From the Washington Post
Minutes after two airplanes crashed into New York City’s World Trade Center towers this morning in a what appears to be the gravest terrorist attack ever in America, a large explosion and fire took place at the Pentagon. Witnesses said it, too, was caused by an airplane.
At about 10 a.m., one of the 110-story World Trade Center towers collapsed.
The tragedies stunned the nation and prompted officials, fearing still more attacks, to evacuate the Capitol, the White House, State Department and other federal buildings. Flights were canceled at all major airports in the nation.
Shortly before the Pentagon fire ignited, President Bush called the New York disasters "an apparent terrorist attack on our country." He hastily departed from Florida, where he had scheduled an education speech, and returned to Washington. Early details were sketchy, but the New York attacks seemed certain to cause heavy losses of life and many injuries.
There were reports that an American Airlines 767 had been hijacked earlier today on a scheduled flight from Boston to Los Angeles, and apparently was one of the planes flown into the giant towers that dominate lower Manhattan’s skyline. The second crash, which touched off a giant fireball in one of the tower’s upper floors shortly after 9 a.m. EDT, took place as many Americans watched live on television.
New York’s airports were quickly closed, the New York Stock Exchange was evacuated, and millions of Americans watched in horror and disbelief as news of the Pentagon fire soon followed.
In Florida, Bush pledged to use “the full resources of the federal government government to help the victims and their families" and “to hunt down and find those folks who committed these acts."
© 2000 The Associated Press