events in New York and Washington uh there there really was what amounted to an evacuation of Parliament Hill at first uh there was an evacuation of the East block which uh is a building which contains mostly Senate offices but there was uh there was a police operation to uh to investigate a van that was parked on the outside it turned out to be nothing serious but uh in this sort of climate of uh of anxiety caused by the terrorism in the United States uh taking no precautions uh most parliamentary staff were were told just to go home so by by midaf afternoon really Ottawa the nation's capital was quite empty in the downtown area uh the Prime Minister Jean K was meeting with Saskatchewan Premier Lauren Calbert at 24 Sussex Drive this morning when one of his AIDS knocked on the door had something important to say and informed him of what happened now at first the Prime Minister put out a written statement condemning what had happened as an act of cowardice and but as as the day unfolded he was really forced to to meet with reporters outside the lobby of the House of Commons the RCMP commission us what happened this morning for the security I have been in touch with the the ministers and with the head of the agencies to make sure that uh everything was to remain secure and we said to everybody to remain calm I hope that uh Canadians uh will uh show more solidity solidarity with our neighbors and uh the new used to come uh when we discover the number of people who died will be probably very tragic so was prime minister John cr r you're mentioning the rcmp's commissioner Juliano Zach yes indeed if anybody had any questions well this was live radio they now know for sure the RCMP commissioner was at the microphone what security issues does he say we we have or do not face or do face tonight well Rick I think given the fact that very few cabinet ministers in fact uh none to my knowledge spoke today about was going on I'm talking about the the min whose departments would be directly involved uh there was a bit of pressure I suspect on the RCMP to talk about uh security operations now as with National Defense uh Zack forelli was not specific but he did he did allude to the fact that there has been an increase in security operations uh across the country we have instituted a number of measures to protect the citizens of this country certain institutions certain buildings and certain people that are potentially at higher risk that's what we have done and Rick that would include the American Embassy here in Ottawa which is which is known certainly in the capital as being a fortress already with its own contingent of Marines uh providing Security on the inside but also with extra RCMP cruisers on the outside 24 Sussex Drive where where the US Embassy is located as is the prime minister's residence and uh similar security precautions being taken at us installations think in celor offices for instance across the country you know I remember the RCMP commissioner saying the Americans have asked us asked us for certain things did he and I know he's not going to tell us exactly what he meant but I want you to tell us what you think he meant well there' be a number of one of the reasons that they would be very reluctant as our people in National Defense to talk about specific uh actions in terms of the increase of security is because we would be talking about uh for example the residence of the ambassador of the of the United States we'd be talking about uh key employees for the various American businesses that might be uh anywhere between Montreal and Bay Street we don't exactly know those locations but important Americans who happen to be here on business would be would be people be under consideration uh even uh I I would I would dare say the RCMP are probably involved at the film festival in Toronto where where movie stars United States are at when something of this magnitude happens the RCMP basically meets with cus and the National Defense some place in Ottawa and tries to pinpoint okay what's going on in Canada and if something's going to happen where is it likely to happen and from there uh who knows what they would decide to beef up Anthony it's Mary Lou uh I just wanted to know whether the prime minister has said whether he's spoken to President Bush today well it's interesting you ask that Mary L because it became pretty obvious by by the American coverage that at one point during the day President Bush was uh basically circling in the air in Air Force One and it was reported then that he was confirming with world leaders it's pretty clear that Jean K to the best of our knowledge at this hour uh had not spoken to President Bush when he met with reporters today the Prime Minister said he had spoken with American authorities uh and he also expressed a desire at that time to eventually speak with President Bush uh and I think Mr ketan said he'd like to try to do that sometime tonight all right well maybe we'll be speaking to you later tonight as the Prime Minister expected to speak again uh nothing has been scheduled his office says that there'll be nothing there's no cabinet meeting no act for special cabinet meeting today or tomorrow and there will probably be a statement uh from David colinet the transport Minister uh colet's Department under a lot of strain um they're the ones who are dealing with with relocating American flight that were all R rooted to Canada so we can expect a statement from the transport Minister but not the Prime Minister all right Anthony Germaine in Ottawa thank you very much I'll talk to you later okay as we have mentioned in the past half hour there have been explosions missiles over Cabo Afghanistan we know a little more than that we don't know who's doing the firing or why but that said I will tell you that US President George Bush is to make a televised address to the American people shortly he'll speak about 2 and 1/2 hours from now at 9:00 Eastern time now earlier in the day he was taken by plane to a military base in Nebraska as the US went on high alert today's attacks are the worst in history on the US Mainland they been compared with the attack on Pearl Harbor the day began with two suicide planes striking the World Trade Center in New York both buildings later collapsed at a time when thousands of people were in them at work hundreds have been wounded that we know of but New York's mayor Rudolph Giuliani fears a horrendous loss of life now the attacks shut down all Airline traffic across the United States and Canada many international flights that were headed for the US have been diverted to airports here and there have been numerous reports of passengers on board the hijacked airliners calling for help on their cell phones one of those who phoned out was Barbara Olen the wife of the US solicitor general Ted Olen she was on a jet that crashed into the Pentagon CNN's Tim O'Brien picked up that story our understanding is that Barbera Olman was on the plane uh a frequent commentator on CNN and the wife of solicitor general Ted Olen uh she called her husband twice uh during the hijacking to tell him the plane had been hijack and they lost contact once and she called back after the first call olon called the command center at the justice department to inform them of this hijacking and they said they knew nothing about it but would track it down Olsen uh Barbara Olen told Ted The Following story that um all the passengers were hted to the back of the plane including the flight Personnel including the pilot and uh the only weapons she mentioned were knives and cardboard Cutters you would think if there were machine gun or any other kind of gun that she would have mentioned that but the only only weapons she mentioned were knives and cardboard Cutters uh I asked K if she made any reference to rality of the hijackers or any suspicions about the motive and uh he said she she made no reference to that at all they didn't have a whole lot of time to talk she said to to CH what do I tell the pilot to do somewhat typical of Barbara a take charge kind of person uh but uh there was nothing they could do and they're all trapped in the back of the plane and in a tragic twist of fate Barbara Olen was supposed to leave Washington yesterday but she decided to stay until this morning so she could have breakfast with her husband and celebrate his birthday in Washington tonight the fires are still burning and at the Pentagon Mike Walter saw the crash this morning and describes what happened I was heading in uh Northbound on 27 and the traffic this morning it was you know a typical Rush Hour was had ground to a standstill and and uh I looked off I was you know looked out my window I saw this plane jet American Airlines jet coming and I thought this doesn't add up it's really low and uh and I saw it it just went I mean it was like a a cruise missile with wings went right there and slammed right into the Pentagon huge explosion uh a great ball of fire and smoke started blowing out and then it was just chaos on the on the highway as people either tried to move around the traffic and and go down uh either forward or backwards we had a lady who was in front of me who was backing up and screaming everybody go back go back they've hit the Pentagon and uh I got to tell you I was uh I I got out and walked over and and I saw parts of the plane the debris was actually on the on the overpass there and I watched this this military personnel just came running out with uh stretchers and tarps and and set up a triage unit and I just couldn't help but feel for these guys you know those are their friends and comrades in there and yet they they immediately jumped into action it was unbelievable to watch and the toughest thing for me right now is I've got a 14-year-old daughter and a lot of her friends have parents who work in the Pentagon and and I just talked to her on the phone and those kids are going through Agony tonight they don't know if they're okay a witness to the crash of the Pentagon Mike Walder now prime minister CR was among the first world leaders to react to the attacks he says it's impossible to fully comprehend the evil that would lead to such a cowardly assault on innocent people he's offered any assistance Canada can provide to our American friends in Israel prime minister Ariel shaon says his country will hold a national day of mourning tomorrow to show solidarity with the American people meanwhile a senior Palestinian [Music] offici this is Radio Canada International Canada's voice to the world broadcasting to the United States coming up on 6175 959 9755 13670 and 17695 khz as it happens from our national public broadcaster CBC Radio [Music] I [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] h [Music] l [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello I'm M Ken Ray I'm Mary L Finley welcome back to our special coverage of the World Trade Center uh bombing or attack by Suicide airplanes that were hijacked this morning in New York City um we're going to have a brief recap now of the sounds and events of today before we go there I just want to um say that CNN is reporting that the United States Administration has now said that the explosions in Cabell are not part of any US military response to today's events now here are some of the sounds from today's events that have happened there's smoke billowing out of the uh World Trade Cent I just saw a second plane Comm from people just kept jumping and jumping and jumping and you could still see they were alive to they were pling around it's a huge plume of smoke which continues to rise from the west side of the Pentagon I hope I live she's coming down on me here it comes Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended we're joined Now by Simon Reed author of the new Jackal Ramsey YF Osama Bin Laden and the future of terrorism Mr Reeve we just heard President George W bush speaking about a faceless coward is it possible to put a face on the person or persons responsible for what happened today well sure I mean I think eventually they're all individuals um it's just very difficult at the moment to know who the who the people behind them are um I mean obviously Bin Laden is being uh mentioned as as the likeliest um suspect and he's certainly at the top of a very short list of um people likely to be able to pull this sort of attack together well people always say who else would have the resources I mean is that the case I think it is essentially I mean it's it would need you would need to have a large terrorist organization or a state um such as Iraq only they would be capable of uh marshalling the necessary resources making the preparations for this type of atrocity but what is there to indicate that it is not a state well I think we're still finding we're still learning what on Earth is going on I mean there there's nothing immediately to suggest it couldn't be Ira um it may be it's possible but I personally think it's more likely to have been Bin Laden all right talk for a moment about Ramsey ysph he was the person held responsible for the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993 indeed he was he he's been uh he's in jail now in in Colorado he's described as perhaps the most secure prisoner in the American penal system he was The Mastermind behind the 1993 bombing um his aim in that was to topple one of the Twin Towers into the other he failed largely because he didn't have enough explosives and because the bomb was placed by the wrong wrong support columns but the uh the attempt was there I mean the as I say an attempt was made to topple one of the towers it failed then but it looks as though an attack today has succeeded uh with tragic results obviously and his organization he was connected to B RF was one of essentially was one of the first soldiers that Bin Laden sent against the West um he wasn't directly linked with Bin Laden but Bin Laden provided backing um and may have suggested it to to Yousef um and uh obviously it has huge symbolic value uh the Twin Towers dominating America symbol of American power and influence um and perhaps the situation was that they they failed in 1993 so they've had another go today did bin Laden take responsibility or claim responsibility of the 93 bombing no he's denied it um but then he has denied several of the attacks that he's been quite closely linked with um he uh is held by the Americans by American intelligence agencies and by um Pakistani intelligence they accuse him of being involved in the World Trade Center Bing the Taliban officials today said that it would have been impossible for bin Laden to have uh organized this attack are they to be is their word to be taken I don't think so I mean they would say that really wouldn't they I mean they don't want America to launch any more attacks against the more imposed more um sanctions and so on um I mean certainly the Taliban are supposed to have got uh been Ling under locker and key almost and and preventing him from having regular communication with his supporters but that's not believ to stop him from resorting to the Stone Age and actually talking to people just receiving emissaries discussing things with them and then sending them off um it's possible that uh this attack has been launched by people who support assama Bin Laden rather than people who are actually followers of his rather than rather than his actual sort of terrorist troops as you might say um many ways Bin Laden has become something of a cult figure as much as a terrorist leader and people are do seem to be uh committing terrorist atrocities uh being inspired by him rather than being actually commanded to go on the attack but again with considerable resources and considerable resources but in in truth it these type of Acts we may find that this doesn't take that much that that many resources it just takes preparation an element of planning and the willingness uh for an individual to give their life in the pursuit of this um of this type of uh goal all right Mr reev thank you very much for talking to us tonight good evening good evening byebye Simon ree is the author of the new jackals a recently released book about Ramsey YF and Osama Bin Laden and the future of terrorism Rick I want to continue for just a moment trying to look inside the nature and shape of terrorist groups operating around the world and to that end we're joined Now by Edward peek from his home in Bethesda now Mr peek is a former U ambassador to Iraq he's also a former member of the president's task force on combating terrorism under Ronald Reagan worked directly with President George Bush Senior while he was in office and this morning coincidentally when the attack occurred he was meeting with heads of seven Middle East groups now coincidence or not the subject was terrorism Mr P welcome thank you sir did anything about that meeting this morning anticipate what happened today well the meeting wasn't really about terrorism these are groups that are dedicated to the prospects of trying to find peace and work out various issues there were also some humanitarian groups we were just sitting talking about we get together from time to time to talk about what could should be done to help solve some of the problems and the the attack took place while we were meeting and the meeting immediately broke up as we all rushed off to take care of our various activities but the terrorism was not the issue what we were talking about at the time let me ask you um if you could address a question of of of why now why why why today why why now well we've been looking for some of the significance in the date and I I haven't found one but then I'm not a historian so I don't know what the purpose is but this has clearly been growing for a long time one of the really one of the really painful things in the midst of all of this horror is to try to figure out you know what is it that causes people to hate us this much and nobody really wants to talk about that we didn't want to talk about it before uh the events transpired and we certainly want to talk about them less now but if you don't address that that very painful subject then you're never going to find your way out of the box in my view and to some is it possible the US is perceived itself as a terrorist organization well well many people see us that way you know without wishing to put too fine a point on it one man's terrorist is another man's Freedom Fighter because whether or not something is right or wrong depends entirely upon whom you ask so that Ramsey yusf when he made his statement to the court I heard his name mentioned by Mr re just a few moments ago Ramsey yousef's statement to the court at the time of his conviction made it clear that in his mind you know the the biggest terrorists around were the government of the the government of the United States now that doesn't mean he's right but perceptions don't have to be correct you know perceptions are perceptions that's what they're all about and they're an awful lot of people out there who perceive the United States as being a threat to their safety security future whatever I don't happen to agree with them that has to be clear but as long as they feel that way there's going to be a problem and so in the same sense that we in America you and Canada and other parts of the world try to figure out what causes Urban unrest or you know the collapse of companies or gangs or the use of drugs and we look at the at the causes of these things you probably ought to spend a little bit of time trying to focus on why is it that they perceive us so far away uh as as a serious threat to their security future and wellbeing well earlier Mr reev also suggested that that could be Iraq behind this could be someone else but let me ask you as a former American ambassador to Iraq what what would be in it for Iraq to be involved in this at all now well just for one thing it would it could easily be Revenge because from their point of view the United States and this is a view which is painfully shared by a lot of other people the United States has caused enormous suffering and you know horrifying numbers of deaths amongst the Iraqi people with our single-minded pursuit of getting rid of Saddam and the mechanism we have chosen to use is the Embargo which merely to use an americanism sticks it to the Iraqi people not to Saddam Hussein and by our own statutes by our own us laws that's terrorism as defined so his idea I mean I'm not saying that he isn't the nice thing about Saddam Hussein he's very convenient for the Americans we can blame him for everything you know male pattern baldness uh the outbreak of West Nile fever whatever um because there he is as the man we love to hate and that doesn't make him a nice guy or a bad guy either one but so Mr reev says it could be Saddam Hussein well yeah could be the Japanese Red Army well based on your inner knowledge of of the workings of uh of uh the various groups in the Middle East how many of them who among them could Mount this kind of operation or even not complicated sir that's a tough one you know the person who had the handle an answer to that question would have been able perhaps to have you know have prevented it because you know this is uh this is an incredibly complicated sophisticated shatteringly effective blow against us I mean who's going to want to board an airplane tomorrow uh the city of Washington on the edges of which I live you know it's shut down they've closed the schools the universities the offices and everybody's R that's a un a ghastly ghastly but incredibly effective attack against the United States well I think of it too is that your government knows where the training camps are hell I know where they are you don't need to pick up half a dozen available books in the public market and you'll all know where they are and yet it's still got through it still happened well you know we don't know whether those training camps had anything to do with it or not it's you know and the other problem is of course that that based upon our our own law you catch us rush out there you remember not too long ago we bombed that weapons Factory in the Sudan which turned out in the Pentagon admitted was a was a Pharmaceutical Plant yes okay I mean you know the oops so that the idea is you got to have it you know you're supposed to have good solid incontrovertible evidence that this is this and that is that training camps run around do all sorts of things but I'm interested in hearing uh on your show that the United States has said that we have nothing to do with what's happening in Cobble which is interesting to know it is indeed and we made to heard that a little bit more now sir I'm going have to stop you there because in the US senator John Warner with the armed services committee is on his feet in America's history and yet I think it can be its finest hour is our president and those with him most notably our secretary defense defense our chairman and the men and women of the arms forces all over this world stand ready not only to defend this nation and our allies against further attack but to take such actions as are directed in the future in retaliation for this terrorist act a series of terrorist acts unprecedented in world history we call upon the entire world to step up and help because terrorism is a common eny to all and we're in this together the United States has borne the brunt but who can be next step forward and let us hold accountable and punish those that have perpetrated this attack again I commend the secretary the chairman and how proud We Are we spoke with our president here moments ago he's got a firm grip on this situation and the secretary and the general have a firm grip on our armed forces and in communication with the world over thank you very much we'll take a few questions and uh then we'll adjourn chman Mr secretary did you have any ankling at all in any way that something of this nature and something of the scope might be planned uh Charlie we we don't discuss intelligence matters I see and how and how how would you respond if you find out who did this the uh obviously the president of the United States has spoken on that subject and those are issues that he will address in good time we are getting reports from CNN and others there boms exploding in cabal Afghanistan are we at the moment striking back and if so is a target Osama Bin Laden and his organization defense secretary Donald Rell the in no way is the United States government connected to those explosions what about Osama bin L suspect him as a crime suspect um it's it's it's not the time for discussions like Mr secretary you said you could not be specific about casualties can you give us some characterization of whether it's dozens hundreds in in the building well we know there were large number many dozens in the aircraft that flew at full power uh steering directly into the between I think the first and second floor of the uh uh opposite the helipad you've seen it h there there cannot be any survivors it just would be Beyond Comprehension the um there are a number of people that they've not identified by name but identified as being uh dead and uh there are a number of casualties but uh we the FBI has secured the site and the um information takes time to come people have been uh lifted out and taken around ambulances and uh the the numbers will be calculated and it will not be a few could you tell us what you saw Mr secretary do you consider what happened today both in New York and here an act of [Music] War there is no question but that the attack against the United States of America today was a a a a vicious well-coordinated um massive attack against the United States of America um what words the lawyers will use to characterize it uh is for them is this does that mean that the US is at more that Mr secary you said that the panagon would be open for business tomorrow what kind of assurances can you give uh the people who work here at the building that the building will be safe a terrorist can attack at any time at any place using any te technique it is physically impossible to defend at every time in every place against every technique it is not possible to give guarantees the people who work in this building uh do so voluntarily they're brave people and they do their jobs well Mr secretary can you give a sense of what happened what what did you see when you left your office ran down to the site and appar helped people un stretchers return to the command center that was US Secretary of State Donald uh Secretary of Defense rather Donald Rumsfeld uh briefing reporters at the Pentagon we have in our studio now Barbara McDougall former foreign affairs minister in Ottawa when I think it was external Affairs um just first of all your reactions did you ever imagine that you would see a day like this no I don't think anyone did and like everyone else I've spent the day sort of holding my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop you know you keep wondering what else is out there and um it's very easy to lose confidence in uh in all of the systems that we have in the Western World to look after ourselves and I I think that's reflected in people in the street I I was uh in downtown Toronto today and uh uh the financial district of course was closed and there were police everywhere in our financial district but this was a very targeted um uh attack and uh uh I think that if there is if there is something further and I'm the Americans clearly aren't ruling this out and we shouldn't either um but I think this is very much targeted towards the us from your knowledge of uh government and cabinet and whatnot what is the Canadian cabinet doing tonight and what should it be trying to meet and not having much luck uh because the ministers are none of them are in town uh the Prime Minister will be uh no doubt if not meeting with certainly in touch with all of the uh uh all of his senior people including cus in the military and the Department of Defense and so on and uh to be told what measures uh Canadian all of our institutions are taking including the RCMP and even probably what some private companies are doing bus companies and so on because that could well be a Target is there any reason to believe that uh there would be Canadian targets as well or are they worried about American Targets in Ottawa and Toronto they would worry about American targets probably in Ottawa and Toronto but it's up to the government any government um one of its first and most important responsibilities is to physically protect its population and uh so every government um uh tonight I think will be looking at their own systems and so on and other countries are much more used to this than we are we've never had a war fought on our soil we've had very few uh uh attacks of of any kind as compared with the IRA in Britain and um uh and with the with in France for example there have been terrorist attacks and in Germany for various reasons in the United States um our only experience was the flq from Athenians I mean yeah yes um and so you'd have to go back back an awfully long way uh to find anything on our soil um I think that's an extra reason why Canadians are in Shock this is not believable for Canadians and I don't think it's yet hit and uh what has actually happened also there will be a lot of people in Canada who have dealings with the 150 companies that are in these buildings and uh they will have personal acquaintances and so on and our relationship with the US is so close that that I think people do feel almost as though they're a part of the of the attack what is your uh feeling about the speculation today as to who's responsible for this attack and and tell me what you think the response might be I think the Americans will respond vigorously once they know who it is um or once they have a good idea of who it is um I don't think they're going to wait for a lot of nuances um terrorism unfortunately does not respond to uh turning the other cheek um retaliation is is almost the only route that you have and even though retaliation may lead to more retaliation and you're up the atti every time you re retaliate uh if you don't do something then uh it will um embolden um whoever these groups are I think the speculation is probably fairly close um because because of the sophistication because of the time it takes to plan something like this uh because of these suicide bombings and there are only certain there are only certain organizations in the world which uh perform this kind of uh suicidal attack um so I you know I think they will have a pretty short list of where these people come from and because it's the World Trade Center again well yes probably that will enter into it but uh it's such an obvious Target I think for for anyone I you know that uh who would do this and is it a copycat yes but it still has to be someone who um your previous guest was talking about who hates us that much uh and that shortens the list somewhat too Governor Mario Cuomo today earlier was speaking about the need not to um not to become uncivilized in response uh not to forget who we are and to you know to keep our Democratic in tions but he also said we are changed forever today yes I think I think the whole Western World Has Changed forever today and particularly the United States I and and uh and uh I don't think we should have an uncivilized response or that the Americans should have an uncivilized response but does that mean you don't retaliate I don't think necessarily I think what we have to be sure uh that we all do in Canada as well as in the US is not label entire groups uh entire ethnic groups entire religions entire populations um this is the work of Fanatics I'm one of those who is not afraid to say that it is an act of War um and uh I think that the uh uh um uh it's funny there were there were two Muslim women waiting for bu tonight as I was driving downtown and uh I almost stopped and offered them a ride I mean I they must feel right must feel very frightened and very vulnerable and uh ordinary people should not should not be attacked in any way either verbally or any other way it'll be a long time before we feel safe again perhaps even here even here and you know we've had this wide open border for so long and I think it's a long time it's going to be a long time before we have this undefended border again because uh both the Mexican border and the Canadian border uh bleed into the US and I think we're going to get much tougher we've been trying so hard to keep ours open on the Mexicans to be make theirs Freer uh that's not going to happen for a while I guess thank you very much for uh coming by this evening bar mcdo this is Special live coverage of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City today I'm Mary L Finley and I'm Rick mckinness Ray thank you for joining us please stand by we'll be back in just a second I explosions have rocked the capital of Afghanistan but the US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says they are not an American strike and retaliation for the terrorist attacks on the United States good evening I'm Rick mckinness Ray with Mary L finy thank you for joining us for ongoing live coverage of events in the World Trade Center in New York today and the Pentagon in Washington in two hours time President George W bush will give a detailed televised address his spokesman says you'll give a message of resolve and reassurance bush has vowed to find the people behind the attacks the president is quoted to saying they will suffer the consequences of taking on the US we will do what it takes well while the world wonders who could have caused this kind of Devastation a counterterrorism specialist at McGill University Rex Bryan is speculating that the finger is pointing towards B Laden there's a a fairly lengthy list of people who might like to do this I think the speculation that it might be bin Leiden is probably the best guess at this point as to who's responsible it certainly Bears many of the Hallmarks of of his kind of operation the simultaneous targeting of of two places Washington New York um is similar in some ways to the targeting of two US embassies in Africa uh so as Bin Laden has shown a lot of a lot of cleverness a lot of ability to protect information and security within his organization so I think he's the leading Contender but he's not necessarily the only Contender nor is it impossible that it's a new network one we haven't previously heard of uh and in a sense was under the radar screen from an intelligence point of view however no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks nor has the US stated just who the suspects might be there have been numerous reports today of passengers on board the hijacked airliners calling for help on the cell phones one of those who called out was Barbara Olen the wife of the US sourcer general Ted Olsen she was on a jet that crashed into the Pentagon CNN's Tim O'Brien picks up the story our understanding is that Barbara olon was on the plane uh a frequent commentator on CNN and the wife of solicitor general Ted Olen uh she called her husband twice uh during the hijacking the terrible plane had been hijack and they lost contact once and she called back after the first call olon called the command center at the justice department to inform her the this hijacking and they said they knew nothing about it but we'll track it down we're going to break now for for a few moments but please join us again in 3 minutes after local news [Music] [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] l [Music] this is Radio Canada International Canada's voice to the world broadcasting to the United States on 6175 959 9755 13670 and 17695 khz coming up part two of as it happens from CBC Radio [Music] [Music] I [Music] hello I'm Rick mckinness Ray with Mary L Finley and you're listening to continuing live coverage of the suicide bombings in the United States today Mary Lou you have a guest on the line from the US yes former Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger under the Ronald Reagan administration uh Mr Weinberger thank you very much for joining us tonight thank you you're in Washington or New York yeah I'm in Washington uh where were you when you uh discovered what had happened today well I was uh uh over I just went over to my for's office and uh prior to that time I had been in the doctor's office and uh uh the report started coming in there on on the television and your reaction well my reaction is it's it's obviously the same as everybody else it's a horrible tragedy and and it's it's an act of war against the country and it's one that has caused enormous casualties and and one that needs to be uh uh Avenged and and uh reacted to ver very quickly just as soon as we can find out who who did it who's who's guilty uh then we should punish them with every Lethal Weapon we have at our disposal secretary Weinberger as far as we've been able to determine today there there was no warning or or not enough of a warning certainly with regard to uh any possible tget that's my understanding that assist is right out of right out of the blue like uh like B haror and uh uh of course the difference is there that we we knew who was the guilty parties we could actually see that but here we don't know yet but we have to make every effort to find that out just as quickly as we can and and when we do to act on it at once and not be uh tied down by any squeamish notion of whether we're overreacting or any nonsense of that kind well tell me what kind of reaction you think is appropriate well I think killing the people who did it as quickly as you possibly can and and and do you have any idea about who those people might be no I I do not uh we we're have to we have all kinds of theories and rumors and everything floating around I I do not have knowledge I don't have access to the intelligence information that I used to many years ago when I was secretary but uh uh there are one thing that's going to narrow the search down is that this was a uh unprecedentedly wide and uh strong cons y to be able to put all this together to have all of these planes hijacked at just about the same time by and and flowing by uh kamakazi pilots pilots who were perfectly willing to go on a suicide mission the way the the bombers were of the Breen barracks in Lebanon what two years ago and all of that was was had to be organized by some large and strong group and for that reason I think it may be somewhat easier was said earlier today that $20 billion in defense spending isn't enough but how is it possible to defend against acts like this well you have to do things that we have not been willing to do in the past in many cases and that is to to develop and and deploy first of all missile defenses which we need very strongly for attacks of this kind because they can come from other places than just the just uh suicide planes and the other thing you need to do is to develop an intelligence capability uh that enables us to penetrate these organizations uh to find out what they're planning to do and to know about it ahead of time and you do that through carefully train people it takes years to train them unfortunately and we have uh deprived ourselves of this capability because a few years ago uh there was a big outcry that this was a very dirty business and you couldn't have Spies of the democracy and and a lot of nonsense like that if democracies want to stay democracies they have to have eyes and ears and in this kind of a world that's the only way you get them is it your understanding that the United States would not have secret operatives working or close to not have what I'm sorry not have would not have operatives inside terrorist or unfortunately it is it is possible we would not it's very hard to do and we have uh deliberately followed the policy uh until recently uh not recently fortunately but in the past of not having uh human intelligence spies inside these organizations it's very hard to recruit them it's very hard to train them and we have not been willing to uh uh to devote resources to this kind of thing we have a lot of money going to intelligence capabilities and that's overhead intelligence gathering the satellites and and things of that kind and and uh we could look down and see what a number of people are doing but you can't look underground uh and things like this this can be hidden and we need to have people who can penetrate these organizations and frankly we don't have nearly enough of it right now well which is more important than better intelligence or a missile defense plan because surely this is clear evidence that you don't need to build a nuclear warhead to to cause havoc and terrible destruction that is true you don't but on the other hand people have nuclear warheads which can cause even worse destruction I think you have to plan and try to defend against both I don't think it's enough to say you don't need missile defense because somebody can kill you by some other means I think you have to realize that missiles can do an enormous amount of damage from quite many thousands of miles away and they can do it very quickly and that you for a country such as the United States that has no defense whatever against these missiles it's a standing invitation to Mad Men like the people who perpetrated these activities today so you need both you need to have a considerably increased uh surveillance and and uh uh attempts to get warnings and and information about these events of this kind so if they don't come out of the blue as they did at Pearl Harbor uh that you have some kind of warning if you can but you also need the missile defense because that's another open invitation to countries that want to do this there is no indication at this time that the people who uh hijack the airplanes and cause this destruction uh came from outside the United States but there has been talk in the past about poest borders uh between Canada and the United States and and uh would be Terror uh alleged would be terrorists have been caught crossing the border from Canada and the United States well I wouldn't been by Canada at all I mean we have porest borders by Design and it's by Our intention we we want to be an Open Country we always have been and uh we uh uh have therefore always the possibility that very undesirable people can come in from a number of different Crossing points and can cause as we've seen today enormous damage my question was going to be whether or not you thought the borders were going to get much tighter well I'm afraid they will yes I'm afraid it's not just with Canada it's not it's not a reflection on Canada or anything of that kind but it's just they're going to be imposed I think a lot more severe uh security measures for for a time during the period of the worst of the airplane hijacking some years ago when the metal detectors and all that were first instituted people resented it very much and I'm afraid there will be the same kinds of reaction but for a while at least uh inre security I think will be the order of the day Mr wber did you have friends in the World Trade Center today I did not personally know I mean I'm sure that I knew some of the people working there because we had a lot of there enormous number of very large companies the Morgan Stanley and and a number of very large other companies had representativ there I've not heard yet but I I'm sure that uh ultimately we will find that that that was the case this the the loss of life there is absolutely un this is more than perhaps we lost in the in the Korean War uh all in an hour less than an hour uh and and so we have to we can't minimize the the really horrible nature or the extent of the of the terrible damage that's been done Mr Weinberger thank you so much for talking to us tonight thank you good night Casper Weinberger former Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan I want to remind you now of the scene at the center of our live coverage here on CBC Radio 1 Frank CER is if not very near in New York City now Frank are you hearing me I am Rick good evening I'm standing at the dock at the foot of Second Street in Jersey City and the site of what was once the World Trade Center is probably less than a kilometer just across the water from me right now uh it's on a warm sunny uh summer or fall evening to look at this uh billowing smoke just filling the sky is really surreal not to be uh a little obvious about this uh there is there's an increase of smoke now coming out from the ground uh the bottom levels just of Manhattan I where I'm standing I can see water being poured on but of course the water is maybe shooting up eight or 10 floors and the smoke let alone the buildings go up uh another 8900 ft uh the most amazing thing actually apart from the smoke is how quiet everything is there as you know air traffic has been shut down all over the United States and for those of you who've ever seen pictures of New York or been here many times you know that the skies here are just a constant bur of of small planes and helicopters there's absolutely nothing flying over New York tonight Frank you had to drive from Washington to New York to to witness this so planes of course were grounded and I'm wondering I mean were there scenes of of of Panic or chaos were people driving madly out of the city what was the absolutely Rick it was you know that was in fact that was reassuring to see there of course were terrible traffic jams getting into the OR people getting out of the city and it was quite difficult getting in I had to walk the last few miles just to get down to the Waterfront here but there was no sense of panic I'm sure that perhaps passed this morning it's very quiet actually people there's several hundred people in the dock here standing looking over the river here uh a few people are taking pictures but everybody is very quiet uh as I say the the Stillness here and the Stillness walking through the streets of Jersey City was really quite remarkable what are people saying Frank what they what are they saying people here uh where I am standing are mostly people who were either trying to get into the City and have now been stuck here uh overnight in the many hotels here in Jersey City people are just uh talking about their experiences during the day uh a few people obviously talking about their similar travel Horrors and most people are chatting to each other wondering if they you know if the neighbor standing beside them knew somebody that was in the city or knew somebody that uh was able to get out people are wondering about how going to continue their life tomorrow whether they're going to be able to get into work uh two uh young college students standing beside me a few moments ago were trying to figure out if in fact uh they were students at Columbia they were trying to figure out if the University was closed or whether they should go 20 or 30 miles north of the city and try to work their way back down uh and that's what people are consumed with trying to to just figure out what this means for for this city it is the grit in the ash still falling Frank it is not where I am because the wind is blowing from my back uh but you can see there amazing huge dark dark uh gray black clouds are absolutely filling of all of Southern manhatton and and as I look South here south of towards the Atlantic Ocean and uh it just disappears on Beyond the Horizon and I I saw this Cloud probably 40 miles from from New York as we drove in this afternoon thank you Frank okay Rick Frank caller overlooking the ruins of the World Trade Center Rick Christopher Marque is the senior managing director here uh at croll the risk consulting company uh based in Boston he consults with airports across the country and puts out Publications on travel security Mr Marque are you in Boston now uh yes Mary Lou how are you uh I am very well thank you let me put to you the question everybody wants to know the answer to tonight how did those people get on the airplanes I can't answer that uh obviously what is the uh $64,000 Question um and curently there's going to be a lot of uh thinking and review as to uh and trying to unravel how that in fact did occur uh but there there are probably uh quite a few scenarios uh clearly it's uh the planning that went into this and uh the rehearsals that must have taken place uh the way to that that uh the security uh at the airports uh three different airports were circumvented uh must have been uh significant and uh uh it's not to say that the I mean clearly the security at these airports um uh didn't didn't stop uh the the the the hijacking um and that was a critical point uh we also had issues with uh intelligence and understanding that this was coming on to begin with um security is really a multi-layered uh function and it starts with out in the field on the ground and understanding what's going on um but uh I don't know that we'll know uh for some time we were told one of the things that has puzzled me one of the many things that has puzzled me today was that there's been some mention throughout the day about a worldwide caution having been put out by the United States government a few days ago who does this caution go to how does it reach who hears about it would the airports have known well yes the United States State Department um puts out regular Travel warnings and and cautions and and Consular sheets on uh uh issues around around the world and that's something that gets picked up by uh you know the airlines by the travel industry by companies and and by security uh departments within companies and that sort of thing so people should have been on uh on the alert there are alerts at any given moment for lots of different places all the time the Canadian government does the same thing the government does the same thing there are warnings that are going on all the time about travel to certain places uh but no warning that the attack uh necessarily was uh going to be directed at Targets within the United States imminently there have been warnings about potential attacks on um T us interests overseas and that that goes on regularly um and uh so it's unclear you know how you know what what could what was known at the at the time clearly the intelligence um if there was any wasn't at a point a critical point uh confirmed well enough if they if they had any that an attack was imminent here on the in in in the United States do you assume that the hijackers had weapons and what kind of weapons they had to have some I again this gets into the sophistication and the the planning and the process that they must have taken they had to have some way of of gaining control of the aircraft the pilots themselves uh you know some of whom were military trained there in my view my opinion there's no way they would have piloted those planes into the buildings um you know perhaps the one that crashed outside of Pennsylvania uh the pilot refused and and took it down and so they would have had to be disabled or killed first they would have had to be disabled and some fashion and whoever did this you know would have had in my view again would have had to have some ability to handle the plane uh so again sophistication planning uh their own training that that that went into this the determination um uh was quite quite significant and and how many people would it take to take over a Boeing 767 it's hard to say it could have been one I mean there have been cases where single individual's gone in and uh with been able to smuggle gun on board and take control of a plane it could have been several and my guess here is is uh at least one maybe two uh possibly even three but but that's pure speculation um you it's it's uh it's very hard to say at this early juncture uh how it how it could have happened but in my view they had to have some kind of weapon or some ability to disable the pilots to get G access to the cockpit uh and to gain control of the aircraft if if they were guns would they have come on with the passenger in in the in the in the kitchen in the galleys in the baggage compartment do they have access to the baggage compartment from the cabin it could be any of those scenarios it could have been uh you know we we don't know you know was it a baggage handler who had been in place for the last year and a half who's been planning this for the last year and a half and been waiting for for the for the for the get-go was able to uh smuggle in a weapon and place it in a on an aircraft as designated in some way it could be many different ways um that this could have this could have happen less likely that it was somebody that that went straight through in my view straight through the security um uh at the airport as a passenger th this is your business Consulting on security how many close calls have you had how many people uh have you taken off airplanes or caught trying to get on with weapons well we're not the government uh we're private uh security consulting firm um and there are lots of uh lots of cases where um plots are foiled or you know there are deranged people who get on planes uh and there are instances where people bring on you know uh or try to bring on a weapon that that get stopped at the gate um there are cases like that that happen uh all the time uh and you don't hear about that a lot uh Mo you know mo most of that's really un unreported um you know what we you know what we've got to do is focus and review the security uh obviously in the short term it's going to be extremely high security at all all transit points whether it be airports train stations bus stations uh you know terminals uh tunnels and bridges Etc uh throughout the United States and I suspect throughout the the Western the Western World what's security going to be like when the airports reopen tomorrow or it's going to be a heck of a lot tighter you're going to see physical presence of uh of uh Personnel uh you're going to see you know more more checking and more stringent uh levels of uh of checking people uh coming in and out of the airports I imagine there's going to be a review of all person airport Personnel who are they and and uh you know doing you know more detailed background checks and that sort of thing but it's too late there's going to be a lot of soul searching all right Mr Marque thank you very much for talking to us sure good night anytime Christopher Marque a senior managing director uh croll uh which is a risk consulting company in Boston Massachusetts Rick well from I guess the politic some speculation to the politics of reassurance and anger now in Washington our correspondent Laura Lynch joins me Laura we've seen the house speaker on his feet the US attorney general it looks like the White House media machine is rolling up to speed George Bush shortly where is Bush by the way he is at the White House he returned to the White House about half an hour ago and went straight to the Oval Office he is expected to address the nation in just a little over an hour from now but as you said the politicians are starting to emerge from their security cocoon they are emerging uh United with one voice to try to tell the American people that they are together on this that they are um all that amidst all of this grief that the disbelief the sadness there is a growing call for retaliation and retribution Bush himself is using those kinds of terms apparently telling reporters who were traveling with him that the United States will find the people responsible and they will suffer the consequences um just shortly after that Donald Rumsfeld the Secretary of Defense appeared before reporters to issue the same sort of sentiments and was joined by The Joint Chiefs of the uh chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Henry Shelton who said much the same thing the two uh Senators who are on who are the ranking members of the Senate Armed Forces Committee Carl Lan or democrat John Warner or republican to to again Mount the united front and say they will go after whoever is responsible for this and that they are solid behind the president what was interesting though in what in what Rumsfeld said was actually more what he didn't say he would not uh say whether they were warned in advance of this attack he would not say what the response would be he would not comment on reports that Osama Bin Laden is behind this attack but there is certainly the undercurrent that there is going to be some sort of retaliation and everyone is now waiting to hear what the president will have to say in just over that's right what we're now seeing he's moved his statement up to :30 eastern time just just a few minutes over an hour from now well what kind of things does he have to say and will anybody stand against him if he if he if he comes out uh you know sort of literally uh well not literally guns blazing but if he comes out with that kind of an enormous I I think that you clearly the political leadership in in Washington is already solidly behind him on on behalf of both parties Democrats and Republicans and that's very typical in the United States that in times of Crisis the parties come together very solidly behind the commanderin-chief they will they will not break ranks over this I doubt you will hear any any uh words of dissonance from people there and as you and I are speaking you see all the members on the television you see all members of Congress United together and pro United with one message and one message that is behind the president and whatever action that he chooses to take and I don't think at least in these in these first few hours following what happened this morning you will hear anyone criticizing what he has to say or what he chooses to do those kinds of things perhaps will come in the in days and weeks ahead as people start to sift through this and try to assign blame for what happened and try to find out if anyone really is at fault for letting this happen in the first place what kind of options are they talking about in Washington the president has to use if they ever find out who to use them against well clearly they are talking about military options clearly they are talking about some form of serious retaliation but you're right the big question is who is responsible for this and when Donald Rumsfeld was asked about the explosions in Cabell as you know he denied that the United States has anything to do with those explosions people automatically thought it was the United States retaliating because that is where Osama Bin Laden is believed to be so once they it is thought that once they do determine who is responsible that they will retaliate thank you Laura Laura Lyon Washington our correspondent there we are going to take a brief break now in our live coverage of the events in the US please stand by we'll be right back [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a oh [Music] [Music] I'm Mary L Finley with Rick McKinnis Ray uh welcome back to our continuing coverage of the suicide bombing attacks on the World Trade Center today in New York City and uh at the Pentagon in Washington let's just bring you up to date quickly here US President George W bush has vowed to find the terrorists behind the suicide plan attacks which have destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York and caused extensive damage to part of the Pentagon now the president is going to make a televised address in just under an hour and pardon me uh at 9: Eastern time and Hugh Shelton the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was part of a news briefing given earlier this evening by senior US military and defense officials he had this to say we have watched the tragedy of an outrageous Act of Bob bar terrorism carried out by Fanatics against both civilians and military people acts that have killed and mimed many innocent and decent citizens of our country I think this is indeed a reminder of the tragic the tragic and the tragic dangers that we Face day in and day out both here at home as well as abroad I would tell you up front I have no intentions of discussing today what comes next but make no mistake about it your armed forces are ready us chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff H Shelton and just to be clear the president's news conference will be at 8:30 eastern time uh just under an hour from now the US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld was also at the briefings earlier and he says the US is in no way connected to the explosions which rocked the capital of Afghanistan tonight Rumsfeld made a point of noting the news briefing was being held at the Pentagon even though the building and the target of one of the suicide attacks he was at the Pentagon when the hijack plane slammed into it and describes what he saw I felt the the shock of the uh airplane hitting the building uh went through the building and then out into the area and they were bringing uh bodies out that had been injured um most of which were alive and moving but uh seriously injured and uh a lot of volunteers were uh doing a terrific job helping to bring them out of the buildings and get them into stretchers and into ambulances and into airlifts reld says that because of the extent of the damage it's impossible to know yet how many people died in the attack on the US military headquarters now in New York rescue efforts are continuing amid scenes described as a nightmare a convoy of trucks and ambulances with about 120 doctors has been sent to the ruins of the World Trade Center with three buildings are now smoking or in Ash aromatics were told to expect a massive bodies once the Smoke Clears and we have an update on the earlier reports from white horse in the Yukon a Korean airliner was forced to land at the white hor White Horse airport by US military planes the governor of Alaska says a signal from the plane was misinterpreted suggesting a possible hijack when there wasn't one many US international flights were diverted to airports in Canada after the US shut down its entire Airline system Canada's Airline system also remains closed Rick we're joined Now by Frederick Clarkson who is a writer and researcher in Massachusetts and an expert on the extreme Right movement in the United States uh Mr Clarkson I don't know where you are at the moment are you in Boston no I'm in Northampton in Northampton um there has been no suggestion so far that uh the the right is involved in this particular particular attack but then nobody thought that before they they uh discovered what had happened in Oklahoma either however is there any reason to believe that uh militant groups in the United States would ever try uh plan an attack like this well absolutely uh I think that um there there are two very active uh extreme right revolutionary movements in the United States right now that uh uh have a history of of terrorism of of different sorts and certainly articulate uh a vision for doing exactly the kinds of things that we've seen today not necessarily the exact modus sarandi but certainly targeting major uh symbolic uh buildings in the United States and certainly targeting the the federal government uh we have a Neo-Nazi movement in the United States that uh um Tim McVey epitomized and his attack on the Federal Building uh in Oklahoma City was uh modeled on a Nazi novel called the Turner Diaries in which a major federal building uh blowing up in washingt DC becomes a catalyst for a white supremacist Revolution and that book The Turner Diaries is uh served as a blueprint for neonnazi groups for uh 20 years in the United States uh carry out assassinations and bank robberies and the oklah City bombing the other is the violent wing of the anti-abortion movement that goes by the name of the army of God in the United States been carrying out assassinations and bombings for many years and uh see the central government of the United States as a pate help abandon God's laws and ultimately the enemy and uh for example Paul Hill who uh shot a abortion physician in Paca 1994 also advocated the formation of Christian militias and the violent overthrow of the government of the United States yeah except that the trade the World Trade Center was not of course a federal building no but it's uh like uh uh whether it's whether it's Islamic uh figures or the neo-nazis or the uh the violent wing of the Christian right in the United States all of them would see uh the World Trade Centers as symbolic in one way or another of uh the the economic side of the New World Order and would see them as uh legitimate Rockets would they have the wherewithal and the sophistication to coordinate an attack like this it was very sophisticated well there's been a lot of talk of sophistication but I I guess I'm not as persuaded of that uh if you have a long-term revolutionary view uh of uh with an idea of taking out strategic targets uh the kind of information that you would need about uh how to get access to airliners and to hijack them might uh involve nothing more complicated than uh being a part of the airline industry and working in the baggage handling section for a few years uh to get access to Airlines and then to be able to fly a plane uh from everything that I've heard is is not necessarily the most complicated thing in the world then what about taking 200 odd innocent Americans with you on each attack jum in the planes well that's uh in Tim mcvey's words that's collateral damage considering the appr proprium that was dumped on their their movements after the Oklahoma City bombing it though it's hard to believe that that they would sacrifice so many American lives in their Wars whatever their caused against the United States government we could say the same for bin Laden's previous outings in terrorism as well uh the appropri uh of the world and uh even one's co-religionists uh isn't sufficient to overcome serious religious based revolutionary Zeal wouldn't they want to take responsibility for this then if they if they're trying to get out a message uh maybe sometimes the message of terrorism is is the unstated fear uh that accompanies violent acts uh the ripple effect uh Beyond uh the physical act of blowing up a building uh extends far beyond those physically affected uh it changes the way people think and feel uh and changes their thinking and behaviors uh already today we're talking about uh uh me people National figures are talking about rolling back lities in the United States in order to deal with uh people's fear of potential terrorist acts not the acts that have already happened but the ones that people fear might be coming in the future all right Mr Clarkson thank you very much for talking to us you're welcome good evening Frederick Clarkson is a writer and researcher and author of a book called Eternal hostility about the far right in America we spoke to him in Northampton Massachusetts well if you thought you're going to fly in Canada tonight you won't as a security precaution air travel across the country has pretty much come to a standstill following the attacks in the US all the flights Bound for the US were also being diverted to Canadian airports today and that's left tens of thousands of passengers stranded across the country our national reporter Moren broen is here to bring us up to date on the impact of all these disruptions so Marine do we know just how many US bound flights ended up coming to Canada well we don't have an exact number but an estimated 500 are expected to land in Canada or have already landed uh during the course of this today uh starting out on the east coast in New Finland about 45 planes had already landed in Gander which of course has a huge International Airport uh about 30 others have landed in St John's and several more in Stevenville and goosebay and Labrador uh Halifax has already received more than two dozen and is expecting at least another 10 and at least 10 of even arrived in mon New Brunswick here in central Canada uh Pearson International Airport is expected to handle another 25 and out in western Canada Winnipeg Edmonton in Vancouver are also handling dozens of American bound flights and several have even landed in the far north as you know mentioning the Korean airliner in White Horse now Navan which is the company that runs Air Traffic Control at airports across Canada has brought in at least 100 extra air traffic controllers to try to handle the work what an incredible burden what are the implications of all of this well it means tens of thousands of passengers are being stranded right across the country um special Arrangements have been made in many communities to find accommodations for the passengers um hotels rooms stadiums military bases are all chipping into help as our local Caterers and restaurants so the situation is you know very much Community by Community um the problem is that phone lines are jammed in many parts of the country today as was the internet as people tried frantically to get information about the disaster on the flights on people who were on the flights and people were being asked not to tie up the lines unless it was absolutely essential now apparently the Canadian Red Cross is Now setting up a registry for passengers and Crews from the diverted flights and once the registry has set up friends and families of the stranded passengers will be able to contact the Red Cross to find out where they're uh where their folks are but in the meantime they've got to been looking for other ways to get where they want to go are there any other alternate means of transportation out there not a whole lot uh passenger train travel from Canada to the US was suspended today uh buses are still running as far as we know but there are long lineups at the borders where the security remains on high alert uh everyone is being checked and their ID is being verified uh car rentals are also at a premium they only had a few minivans left when I was out at Pearson Airport T late this afternoon and I think the same is here in the Toronto area but the problem is the car rental companies will not allow one-way rentals which means you can't pick up a car here and drop it off someplace else say over the Border or that uh so we kind of stuck and uh out on the west coast faery traffic between uh British Columbia and Washington state was obviously delayed too because of security concerns so what is all this doing for the passengers temp well I mean I think a lot of people U especially U on personally when I was out at Pearson today uh there was a really eerie calm about the whole place I think people were very numbed they're bewildered especially the Americans and I think a lot of them are are just pretty glad to be on the ground there wasn't really much Panic just a very tired acceptance I think the thing that was so strange was that usually when there are U you know big holdups at airports or major uh weather problems or that you know you see tons of bodies lying around on this the the chairs there wasn't any of that the airport was almost empty people were just wanting to get out of there I think a lot of people were even frightened to be at the airport so many were booking hotel rooms airport hotels were full but people were finding accommodations with the help of uh Airline uh and Airport staff uh there were also several Good Samaritans who came out to offer help not only at Pearson but right across the country offering to build it people in their homes until things get back to some semblance of normality we've heard a lot of stories about Community Spirit but aside from looking after these these people and getting them on their way the airport still have to worry about security what's it like uh for most time well it's pretty much on high alert it was very clear this afternoon that uh that people uh police and Airport authorities wanted to clear the airport as much as possible and people were being advised to stay away unless they need to be at the airport in some parts of the country RCMP were actually setting up roadblocks and trying to prevent people from going to them so uh police are uh are basically U staying staying on top of this trying to uh bring in extra security searching the airports obviously so things are going to stay on high alert for quite a while Maran brosman an Nation reporter in torado thank you very much you're welcome Rick with we're joining uh Anthony jine now in Ottawa I hope Anthony are you there actually Mary Le Dave Taylor here he is back on the desk chasing stuff down all right hello Dave hello now uh does doeses all of this closure of airports mean that uh those cabinet members who are out of Ottawa are not going to be able to get in today well the the one minister in particular who was uh trying to get back to back home today was the foreign affairs minister John Manley he was on a trip to Europe this week flying back today uh as of our last conversation with his office they had not found him back on the ground in Canada uh several ministers several important ministers for this story are away the most two significant being Mr Manley and the defense minister art egleton both of whom are away and in the words of the prime minister's office are in Easy contact with the pmo so uh from the point of view of the prime minister's office the the ministers may be out of sight but certainly not out of contact so what is happening there at the moment well if uh you're a tourist walking up on Parliament Hill tonight and it was a spectacular Sunset behind the center block uh you would have looked up at the peace Tower and seen the Canadian flag the Flies there at half staff and I guess that's uh symbolic of the the feeling uh in the city today um the Prime Minister uh found out about this this morning uh during a breakfast meeting with the Saskatchewan Premier Lauren calber at 24 Sussex one of his AIDS sort of tapped him on the shoulder let him know that the Fairly serious incident had occurred in the United States and uh that prompted uh a written statement from the prime minister's office this morning followed up by a uh brief scrum with reporters this afternoon in the for of the House of common let leten do a bit of that right now I don't think that we have seen anything as audible as what happened this morning for the security I have been in touch with the the ministers and with the head of the agencies to make sure that uh everything was to remain secure and we said to everybody to remain calm I hope that uh Canadians uh will uh show their solidity solidarity with our neighbors and uh the news to come when we discover the number of people who died will be probably very tragic um Dave we're just getting news in fact that among the uh dead are at least 200 firefighters and 78 New York Police Department uh officers and obviously there are hundreds of others well I think we'll be adding zeros to those numbers as as the days go by it it it's just a breathtaking event uh as as far as the the government is concerned uh meetings throughout the day particularly a major meeting this morning uh among the sort of the Prime Ministries here mean meaning the pmo defense Foreign Affairs also the main agencies as the Prime Minister mentioned cus uh the RCMP um the Foreign Affairs Ministry has put up a 1 1800 number uh for Canadians wanting to find out about friends and relatives in the New York and Washington areas that number I'll just give that out now is 1800 387 3124 and I I can attest to myself here my brother lives in Brooklyn I was trying to reach him earlier tonight and there's just no way you can get through so uh good advice to call that number 1 1800 387 3124 uh the other angle on this story and and your conversation with Meine broen certainly brings that home is that uh Canada's become something of a large uh I guess runway for for returning uh largely American bound aircraft and and we're waiting for a statement uh tonight from David colinette the transport Minister bringing us up to date on on the status of that operation and and what's going to happen in the coming days uh interestingly we we heard uh about 45 minutes ago in a news conference in Washington from Norman Mana who's the US Transportation secretary and he had some kind words for Canada there we have already taken some first steps as a precaution I have ordered the FAA to ground all commercial air traffic until at least tomorrow afternoon after the attack some of our aircraft were diverted to Canada and so we owe our Canadian neighbors a DB of gratitude for helping us as we redirected over 120 flights and their passengers to airports in Canada Dave I don't know if um you've been uh able to get outside at all uh do you know what the scene is like around the US Embassy on Sussex Drive in Ottawa the building that was really just completed only a few months ago well the scene in the whole downtown of Ottawa Maryl today was a bit peculiar you know the there was no state state of emergency declared in in any of the Parliamentary buildings there was a a very brief bomb scare this morning that prompted the evacuation of a couple of buildings East block and The West Wing of the Shad Lauer uh staff at the usnbc were allowed to leave early and uh there was a a heightened although certainly not oppressive police presence in in the downtown uh shops restaurants stores and things uh again in sort of the immediate parliamentary Precinct where people were just sort of closing up shop early because there wasn't a whole lot of business and if say you work for an MP or a senator uh the advice was well you know you might as well just go home and and that is what most people did so it in fact it was a very quiet and interestingly sort of adding to the quiet I suppose was this today there was a another one of these um Wildcat strikes by members of the public service Alliance of Canada so driving into work this morning uh you know I was uh driving past picket lines which gradually dried up through the morning as as Pac pulled their their pickets down and and just acknowledging that this was not an appropriate thing to be doing on a day like this uh Mar I just want to bring you up to date on one thing here we have the statement from minister colinette uh and it's just passed to me here right now um trying to get the details here it's about a page long so forgive me for a moment for just reading through it uh it says here at approximately 10:00 this morning the government of Canada declared that no further aircraft commercial or private would be allowed to depart Canadian airports until further notice the only exceptions to this declaration were military police or humanitarian flights uh at the same time the Canadian Aviation system began to preparations to accept flight flights previously destined for the US that could no longer land in that country uh at that the time of the terrorist incidents at the US approximately 500 aircraft were on route to North American airports approximately half of these returned to their points of departure with the remaining aircraft continuing on to Canadian destination so you know if we want to uh parse numbers here about 250 then as of 6 p.m. Eastern more than 200 aircraft had landed at various airports across the country all of the relevant agencies including NAV Canada the the FAA and us and authorities at various Canadian airports have exhibited a high level of cooperation uh just to give you some numbers here international flights have been diverted to more than a dozen Canadian airports 44 to Halifax 37 to Gander 35 to Vancouver 27 to St John's we've heard from war broen about uh activity in Toronto um so that about sums it up as far as uh air travel goes da it sounds from that statement as though uh the reason that traffic or departures were halted across Canada was not um as people might have suspected on on uh for for reasons of fear or security but in order to allow all this uh unexpected traffic to arrive to make the airport to leave the airports clear for them is that possible well it's a it's an awful lot of unscheduled business and and one would have to assume that um you know what mattered most to those in the business of making sure airplanes land and take off safely is that in the absence of all those airports in the United States you better bring those those planes home safely and I think that that would be a fair assumption to make at this point yeah plus the fact that I suppose a huge number of the airplanes that do leave Canada that they headed for the United States and they weren't going anywhere ex exactly have there been any other official statements or statements from members of the uh of the government or the opposition during the day uh there have been statements of uh condolence uh from all of the opposition leaders uh Jill DP Stockwell day Joe Clark Alexa McDon have all issued statements acknowledging their you know what what's obvious I mean the horror of what they saw going on in New York and and Arlington today uh we also had a briefing this afternoon uh late in the afternoon with the commissioner of the RCMP Juliano zelli and he uh talked about the nature of the security operations in a fairly broad way going on in Canada right now let's hear a bit from him we instituted number of measures to protect the citizens of this country certain institutions certain buildings and certain people that are potentially at higher risk that's what we have done okay and one one other uh agency of note here Mary Lou uh late this afternoon the Bank of Canada issued a statement saying that it would ensure that the country's Financial system would have sufficient liquidity to support the stability of the can Canadian Financial system and the functioning of the financial markets I guess in anticipation of a uh a rather down openen uh in the event the market markets open up in Canada tomorrow I've noticed on the wires that it looks like the New York markets will be closed for stock trading and bond trading tomorrow but it's one of those things that go out I expose in times of trouble from uh you know agencies such as the Bank of Canada just to remind Canadians that you know they're keeping an eye on things a DAT back to the RCMP commissioner did he say anything about any threat and applied or explicit to Canada or to Targets in Canada no he didn't and and and Mr zacharelli was very careful to uh you know keep his words as vague as possible you know the kind of language for instance that we're hearing from American officials tonight well you know I'm not going to talk about that or you know I'm not going to answer those sorts of questions uh the commissioner was you know saying the same sorts of things so again uh you sort of have to wonder in light of things for instance uh the Amed Ram uh incident at West uh the degree of cooperation that's underway currently between the Radio Canada International Canada interational [Applause] Radio Canada 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