our air, on live television, and took so many twists and turns, as we were frug to describe it, to the american people -- i don't think i will ever face a challenge that great again. i hope i dent to be perfectly honest with you. i hope that there is nothing that ever even approaches that in terms of my professional career. that was the moment for me.

we went to afghanistan went up in the mountains, changed the vehicle, blindfolded. i calculate it was around midnight that bin laden finally showed up. >> mr. bin laden you have declared a jihad against the united states. can you tell us why. he essentially said it was about american foreign policy in the middle east. we said who is targeted? he said well, we're targeted u.s. soldiers. if american civilians get in the way, that's sort of their problem. >> what are your future plans? >> translator: you'll see them and hear about them in the media, god willing. >> i was like, okay, we just sat through an hour and a half about this guy ranting about the united states, he's going to attack the united states. but he's sitting in the middle

of a mud hut in the middle of afghanistan. how is he going to implement that. i knew we had enemies naturally, but i always felt pretty safe here. i never never in a million years dreamed that anything like this could happen to us.

>> we believed in the system. you know, 9/11 was a shattering of faith. >> 3,000 people were killed. there was a mass murder and there needed to be an investigation. >> surviving family members. nobody can deny that they have the ultimate claim to the truth about 9/11. on september 11 2001, osama

bin laden carried out the deadliest attack ever perpetrated on american soil, leaving tens of thousands grieving their losses. >> my son graduated from the fire academy only six weeks before 9/11. he was a probationary firefighter at that time. >> we had a wonderful relationship. she was 25 when she died. she was becoming a friend. >> lisa was a wonderful person. just a wonderful wife. she was the top lobbyist in the biotech industry. >> brad was 24 when he died.

>> i could almost him gliding out the building and making it out in such a strange way because he was such an innovative, streetwise kind of a young man. >> the grief-stricken families of the victims dealt with their sadness in different ways. but they shared an insatiable desire to find out why this happened and if it could have been prevented. >> i think just trying to make sense of it you know i read as much as i could tolerate in the newspaper. >> i wanted to know what had happened, why my daughter was dead, why 3,000 people were dead and why our government wasn't able to stop it. >> it became like an obsession to find out all the information i could find out that was

related to 9/11. >> the internet led the families to a mountain of troubling evidence. >> initially i was angry at the terrorists. then i became angry at the government because i realized that more was known about this danger. >> it's not just one administration. it was both. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk.

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good afternoon -- >> a few months after the attacks, national security adviser condoleezza rice claimed no one could have foreseen the events of september 11. >> i don't think anybody could have predict thad these people would take an airplane and slam it into the world trade center, take another one and slam it into the pentagon, that they would try to use a highjacked airplane as a missile. >> but the families' research showed this wasn't the case. >> there was information on the

public record that the government was thinking about exactly that thing. there were only two possibilities, one that she was lying and the other, which is actually scarier, is that even though all this information was there, the national security adviser of the united states didn't know it. that really scared me. >> the families headed to capitol hill. >> i will summarize my testimony as follows. >> christen bright wiser whose husband died in attack outlined their findings in a congressional hearing. >> she started with proof that the government had considered this kind of attack. >> in 1993, $150,000 study was commissioned by the pentagon to investigate the possibility of an airplane being used to bomb national landmarks. >> she revealed that in 1995 the cia was told about a planes as

weapons plot called bow jing ka. >> project bo jing ka's objective was to blow up 11 airliners over the pacific. in the alternative several planes were to be highjacked and flown into shiv villian targets in the united states. among the targets mentioned were cia headquarters the world trade center, the sears tower and the white house. >> then there was the phoenix memo written two months been september 11. >> an fbi agent in phoenix wrote an electron ik communication identifying his concern that al qaeda associates and affiliates were in this country taking flight lessons. he recommended a number of things in his memo and sent it to fbi headquarters. >> i still look at that memo wednesday the most important written in fbi history. >> it basically went to the bottom of the pile. nothing was done with it.

there were numerous missed opportunities that happened that were not taken advantage of, dots that were not put together. >> over 3,000 other human beings -- >> the families demanded a full federal investigation. >> how could this have happened? >> they wanted a 9/11 commission. >> our call for an independent investigation has nothing to do with politics. it has everything to do with seeking out the answers that we so rightfully deserve. >> let's be very clear. the families were angry. they wanted answers and they weren't going to accept anything but the truth. >> but bush white house said no to a 9/11 commission. >> we made the determination at the time that there were more immediate things we needed to do. >> the white house lobbied

against the 9/11 commission's creation because they really didn't want a whole lot of information coming out because everywhere you looked every rock you turned over, it stunk and looked real bad. >> some people felt that a commission would uncover middeeds or carelessness of people in the administration that would be embarrassing for them. >> i was stunned. i was stunned. how could we not have an investigation? why would there be a delay in this? it was something that we just could not understand. >> senators john mccain and joe lieberman supported the families in their effort. >> joe and i decided to introduce a resolution that called for the appointment of a commission. >> mccain and i the families are pushing it. finally the administration said okay we'll support a commission. >> but then there was a phone call from apparently vice

president cheney to someone i think on the house side that the conditions were not agreeable with the white house. >> why do we not have one? why do we have all talk and no action. >> after making headlines the families made a surprise appearance at a meeting to discuss the commission. they faced down white house adviser nick cal i don't. >> we all stood up and held hands and stared them down. >> we stood up and said how can you look us in the eyes and tell us there's not going to be a commission. there was silence. >> and we were basically put on the spot. >> it was a moment when, you know, truth and pain spoke to power, not just truth. >> the families had taken on the administration and won. on november 27, 2002 president bush signed the legislation

mandating a 9/11 ission. >> tnks to the activities of joe lieberman, thanks to the families we were able to bring it about. >> my capacity is the chairman of the commission on terrorist attacks in the united states. i'm honored and humbled to convene this first public hearing.

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learn the vital lessons of 9/11, to look forward to make recommendations that leave the united states and its people safer. >> the commission conducted 12 public hearings over the course of 16 months to investigate the failures of 9/11 and uncover how they happened. as the summer of 2001 unfolded america was on high alert against terrorist attacks. >> but by september the alert had been canceled. >> is it fair to say that in the summer of 2001 the threat level approached or exceeded anything that you had previously been receiving? >> i think it exceeded anything that george ten meant or i had ever scene. >> let me read you some of the actuality chatter that was picked up in that spring and summer. unbelievable news coming in news said one. big event. there will be a very very,

very, very big uproar. there will be attacks in the u in future. >> tenant told us in his world, quote, the system was blinking red, closed quote and by late july it could not have been any worse. >> the predominant focus and threat of it took us overseas. we could not discount the possibility of an attack in the homeland although the data didn't exist with any specificity. >> they don't tell us where, they don't tell us who or how. >> based on their research, the families found this testimony hard to believe. >> i've got a question now i'd like to ask you. it was given to me by a number of the members of the families. did you ever see or hear from the fbi from the cia, from any other intelligence agency any memos, discussions or anything else between the time you got into office and 9/11 that talked

about using planes as bombs? >> to the best of my knowledge, mr. chairman this kind of analysis about the use of airplanes as weapons actually was never briefed to us. i cannot tell you that there might not have been a report here or report there that reached somebody in our midst. >> i don't know whether she lied or not, but there was plenty of evidence floating around all over richard clark's office and the anti-terrorism office and the fbi that planes could possibly be used against the united states. >> clearly they were giving warnings that something was coming. >> despite the unprecedented threat level on september 11th, most americans were unaware of the danger. they were just going about their lives. >> quick drink of orange juice and off to the train station.

>> good boy! you want to go to work? >> i usually start around 5:30, quarter to 6:00 in the morning. i have a regular routine, and i start checking trucks right away as they come in. >> sue was just about eight weeks away from defending her deck torl dissertation in immunology. peter was on a business trip. he thought it would be a nice thing for her to take a little bit of a break and come out to california with him and for christine to go to disney land. so they made it sort of a family affair. >> i spoke with him monday. she said nama, i'm going to california. she said i'm going to see mickey mouse, and then i want to see you n.a.m.a.

>> by 7:00 a.m. that same morning, four hijacking teams arrived at three different airports airports, logan in boston, newark in new jersey and dulles in washington. the faa knew terrorists were training for highjack kings. it passed amend long several high alert warnings to the airports and airlines. >> the faa issued at least five civil aviation circulars to all u.s. airports and air security personnel including specific warnings about the possibility of hijacking. >> some experts put the number of warnings to airports and airlines even higher. >> there were 12 warnings from the faa to the airlines about terrorists training for hijacking and the u.s. aviation system was in the terrorists'

sights. >> on top of that between april 1st and september 10 20001, the faa's own security branch issued 52 internal warnings about bin laden or al qaeda. but nobody said a word about the threat to the people of the united states. >> why wasn't the american flying public warned? why didn't our government actually take more rigorous response to these warnings. >> the state department maintained a list of thousands of suspected terrorists called the tip-off list. >> would you please stand and raise your right hand? >> the faa had their own no-fly watch list with only 12 names on it. >> were either of you aware of the existence of the tip-off roster? >> yes but -- >> were you, ms. garvey? >> i may have been aware. i can't tell you with certainty that i was aware pre 9/11. >> i guess this would apply to admiral flynn as well.

is that correct? >> i regret to say that i was unaware of the tip-often list and was unaware of it until yesterday. >> you didn't ask for a list of suspected terrorists? >> you mean through tip-off? >> yes. >> no. we did not go to the state department and ask them to give us all 61,000 names so they could be put on the watches. for one thing, the airlines wouldn't have been able to handle such a list. >> they still had no trouble handling their frequent flier lists. that's ridiculous. what about common sense? >> once they arrived at the airport, the hijackers got through ticketing without any trouble. >> one of the hijackers on flight 77 didn't even have a photo i.d. you or i probably couldn't get on a plane without a photo i.d.

prior to 9/11. but they let a high-jacker on a plane without a photo i.d. >> actual videos of the hijackers at dulles airport shows them passing through security. >> the key on the dulles video is it showed the violations that the airlines and security companies committed on 9/11. >> one high-jacker set off the metal detector and was hand-wanted by a security screener. >> you're not supposed to use the hand wand until you check it on a metal object. did you check it oven any of the dulles videotapes? absolutely not. another high-jacker set off the alarms for both the first and second metal detectors and still was allowed to proceed. >> you must identify the source of every alarm. you can see they didn't do that because they set off the alarm when they walked through the security check point.

>> the faa had been told for years that airport security was weak. the flaws were exposed by department of transportation undercover red teams who regularly tested the system. >> we found guns, knives hand grenades, axes bombs. >> there was a report about how bad security was and nothing happened. >> the faa did not want us to tell congress. they did everything they could. they tried to have the report classified. >> the whole system of faa security was so flawed, it was just a matter of how the terrorists wanted to do it. >> the main reason security was so bad? many told the commission it was money. >> the nature of what was

happening in the civil aviation industry in the united states at that time did not put terrorism high on the list of priorities. >> every time the government proposed an actual add-on or a separate tax item for security, the airlines opposed it. they said that security doesn't tell tickets. >> there were strong very strong counterpressures to control security costs because it was a cost center for the airlines. >> if the question was, was there sort of direct lobbying either by the airlines or by congress on any specific either safety or security the answer would be no. >> how can you sit there and say that the airlines were not lobbying? what are they paying these high-priced lobbyists for? >> there's a lot of excuses out there. but the end result is people made choices not to focus on

terrorism. whether it was administration or agencies they all failed. >> jane garvey cath them flynn munn net that i think they're traitors. i've called it to their face. and that's how i feel. they're welcome to sue me if they don't like it. improves skin's health in one day with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno.

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after they made it through security, the four hijacking teams took their seats, mostly in first and business class. >> once their planes were in the

air, they sprang into action. on american flight 11 en route from boston to l.a., terrorists took over the cockpit. then they made two announcements that were heard by air traffic control and other pilots. >> we have the plane. stay kauai etd and you'll be okay. we're returning to the airport. >> nobody move. everything will be okay. if you try to make any moves you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. just stay quiet. >> the hijackers turned off the plane ace transponder, making it difficult to track. >> flight attendant betty ong used an air phone to call american airlines reservations. >> ma'am, what seat are you in? >> we're -- just left boston, we're up in the air. we're supposed to go to la. and the cockpit is not answering the phone. >> what seat are you sitting in?

>> what's the number of your seat? >> i'm in my jump seat right now, 3r. >> you're the flight attendant? >> critical minutes went by as ong was repeatedly asked the same questions. >> i'm sorry. did you say you're the flight attendant? >> hello? >> what is your name? >> hi. you're going to have to speak up. i can't hear you. >> what is your name. >> okay. my name is betty ong. i'm number three on flight 11. >> okay. >> and the cockpit is not answering their phone. >> for approximately 23 minutes betty patiently told us she thought they were being highjacked because two or three men gained access to the cockpit and the cabin crew couldn't communicate with the pilots. >> number five. our first class passengers are -- first glass galley flight attendant and pursers and staff. we can't get in the coming pit.

the door won't open. >> this is operations, what flight number are we talking about? >> flight 12. >> no. we're on flight 11 right now. this is flight 11. >> flight 11. i'm sorry nadine. >> quho are you, hon? >> she gave her name as betty ong. >> at 8:25 a.m. boston controllers realized that flight 11 had been highjacked. 13 minutes passed before they called the military's northeast air defense sector, niads to enter spreen. >> we have a highjacked airplane headed towards new york and we need someone to scramble -- >> is this real world or exercise? >> no. this is not an exercise not a

test. >> fighter pilots at otis air force base in massachusetts were ordered for battle stations but they waited for niads to tell them where to go. while they stood by american airlines flight 11 crashed into tower one of the world trade center at 8:46 a.m. [ sirens ] >> i was in an elevator somewhere between the 78th and 101st floor when suddenly i felt a drop by an explosion and then felt it plummeting. the elevator burst into flame. i began to beat at the flames, burning my hands arms and leg there is the process. >> we have a breaking news story to tell you about. apparently a plane has just crashed into the world trade center in new york city just a few moments ago. >> the elevator came to a stop on the 78th floor.

the doors opened and i jumped out. >> i still remember this. i very calmly took my bag, put it at the side of the main elevator bank thinking i would come back to get it later and started to look for the fire exit. >> people in the other tower felt the plane's impact. >> my office is in the basement level of number two world trade center and i felt the shock -- actually knocked my coffee to the floor and i proceeded over to one world trade center to assist in the evacuation and rescue. >> from his office in tower two 24-year-old brad fetchet called his father. >> dad i want you not to be worried. i want to remind you i'm in tower two, not in tower one. they're telling is things are okay. >> my husband asked brad to call me at home and here is the recording of his call left on my

message machine at 9:00 a.m. >> hey, mom. it's brad. i wanted to call and let you know. i'm sure you heard or maybe you haven't heard that a plane crashed into world trade center one. we're fine we're in world trade center two. i'm obviously alive and well. i think we'll be here all day or if the firm is going to -- give me a call back. love you. >> hearing his voice is a double-edged sword because i love hearing his voice, but i hate hearing the message. and i hate thinking about the circumstance he was in. i wish i could have protected him.

>> like bratd fetchet brian clark was in tower two. >> i wandered over toward the north windows where a number of brokers were standing at the glass and they had begun to see people jump. >> a lot of those people had a choice to make. either they're going to stay in a position where they're going to be burned or they're going to jump. and a lot of people made the decision to jump and they did. tremendous amount of people jumped. >> oh my god! >> they're jumping!

>> while david limb headed upstairs in tower one stanley praem vac evacuated the other tower. >> we ran out of the office, the president, ceo, the head of human resources, all these big shots. the elevator came. we went down. not a word is said. >> in the meantime an announcement came over the public address system in the south tower urging people to stay in place. >> the strobe lights flashed the sigh rent went whoop, whoop. your attention, please building two is secure. there is no need to evacuate building two. if you are in the midst of evacuation, you may use the reentry doors and the elevators to return to your offices. >> the port authority directed my son's company to stay put in their offices. quote, that the building is safe and secure. >> i wouldn't remain in my home if the home next door was on fire and i couldn't understand

the mentality of having people remain in a 110-story building. >> as we were about to exit the building through the turnstile first, the security guard looks at me and says where are you guys going? i said i'm going home. why? i saw fireballs coming down. no. your building is safe and secure. go back to your office. in in less than one minute the elevator zoomed back up and we're on the 78th floor again.

i msnbc now. i'm veronica de la cruz. a suicide truck bombing outside a u.s. combat post in

afghanistan injured 77 u.s. personnel, all injuries considered nonlife-threatening. yesterday's attack killed two afghan civilians and wounded less than 25 others. new york and d.c. police are on high alert for today's tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks because of an alleged terror threat. authorities are looking for three, possibly two u.s. citizens. and now back to "on native soil." in sarasota, florida, president bush was told about the first plane crash as his motorcade arrived at an elementary school at approximately 8:55 a.m. he called national security adviser condoleezza rice and asked to be kept informed.

45 minutes earlier united flight 175 had taken off from boston to loss andless. at 8:14 a.m., pilot victor sayer seen any overheard the hijackers from flight 11 on his radio. >> nobody move. everything will be okay. >> two minutes later united flight 175 was highjacked. >> in easton connecticut lee and eunice hanson got a phone call from their son peter who was aboard the plane. >> when i first leanne ser the phone and say hi, peter, i said what's he calling for? and then i heard silence on his part.

>> he said dad, the airplane is being highjacked. and i think my first thing was come on peter. he said, no, it's being highjacked. and he said i don't think the pilot is flying the plane even now. he said you ought to call united airlines and let them know because they may have turned off the equipment that can warn them of a hijacking. and he said i'll get back to you. >> the controller responsible for united 175 was looking for the already crashed american flight 11. he didn't notice that united 175 had now veered off course.

within ten minutes of united 175's hijacking a third plane, american flight 77 traveling from dulles to los angeles came under attack. >> stephen push's wife lisa rains was on board. >> she was going on a business trip one-day business type to california. >> at 8:54 american 77 began deviating from its flight plan, first with a slight turn to the south. two minutes later it disappeared completely from indianapolis radar. >> the controller who lost flight 77 assumed it crashed. >> he believed american 7 experienced serious mechanical and/or electrical failure and was gone. >> meanwhile in new york, an air traffic control manager tracking united flight 175 tried to report its hijacking to her superiors.

she was turned away. >> the manager tried to notify the regional managers and was told that the managers were discussing a highjacked aircraft, pre-assumably american 11 and refused to be disturbed. >> finally another manager from new york center realized there were several highjacked planes. he contacted the faa command center in herndon virginia. >> several situations going on here. we need to get the military involved with this. >> just as military assistance was requested, controllers in boston finished reviewing the first transmission the hijackers sent from flight 11. they too realized the hijackers had more than one plane. >> you still there? >> yes, i am. >> i'm going to reconfirm with downstairs, but the -- as far as the tape, seem to think the guy

said we have planes. i don't know if it was because of the accent or if there's more than one. i'm going to reconfirm that for you. and i'll get back to you real quick. okay? >> appreciate it. >> said what? >> planes as in plural. >> it sounds like that there's another one aimed at the world trade center. >> there's another aircraft? >> at 9:02 a.m., new york terminal approached an unidentified plane on their radar. >> do you know who he is? >> we don't know who he is. we're just picking him up now. >> the controllers saw the plane was in a rapid descent. it was flight 175 headed straight for downtown manhattan. >> lrt. heads up. looks like another one. >> aboard the flight, peter hanson called his father again.

>> he said it looks like they're going to crash into a building somewhere. >> i just happened to raise my head. i'm looking out the direction of the statue of liberty and what i saw was this giant aircraft coming towards me eye level. >> he said, don't worry, dad. it will be quick. and then he just said, oh, my god. oh, my god. oh, my god.

>> oh, my god! oh, my god! [ screaming ] >> i had the television on, and the plane hit the building. and all i said was, oh no! just like that. >> half our family is gone.

>> stanley praem rath and bradley clark were above the 80 tower floor of the tower that was hit. >> the bottom wing is wedged in my office door, 20 feet from where i am. >> excuse me. it's closed. >> top u.s. officials said, quote, that this was clearly terrorist related. >> as i was watching tv the plane flew in to tower two. so i knew then that brad was in tower two and i was just trying to calculate where he was in the building and where the plane had

hit. >> i said to the police commissioner that we're in unchartered territory. we've never gone through anything like this before, and we're going to have to do the best we can to keep everybody together keep them focused. >> mayor what's the situation right now? >> the situation is that two planes apparently. >> [ inaudible ]. >> why? let's go north then. come with us. come with us. let's talk a little later okay? >> the port authority was the agency responsible for the world trade center. but as the proportions of the disaster became clear, new york's police and fire departments also rushed to the scene.

>> my son jonathan who was a new york city firefighter called that morning to say turn the tv on. he said dad we're going to the world trade center. i said okay, be careful. >> he said okay. >> those men that responded here looked out the windows of those fire trucks, they looked up they saw what the hell they were going to go into and what did they do? they went into it. they went into it. >> several floors of fire would have been beyond the fire extinguishing capability of the forces we had on hand. we determined very early on this was going to be strictly a rescue mission. ses armies of snowmen masseuse who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon.

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in sarasota, florida, president bush greeted a class of second graders. >> good morning. how are you? >> at 9:05 a.m. two minutes after the crash of the second plane in new york, an aide interrupted the president to give him the news. >> andrew card whispered to him quote, a second plane hit the second tower, america is under attack closed quote. the president said his instinct was to project calm not to see an excited reaction at a moment of crisis. >> this is a difficult moment for america -- >> the president made a brief statement before leaving for the airport. today we've had a national tragedy. two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an ap