they can pan in on that. amazing. darryl this is fantastic work. god's speed in what you and your wife are doing. it is an honor to meet you. thank you. guys thank you, i'm so sorry about your dad and your loss. very nice to meet you. thanks for coming. >> that is all the time we have left. thank you for being with us. i hope you have a great weekend. closed captioned by closed captioning services, inc. >> reporter: >> reporter: federal authorities believe one u.s. citizen is behind a reported plot to attack new york or washington with a car bomb. counterterrorism officials are looking for three people but don't have exact identities. they say they may be traveling

to the u.s. or could already be here. new york and washington have already increased security. >> president obama taking to the road to push the jobs plan he outlined to congress last night. his first stop a rally at the university of richmond where he told the crowd their voices will make a difference in getting the plan through a divided congress. the visit was in the district of eric cantor who says it is time to put partisanship aside. >> let's admit that good people can disagree. if we would commit to making sure that those disagreements don't get in the way of our ability to find agreement and actually produce results. that's the spirit with which i'm here today. committed to working with the president and the other side to actually doing something that can help people get back to work. >> reporter: next week, president obama will pitch the jobs plan in north carolina and ohio. >> egyptian protesters

attacking the israeli embassy in cairo today tearing apart the security wall. the mob setting fires outside. for hours egyptian security forces made no effort to stop the mayhem. >> tropical storm threatening to pummel eastern caribbean islands still recoverying from hurricane irene. tropical storm maria swirling off the coast of guadalupe. it may batter the virgin islands with powerful winds tomorrow then grow in a category 2 hurricane. >> in texas, firefighters working to hold back flames from the most destructive wildfire in state history. the fire which began sunday is 30% contained. the flames have already destroyed nearly 1400 homes. >> i'm marianne rafferty. now back to our special, the time loon of terror. for your latest headlines, log on to fox news -- foxnews.com.

today our fellow citizens, our way of life, our freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil dis able acts of terror. -- despicable acts of terror. >> well, it was a gorgeous day. the president arrived just as usual for an event, reading in a small classroom then a larger speech in the gym about education.

>> welcome aboard. fox & friends 2 minutes after 8. 2 after 5 out west. it was a regular day. i started at bryant park. >> something a little extra. >> great item on the front page. >> president bush is in florida, encouraging reading programs. >> california grand jury has decided against investigating gary condit. >> from maine our pet of the day. we are taking a time out. plus a preview of the latest fall tv show. you are watching fox & friends. we are nuts about nuts. we were starting an exercise. we have a couple of those a year. because of the exercise we had

the firefighters on alert with a little extra gas, with more weapons onboard than they normally would. >> morning of the 11th, i received a call from an individual who i assumed was the exercise coordinators ask if we had gotten a notification of a hijack situation approaching from the northeast?

>> a note was handed to me after we were coming out of our video teleconference. boston center has a suspected hijacked airplane. i have put the f-15's and the air national guard base on battle stations. i said scramble them we'll hold them out over the water until we get the permission, if necessary. a hijacked plane we know nothing about it, don't know where. [ sirens ] >> we just had a plane crash into the world trade center. >> we have a tragic alert right now.

incredible plane crash into the world trade center here at the lower tip of manhattan with >> it is believed a 737 has crashed into it. three floors taken out crashed into the side of the building. joining us one of the producers with fox report. owen, what do you know? >> reporter: i'm on the roof of my building which is five blocks to the south of the world trade center. i'm looking at the world trade center. there's a massive gaping hole $ second tower. it is about 15 stories from the roof. it is unbelievable to look at. there's a massive hole. [ phone ringing ]

the plane obviously went in on one side and came out the other. this is horrible. >> right now let's hand it over to john scott. you can see the smoke tower is growing. there's quite a bit of flame inside the building. >> i was walking into the studio that day. i wear this wireless ifb we call it. i heard this very urgent voice get in my ear and say john scott, studio b, now! a minute or two later we got the pictures up from the fox 5 helicopter. and what could you say? the two towers are home at least during the day to upwards of 50,000 workers. >> we have a number of floors on fire. it looked like the plane was aiming towards the building. >> i was on the 67th floor when the first plane hit.

it took me a second or two to catch my breath. >> i'm walking on b-4 going towards the parking lots. all of a sudden the whole floor, the whole building just rocked. it just rocked and threw you, you didn't know what happened. >> at 8:46 when boom there's this loud explosion, noise somewhere, didn't know where. all of i saw right up against the glass was fire, flame. just a big fireball. [ sirens ] >> i'm looking at something that is steel and all of a sudden it is ripped like paper because of whatever just passed through. this big heat comes blowing through the corridor i'm in. then there's silence.

>> for no apparent reason i started looking to jersey over the hudson and i see fireballs falling from the sky. i don't know what is going on. >> these are coming to you live now. debris raining down from 110 floors up. as you can see, this is a clear blue sky day in manhattan. if this was an accident, it would be a needle in?pwñ a haystack kind of accident. i was in new york in my office like everyone else and most other people, i thought my god how could this happen? never suspected the magnitude of what was facing us. >> i was in my office with my speechwriter and the secretary called to say a plane hit the

trade center. turned on the television and sat there wondering, how could a plane hit the world trade center, clear sky, no weather problems how do you account for this? >> one of those normal tuesday mornings. i was standing at my desk, getting ready for my staff meeting. my executive assistant walked in and said a plan hit the world trade center. immediately my mind went to a twin engine plane of skin. i said that's a terrible accident. >> as i was leaving the motorcade i got a page telling me the with treasure coast was hit by a plane. karl rove got to the president first and told the president a plane has hit the world trade center. the president went into a holding room. >> i called the president and said mr. president, a plane has hit the world trade center. he said that's strange, a strange accident. i said i would call him back when we had more information. >> first moments i called mayor giuliani right away. and got him.

right after i got off the phone with rudy, i call the president he was in florida at educational conference. i was able to get him out of conference and urge him to shutdown the air space over new york. >> the walk down was calm. the staircase were well behaved, calm, occasionally somebody would be anxious. but somebody else in the stairwell would put their arm around them and say it is okay, we are doing fine. >> we got around mid 20s we began to see firemen walking up the stairs. for the people walking down the sight of the firemen was a calming experience. when i got into the lobby, the full impact is beginning. >> now you hear silence a dead calm of dust and smoke and all of a sudden you hear people, somebody starts screaming, someone stars yelling, someone stars saying, you are hearing

-- you are hearing help, please, very -- one at a time you are hearing it. all of a sudden everybody started screaming. everybody started coming out what happened? >> one of the volunteer fire marshals, i jumped up grabbed my flashlight, put a whistle around my neck and ran out of my private office into the larger office and said, come on everybody let's go there's been an explosion upstairs we have to move. >> elevator came, we went downstairs ground floor now about to get through a turnstile. the security guard asked where are you going? >> i said i saw fireballs coming, we are getting out of here. no, go back to your office, the building is secured, safe. >> strobe lights flashed normally, siren whooped a little bit. there was this clear announcement, building two is secure. that took a little pressure off.

i went for a walk to the east floor, which is where our trading floor is and walked up to the north wall. there were a lot of our people against the glass looking up to their left. you could see the north tower. very sadly, at that moment what they were looking at was people jumping. >> it was all smoke and fire and the walls were caving. you couldn't even see the exit getting into tower one. you couldn't get back into tower one. i'm saying let's go it looks like a clear shot home, going towards building two whoever can make it, let's go. this is craig are you there

>> i had two messages left on my answering machine. one just saying stace it is me, pick up, because we screened our calls all the time. another message at 8:54, him again letting me know that i was going to be hearing on the news that the other tower had been hit. >> he was eye level with tower one and watching -- watching people jump to their death. >> i just stepped off the elevator on 78, two steps and the plane hit.

had no idea what it was. a lot of walls disintegrated. the elevator doors blew out and flames shot out. a few minutes after this happened, it was obvious that this was something a lot worse than what i originally thought it was. >> i worked my way over to way guess was the main exit stairwell. probably in the middle of the building. somewhere in the middle of the tower. started going down, 78 floors. we heard another noise and the building shook again. not as much as the first time that had to be the second plane hitting the other tower. somewhere in the 30s, 40s, first firemen and policemen started coming up. i finally made it down to the ground floor. we came out right in front of the plaza, which is the area between the two towers where the fountain is.

that was horrible that was a war scene. fires, debris falling from both towers, dead bodies. right in front of the window, right in front of me there was a bed strapped to an airplane seat -- a body strapped to an airplane seat. >> there was another one. we just saw another one. we just saw another one-téñ apparently go -- another plane just flew into the second tower. this raises -- this has to be deliberate folks. we just saw on live television as the second plane flew into the second tower of the world trade center. now, given what has been going on around the world, some of the key suspects come to mind, osama bin laden. >> my first instinct was, what is going on? how many planes are there?

where are they coming from? who are they? and who do i call for air support? i'm the police commissioner and i have 41,000 uniformed member, 55,000 people work for me. we are prepared for anything you could imagine. this was something you couldn't imagine. >> walked back down the hallway to my desk and the phone is ringing again. this time it is a young lady from chicago one of our rep offices. saying are you okay? i'm fine. for no apparent reason in mid-sentence just raised my dead toward the statue of liberty. what i'm seeing is a big giant aircraft, grey with red letter on the wing and tail, coming straight, eye level forwards me. the next thing i know, i dove under my desk, huddled in a fetal position, screaming, crying and the plane crashed in the building.

the plane from coming straight towards me and the bottom wing is wedged in my office door, 20 feet from where i was under the desk. >> a lot came down the shafts and blew out everything elevator cable snap. when you hear a 10,000 pound, 40,000 pound elevator coming down a shaft and hearing people screaming and you don't hear them screaming, you know they just died, just silence. >> at 9:03 or whatever time it was when the second plane hit boom, boom, double explosion. i learned later it was the plane hitting the building then exploding. for the next 10 seconds, i was terrified. >> impact was so great and the sound that it made was so loud i got temporarily deaf. i couldn't hear anything. it looked like a demolition crew came in and knocked

everything over. >> building just continued to move, left, left, left toward the hudson river, a long, long way. it felt like yards. whether it was or not, i don't know. the sensation was we are going too far. we are going to fall over. i knew in an instant it was terrorism. the room fell apart on that second explosion. you walls tore in jagged angles some door frames fell it was a mess. as if somebody ripped open a concrete sack and waved it in the air, yellow, white dust everywhere. >> i'm crying saying lord i don't want to die here, i have two little children. please lord save me, send somebody, anybody to help me.

>> the building swayed forever one way. then it came back to vertical. and snapped out of it and sobered up. turned on my flashlight. >> in that classroom, i got a second page, telling me the second tower had been hit. right away, i knew it was terrorism. shortly after i got that page, andy card walked in and was in -- -- and whispered if the president's right here that america is under attack. >> i wrote on the back of a yellow legal pad. don't say anything yet. i held it up for the president to see. >> wendell goler is traveling with the president. wendell, what is the reaction from the president? >> reporter: john, the president is here promoting a reading initiative on the second day of a two-day trip to florida. he just finished reading to some children at the booker elementary school and was asked about the incident.

he said he was aware of it. and that he would have something to say about it later. it is beyond belief, both towers of the world trade center are burning. both have apparently been hit by aircraft. >> my first reaction was to get to the scene as fast as i could. as i was driving down, emergency vehicles were going obviously flying down to the

scene. i jumped find a police car and drafted it down and pretty much got two blocks from the scene. >> very first thing we did was we got establishing shots. >> i got close to the tower and was shooting it, but it was so tall that i had to keep backing up to get a better shot. when i got the first tight shots i realized what was happening at the top of the towers. i look up and people start shouting, they are jumping. i look up just in time to see someone leap from what must have been the 108th floor. >> ridiculous, people are jumping. >> they must have felt like they no other choice that decision they made remains for me the most horrifying part of the whole tragedy. >> i realized there were jumpers and people lining up in the window wells.

and i shot the first two that i saw and then turned off my camera, because i was overcome with emotion actually. >> you are conscious of what is happening. but it is sort of looking through the view fine an insulator, it is black and white, not color. >> i think they knew early on they weren't going to be able to put the fire out. they wanted to get rescuers up there as quickly as possible, as high as possible. not concerned about the fire at that point. >> i heard a banking and a -- i heard a banging and a voice screaming, help i'm buried anybody there, i can't breathe, help! >> this is stan from the loans department please don't leave me to die, help me.

even though he was responding i can't hear. i tried get up from under the desk i was covered in debris. and i could peek through the rubble and saw the bottom wing stars to burn. and my greatest fear was this plane was going to ignite the flame was ignite and i was going to die. i crawled the entire length of the loans department, through the lounge into the computer room into the communication room and i couldn't go further, because this was one sheetrock wall blocking myself. he says jump over and i'm going to grab you. and i got up from that prayer and i started punching, kicking, hard as i can until a little hole appeared in the sheetrock. and he said, i see your hand. i said yank me through. and i jumped and i grabbed and i stuck my head through.

>> and i reached in, nothing happened. i said you must do that. up he went again and i reached in and somehow got under his arm or grabbed on to something and i lifted him up and over this barrier and we fell in a heap on the floor. >> this man just gave me a head lock with all his might he just pulled. and just yanked me through that wall. i was like a superman. he just yanked me through and i fell on top of him. and i gave him a big hug and kiss and i said you are my guardian angel. my lord send you to save me. >> we started down the stairs the inner wall of the fire stairs had blown in. we could look through the cracks and you could see flames licking up the other side of the wall as we went down through this area. >> we stopped at a floor, because i couldn't breathe properly. i couldn't walk down. i was bloodied, bruised. and the leg wound was opening. >> we went as low as the 44th floor, like a sky lobby, like

an empty hotel lobby until a security guard manning his booth, rather surprised to see us and said have you got a phone? he said my phone isn't working but i will stay with this man if you get me help. >> the man was lying, his back was broken, covered with blood. tell my wife and baby i love them. but send somebody up for me. the security guard stood like a hawk guarding that man. that man sacrifice his lifeguarding this man. while we were going down, no ems worker came up. >> stanley called his wife, missed her but left messages he was fine. i called 911. after some difficulty, it took three, four minutes to get the message across that there was somebody down on the 44th floor. i know they were overwhelmed that day. but stanley and i went back and down to the plaza level without seeing a soul, nobody. the plaza level we stared in awe at the plaza where the

phone continue is normally flowing and people coming -- where the fountain is normally flowing and people coming and going. we know nothing about pentagon, none of this we are ignorant of all these facts. >> we got to the ground floor only cops, firefighters and ems workers were there. debris looked like confetti in a parade. and they were telling us to run, just go, run, run. they stayed back. sacrificing themselves so that brian and i could live. president bush is about to speak. he's in florida. at what was supposed to be a joyous event at an elementary school. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is a difficult moment for

america. i unfortunately will be going back to washington after my remarks. secretary pace and lt. governor will take the podium and discuss education. i want to thank the folks here at the booker elementary school for their hospitality. today we've had a national tragedy. two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. i have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of new york to the director of the fbi. and i've ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families. and to conduct a full scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act. terrorism against our nation

will not stand. and now if you join me in a moment of silence. may god bless the victims, their families and america. thank you very much. >> we saw the second airplane fly into the south tower world trade center. we decided to scramble the f-16's out of lange air force base. >> traffic crawling along. -- talking about how washington, d.c. is on high alert because they think that might be the next target. >> a group of people were sitting around the television, ready to -- -- ready for our meetings. >> after the rush hour would normally end i ended up getting stuck in traffic west of the pentagon. >> we got a call that american airline 77 was a potential

hijacked aircraft. >> as we sat down to a meeting for this client. one of the people sidebar bra olson won't be here because she is on a plane to california. >> plane was scheduled to takeoff at 8:10. i had been in my office at the department of justice. one of the gals came in and sidebar bra is on the phone. i was first relieved to hear barbara -- to hear barbara on the telephone. the next words out of her mouth were ted, my plane has been hijacked. >> we are watching all this aircraft trying to determine where they are.

the pilot announced the plane had been hijacked. she said shortly after takeoff. by this time the plane had been in the air over an hour. she implied they had been circling around for a while. she and the other passengers had been herded to the back of the plane. i asked her whether they, the hijackers, knew she was calling? she said no, they don't know.

she indicated they had used knives and box cutters to take over the plane. at some point we got cut off, i immediately call the command center of the department of justice to let them know that my wife was on a plane that had been hijacked. >> i keep driving, i notice a plane coming in fast and low. it is silver, american airlines jetliner, obviously a passenger plane, a big one. >> i told her in the first conversation that the two hijacked planes had hit the world trade center. her instinct was what shall i tell the pilot? what can i do? i asked her where she was? >> flight 77 made a left turn heading back after it was hijacked. they came back over washington fairly high. then he did a left descending turn which gave him good visual visibility of the pentagon.

>> i heard it before i saw it. i looked up and directly in front of my field of vision, parallel to the ground, i saw a jet airplane with the silver paint with the red, white and blue stripes under the windows it was clearly an american airlines passenger jet come roaring by. >> we did not know where that aircraft was. then moments later, that aircraft hit the pentagon. of course, our aircraft headed towards washington, d.c., well south of there, at that time they were not yet over washington, d.c.. >> it didn't veer from its course at all. i was like a missile right into the side of the pentagon. >> then a huge fireball comes up in the air, all kinds of smoke, i could feel the impact at the explosion the ground shook.

>> david asman joining us from fox central. >> john, we are hearing right now, of another explosion that has taken place at the pentagon. we have the heart of the financial district of america being attacked. now we understand that there is an explosion, there has been an explosion in the pentagon. >> i began to hear reports of the explosion at the pentagon. i knew in my heart that was that aircraft. it was instantaneous, a loud noise the lights went out, everything black, heavy smoke, debris piled on top of me. i'm pinned in my chair at my desk. >> as i came closer this pile of debris i saw what looked like a face. couldn't be a live person then

i thought i saw it wink or blink. i yelled for help. from outside came lt. commander tarantino. >> it feels like a furnace. couldn't believe there is anyone alive. i saw captain thomas who was trying to pull debris. i looked to by side and i saw mr. hinson, 10 feet away. inside this kind of cave of debris, already my uniform is starting to melt, my shoes are starting to melt. i'm really eager for him to get out of there and go. he says he can't budge. out of desperation, i laid on my back under him and put my feet up on the debris over his head and i leg pressed, as hard as i could. >> me pushing with my back against this pile and him pushing up with his legs he managed to get most of the debris up to extricate himself from this huge pile of rubble that pinned him to his desk.

>> the total thing took 30 minutes. i didn't think i had much time left when the rescue team came. >> somebody was still up in there. we couldn't get everybody out. >> my boss didn't make it. >> second -- >> d.c. fire going to plan e. emergency plan requires all off-duty personnel to report back to stations immediately. >> the white house is being evacuated that comes from one of our fox producers in washington. the white house is being evacuated. the pentagon as well. >> pack up and go plane was just hijacked 20 minutes south of here. >> now! >> jim angle, are you with us? >> streets around the

white house blocked seconds ago. there are emergency vehicles on almost every block around the white house. as you know the white house is being evacuated. federal employees are standing on the street corners in and around the white house. having left the building for fear of another attack. >> get back! >> as they brought me out, i could see people running, people were crying, hurry up get these people out because there's another one right behind. must have had input on the pennsylvania plane. >> by now we are up watching united 93 now start gradually to take up a flight path right towardsñ%x washington, d.c.. and we were very concerned at that time.

>> as it started moving towards washington we had f-16's over washington, d.c., i was energized to start moving those fighters towards that aircraft. thought it would be wiser to keep the f-six teens over wash -- f-16's over washington in case another plane was coming in. >> sir, we have to leave now. no chance for debate. sort of me out of office into the underground. and we got down to the tunnel, that is protected. when i got into the tunnel, we saw that the pentagon had been hit that was on television. i called the president again. he was headed for the airport in florida. i urged him not to return to washington. washington was now under attack. >> flight 93 was the only

aircraft that we could see on our radar, at that time. it was either slightly before or right around the time that the american airline 77 had hit the pentagon. we could see this aircraft flying around up in the ohio and pennsylvania area. >> united airlines called me and told me todd made a call to an operator. he initially called to report a hijacking he felt at that time this was a normal situation where the hijackers were going to return them to the airport and there was going to be some demand made. >> i heard mark's voice saying three have taken over the plane and they say they have a bomb. i'm calling you from the air phone. there was a long pause. mom you believe me, don't you? i said yes. who aregr these guys? there was another long pause. then mark's voice came back on

the line. he said you believe me don't you mom? i said yes. who are those guys? then we were disconnected. >> this is your mom the news is it has been hijacked by terrorists they are planning to probably use the plane asíg9ñ target to hit some site on the ground. i would say do everything you can to over power them because they are hell bent. try to call me back, if you can. >> he told me immediately he was on a lien that had been hijacked. -- on a plane that had been hijacked. he gave me a few details and told me to call the authorities and hung up. >> i said do you know who is flying the plane? no. >> he knew two with this the front of the plane who were hurt. they pulled the curtain to first class so he couldn't see what was going on up there. >> on a second call, i told him immediately that the world trade center had been hit that other planes had been hijacked. and he paused.

and told the people sitting around him. he was alarmed. then he said, my god it is a suicide mission. >> the plane turned around and started to dip as they changed their course back to washington. >> in the third call i told him about the pentagon. he told me at that point he was putting a plan together to take back the plane. i asked who was helping him? and he said there's a group of us. >> we are getting hot water together to throw on them. do you have any other ideas for us equipment -- any other ideas for us? >> he said we have to -- it want long after she heard him say i have some men around him. >> we are all running to first class, i've got to go, bye. >> said let's roll. >> we know that the passengers

made a rush on the cockpit and thwarted the hijackers. we know that because the cockpit voice recording they knew there was a movement afoot in the back. and their moments were numbered upfront. we heard, someone heard on the cockpit voice recording, they're coming. they're coming. there was a tremendous thrashing around of dishes and carts, back and forth. >> this plane was at least 30 degrees. it would rapidly go to 45° the other way, rocking back and forth. there was a fight going on and plane is rolling right to left to right to left. >> we heard blood screams more than once. i don't believe it was a passenger. >> they were rolling violently back anding for. >> the hijackers were panicked. they were -- they were talking with each other do you want me to end it now? i believe that was their signal, we are going to crash

now because we are about to lose control of this airplane. >> i am absolutely convinced that fourth plane would have hit the capitol but for those heroes in pennsylvania. . authorities at the airport con fairly large plane crash about -- confirm a large plane crash 80 miles southeast of pittsburgh. you have to assume it is related to all of these goings on. >> i told brian, i said this is the lord's doing. and i'm going to trinity church. he said look i'm coming with you. together we grabbed each other's hand and we started to run. surprising enough, not even one piece of confetti or

broken glass touched us. the next thing i know we bumped into a priest. >> stanley broke down and looked at me and said this man saved by life. and i said to stanley, maybe you saved my life too. he said you know, i think that tower could go down. i said there's no way. i said that's a steel structure. i didn't finish the sentence. >> we started to run. and we heard a strange sound like steel bending and creeking. and the building started to implode. it came down like a pancake effect. >> set up to go live. within a minute or two after he got the camera hooked up

and we set up to start reporting in the street, that's when the first tower fell. >> we heard the rumbling of thunder but it want as loud as i expected it to be. . >> oh my god, look dude, point that way! oh my god! >> as i was going up the stairwell, on the church street side the building started shaking up and down a couple feet in either direction. a fireman at the top said, hit the deck. >> we are on church street, we are not sure what happened. there's been a huge explosion. everyone is running for their lives, literally. police, media, i see a woman pushing a baby carriage. here comes the smoke. [ sirens ] >> i couldn't see anything

because of all the dust. all the lights were out. >> after the south tower fell that was the first time the panic set in. because realizing the south tower was hit second and fell first. now you really had to worry about getting people out of north tower as quickly as possible. >> i pushed up and out and realized i was still alive. i didn't know if i was alive or not. >> oh my god it is gone the whole tower. holy crap! they knocked the whole freaking thing down! >> here come the smoke. it is unclear what happened. if the tower collapsed or what. i think we better get out of this mess. >> we jumped in the truck with the camera. and left the -- about an inch or two crack in the door with the cable inside the truck. >> oh my god!

[ bleep ] you and me. are you all right? >> we were in the dark, literally. it was frightening. i was a frightening moment to have no connection to the outside world. and have no idea what was going to happen, next. >> we shouldn't be here, should we? ? >> everybody else [ bleep ] ran, cops, everybody. >> i don't know what to do. [ sirens ] >> one of the two towers literally collapsed. i was making my way to the foot of the world trade center, suddenly while talking to an officer, questioning me about my press credentials, we heard a loud blast, explosion. we looked up and the building literally began to collapse before us.

there was debris falling at least 3/4 the height of the building. the entire perimeter people began to run for our lives

. [ sirens ] >> what happened? you were at the building? >> yes, a lot of people trapped. >> a lot of people trapped, emt. guy needs help. >> can you tell us what you saw, what you heard? are you all right? >> no, not at all. >> i feel bad approaching these people, they are covered, obviously in pain. in the place where that plane hit the outer wall, of course that building as you

know is a series of concentric rings when you hit the outer wall you are only affecting that part of it. those walls are down you can see the gutted areas. >> the whole place blew, everything came down. couldn't see, couldn't breathe. terrible, i never seen nothing like it. i went through vietnam and never seen anything like this. >> can they go in base on the conditions of the building? >> somebody is going to have to. that's what we get paid for. as soon as we heard the explosion we ran out of new york state supreme court and jumped on our jury bus. . >> here we go again. i don't know what is going on. the second building is collapsing, i believe. i don't know. i don't know. this happened before. just back up. come this way. >> we can see the top of the

building from here. oh yeah, there it goes, there it goes! there it goes! we need to put it down now. >> here we go! >> we had a crash of the second tower. everybody is running from there. >> you think you die three times people are screaming the building is coming down. all of a sudden you feel the rumbling of the floor down the westside highway. you just think, you just think something is going to fall on you. you just think you are going to die >> we need the army in manhattan. >> every floor i was trying to do a sweep to make sure no one was left behind. >> an experienced firefighter had to have a lot of fear and concern going into that building. that's what makes it such a heroic act. >> i got to about the 6th floor, all of a sudden this

tremendous noise started, went black, the building was shaking, rocking and rolling. i knew the building was collapsing. i thought it was seconds before we're dead. >> we need a hand. >> all of a sudden i'm laying in blackness and it went silent. >> i was covered in six inches of debris. first few seconds i thought i was dead. saw nothing, heard nothing. i was covered. started calling may-days, calling for help. >> it is my understanding all the bridges and tunnels in the city are closed. >> this has the signature of osama bin laden. he has had pilots on his payroll.

not to say that's what happened here. >> the fire continues to burn out of control at this hour. no estimates from pentagon officials on the number of dead. >> i felt the shock of the airplane hitting the building. went through the building and then out into the area and they were bringing bodies out that had been injured. >> you don't let people hurt that's the operational rule were focused on. anybody cried out, calling out. >> the people were almost like a still life. they were intact. it was very different, especially because i had already found a bunch of people who were all burned up. there was this young woman there, she was in civilian clothes, very nicely dressed. hers clothes weren't burned. easiest id i ever did. a chain around her neck,

angela. it was like being hit by a hammer. a real person, beautiful young woman. she obviously was gonna leave that evening or that morning or something and go out to her life. and she wasn't ever gonna do that. >> a lot of volunteers were doing a terrific job helping to bring them out of buildings. >> the president flew here from florida all right. we flew for a couple of hours on air force one. we were not told where we would land until the time came. jet fight areas companied the president's aircraft. >> the president: make no mistake, the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts. >> by the time the president had gotten to the air force base, nobody was going to tell

the president that he couldn't come back. the first thing he said when he got on the teleconference was i'm coming back tonight. >> the city of new york and the united states of america is much stronger than any group of barbaric terrorists that our democracy, rule of law and strength and willingness to defend ourselves will ultimately prevail. >> today was supposed to be a primary runoff day in manhattan for those who would succeed the mayor that has been cancel . >> it was the hardest thing i've had to do to try to man taken composure. i'm not trying to sound macho. i figured if i break down and cry which i was close to doing a couple of times that day. it is not going to help anybody at home process the information that we are trying to bring. so, i said a little silent prayer and tried to keep going. >> i hate to wonder how many of your people were there around the base of the twin towers when it collapsed.

>> i'm very worried about them. saw some of them rush in and go in and was with them. were in a building that was trapped for a while. >> thank god that i'm safe. i feel terrible for the people we lost. some of whom i talked to 15 minutes before we lost them. and the city is going to survive. >> the only thing you could see from where we were was a big grand jury in the earth and broken trees. nothing that cash a big gouge in the earth and broken trees. nothing that you could distinguish that a plane crashed there. >> just a few moments ago world trade center building number 7 collapsed. we had been warned the building was in danger of collapse. engineers on scene said the building was structurely very weak. >> a lot of innocent people died. all they did was a simple thing. all they did was come to work that morning. they didn't come to do battle.

>> the people that went to vietnam knew what they were doing, they trained for that. you don't expect that just going to work in the pentagon in an office. >> he was already very focused and calm. i was remarkable. he was not shaken in that sense. the one moment that i could see the horror in his face, in his eyes was when that famous picture of andy card telling him what happened. he had remarkable composure through this whole period. in fact, was rallying other people. >> the president: terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings. but they cannot touch the foundation of america. these acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of american resolve. none of us will ever forget

this day. yet, we go forward to defend freedom in all that is good and just and -- and just in our world. >> what it did was reaffirm to me that this is a country worth living in. and these are people worth defending. and that there are things in this world that you had to be willing to-die-for. >> i look back and see all these firefighters and these cops who sacrificed their lives because of me. and i pick up the paper and i'm looking back and i'm seeing a memorial service. and the kids are in tears. and i tell myself, that could have been me. >> we shared such a powerful experience and depended on each other that day, perhaps for survival. we'll always be in touch. >> the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. >> u.s.a.!