The September 11th attack
Bush moving to halt bin Laden's money flow
By Scott Lindlaw
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush is trying to choke off Osama bin Laden's money flow as the White House prepares for military action and steps up diplomatic efforts to build an international anti-terrorist coalition.
Associated Press
Bush was to sign an executive order identifying terrorist groups and their operatives around the world and freezing their U.S. assets, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said.
Attendees were invited to wave their U.S. flags at the end of the "A Prayer for America" memorial service yesterday at Yankee Stadium. The service, the largest since the Sept. 11 attacks, was broadcast nationwide and brought thousands together to remember, honor and pray.
"The president will sign an executive order about financial networks, really squeezing the life's blood out of his organization," Rice said yesterday on CNN's "Late Edition." Bin Laden's group "will ultimately not be able to function if it cannot have access to money," she said.
Meeting with Canada
Bush was meeting today with Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada — a key ally, but one whose leaders and citizens felt snubbed in recent days.
The president did not mention Canadian cooperation in his address to Congress on Thursday night, although Canada housed, fed and comforted thousands of American air travelers stranded there after dual attacks in Washington and New York on Sept. 11. He did praise Britain, whose prime minister, Tony Blair, was an honored guest at the speech.
Chretien is under criticism from some at home who say he hasn't been bold enough in his response to the terror attacks.
He was expected to offer more of Canada's F-18 jet fighters for joint patrols of North American skies, along with naval support and possible replacement of Canadian soldiers for U.S. troops in peacekeeping duties in Bosnia.
Bush spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for nearly an hour over the weekend — their third conversation on the anti-terror campaign — and will see Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi tomorrow.
As he laid the groundwork for a military strike, the president also sought to help restore a sense of normalcy to the nation. He looked on yesterday as Marines raised the American flag at his Camp David, Md., retreat to full-staff for the first time since the attacks.
Football resumes
Associated Press
Outside Washington, Americans resumed their routines.
President Bush and first lady Laura Bush attend a Camp David ceremony in which the American flag was raised to full staff yesterday for the first time since Sept. 11.
Professional football games were played yesterday for the first time since Sept 11.
One famous stadium was transformed into a field of healing yesterday. Representatives of New York's broad spectrum of faiths took the field of Yankee Stadium for a flag-draped gathering of prayer for the victims of terrorism. "We need faith, wisdom and strength of soul," said New York's Roman Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Edward Egan.
A key area of concern in Washington was the economy, bruised in the aftermath of the attacks. Bush was contemplating a broad array of methods to jump-start it, but heeding the advice of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who urged against an immediate government stimulus package.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., disagreed. "I think we have to have a stimulus package immediately that accelerates certain kinds of investment projects, whether it's railroad, road, airports, even something as prosaic as a sewer overflow, for mayors all across the country," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., urged consumers to do their bit by opening their wallets. "People, if you want to do an act of patriotism, if you were going to buy a car, go out and buy that car," he said on CBS. "If you were going to do some trip, go do that trip."
Crop-dusting planes grounded
As Bush signed a bill delivering $15 billion in federal aid to the nation's ailing airlines, alarming news surfaced of possible new terrorist attacks from the skies. Concerned about possible chemical weapons attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a one-day ban yesterday on crop-dusting from airplanes in domestic airspace.
Investigators continued their wide-ranging work. In a Dallas suburb, the FBI arrested a Palestinian whose name turned up in the address book of a former personal secretary to bin Laden. Ghassan Dahduli is appealing an immigration court deportation ruling for obtaining a work visa through fraud, FBI spokeswoman Lori Bailey said.
In Austin, Texas, authorities pulled from an American Airlines flight two men whose names matched those on an FBI list of people wanted for questioning. The passengers were detained while boarding, said John Hotard, a spokesman for American Airlines.
The Bush administration promised to offer up evidence of bin Laden's role in the attacks. "I think we will put before the world, the American people, a persuasive case that there will be no doubt when that case is presented that it is al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, who has been responsible," Secretary of State Colin Powell said.
"What we want to do is to make sure that his activities are stopped and that he is stopped," Powell said on ABC's "This Week." "One way or the other."
