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Bush visits New York scene of terror
Friday, Sept. 14, 2001
 
• Background on Osama bin Laden
• Photos of suspected hijackers

Video:
• Sept. 12: Bush speaks to nation from Cabinet Room
• Sept. 13: Bush warns of 'new kind of war'
• Sept. 14: Bush visits workers at Ground Zero
• Sept. 14: Day of Remembrance at National Cathedral
AP Photo
As rescue efforts continue in the rubble of the World Trade Center, President George W. Bush puts his arms around firefighter Bob Beckwith while standing in front of the World Trade Center debris during a tour of the devastation.
By DAVID JACKSON
and CHRISTOPHER LEE
The Dallas Morning News

NEW YORK – Amid extraordinary security, President George W. Bush visited the smoldering mountain of rubble Friday that once was the World Trade Center, cheering the thousands of workers desperately searching for survivors.

With a bullhorn in one hand and his other arm draped around Bob Beckwith, a retired firefighter from Queens, Mr. Bush told the crowd of rescue workers that the nation honored their efforts and mourned those killed in Tuesday morning's terrorist attack.

"I want you all to know that America today – that America today – is on bended knee in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn," he said.

"This nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens," Mr. Bush said.

The president and congressional leaders from the New York area flew up on Air Force One after attending a National Day Prayer and Remembrance service in Washington, D.C. Cities across America and countries around the world joined in honoring the memories of the more than 4,700 people missing from the attack.

Security surrounding Mr. Bush was so tight that reporters accompanying the delegation weren't told where the presidential plane would land. Military jets flew over Manhattan as Marine helicopters ferried the delegation to the starting point of their motorcade by the East River.

But once at the site, Mr. Bush walked among the hundreds of rescue workers, exchanging words, shaking hands.

When he climbed onto the wreckage of a fire truck to speak through the bullhorn, the workers began complaining: "George, we can't hear you!"

"I can hear you," Mr. Bush responded. "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you.

"And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"

The crowd whooped and then the chant began: "U.S.A., U.S.A." Mr. Bush grabbed a small American flag and waved it high.

Later, Mr. Bush said he was shocked at the devastation.

"It's hard to describe what it's like to see the gnarled steel and broken glass and twisted buildings silhouetted against the smoke," he said.

"I said this was the first act of war on America in the 21st century, and I was right, particularly having seen the scene."

But he added, "Out of the rubble and ash and ugliness there is a lot of good."

Mr. Bush's visit came after hours of heavy rain that managed to make the trade center site seem even more grim. Almost 2 inches of rain fell on Manhattan on Friday, turning the blanket of ash and dust into a soup of slick, chalky mud.

And the recovery work, already slowed by stubborn fires deep beneath the rubble, became much more precarious.

"There's no question that they're hampered by [the weather,]" New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. "Things have to proceed more carefully, more cautiously.

"At the same time, they're going [as quickly as possible] because there's a strong hope we'll be able to recover people and find people and save them."

So far, though, that's only a hope. Since Tuesday's attack, just five people have been rescued. The death toll stands at 184. More than 4,300 people have been injured. Officials expect deaths to climb to 5,000.

Workers have hauled away more than 1,150 truckloads of rubble from the site – more than 10,400 tons of twisted steel and broken concrete – but the huge pile of rubble and debris appears almost untouched.

People seem so eager for good news that rumors of survivors spin swiftly around New York, sometimes ending up on the news, only to be proven false.

"It leads to lots of families becoming very, very hopeful and then finding out it's just plain not true," Mr. Giuliani said. "It also leads sometimes to a lot of activity that can be very dangerous, recovery activity. People can get very excited."

One woman dressed in hospital scrubs and carrying a cell phone stopped at a New York police station, insisting she had just spoken with her husband who was trapped in the rubble.

That triggered a frenzy of digging at the site, Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said, "but it was a fake, a fraud."

"She caused an extreme amount of panic at the site and it was all fake," he said. "We're not going to tolerate people creating hysteria at the site.

"She's a nut."

The woman was charged with reckless endangerment, obstruction of fire operations and filing a false report.

Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen criticized what he called "misinformation, the information that is getting out too soon."

"It's dangerous for my people," he said, "and I want it to stop."

Over the three days since the attack, Mr. Giuliani has managed to resurrect much of his legacy as the tough-talking former prosecutor who managed to clean up the areas around Times Square and cut the city's crime rate.

For much of the past year, his life has been fodder for the city's gossip columnists. But in his frequent news conferences since Tuesday, the no-nonsense Mr. Giuliani was back, vowing that his city would emerge stronger than ever, urging businesses to remain in New York, threatening anyone who would try to scam New Yorkers in the name of charity.

Citing a rash of calls from telemarketers, Mr. Giuliani offered the following:

"If anyone calls you and asks you for a donation ... call the police or the FBI. We'll go out and arrest them. We'll make an example of them."

It would be much the same for anyone calling in a bomb threat, he said. "We're going to put you in jail."

Mr. Giuliani said the president has been eager to visit.

"The president's visit was requested by the governor [George Pataki] and me and the president wanted to do it at the earliest moment he could," Mr. Giuliani said. "The president would have come earlier but for the fact that recovery efforts were going on."

Dealing with the terrorism will almost certainly be the greatest test of Mr. Bush's presidency. It began Tuesday morning at a school event in Florida, when Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispered in the president's ear: "A second plane hit the other tower and America is under attack."

And once he arrived from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey aboard Marine One, the presidential helicopter, Mr. Bush seemed eager to see the World Trade Center site and to talk with rescue crews.

"It was a morale booster for the men working there and I think it was probably a morale booster for [Mr. Bush], being there and having contact with them," said Steve Beckwith, 59, who watched Mr. Bush on television.

"He seems to have found his speaking," said Mr. Beckwith, who is not related to the retired firefighter. "He's lost the Bush-isms, and when he speaks it's measured and well-delivered."

Mr. Kerik agreed that the president's appearance lifted spirits.

"A couple guys, they were crying," he said. "And they were thanking him for coming. It's great he's here. It's a good morale booster for the troops. It's fantastic."

Ken Harper, a contractor from Putnam County, N.Y., was one of the volunteers who crowded around for the President's brief address at the trade center site.

"I'm sure it provided a real boost to a lot of people as far as morale is concerned," Mr. Harper said. "But I'm sure a lot of people would rather have kept working."

Security was so tight for every portion of Mr. Bush's visit that rescue efforts had to be shut down for two hours, Mr. Harper said.

"No disrespect to the president intended, but that's the priority right now."

Staff writer Michael E. Young contributed to this story.

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