October 8, 2001 Diary: America Strikes Back

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Then and now: U.S. at war
Monday, October 8, 2001
By Mike Belt

In the days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, American patriotism skyrocketed. But it was not as obvious as in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"We didn't have the T-shirts and the poetry and the signs everywhere like we see now," recalled 85-year-old Dorothy Knox.

U.S. attacks
Monday, October 8, 2001
American and British forces unleashed punishing air strikes Sunday against military targets and Osama bin Laden's training camps inside Afghanistan, aiming at terrorists blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks that murdered thousands in New York and Washington.
"We will not waver, we will not tire," said President Bush, speaking from the White House as Tomahawk cruise missiles and bombs found targets halfway around the globe. "We will not falter, and we will not fail."

Pentagon: 31 targets hit in first wave
Monday, October 8, 2001
(Updated Monday at 3:12 p.m.) Twenty U.S. warplanes and naval forces launched a second day of attacks on Afghanistan Monday, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the initial round of bombing had been at least moderately successful against the Taliban's air defenses, airfields and aircraft.

FBI investigating anthrax found in second Florida man
Monday, October 8, 2001
(Updated Monday at 3:10 p.m.) The FBI is investigating the possibility that anthrax bacteria found in two Florida men is a result of terrorism, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday.

Missiles launched from long range
Monday, October 8, 2001
Forty U.S. and British warplanes and an armada of warships and submarines pummeled strongholds of the al-Qaida network and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan on Sunday with Tomahawk cruise missiles, 500-pound gravity bombs and computer-guided bombs.
The targets included early warning radars, surface-to-air missiles, airfields, aircraft, military command and control installations and terrorist camps.

Patience and resolve
Monday, October 8, 2001
J-W Editorials

Rooting out international terrorism will require a big commitment from the United States and its allies.
Patience seemed to be the key word in President Bush's Sunday afternoon address to the American public to announce U.S. and British military strikes against terrorist and Taliban targets in Afghanistan.

Iraq calls airstrikes 'treacherous'
Monday, October 8, 2001
Iraq's Saddam Hussein on Sunday called the airstrikes on Afghanistan "treacherous aggression," while in Egypt the U.S. Embassy, fearing reprisals against Americans, shut down some operations and warned U.S. citizens to lie low.
Iraqi TV took the unusual step of linking up with the popular Arabic satellite station Al Jazeera to show live coverage of the strikes on the Afghan capital. The link was abruptly severed when video of President Bush appeared in Al Jazeera's report.

Kansas delegation urges calm, resolve
Monday, October 8, 2001
Members of Kansas' congressional delegation emphasized that air strikes in Afghanistan are against people responsible for the terrorist attack, not any religious or ethnic group.
"It's really, really important that people understand that," said Rep. Dennis Moore, who is attending a meeting of NATO-member lawmakers in Canada this weekend. "It's not against Muslims."

Afghanistan not an invincible enemy
Monday, October 8, 2001
By Jefferson Penberthy
Special to the Los Angeles Times

In the silence before the battles were joined, there was a whisper that the soft soldiers of the world's only superpower will be no match for the hardy Afghans in the rocky passes of their home ground, and especially not in winter. This historic graveyard of empires will be another quagmire that will suck the United States under, declares the Taliban mullah, Mohammed Omar.

Words prepare hearts for war
Monday, October 8, 2001
On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against Al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime.

We must face history
Monday, October 8, 2001
By Ellen Goodman
The Boston Globe

If you are looking for someone questioning the value of her work in the wake of Sept. 11, don't talk to Margot Stern Strom. Ever since terror struck out of the blue, this moral educator has felt only "a new sense of urgency."
Strom has spent the last quarter-century guiding teachers, who in turn guide adolescents in what she calls "their journey to moral adulthood." She co-founded and shepherds an organization that encourages students not only to study history but to face it, to look for lessons in right and wrong, humanity and inhumanity.

United States' hypocrisy 'rearing its ugly head,' bin Laden proclaims
Monday, October 8, 2001
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that Mohammad is his messenger.
There is America, hit by God in one of its softest spots. Its greatest buildings were destroyed, thank God for that. There is America, full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that.

U.S. says humanitarian airdrops to Afghanistan successful as planes return to Germany
Monday, October 8, 2001
(Updated Monday at 8:14 a.m.) Two American C-17 cargo planes completed an unprecedented and risky mission dropping humanitarian aid over Afghanistan Monday as part of Washington's efforts to underscore that the military attacks were aimed at terrorists, not civilians.

Americans brace for battle
Monday, October 8, 2001
By Matt Merkel-Hess

Patty Buchholz cried when she heard of U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan.
"I guess I knew it was coming, but today it hit reality," she said. "It hit home that it's really going to affect people."

All quiet near B-2 bomber's home
Monday, October 8, 2001
It was business as usual Sunday in this town bordering Whiteman Air Force Base — the home of the B-2 stealth bombers used in the attacks on Afghanistan.
Residents went to church, lunched at local cafes, watched football in taverns while only occasionally discussing the bombings delivered half way around the world by planes based close to home.

Airstrikes follow familiar Pentagon game plan
Monday, October 8, 2001
The airstrikes against Afghanistan used only a limited number of aircraft and cruise missiles, yet the attack appears to have had easily enough punch to knock out most of the country's strategic targets in a single night.
The strikes followed one the most oft-used pages from the Pentagon's playbook: It opened with a fusillade of cruise missiles to destroy air defenses, communications nodes and other large fixed sites, then followed with precision munitions and gravity bombs to destroy smaller and more dispersed targets.

U.S. humanity is heartening
Monday, October 8, 2001
By Myriam Marquez
The Orlando Sentinel

Bombs fell on America's enemies — finally but with unknown finality. So, too, did food and medicine tumble from the skies for the suffering Afghan people in the terrorists' midst.

Stocks mixed following U.S. retaliation for terror attacks
Monday, October 8, 2001
(Updated Monday at 3:13 p.m.) Stock prices fluctuated Monday as investors tried to discern what the U.S. military attacks on Afghanistan will mean for the country and the weak economy.

Security concerns reassessed
Monday, October 8, 2001
At airports and sports stadiums, state capitols and downtown office buildings, and on the streets from Utah to New York, the nation stepped up already heightened patrols and security precautions Sunday as bombs dropped in Afghanistan.

Career part of global shakeup
Monday, October 8, 2001
Geneva Overholser
Washington Post Writers Group

The life of every American was shaken on Sept. 11. For those of us fortunate to have lost no loved ones, the unsettlement has played out in countless lesser ways, from wakeful nights to a deeper appreciation of new mornings and loving hearts. One result for me — and I know for many others — has been a decision to change my work life: This is my final syndicated column.

Pakistan braces for outbreaks
Monday, October 8, 2001
In the hours before the U.S.-led attacks on Afghanistan, the front-line state of Pakistan braced itself for popular backlash by putting a pro-Taliban cleric under house arrest and reshuffling key military commanders.

New York stays on track; parade will go on today
Monday, October 8, 2001
As U.S. and British military strikes began against Afghanistan, residents in the city that bore the brunt of the terrorist attacks faced heightened security at airports, points of entry and elsewhere.

Bush: Sacrifices required in 'world of sudden terror'
Monday, October 8, 2001
"I know many Americans feel fear today," President Bush said Sunday. Truer words were never spoken.

Graham takes message of hope on the road
Monday, October 8, 2001
A few weeks after giving a consoling sermon at the National Cathedral to a nation pained by the terrorist attacks, the Rev. Billy Graham will bring his message to the masses during a four-day crusade.

CNN backs off exclusive video deal
Monday, October 8, 2001
CNN backed off after rival networks ignored its attempt to secure exclusive video from inside Afghanistan during the American-led military attack that began Sunday.

VOA expanding Afghan broadcasts
Monday, October 8, 2001
The Voice of America is expanding its radio broadcasts into Afghanistan and attempting to explain U.S. war aims while avoiding overt propaganda, such as calls for Afghan soldiers to defect, VOA officials said Sunday.

Amid heightened security, Columbus Day parade plans proceed on New York City's Fifth Avenue
Monday, October 8, 2001
(Web Posted Monday at 8:11 a.m.) The city still counting its dead from the Sept. 11 attacks responded to news of retaliation overseas by boosting its already high security. But officials refused to let the tense atmosphere get in the way of preparations for the annual Columbus Day parade.

Armored vehicles, officers deployed in Indonesian capital as protests staged
Monday, October 8, 2001
(Web Posted Monday at 8:06 a.m.) Hundreds of Islamic militants protested outside the U.S. Embassy on Monday amid new threats against westerners living in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

U.S. begins second wave of attacks
Monday, October 8, 2001
(Updated Monday at 3:08 p.m.) The United States uncoiled a second night's aerial strike against military and terrorist targets inside Afghanistan on Monday as President Bush vowed to bring "evildoers to justice." Attorney General John Ashcroft warned every American to be vigilant against the threat of more attacks on U.S. soil.

Cheers greet news of strikes
Monday, October 8, 2001
Cheers of "USA! USA!" echoed through football stadiums at news that U.S. forces had launched strikes in Afghanistan.

Briefly
Monday, October 8, 2001
• Security Council to get briefing on attacks today
• Bombings may boost price of gasoline
• Asian markets fall on news

Afghan king recognizes U.S. right to attack
Monday, October 8, 2001
Afghanistan's former king said Sunday he recognized the "legitimate right" of the United States to pursue those responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but urged that innocents be spared in the U.S. strikes on his homeland.

Poll finds strong support for strikes
Monday, October 8, 2001
President Bush received immediate, strong and overwhelming public support for his decision to launch airstrikes against terrorist sites in Afghanistan. Most Americans said the attacks mark the start of a long war and likely will prompt additional terrorist attacks directed at the United States, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Witnesses at Afghan border report chaos, fleeing residents after strikes
Monday, October 8, 2001
(Web Posted Monday at 8:54 a.m.) People ran from their homes and thick clouds of smoke engulfed the southern Afghan city of Kandahar during overnight strikes by U.S. warplanes, according to a trickle of witnesses arriving in Pakistan on Monday.

Attacks increase Mideast tension
Monday, October 8, 2001
Sunday's U.S. and British missile attacks against Afghanistan prompted harsh criticism from Iran and Lebanon while bringing yet another element of tension to the already volatile Middle East.

Northern alliance attacks Taliban after U.S. strikes
Monday, October 8, 2001
The Afghan opposition launched an assault on the ruling Taliban militia from an air force base just north of the capital, in an attack coordinated with Sunday's U.S.-led military action against Afghanistan.

Allies quick to back U.S. action
Monday, October 8, 2001
European governments gave swift and solid backing to the U.S.-British attacks on Osama bin Laden and his backers Sunday, with France saying its forces would also take part.

The show won't go on
Monday, October 8, 2001
The Emmy Awards telecast, delayed three weeks by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was canceled Sunday after United States and Britain launched a military attack in Afghanistan.

U.N. told counterterrorist attacks may extend beyond Afghanistan
Monday, October 8, 2001
(Web Posted Monday at 11:15 a.m.) The United States has formally notified the U.N. Security Council that counterterrorism attacks may be extended beyond Afghanistan.