September 25, 2001 Diary: America Responds

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Gun show restraints considered
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
By Chad Lawhorn

A Lawrence group that helps victims of domestic violence is asking the Douglas County Commission to help by tightening regulations for gun shows at the fairgrounds.
Board members with Women's Transitional Care Services asked commissioners Monday to require all gun show vendors at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds to do background checks on each person buying a gun.

Wichita workers share New Yorkers' sorrow
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
It is Sunday morning, and Wichita fire Lt. Jim Gaston stands in a fire station 2 miles from where the World Trade Center collapsed and lives were shattered.
Gaston's lips quiver. Not from being awake for more than 24 hours. Rather, from an emotion that defies words.

Sales skyrocket for firefighters' T-shirts
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
By Dave Ranney

At first, Doug Woods didn't know whether area firefighters could sell 1,500 T-shirts in their effort to raise money for the families of the police and firemen killed in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Now, he can't get enough.

Attacks trigger veterans' flashbacks
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Images of the World Trade Center collapsing and workers searching for human remains are dredging up painful memories for combat veterans.

Bush freezes terrorists' U.S. assets
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
President Bush ordered a freeze Monday on the assets of 27 people and organizations with suspected links to terrorism, including Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, and urged other nations to do likewise. Foreign banks that don't cooperate could have their own transactions blocked in the United States.
"Money is the lifeblood of terrorist operations," Bush said. "Today, we're asking the world to stop payment."

Bush approval rating rockets to record level
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
President Bush has rocketed to the highest job approval rating of any president in modern history, but even his supporters acknowledge that he will have trouble translating his sky-high poll numbers into lasting political achievement.
A Gallup poll conducted after Bush's speech to a joint session of Congress last week found that 90 percent of Americans approved of the job he is doing as president.

Military training
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
J-W Editorials

Universal military training programs might be among the projects to consider as our shocked society seeks to meet the future with confidence.
The United States faces a number of major changes in its modus operandi following the terrorism in New York and Washington. One of the early calls regarding ways to meet an especially challenging future is for reinstatement of the military draft. The concept is worth serious discussion and consideration.

Tragedy may unify world
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
By Trudy Rubin
The Philadelphia Inquirer

I've been feeling a compelling need to imagine how some good might emerge from last week's hideous assaults.
I don't mean to be a Pollyanna. I know that many tests lie ahead: the possibility of new attacks, the difficulty of beating back global terror, the prospect of American casualties. And yet, the destruction of the World Trade Center has collapsed so much conventional wisdom that frightened leaders, all over the world, might be shocked into some creative thinking.

Pieces of puzzle fall together too late
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
A pilot's uniform is stolen from a hotel room in Rome. A continent away, a report surfaces about a Florida cab driver with ties to Osama bin Laden. Then, Israeli intelligence warns of signs a large-scale attack may be planned for the United States.
Police and intelligence agencies around the world are constantly flooded with thousands of tips and reports, but experts say they lack the manpower to chase them all.

Economy weakening before attacks
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
The economy was weakening even before the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., a new Conference Board survey showed Monday.
The New York-based Conference Board said its Index of Leading Economic Indicators fell 0.3 percent in August to 109.6, following a revised 0.4 percent increase in July.

Suspect charged with helping hijackers get phony identification
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Federal authorities have charged the first person with aiding the terrorist hijackers, according to court documents released Monday. The number of people arrested or detained in the wide-ranging investigation grew to 352.
Herbert Villalobos was charged in federal court in suburban Virginia with aiding one of the suspected hijackers to fraudulently obtain a Virginia identification card a month before the Sept. 11 attacks.

War should include sacrifice
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
By Mark Shields
Creators Syndicate

"It is much easier to make the speeches," said President John F. Kennedy (who made some very good ones), "than to make the judgments."

Stocks fluctuate but hold steady
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
(Updated Tuesday at 3:53 p.m.) Stock prices fluctuated but showed signs of stability Tuesday as investors looked for bargains after last week's precipitous drop. The Dow rose 56 points, while the Nasdaq was up 2.15 as trading ended.

Israel creates buffer zone in West Bank
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Trying to seal itself off from Palestinian militants, Israel on Monday set up a large military buffer zone in the West Bank that is off limits to Palestinians except those who live in it.

After attacks, 'normal' may never be normal again
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Two weeks after the terrorist attacks, the American flag flies at full-staff. Starbucks is pouring lattes. Barry Bonds is smacking homers. Prince William and Kathie Lee are tabloid headliners.

Terrorism forums discuss laws, rights
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
By Terry Rombeck

The United States' response to recent terrorist attacks will have implications at home and abroad, Kansas University professors said at two forums Monday afternoon.

'Miracles have happened'
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani played down chances of finding anyone alive in the World Trade Center rubble Monday as families and rescue workers faced the reality that many of the more than 6,000 missing victims may never be recovered.

U.N. seeks key role in fight
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call Monday for the United Nations to play a major role in the long-term international fight against terrorism won immediate support from the United States, Russia and China. But the world body still struggled over what it can and should do.

Historians ponder precedents, urge caution
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Yankee-hating terrorists kill thousands of civilians. An angry United States responds, fighting a difficult guerrilla war in an impoverished land far from home.

Bin Laden issues new call to 'holy war'
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
With Osama bin Laden exhorting followers to stay "steadfast on the path of jihad" — holy war — the hard-line Taliban government warned Monday the Americans they were "igniting a fire that will burn them" if they attack Afghanistan.

Christian backlash growing
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Muslim worshippers in Pakistan remove their shoes before entering a mosque. Worshippers at Christ Church in Rawalpindi do the same, but adapting to local customs has not been enough to protect them from an ugly anti-Christian backlash threatening to sweep Pakistan.

Anti-war protesters blow against the wind
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
With polls showing that the vast majority of Americans support military action against terrorism, organizers of an anti-war rally planned here Saturday have a difficult task ahead.

Attacks help senator come to decision
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Republican Sen. Fred Thompson said Monday he had been leaning against running for re-election until the terrorist attacks convinced him that "now is clearly not the time to leave."

Missouri man dies from terrorist attacks
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
The terrorist attacks have claimed the life of a Missouri man who died of injuries sustained near the World Trade Center.

Pope expresses respect for 'authentic Islam'
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Pope John Paul II said Monday that the Catholic Church respects "authentic Islam," making the distinction between it and the fanaticism that some fear will stigmatize the religion in the wake of the U.S. attacks.

Terrorist attacks: Recent developments
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
(Updated Tuesday at 3:42 p.m.) Recent developments related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks:
• U.S. government lifts ban on crop-dusting flights; the planes had been grounded amid fears of biological or chemical attack.
• Saudi Arabia cut all ties with Afghanistan's Taliban government, saying Afghan leaders were defaming Islam by harboring and supporting terrorists.
• Osama bin Laden's organization makes fresh call to arms, saying "wherever there are Americans and Jews, they will be targeted."

Pentagon calls up 2,000 more reservists
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
(Web Posted Tuesday at 4:15 p.m.) The Pentagon issued call-up orders for nearly 2,000 more reservists Tuesday and administration officials firmed up plans for stricter airline security in the wake of the terrorist strikes. Saudi Arabia broke diplomatic ties with the Afghanistan, accused of harboring the prime suspect.

Arab students leaving U.S. universities
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
(Web Posted Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.) Around the United States, scores of Arab students have dropped out of college and left the country, many of them after being called home by parents fearful of war and anti-Arab sentiment following the terrorist attacks.

Union presses Congress for law allowing armed pilots
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
(Web Posted Tuesday at 7:46 a.m.) The Air Line Pilots Association is pressing for federal legislation that would allow pilots to carry firearms in cockpits, a move the union says could prevent hijackings. "This is a reflection on how much the attack on Sept. 11 has changed everything we thought about hijackings and terrorism," said union spokesman John Mazor.

Solicitor General seeks tougher anti-terrorism laws
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
(Updated Tuesday at 4:15 p.m.) Solicitor General Ted Olson, whose wife was killed in the attack on the Pentagon, said Tuesday the nation's laws for dealing with terrorism must be tightened. "The choice is to turn terrorists loose in this country," he said.

6News: Updates from around the world
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
In today's stories: hope finding more bodies at the World Trade Center dwindles, the international coalition against terrorism gains new support and troops at Fort Bragg prepare for action.

6News: Protestors call for alternatives to military action
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Protestors in Lawrence call for the United States to spend military dollars on humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

6News: KU holds discussion on legalities of anti-terrorism
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Several speakers debate the legal ramifications of the United States' war on terrorism.

Lessons to learn
Tuesday, September 25, 2001

Patriotic spending
Tuesday, September 25, 2001