Under Siege
"This is pure, unadulterated evil."; "There was fire and smoke everywhere. It was surreal."; The terrorists flew on devil's wings in a horrifying moment, singular in history. They changed the course of a presidency, a nation, and, quite likely, the world
Which would further add to the din of criticism over the lapses in security and intelligence. To help matters, the CIA plans to bring back some veteran officers to help with the investigation. They include linguists, analysts, and case officers with experience in counterterrorism matters and the Middle East. Some in Congress are already complaining about the low level of intelligence briefings they have received on the attacks. The congressional leadership was taken by military helicopter to safe locations in the hills of Virginia last week for security reasons, an adventure one member described as a "Dr. Strangelove moment." From the helicopter, the leaders of the Congress saw the Pentagon aflame. From the bunker, congressional leaders spoke to Vice President Cheney four times, but not once with the president. Operating from a secure bunker after the initial attacks, Cheney began monitoring the 2,200 flights that were still in the air Tuesday morning. As many as a dozen other planes were feared hijacked.
As haunting as the images from the crumbling World Trade Center towers were, perhaps nothing underscored the sense of vulnerability so much as the scenes of the Pentagon, the symbol of Fortress America, aflame, with people fleeing. And soldiers wounded within. One of them, Charles Lewis, a 30-year-old naval petty officer, found himself balled up in the fetal position after being thrown 15 feet across the room from the force of the blast. "I didn't want to get hit in the head," he said from his hospital bed in suburban Virginia. "At the time of the impact everything went black. There was a moment of silence, then the next thing I heard was everything coming down around me--walls, computer, ceiling. People were screaming and yelling for help. I was just trying to get some bearings . . . thinking about my family and friends."
He had watched the planes crash into the World Trade Center on TV. "A lot of people were commenting that if it can happen there, what is to stop it from happening here or at the White House. No more than 10 minutes later, it happened to us."
Big guys. And his sense of the possible was true. Officials believe that a fourth plane that crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh might well have been headed for the White House. On doomed United Flight 93 at least three passengers--Jeremy Glick, Thomas Burnett, and Mark Bingham--decided to fight the hijackers. Glick, 31, who worked in sales for an Internet company, called his wife, Lyzbeth, from his cellphone. "He said there were these bad terrorists and he wanted advice about whether they should rush them or not," says his father-in-law, Richard Makely, who was present during the 15-minute call. Glick's mother-in-law then called state police on a separate line. Glick stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 220 pounds. "There were several other big guys on the plane, and they decided they were going after them," recalls Makely. "He told my daughter he loved her, but he said he was going to go."
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