October 25, 2001 Diary: America Strikes Back

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Pondering the future
Thursday, October 25, 2001
By Rebekah Zemansky
Special to the Journal-World

The events of Sept. 11 and the subsequent military action in Afghanistan are hitting home for Lawrence teens. "It was hard to believe until I saw it," said Lawrence High School senior Justin Davis. LHS senior Rob Scott added: "I did not believe that it was real."

Washing hands a good defense
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Postmaster General John E. Potter said Wednesday he can't guarantee the safety of the mail, and he and other postal officials began suggesting Americans wash their hands after handling letters.

T-shirts combine school spirit, U.S. patriotism
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Andrew Bailey loves his school — and his country, too. Andrew, a 17-year-old senior at Lawrence High School, recently came up with the idea to create T-shirts that combine school spirit and patriotism, and then sell the shirts at LHS as a fund-raiser for the Salvation Army, 946 N.H.

Terror bill clears House
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Six weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, the House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the final version of a bill that would expand the ability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to tap phones, monitor Internet traffic and conduct other forms of surveillance in pursuit of terrorists.

Terrorism's reach hits close to home
Thursday, October 25, 2001
By Mindie Paget

The American flag flying at half-staff at local post offices Wednesday and the protective gloves worn by several Lawrence mail carriers were subtle reminders that the East Coast terror has struck close to home.

Rate cuts to come
Thursday, October 25, 2001
By Mark Fagan

The Federal Reserve's announcement Wednesday that the U.S. economy had been battered by weak retail sales, canceled manufacturing orders and rising layoffs didn't surprise Wayne Angell. Nor would the Fed's decision to cut interest rates by another half point by year's end.

Fast or feast? Student groups differ at KU
Thursday, October 25, 2001
By Terry Rombeck

It was fasters vs. feasters Wednesday at the Kansas Union. In the fourth-floor lobby, 20 students were fasting to raise awareness of starving Afghan refugees and promote peaceful alternatives for fighting terrorism. Most were members of the KU Green Party.

U.S. seeks to understand Afghanistan
Thursday, October 25, 2001
By George Will
Washington Post Writers Group

Conversing with a Western scholar on a flight from one city in Afghanistan to another many years ago, an Afghan said, as his countrymen still like to do, that Afghanistan is a West Asian Switzerland — landlocked, mountainous, multilingual.

Economic-stimulus package clears initial hurdle
Thursday, October 25, 2001
The Republican-led House narrowly passed tax relief legislation Wednesday that would provide a $100 billion jolt to the staggering economy. Democrats protested it would mainly help big companies, but President Bush urged quick Senate action on the bill.

Postcards draw attention to suspicious packages
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Millions of postcards are due to arrive in mailboxes this week as the Postal Service seeks to heighten public awareness and soothe fears about anthrax-tainted mail. Medical specialists, meanwhile, said it was very unlikely that any anthrax present in a Washington post office could have contaminated other letters awaiting delivery to people's homes.

New spores discovered in Senate building
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Investigators said they have discovered anthrax in a new location in the Hart Senate office building Wednesday evening, even as another congressional office building became the first to reopen since a letter contaminated with the bacteria was discovered last week on Capitol Hill.

FBI says anthrax may be U.S.-made
Thursday, October 25, 2001
The FBI has investigated 2,500 reports of possible anthrax exposure but has found no links yet between them and the Sept. 11 hijackings, bureau Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday.

Arrests made in hoaxes
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Two college students were arrested for an anthrax hoax that halted postal service in the town of Murray after white powder spilled from an envelope. Preliminary tests indicated the substance was powdered sugar, Murray Postmaster Mark Kennedy said Wednesday.

Companies apply to help manufacture smallpox vaccine
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Ten drug companies have responded to a government call for information on how the nation's vaccine-makers could produce about 250 million doses of smallpox vaccine by the end of next year, federal officials said.

Officials admit slow anthrax response
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Surgeon General David Satcher bluntly admitted Wednesday "we were wrong" not to respond more aggressively to tainted mail in the nation's capital. "Anybody who puts poison in mail is a terrorist," said President Bush, although he said he had no direct evidence to link the Sept. 11 airliner attacks with the outbreak of a disease that was last seen in the United States more than two decades ago.

Northern alliance rebels unseemly bunch of allies
Thursday, October 25, 2001
An Uzbek warlord, Gen. Rashid Dostum, is accused of allowing massacres and mass rapes. Another man betrayed Dostum to join the Taliban, then switched back and is accused of atrocities himself.

Test results expected today on repair workers
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Health officials may not know until today if any workers at a Topeka postal repair center have been infected with anthrax. Dr. Larry Rumans of the Shawnee County Health Agency said at least 40 percent of the 175 employees at the U.S. Postal Service Central Repair Facility had been tested for anthrax and given preventative does of antibiotics.

Medical officials make first DNA identifications
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Eight people lost in the World Trade Center attack have become the first victims of the disaster to be identified through DNA in the biggest effort in history to use genetics to put names to the dead.

Food poisoning scam suspected
Thursday, October 25, 2001
A senior U.S. military officer expressed surprise Wednesday at the staying power of Afghanistan's Taliban, then accused the group of planning to poison humanitarian food supplies entering the country.

Senator says anthrax shows level of sophistication
Thursday, October 25, 2001
The anthrax spores that killed two postal workers were so small and finely milled that they suggest "more than a casual scientist" is behind the attacks through the mail, Sen. Bill Frist said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Anthrax or flu? A life or death question
Thursday, October 25, 2001
A postal worker is sent home from a hospital after doctors tell him he has the flu. The next day he returns and dies of anthrax. The death Monday of 47-year-old Joseph P. Curseen has underscored the difficulty — and the life-and-death importance — of distinguishing between the inhaled form of anthrax and the flu, especially with the peak flu season arriving.

America stands for something
Thursday, October 25, 2001
By Leonard Pitts Jr.
Miami Herald

"Let's send them back to the Middle East." It's an argument that's gained a certain seductiveness since the day we saw skyscrapers stabbed by airplanes. Now, there's this anthrax scare, which may or may not have a foreign connection.

Bush, Putin form friendship
Thursday, October 25, 2001
By Trudy Rubin
The Philadelphia Inquirer

One of the stranger photographs in modern diplomatic history appeared this week showing President Bush and Russia's Vladimir Putin huddled intently, dressed in identical high-collared, Chinese silk tunics with knotted buttons.

Northern alliance calls for U.S. ground troops
Thursday, October 25, 2001
(Updated Thursday at 11:59 a.m.) U.S. jets bombed the front lines north of Kabul on Thursday, setting off huge orange fireballs and columns of black smoke near Taliban positions. Some opposition commanders urged America to send ground troops and liquidate the Taliban quickly.

6News video report: Around the world
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Josh Garber reports on news from around the world.

Anthrax test results negative for Topeka postal repair workers
Thursday, October 25, 2001
(Web Posted Thursday at 3:38 p.m.) Early results from tests on a dozen workers screened for anthrax exposure after they complained of flu-like symptoms at a Topeka postal repair center are negative, health officials said Thursday.

Briefly
Thursday, October 25, 2001
• Washington, D.C.: Army gives heroism awards
• New York City: Bin Laden lookalike beaten
• Michigan: U.S. propaganda lagging
• New York: Gambling bill advances