captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: security was stepped up in washington, d.c., and new york today as possible suspects were pursued in what was called a "credible" bomb threat. good evening. i'm jim lehrer. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff.

on the newshour tonight, we get the latest on the heightened vigilance and the investigation from dina temple-raston of npr. >> lehrer: then, ray suarez examines president obama's pitch for republican support of his jobs plan on a day the stock market fell sharply. >> woodruff: mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. >> lehrer: we have two stories about the home countries of the 9/11 terrorists. margaret warner reports on the egyptian roots of the radical islamic movement. >> warner: egypt was an incubator of militant political islam. we've come to cairo to explore that history and find out if that ideology still has appeal, even after the arab spring. >> woodruff: plus, jeffrey brown talks to caryle murphy of globalpost about saudi arabia ten years after the attacks. >> lehrer: and we close with a look at a new way to see our reporting online, and a preview of our 9/11 special coming sunday evening. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour.

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public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the nation faced new tension over terror today. it stemmed from a possible plot timed around the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and aimed at the same cities. from times square in new york city to the subway system in washington, police were plentiful today. they had already ramped up staffing levels for the 9/11 weekend, then increased them again after word of the new threat. counter-terror officials were said to be chasing what they called "credible, but unconfirmed" intelligence about a possible car bomb plot that surfaced wednesday night. on abc this morning, vice- president joe biden said there's still no sign an attack is imminent. >> there's no certitude.

we don't have the smoking gun. but we do have talk about using a car bomb. >> reporter: but we do know that individuals entered the united states with the intent to launch a car bomb? >> have been told that that was an intention to get people into the united states to do that, from a credible source, but we do not have confirmation of that. >> woodruff: various news accounts said there might be three suspects, possibly including an american citizen. they may have traveled to the u.s. from afghanistan or pakistan. the fbi's james mcjunkin spoke last night in washington. >> there are scores of people at this moment at fbi headquarters and a number of the d.h.s. components that are together scrubbing through mounds of data, looking for potential leads for individuals that may... where suspicion may arise around them. >> woodruff: reuters, citing an un-named u.s. official, reported the plot may be linked to ayman

al-zawahri. he took command of al qaeda after osama bin laden was killed in may. secretary of state hillary clinton seemed to confirm the link today in new york. >> al qaeda again is seeking to harm americans and, in particular, to target new york and washington. this should not surprise any of us. it is a continuing reminder of the stakes in our struggle against violent extremism, no matter who propagates it. >> woodruff: and the 9/11 anniversary presents a prime time for attack, as the president's counter-terror adviser, john brennan, told me earlier this week on "the newshour". >> we know from the material that was recovered from the bin laden compound that bin laden was looking at the tenth anniversary of 9/11 as an opportunity to strike yet again at the u.s. homeland. our intelligence agencies and

law enforcement agencies have been very, very diligent in looking at all the different potential actors out there. >> woodruff: there was no change ordered in the nation's terror threat level, but police in new york were especially focused on bridges and tunnels. they set up vehicle checkpoints and baggage checks. at the same time, mayor michael bloomberg rode the subway to work in a bid to reassure commuters. and he encouraged new yorkers to go about their lives as usual. >> you don't want al qaeda or any other organization... i don't know if this is al qaeda or some other terrorist organization-- you don't want them to take away the freedoms without firing a shot. it's just ridiculous. >> woodruff: back at the white house, officials insisted president obama isn't changing his plans either. he will mark sunday's anniversary by attending ceremonies at all three of the 9/11 attack sites. for the latest on all of this we

turn to dina temple-raston, counter-terrorism correspondent for npr. dina, thank you for being with us. tell us just exactly what do authorities know. >> well, actually, there's more that they don't know than what they know. but there was a source in pakistan that had suggested sort of a vague plot. the vague plot involved at least three operatives, perhaps one american, perhaps a car bomb, something to coincide with the 9/11 anniversary, and it also seems that it was something that they had started. and that's what intelligence officials are trying to figure out now-- what does started mean? does that mean they've already dispatched people? does that mean it was planned? does that mean people are here? in your piece you were talking g about how they are scrubbing for information. they are take the information they have from this one source and see how it might jibe with

other things that they have been picking up over the last couple of months glued now, why are they focusing, apparently, on subways and bridges and so forth? >> >> i think when you talk about car bombs and you want to have the maximum amount of damage, this is one of the places al qaeda has continually said it wants to focus on, particularly public transportation, because you can get a photograph of it, and it disrupts life as usual. i mean, if you were in new york today-- i mean, the mayor took the subway because, frankly, if you were on the streets of new york today, you had a lot of trouble getting around. i've never seen new york this way. it almost looks like the attack has already happened. i mean, there are police cars everywhere. there are barricades down 5th avenue. this has really been ramped up. >> woodruff: i did interview john brennan, a couple days ago, and he said ever since they went through osama bin laden's material when they killed him, they known that this was an

interest in doing something on the anniversary of 9/11. so they've been looking for something, i gather. >> they have. and the reporting that we've been doing at npr, what's been really unusual is in the run-up to this anniversary, there has been very, little evidence of chatter. it seemed like al qaeda leaders had gone to found because so many of them had either been captured or killed by drone attacks, and they just seemed like they were sort of huddled up. so this particular intelligence interpret that they got kind of surprised them because there had been silence for so long. >> woodruff: so they're still investigating, is that right? >> that's exactly right. basically what happens is they get this intercept, or they get a piece of intelligence that seems strong, and this particular source apparently has been very help am to them in the past and corroborating other things that have happened. so they put more stock in it.

it's interesting because it's different than the way journalists work. when you have an unconfirmed report, that's basically someone giving you a hint and you try to get a second source. it distribute really work that way with intelligence. the way it works with intelligence is generally, it's whether you have faith in the source. it could be one source, but if you have a lot of faith in that source that changes want way you react. and apparently this particular source, the way they got this piece of information, is something they have a lot of faith in. >> woodruff: dina, at some point, if they don't get corroboration, how do they dial back the threat here? >> well, that's a great question, and the other problem is, as dribs and drabs of this story come out, in which they might be looking for three operatives in this country, this might be an american-- there's a very good possibility that if that is in fact true-- and we don't know it is-- but if that is in fact true these people go to ground and wait until the u.s. is not on such high alert. and this is one of the big concerns the intelligence has with the story coming out in dribs and drabs the way it is.

>> woodruff: i know you will continue to report and we'll continue to follow. thank you, dina temple-raston. >> you're very welcome. nice to be here. upon >> lehrer: still to come on the newshour: the president's pitch for his jobs plan; shields and brooks; islamic militancy in egypt; saudi arabia after the attacks; and a preview of our 9/11 special. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: commemorations here and abroad began today for the 9/11 anniversary on sunday. traders at the new york stock exchange observed a moment of silence before secretary of state hillary clinton, former mayor rudy giuliani, and others rang the opening bell. and a ceremony at the pentagon featured a once-tattered flag from near the world trade center site. volunteers were invited to sew a few stitches of repair work. defense secretary leon panetta spoke at the event. he said 9/11 stands as a defining moment for americans. >> we will always grieve, always

grieve over those taken from us so violently, but we do so with the knowledge that had it not been for the heroic action of many that day here at the pentagon, the human toll would have been far worse. >> sreenivasan: there were also events in europe, including a moment of silence on the belgian stock market before trading began there. and in paris, french president nicolas sarkozy joined a wreath laying at the american embassy. wall street went down hard today. fears about europe's debt troubles spiked again when a top official resigned from the european central bank. and doubts that president obama's jobs plan will pass also fueled the sell-off. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 303 points to close below 11,000 again at 10,992. the nasdaq fell 61 points to close just under 2,468. for the week, the dow lost 2%; the nasdaq fell half a percent. flooding in the northeast began

to recede slowly today as remnants of tropical storm lee finally moved on. the system left behind at least 12 dead, plus extensive damage, with federal disaster areas declared in pennsylvania and new york state. in binghamton, new york, the swollen susquehanna river crested overnight at 11 feet above flood stage, the second such disaster in recent years. >> well, this is supposed to be a 500-year flood, but we had one five years ago, so it's obviously very sobering. and this is actually worse than the one five years ago. >> sreenivasan: some homes were cut off as the rushing water rose steadily through thursday. >> you need to leave the area immediately. >> sreenivasan: some 20,000 people had been ordered to evacuate from areas in danger of flooding. many turned to the safety of shelters, including one at a local university. >> we just found out that the apartment has totally been flooded, and we lost everything on the bottom floor of our apartment. >> sreenivasan: farther down the susquehanna, in northeastern pennsylvania, the water crested

above 42 feet overnight in wilkes-berre, over the historic levels of hurricane agnes in 1972. rose simko was one of the 75,000 residents across the region who had to evacuate this week. >> the most important thing is that we have our lives. that's what you have to look at. everything is replaceable. anything that you want to keep as cherishables or heirlooms, take it with you. and that's what we did. >> sreenivasan: elsewhere, a torrent washed away this house in lancaster, pennsylvania, and smashed it into a bridge. the damage in new jersey was less than feared, but in wayne, water from the pompton and passaic rivers rose to six feet in some places. the overnight blackout in southern california, arizona and mexico came to an end today. san diego was hardest hit, when 1.4 million homes and business went dark late thursday afternoon. cars clogged the streets and airlines shut down after computer systems failed. loss of power also caused a treatment plant to spill more than two million gallons of sewage onto the city's beaches. the outage was triggered by work being done at a sub-station in arizona.

in syria today, protesters appealed for help against the government crackdown for the first time. thousands poured into the streets in a number of cities, shouting, "we want international protection!" many also carried signs and chanted slogans demanding the death of president bashar al- assad. security forces again opened fire, killing several people. elsewhere, activists reported troops in the city of homs killed at least 20 people on thursday. rebels in libya have entered one of moammar qaddafi's last strongholds. a spokesman for the national transitional council said fighters entered bani walid from the north and east, and were battling snipers there. they had massed forces for a week, and given the town until saturday to surrender. but the assault began early after qaddafi's loyalists began firing rockets. meanwhile, the international police agency interpol issued arrest warrants for qaddafi, one of his sons, and his intelligence chief. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: it was the day after the big speech for president obama, and day one of

his campaign to sell a new economic program to congress and the country. ray suarez has that story. >> suarez: the president took his jobs plan on the road, to the university of richmond in virginia and a crowd of 8,000. >> everything in the american jobs act, everything in there is the kind of proposal that's been supported in the past by both democrats and republicans. nothing radical in this bill. everything in it will put more people back to work and more money back in the pockets of those who are working. >> suarez: the president rolled out his american jobs act in last night's address to a joint session of congress. it would cost just under $450 billion, including some $250 billion in tax breaks, mostly in the form of payroll tax cuts for

workers and employers. there's also nearly $200 billion in new spending for public works, unemployment benefits, and aid to the states. the president has vowed the jobs act will be fully paid for, and he's asking the new deficit super-committee to help find ways to do that. he also says he will offer new deficit cutting ideas of his own, including curbs on medicare and medicaid, in ten days time. overall, white house officials project nearly 1.9 million jobs will result from the plan. but first, it has to win approval in congress. house minority leader nancy pelosi challenged republicans today to work with the president. >> what the president said last night it's not between the democrats and the republicans, it's about the american people. and i think that will give an opening to work in a bipartisan way. but i think we have to be respectful. i don't think we have to

confront. we just have to see where we can find our common ground. >> suarez: to that end, the president staged his event today in the virginia district of house majority leader eric cantor, the chamber's number two republican. >> i am an optimistic person. i believe in america. i believe in our democracy. i believe that if you just stay at it long enough, eventually, after they've exhausted all the options, folks do the right thing. ( cheers and applause ) >> suarez: earlier, cantor spoke on the house floor and called for accommodation. >> the president came last night, and there were several things and proposals within his speech that seemed to reflect some areas that we can both agree on and build towards consensus. this is an opportunity for us to set aside the differences that we have, because good people can differ, and begin to focus on things like allowing tax relief

for small business, like allowing for the rollback of regulatory impediments that stand in the way of small business growth. >> suarez: but on the campaign trail, there was little talk of common ground from the president's republican challengers. minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann came out swinging shortly after mr. obama spoke to congress. >> i stand here tonight to say to the president not only should congress not pass his plan, i say, "mr. president, stop. your last plan hasn't worked, and it's hurting the american economy." >> suarez: and in a web video released today, the mitt romney campaign called the obama economic policies a failure. the president will continue to push for public support for his program in the coming days, with rallies next week in ohio and north carolina. >> lehrer: and to the analysis of shields and brooks-- syndicated columnist mark shields, "new york times" columnist david brooks.

david, how does the president's speech look to you 24 hours later? >> oh, anguished ambivalence, as usual. you know, it was a very good speech, very forceful. i was glad he actually had a plan. he contrasted to the last stimulus, where he let congress do a plan, so it was leading from the front. he also, as he says, quite accurately, took ideas from the center. the payroll tax cut, all that stuff, the infrastructure spending, that is republican and democratic plans. there's a georgia works element where you get unemployment insurance to give people some access to the labor market. these are all very good ideas. the third thing you've got to be aware of is we are in serious peril of a double-dip recession. so all these are in favor of what he said. the doubts i have, one, is will he pay for it? he sort of was ambiguous about how aggressive he was going to be in doing that. >> he said it was paid for. >> he said it was paid for. he said he was going to announce a plan but is he going to announce a plan or tell congress

to come up wyman. and finally, just the effectiveness of the thing. infrastructure spend ago we might be entering a double-dip recession right now. infrastructure spending will take a long time to get going, payroll tax cuts. when people are nervous, they save their money. is that really going to get spent? i see pros and cons but on the whole i think it's a pretty good package for people in the middle and a lot of republicans and they should walk with the president another few steps to see if they can make it a reality. >> lehrer: what did you think of the speech, mark? >> it was fascinating political theater to me in the sense that ordinarily when barack obama has spoken to the congress or congressional group, he's been cool, and the passion has been in the crowd. and i found him to be passionate this time, and a certain coolness-- i think it would have been-- i thought it was a good speech. i thought it would have been a better speech if he had given it when he was at 68% approval rather than 43% approval. at the same time, i agree with david's point, that he put the

republicans very much squarely on the defensive, because these are ideas that republicans, a number of republicans have, not only supported in the past but have advocated and urged upon him. >> lehrer: do you think his-- the tone of urgency worked? did he have it? it's always been said that he doesn't have that when he talks. >> well, i mean, i think those are two questions. one, if repetition is the first law of learning, as susan page told us in "usa today" today, 37 times in a 34-minute speech he said, "jobs." that kind of god across as to what really was driving him. and the fact that even though it isn't reduced to legislative form yet, that he does have a specific plan, and not something that you folks are going to work out, i think is a real-- a real plus, jim. the reality is, to me, about it, is that the electorate at

largemented him to reach out with bipartisan-- less-partisan-- approach. he certainly did that. and his own base wanted him to show more passion and intensity-- >> lehrer: and you think he did that? >> he did that. i think in that sense it worked politically. the big question remains will he follow through? i mean, remember on health care he was going to take it to the country and go to every hamlet and convince people after the signing of the health care bill. he didn't do it. other things intruded. he wasn't sitting there playing golf. i think a lot of questions the democrats have, he did it today but is he going to continue on it? >> lehrer: do you think that's important, david, he has to go to the country with this? >> i think he went to the country on health care. he is facing a tough public. a lot of americans have given up on him. a let of americans have given up on government. when you look at the poll, "do you trust government" it has

fallen in the last two years, down to 17%. he's facing a very skeptical public. he's facing a public which is, to my mind, insanely skeptical about stimulus packages in general. the vast, vast, vast majority of people say the first stimulus did nothing. i didn't like the bill but it must have been something. >> lehrer: there is a list of things it did. >> there's a lot of skepticism out there. and i do think, again, it's important, especially in congress, for him to come back next week with a surprising way to pay for it. he's going to raise taxes on the rich. that's fine. he believes in that. but one of the things that struck me about the speech last night was the extra emphasis on the medicare reform, and he said some people in my party don't agree with that but we have to do it. if there's a strong element of that, then, that raises some eyebrows -- oh, he's trying something new. that will be very impressive. >> lehrer: back to mark's point on repetition, he didn't say it 37 times but he said, "pass it, pass it, pass it."

i didn't count it-- >> 16. >> lehrer: 16 times. >> lehrer: will they pass it? >> they could pass part of it. as eric cantor said-- if you go back to the stimulus debate on the first bill, there were a lot of republicans saying this is a terrible bill. what he should do is cut the payroll tax. now that's in the bill. it's very hard to say we're not going to do that. >> the president get credit for one ups manship, pause the payroll tax will expire and republicans have insisted if you let a tax cut expire, that's a tax increase. are they going to be part of that? i thought there was one great moment in the speech when he said the next election of 14 months away, and the people who sent us here, who hired us to work, they don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months. some of them are living week to week, paycheck to paycheck, day to day. i thought that put a human face on the problem, that had not been done in the past. >> it was a very good moment. i thought that was the best moment of the speech. but it should be said, we have

official numberes of how many jobs will be created and people in the white house are pretty realistic about this. i think last summer, the beginning of the summer, they were okay, let's grind this out. let'sth let's wait for the economy to bounce back. the news of the summer is what created this eech, the fear that we could be in a double dip. their hope-- i don't think they have extravagant hopes that we're going to jolt the economy into prosperity, if we can stay even, given what's happening in europe, that will be fine. >> lehrer: the politics of it again, mark, as we said, as ray said in the lead-in piece, the republican leadership is conciliatory, but the people who want to be the republican nominee for president hammered this speech. why the difference? >> two different worlds. the republican house members-- and eric cantor hlunch with him and a bunch of other reporters hosted by the "christian science monitor" on thursday, he was sweetness and light. he was talking about common

ground, finding point of agreement, and that that was important. memberes of congress understand, jim, that american voters are disgusted with the congress. they're disgusted -- >> lehrer: 82% of them. >> that's right. with the rancor, with the petty partisanship, and so forth. in the past what, has been the source of consolation for individual members of congress is voters have said, "can't stand the congress, but charlie, my guy, is okay, or sally, they're okay. it's the other 534 horse thieves you have to watch out for." well, that's changed. now we've seen polls that actually show a majority of people willing to get everybody out of there. >> lehrer: including billy bob. >> billy bob, a victim all. so i think that there's that understanding that people do want a more grown-up sense, a sense of working together, and that perception. the presidential candidate exist in a separate world. that was republican primary voters. they agree on two things-- they're against taxes and they're against barack obama.

and that's what sustains them. >> jim: do you see the division the same way? >> exactly. the presidentials are competing who can be the most anti-obama, which is a different thing. i agree with that. the one thing i would add is we sit here every fourth read and talk about the jobs numbers for that month. and last time it was zaire. what happens if next month it's in the negatives and the month after that? i don't care where you are on the ideological spectrum, if we have two negatives, people are going to want to do something so they might as well be open now for that possibility. >> lehrer: speaking of the republicans, thed with debate, what did you think of that? were there winners, losers? give us your report from your perspective. >> i thought it was, a., an excellent debate, one of the best debates i've seen in many cycles. i thought all these people did quite well pretty much. i think mitt romney did the best, best i've seen him, very forceful, knew what he wanted to do, moments of grace when he had a chance to attack rick perry and pulled back.

i thought that was a sign. if i i were barack obama looking at what romney did i would be nervous. rick perry was still the favorite. what was refulatory of character was when he was on the offense attacking people i thought he was quite strong. >> lehrer: you mean perry? >> yes. >> when he is on defense and somebody is asking him or he has to show conviviality, he was much less strong. i was shocked by the answers on social security and global warning. any meadeoker staff should be able to give you a decent answer for a predictable question. >> lehrer: what about perry? >> i'm sure he was given answers that would pass david's test or anybody else's. that was the candidate's decision. he wasn't going to retreat, no excuses no retreat, no surrender. that's in the book. that's what i wrote. and i think that rick perry did

meet the question about doubt whether he could deal in this kind of a national setting. i think he showed himself to be at ease, comfortable with himself, comfortable with the setting. i think that the problem for him is that he raised questions about his electability with the answers on social security and global warming that is-- republicans have to understand, jim, have dealt with social security. in 1964, barry golded water made that an issue, and he got crushed by lyndon johnson, but more recently in 2005, george w. bush in his second term raised the question of privatization, of private accounts, even-- not even privatization, private accounts-- that contributed in the eyes of many republicans to their losing the congress in 2006. i thought mitt romney was the best platform performance of his entire career. he showed himself to be able to take an elbow and to throw an elbow on the jobs question about

texas and massachusetts. and i thought his defense of social security said, "i'm the electable republican. i'm the guy you want to go with." >> lehrer: finally, what are your thoughts about 9/11 10 years later david? >> everyone has talked about the scars, the wars, the costs in life, and blood and the low moral and the low position, america's standing in the world. that's pretty obvious. i would emphasize some of the positive things that have happened since 9/11 because of u.s. actions. saddam is out. qaddafi is out-- not all because of u.s. actions-- taliban is out, mubarak is out, there has been a change in the world. al qaeda has been destroyed. we haven't been attacked again. soy would say it's at least a mixed blessing and after 9/11, the middle east is in a period of turmoil. could turn out bad. could turn out good. given that part of the world was in a decline-- cultural, economic, and political-- the fact there's turmoil is potential good news. there is an upside to all the

things that have happened since 9/11. >> lehrer: mark? >> i disagree. i think to use 9/11 as a justification for going to war against saddam hussein was indefensible then. the united states now has two wars of occupation, 10 years later. i think afghanistan you could certainly make the case after the attack of 9/11 that that was necessary and required. there was a sense of national unity and solidarity, and compassion that existed in this country after 9/11. which is gone. it's no longer with us. the united states' standing in the world, that sense of solidarity with the united states and support for the united states after the terrible events of 9/11 has been allowed to go away. i agree with david about the arab spring and i think it is encouraging, and i-- but i don't think that going to iraq is an

instrument of it. >> lehrer: on that note of disagreement, thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: next, a two-part look at the lingering effects of 9/11 in two arab nations. first, from egypt, a report from margaret warner. >> warner: cairo's khan al khalili market has stood for 630 years. shoppers and sellers jam the streets and alleys. and here, 5,000 miles away from america's shores, the 9/11 attacks still resonate a decade later. >> ( translated ): no one supports this! we were shocked beyond belief. >> warner: but there was another sentiment, as well. >> ( translated ): i felt that the american government deserved it-- not the people, but the government deserved it. >> warner: there was little debate, however, on one point-- like 75% of egyptians in a

recent poll, no one here believed that arabs or muslims, much less egyptians, could possibly have been involved. >> ( translated ): most egyptians are muslims, and islam does not permit such violence. >> warner: some hinted at more powerful forces at work. >> i don't think it was only al qaeda that was doing this. >> ( translated ): muslims don't do that! this is an economic conspiracy at its highest level. >> warner: the 19 hijackers were all arabs, of course. their ringleader, mohammed atta, grew up in a middle class cairo neighborhood. so did osama bin laden's top deputy, now running al qaeda, dr. ayman al-awahiri. egypt was an incubator of militant political islam, aiming to overthrow secular governments and replace them with islamic ones. in the '90s, the movement also drew the u.s., long a supporter of secular arab regimes, into its sights.

we've come to cairo to explore that history, and find out if that ideology still has appeal, even after the arab spring. as a young man in the '70s, zawahiri was a leader in a new breakaway radical islamic movement, egyptian islamic jihad. it was banned from taking part in politics. in the early '80s, zawahiri and his cohorts turned words into violent actions. the radical movements first really spectacular attack took place here 30 years ago. president anwar sadat, reviewing a military parade, was gunned down. that event, so remote from the daily lives of americans at the time, set off a chain reaction that climaxed in the september 11 attacks on the united states. sadat's successor, the new president hosni mubarak, rounded up hundreds of alleged conspirators and imposed tighter constraints on all of the country's islamist groups.

among those brought to court in a defendants' cage in 1982-- then-31-year-old zawahiri. >> we are muslims! >> warner: zawahiri railed against zionism and imperialism and his conditions in prison. >> there they beated us, they whipped us, they whipped us with electric cables. >> ( translated ): i met him three times, and he was a very decent, calm and shy man. afterward, when i saw his sermons on television, i did not recognize him. he was a different human being, very aggressive. >> warner: retired police general fouad allam, who helped lead state security's anti- terrorism unit, rejects the theory that the mubarak regime's torture and repression drove zawahiri and other islamists to greater violence. >> ( translated ): he was already convinced before his arrest of this concept of takfir, which means anyone who does not subscribe to the same ideology is an infidel, and should be attacked and killed. he was not tortured.

i can vouch he was not. it would be great if you could present one person who charged such a thing. >> ( translated ): these are the marks from being hung by my arms, by my wrists on a sling. they are permanent marks. >> warner: aboud el zomor, founder of egyptian islamic jihad, just released after 30 years for his role in sadat's killing, says he and zawahiri was tortured. >> ( translated ): i saw it with my own eyes, even though we were tortured one by one. when they took him, i looked out of a small hole and saw the torture firsthand. >> warner: what effect did that have on zawahiri? >> ( translated ): this torture didn't change our thinking, but it made us believe, though we must endure this pain for the sake of allah, we will engage in revenge for such treatment. >> warner: columnist and editor hala mustafa, who studies islamist movements, says zawahiri's transformation into a

global jihadi figure was triggered by his voluntary exile from egypt. >> because it was very difficult to topple the regime at the time, islamic groups in egypt shifted the focus from the domestic field to the foreign field, from the domestic ruler to the united states and to the west in general. >> warner: after prison, he joined the fight against the soviets in afghanistan, teaming up with bin laden, matching his brains to the saudi's charisma. since bin laden's killing, zawahiri has been urging his followers to exploit democratic upheaval in the arab world and step up attacks on u.s. targets as well. but do these messages still find a receptive audience here? to that, islamist mohamed abdel rahman says the answer is no. he's camped in front of the u.s. embassy, petitioning for the

release of his father, the so- called blind sheik imprisoned in the u.s. for terrorism. mohamed rahman says now that his father's group, gemaa islamiya, can take part in politics; they don't need the tactics zawahiri still espouses. >> ( translated ): his message to seize the opportunity in egypt to revive the spirit of violence does not resonate with the egyptian people, because they have seen firsthand with the revolution that there is a possibility for peaceful change. >> warner: yet several nights later, with sadat conspirator zomor on stage, one attendee told us u.s. policies abroad still make america a target. >> of course someone will have a feeling of getting revenge against americans. >americans.

>> warner: another unanticipated terror threat may be emerging in egypt in vast desert spaces like sinai. there, militants returning from exile after mubarak mingle with local bedouins in what u.s. officials could become a safe haven for terrorists. the last few months have seen attacks on gas pipelines into israel and a police station. a group calling itself al qaeda in north sinai claimed responsibility. we asked abu faisal, a follower of the fundamentalist salafi strain of islam, if he'd seen new faces in sinai since the revolution. >> ( translated ): i see old and familiar faces of people that had scattered due to the old regime's presence. now, many of the sons of sinai have returned to their homes from which they were deprived. >> warner: salafi leader as'ad amin kheiry bek said the state's security presence is much diminished since mubarak fell.

>> ( translated ): when the government left, there was a vacuum that we had to fill. since the police and court system are not functional anymore, we have been mediating to maintain the peace by sharia principles. >> warner: but cairo attorney montasser al-zayat, who represents islamist groups, said the real threat to the u.s. is not in sinai; it's in the hearts and minds of a new generation of egyptians, islamist and secular alike. do you think that the conditions that created september 11, that came out of egypt, at least, are worse even now? that it could create another september 11? >> ( translated ): there is actually a large chance that this might be repeated, because the youth of the middle east have a lot of anger towards american policy against iraqis and afghans, and palestinians. >> warner: and has the arab spring changed any of that? >> ( translated ): not at all. arabs were against their autocratic governments and corrupt leaders, but the resentment towards the u.s. still remains because of its policies.

zawahiri's message resonates within this group of youth. >> warner: to explore that, we went to zawahiri's leafy boyhood neighborhood, maadi, to meet three egyptians who were barely teenagers when the towers fell. 23-year-old ahmed el sheikh and his friends, sara mahmoud and islam dardeery. what do you remember about the time of those attacks and what you thought? >> i had this mix of feeling, about feeling of joy, like islam was taking its revenge from support by america for israel. and at the same time, feeling sorry about this and all these innocent people who have died. >> warner: they voiced resentment that 9/11 had tarred all muslims as terrorists. >> we have to justify we are not terrorists, we are muslims. >> we love the west, and we do not want to kill you. we are normal human beings, >> warner: they all criticized the u.s. response to 9/11 in

afghanistan and iraq, and its support for arab autocrats like mubarak, who repressed all opponents at home. but islam dardeery thinks the terrorist threat to the u.s. has lessened because egypt's islamist groups can engage in politics. >> it will help them to move away from their extreme thinking to more moderate one. they'll have to have a solution for everything. >> warner: sara mahmoud thinks healing also may come from the western world's new regard for egyptians since the february uprising. >> actually, the whole world actually respect us. they start to open the newspaper, and "look what happened in egypt today." >> warner: americans have to hope that, through young egyptians like these, with more possibilities ahead of them than previous generations, the u.s. can find a new accommodation with the arab world. >> late tonight hundred of protesters converged on the israeli embassy in cairo. about 30 of them reached a room

on a lower floor and threw documents from windows. in her next report, margaret looks at the revolutionaries now working to build a new democratic egypt. >> lehrer: and we turn from egypt across the red sea to saudi arabia. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers came from saudi arabia, of course. ten years later, how is that event and its aftermath seen there? caryle murphy has been one of the handful of american correspondents living in saudi arabia. a pulitzer prize winner for "the washington post," she's now a correspondent for our partner, the online international news site global post, and author of the book, "the passion for islam". welcome to you. >> nice to be here. >> brown: so does 9/11 still resonate in various ways among saudis as it does in egypt? what attitudes do you hear? >> well, initially, saudis were in denial and disbelief that saudis were among the perpetrators of 9/11.

but gradually-- and especially after they had their own al qaeda insurgency there in 2003-- they accepted the fact that saudis were involved. and the government has now accepted that, too. but you still run across some saudis who are in-- they just don't believe the official story. they don't believe that saudis were involved, and they have this theory that 9/11 was the act of some dark forces in a western government. >> brown: so what attitudes -- do you get a range of attitudes towards the u.s. today, towards the government and the people? >> definitely. the saudis, both of government and the people are very unhappy with u.s. foreign policy. they were very unhappy about the invasion of iraq. they don't like what's going on in afghanistan. they feel the united states is biased towards israel. so for all these reasons, they are-- they're quite angry with the united states. however, that does not mean that they are anti-american. over half of the students who are studying abroad are now

studying in the united states, and they chose to come here. >> brown: now, the exporting of a certain kind of islam, a fundamentalist and seen as a more doctrineaire form came from the saudi money, saudi government. has all that changed since 9/11 in these 10 years? >> yes. experts i talked to who study the salafi movement say the saudi government's approach to proselytizing and promoting islam abroad has changed. it's become much stricter with the funds it gives foreign islamic groups. it's tried to move closer to mainstream islamic groups abroad and it's toned down some of the extremist rhetoric of some of the walabi's clerics. 9/11 and the insurgency they had in 2003 has made them much more wary of the more aggressive rhetoric of wa and they're

attacking steps to tone that down. >> brown: and the so-called arab spring, why margaret is back in egypt to look at that there. what kind of impact has that had on saudi arabia? is it perceived as a threat to the government there? >> the saudis were put off kilter by the arab spring, and especially when their great ally and friend, hosni mubar astepped down-- >> brown: they didn't know what to make of it. >> they didn't know what to make of it. they were taken totally by surprise. they are feeling very insecure because they don't know where all these events going on in the region are going to end. so there has been some retrenchment from the reform program that king abdullah espousing. the government's given a little bit more leeway to the religious police, to control people in

public, and it's given them more money, and there is-- there's a less tolerance for criticism. >> brown: you mean as they get more insecure, they pull back on any new openings, particularly, i mean, for one thing that got a lot of attention was women. even women wanting to drive. so things like that, you think there's less room for as they're less secure? >> in a certain way, yes. right now, the government's waiting to see where things are going to go. and if they feel that the arab spring is not going to mean a toppling of the monarchy-- which i don't think it does mean-- then they will probably be more tolerant to let this campaign that started in saudi arabia recently to let women drive, they'll probably let that go on for some time, and eventually, women will be able to drive left and well, just to end, where you just said you didn't see this as potentially toppling the monarchy, do you get any sense

of vulnerability there when you're there, after what's happened in much of the rest of the arab world? >> you know, saudis suis generis. the people there are content for the most part, although there is growing discontent with problems. the government is able to give evenly benefitses to people. so there is not as much discontent there as there is in egypt. and i just don't see where there would be any type of rapid change in saudi arabia right now. having said that, they're facing a lot of challenges, including unemployment for the biggest youth bulge ever, so down the road, there are big challenges that could mean a challenge to the government. >> brown: all right, caryle murphy, on saudi arabia, thanks so much. >> you're welcome.

>> woodruff: finally tonight, a heads-up about our special broadcast this weekend on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. newshour correspondents have traveled around the country in recent months talking to americans about their experiences in the past decade. here's a preview from ray suarez. >> lee adler. daniel thomas afleta. >> on sunday, america will again remember the deadly terror attacks of september 11, 2001. >> joseph aganolo. >> suarez: 10 years on, we will recall the lives of the loved ones lost. >> i hope the words "never forget" maintain, and i hope they consistently ring true in people's hearts. >> suarez: we'll talk about what's changed and where we are

now as americans, as a nation. in california, we find the 9/11 generation, grown up in a time of conflict and security fears. >> i do believe that with time the events of 9/11 won't be so-- they won't feel so immediate, and they won't define our entire life. it's not going to be something we'll forget. i know that much. >> suarez: at fort bragg, north carolina, we experienced the lasting impact 10 years of war has had upon the military, how soldiers and their families. >> i think we all thought that it wasn't going to be this long, and i didn't think that we all realized that we were going to lose so much, and we all have lost a lot. >> suarez: how is the growing community of american muslims in tennessee living after the attacks? >> i trust the judgment of american people a lot. the majority of the people are

fine people. otherwise we cannot live together until today. so do you think everyone in our city would be fine with us? i would claim the majority would be. >> suarez: plus, we hear from americans across the country on what september 11 means to them. >> do i think it changed everything? in some respects, i think it probably changed a lot of, our country had never been attacked before, i think our sense of security definitely changed. >> our country is not the same that it was before, and i don't know if it will ever be the same again. >> suarez: all that and more sunday night in a special edition of the pbs "newshour" "america remembers 9/11." >> woodruff: and our special will begin with president obama's live remarks at the memorial service at the kennedy center for the performing arts in washington. "america remembers 9/11" airs at 8:00 pm eastern time on most pbs stations. >> lehrer: again, the major

developments of the day: security was stepped up in washington and new york as investigators chased down a possible bomb plot aimed at new york and washington over the 9/11 weekend. a new sell-off hit wall street. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 300 points. president obama opened a campaign to sell his new jobs plan. congressional republicans were non-committal, but said they hope to work with the president. and flooding in the northeast began to recede slowly as remnants of tropical storm lee finally moved on. and to hari sreenivasan for what's on the newshour online. hari. >> sreenivasan: we'll have live coverage of sunday's events. already up are reflections from gwen ifill, ray suarez and others on what it was like to report in the days after september 11. and we have a firsthand account of the morning of chaos on capitol hill as the attacks unfolded. plus, something new. last night, many of you watched the newshour's coverage of the president's jobs speech and our analysis from two economists.

what you may not know is that there was much more reporting online, and it involved a little digital magic. at a desk in our newsroom sits teresa gorman, tasked with heading up our social media work. last night, she wasn't just watching the speech; she was clipping excerpts and cataloging reaction in near-real time using some new tools for journalism. teresa was using a service called snappytv. here's how it works. every night, we live-stream our broadcast so people can view it on their computers or smart phones. last night, as she watched our coverage, teresa selected key sound bites from the speech and the analysis, and put them into an online story. now, that story looks different from ones you'd read in a newspaper or even an internet blog. it's created with a tool called "storify" that allows us to insert video, still pictures, links to other web sites, and even tweets. for example, teresa included links to the video and text for the entire speech, to comments

from our guest analysts, and reactions on twitter from members of congress. we also asked viewers across social media what they want to see in a jobs plan. the result was this story, which included responses from facebook, twitter, and even videos shot by our economics team, including paul solman and elizabeth shell. we'll be covering more stories using these online tools in the coming days. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday, we'll take a closer look at president obama's plan to spur jobs growth. i'm judy woodruff. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you online, and again here monday evening. have a nice weekend. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪

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