Terrorists Hijack 4 Airliners, Destroy World Trade Center, Hit Pentagon; Hundreds Dead

Private buildings also were shut down, from the Space Needle in Seattle to the Sears Tower in Chicago to Walt Disney World in Orlando. America's borders with Canada and Mexico were sealed. New York's mayoral primary was abruptly postponed. So was Major League Baseball's schedule for the night.

Wireless networks buckled under the barrage of cell phone calls. The besieged Internet search engine Google told Web surfers to try radio or TV instead. Amtrak train and Greyhound bus operations were also halted in the Northeast.

Last night, fires were still burning amid the rubble of the World Trade Center, and pools of highly flammable jet fuel continued to hinder rescue teams searching through waist-deep rubble.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched eight search-and-rescue teams to New York and four teams to the Pentagon. The Department of Health and Human Services sent medical teams and mortuary teams, and activated a national medical emergency cadre of 7,000 volunteers for the first time.

The Empire State Building went dark as a symbol of national mourning. In Washington, Republicans and Democrats presented a united front in condemning the attacks; members of Congress delivered a spontaneous rendition of "God Bless America" after a news conference on the Capitol steps.

"We are outraged at this cowardly attack on the people of the United States," the leaders of Congress said in a bipartisan statement. "Our heartfelt prayers are with the victims and their families, and we stand strongly united behind the President as our commander-in-chief."

The impact of the attacks reverberated not just in the United States but in every major capital. European and Asian airlines canceled all flights to the United States and recalled or diverted those already in the air. Flights over London, Paris and other capitals were re-routed over less populous areas. London's financial district was largely evacuated; security was bolstered around U.S. schools and embassies in many countries.

Panic buying caused oil and gold prices to soar while stock investors in all major foreign markets dumped shares in the most frenzied wave of selling since the 1987 crash. In the Middle East, China and the Yugoslav republic of Serbia, some people welcomed the attacks, but an array of international leaders pledged support for the victims.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the attack in blistering terms, and described it as a "turning point" in the global war against terrorism. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned the attack as well, although some Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territories and Lebanon celebrated with glee.

But amid all the sadness and all the outrage, there were questions about lax security and inadequate intelligence, as Americans tried to fathom how such a catastrophe could happen with no apparent warning. On at least two of the airliners, according to federal officials, the hijackers were armed with nothing but knives. How did they get away with it?

In fact, counterterrorism experts have talked in recent years about cyber-attacks and biological attacks. Security officials issued warnings just last month about bin Laden's threats to American installations abroad.

But yesterday's attacks caught a vast security apparatus off guard. The military command center in Colorado's Cheyenne Mountain, responsible for U.S. air defenses, received word just 10 minutes before the first aircraft struck the World Trade Center that a American plane had been hijacked. The notification came too late for fighter jets to take action, a senior Air Force officer said.