Bush vows to avenge 'acts of war'

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 12. The U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, condemned terrorist attacks in New York and Washington as ``acts of war'' on Wednesday and said he would ask Congress for money to help in the recovery and to protect the nation's security. The Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, said the attacks were an act of war and promised the U.S. would respond "as if it is a war."

``This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil. But good will prevail,'' the President said. He said the U.S. was prepared to spend ``whatever it takes.''

Mr. Bush spoke as administration officials said evidence in the fearsome events pointed to the suspected terrorist, Osama bin Laden, harboured in Afghanistan. And while Gen. Powell suggested earlier in the day that no military response was imminent, Mr. Bush said, "We will rally the world" in a war on terrorism, fought now on American soil.

His spokesman, Mr. Ari Fleischer, used words meant to soothe. "We believe the perpetrators have executed their plan and therefore the risks are significantly reduced," he said.

A mile or so from where he spoke, search and rescue teams worked in the remains of the portion of the Pentagon that collapsed on Tuesday, hit by a hijacked jetliner.

Officials said they doubted they would find any additional survivors, and said hundreds could have died.

That would pale in comparison to the carnage in New York, where two more hijacked planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The buildings collapsed, with thousands feared lost.

Federal agencies reopened, but military police were stationed throughout the city as a security precaution

Interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America," Gen. Powell said: "The American people have a clear understanding that this is a war. That's the way they see it. You can't see it any other way, whether legally that is correct or not."

Asked if he personally regarded it that way, Gen. Powell responded, "I do."

He added: "We've got to respond as if it is a war. We've got to respond with the sense that it isn't going to be resolved with a single counter-attack against one individual. It's going to be a long-term conflict."

The U.S. military is in a state of high alert with aircraft carriers and guided missile destroyers moved to waters near Washington and New York. Military planes are patrolling the skies and the North American Air Defence Command is in the highest alert status. "We have been attacked like we haven't been since Pearl Harbour," said Admiral Robert Natter, Commander of the Atlantic fleet out of Norfolk, Virginia.

Congress returned to the Capitol building for the first time since Tuesday's attacks. Lawmakers hastened to approve legislation declaring the United States was ``entitled to respond under international law.'' Congress convened with prayers and expressions of resolve that the perpetrators would be found and punished. ``The world should know that members of both parties and both Houses stand united in this,'' said the Senate Majority Leader, Mr. Tom Daschle.

Search on for survivors

Americans reacted with controlled fury and a burst of patriotism today, as emergency workers dug desperately for survivors in New York and intelligence agencies searched for those behind the worst attack on the nation since Pearl Harbour.

There was still no toll from yesterday's attacks, in which knife- wielding hijackers commandeered four planes. They flew two into New York's World Trade Center, toppling the two highest structures in the city; a third seriously damaged the Pentagon. The fourth hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

As a cloud of dust still hung over the city, rescue workers pulled a handful of people out of the wreckage of the Trade Center this morning and reported signs of life in the rubble, including at least one person sending out calls on a cellphone.

The world's financial centre resembled a desolate war zone, the streets of lower Manhattan coated in gray ash and a thick trail of brown smoke pouring into the sky from where the Trade Center's twin towers once stood.

Some 50,000 people worked in the pulverised buildings and the toll was expected to climb into thousands.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Next     : FBI team raids Boston hotel