air, on live television and took so many twists and turns as we were trying to describe it to the american people, i don't think we'll ever face a challenge that great again. i hope i don't to be perfectly honest with you. i hope there's nothing that even approaches that in terms of my professional career. that was the seminal moment for me. this morning new clues on that 9/11 terror threat. officials now say the possible plotters have an american connection. but how close are they to tracking them down? ten years since the 9/11 attack. a look back today at how america has changed and a view from some

of the survivors, victims families and those charged with chemoing us safe on the future. on the jobs front, a reality check does the president's proposal stand a chance in congress and how long will it talk for people to get back to work. under water again. misery for the northeast hit by some of the worst flooding in history. good morning i'm alex witt. we have some new information about the men who may be involved in a possible al qaeda bomb plot against new york and washington. official says two of the three men may be u.s. citizens. the men started their journey in pakistan. they may have flown to the u.s. through dubai and europe. officials say the goal is to set off a car or truck bomb. government and police officials in new york and washington say residents and visitors should not change their plans. they do stress that anything suspicious should be reported. there have been no changes to planned memorials anywhere in the country as the u.s. prepares to mark the tenth anniversary of

9/11. i'm joined by michael sheehan a terrorism analyst for msnbc. a gd saturday morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> if we talk about this threat which is unconfirmed. so talk about its credibility? >> it's becoming more and more specific even though we don't have the names of these three individuals, now we're hearing two may be carrying u.s. passports and their travel routes. it's specific, the source of the information is very credible. normally intelligence officials like to have a corroborating stream of information in order to rach it up farther. this is worrisome. but everything's going to proceed as normal we hope up in new york city and in washington on september 11th. >> absolutely. let's talk about some of what this informant tells us. three men have traveled from pakistan to the u.s. to set off car or truck bombs in new york

or washington. some guys may be u.s. citizens or have some u.s. travel documents. secretary clinton says the plot is unconfirmed. how high is the bar for reporting threats like these to the public? >> well, if you remember the lockerbie bombing of pan am 103 the plane that went down in scotland, after that there were rumors that some people might have known about this. the congress legislated that the american government must share credible and specific information. this this case because the source is credible they are sharing it. they're saying michael bloomberg go about your business. if you see something, say something and let the officials do the work. i can assure you nypd, fbi and others are out there looking for these guys through their human sources and looking for ways what toef do to assemble a car or truck bomb. they know how to track down that type of activity as well. they have a full court press going on while they ask the

public to continue to move on. >> nobody would have raised an eyebrow about any stepped up security on the 9/11 and verse i why alert the attackers don't you risk sending them underground? >> that's the dilemma that we always face in the security business having to alert the american people versus keeping it kite to find those guys. we are required morally to inform the american people. the americans are stronger. if you remember the day of the times square bombing, you were down in times square. an hour after the bombing americans, new yorkers are back in times square. our population is pretty smart, pretty sophisticated. they know how to get through these types of situations. >> i was down in washington. multiple documents, come computers, all sorts of things

called this treasure-trove from the raid on bin laden's camp in may. does this plot have anything to do with information we found there? >> it primarily resulted from information from pakistan where what i understand. that is still the heart of al qaeda's central apparatus there. we don't know if the new number one who mine involved in directing this. the fact it comes from the hills of western pakistan there are some links to al qaeda. fortunately our intelligence apparatus working with the pakistanis and other services is pretty strong and we're able to pick up on this lead. >> a few more questions for you later this morning. >> thank you, alex. >> on the streets of new york heightened security and it is visible everyone. peter alexander is standing by with us. wl a good morning to your peter. let's talk about security. how big an operation is this? >> we heard from the police commissioner ray kelly in this city refers specifically to

today and tomorrow saying there will be thousands of additional police officers at this location. really tomorrow the day when there's so many dignitaries here including the president of the united states and george w. bush. he made it very clear this is not the only potential threat site. there are all sorts of other locations throughout manhattan and washington, d.c. grand central, penn station. the effort to come down to speak to you from this location today there were at least two check points where the car i was in was stopped to make sure that everything was okay. yesterday stopping every single car in some parts of this city. elsewhere there will be scuba divers, bomb technicians to make sure the city is secured. >> that's the security angle

with regard to tomorrow's commemorations, what can we expect for that? >> we want to give you a sense of what this memorial looks like. i'll lean out of the way and give you a a better look at one of the two reflecking pools here. the water is now turned off. it forms a square almost an acre in total. it's described as reflecting absence by the argument tick ticket -- architect. said it was for a place of emptiness filled with meaning. i want to show you some video from this location. yesterday 3500 of the workers here at the world trade center site paused for a moment of silence unfurling a u.s. flag. it was a moving moment for them. so many of them have been a part of this location for the entire last decade. they wanted in their own way to honor the lives of those lost. very much the same way that the

reflecting pool, the memorial honors the lives lost. this historic building one world trade center with a flag on it honors the loves of the living. it gives people a real understanding of what a unique place this is going to be. moving for the families of those lost, but moving for the city. >> such beauty to come from such carnage. it's a beautiful place behind you. we'll see you again. new word from president obama this morning on the ten-year anniversary of september 11th. in his weekly address the president says this is a time to remember the victims of the attacks and the extraordinary acts of heroism. but also to look at where we have come as a nation. >> even as we reflect on a

difficult decade, we must look forward to the future we will build together. that includes staying strong and confident in the face of any threat. ten years ago ordinary americans showed us the true means of courage when they rushed up those stairwell into those flames, into that cockpit. in the decade since, a new generation has stepped forward to serve and keep us safe. >> today at noon eastern we're going to have live coverage of the flight 93 memorial ceremony in shanksville, pennsylvania. at 8:00 tomorrow morning we will give you live coverage of those ceremonies held at ground zero. we have some developing news to share this morning. the israeli ambassador to egypt is back home in egypt after an attack on the embassy in cairo. a group of protesters broke into and tore down the wall inside that building and dumped hundreds of documents outside the window. at least three people died and more than 1,000 were injured. the proers denounced israel for the death of five egyptian

police officers last month after a border attack by palestinian militants. the swollen sus question what na river is receding. the floodwaters are making life miserable for people along the northeast. this shows a covered bridge more than a century old washed away by rising waters. about 135 water and sewage plants in the state are flooded. that's causing sewage to spill into the streams and rivers. that fill hi water carried off at least ten houses across that state. bill karins has more on the recovery efforts underway amid all the flooding. good morning to you, bill. good saturday morning to you, alex. for once i'm not talking about any natural disasters heading our way. no hurricanes, no huge rainstorms. we're still recovering from our last one. that's with we're going to take our attention from binghamton to

scranton. the water levels are continuing to drop. they've gone down about 80 feet this is the weekend people can finally go back to their homes and find out how bad the damage is. we have flood warnings, the river runs through central pennsylvania to the mutumbo of the 30 to mac. we have some flood warnings in new jersey and in connecticut we have some rivers to worry about. we're not looking at any soaking rains. our computers think we could get some thunderstorms near philadelphia that could cause some flash flooding. keep in mind in the mid-atlantic area we could see a stray shower or storm. new york city you look like you're dry. in the middle of the country indianapolis, detroit, the majority of the country a dry weekend and the heat continues in areas of texas. the bottom line is finally i'm

here to bring some good news for a nice weekend. >> we thank you for that. fire many the hollywood hills. we're going to tell you which big name celebrity's former home went up in flames. also will congress act on president obama's plan for jobs. there are some promising signs in washington. and later america's economy after 9/11. how big a role the attacks played in what's happened on wall street over the past ten years. ♪ ♪♪

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we're bringing you more on the record flooding in pennsylvania, new york and maryland. let's go to anne thompson for us. anne, when i saw you yesterday there was a big pool of water behind you. are the waters somewhat receding now?

>> they are, alex. in fact it's very good news. yesterday we couldn't get to where i am standing now. we are two blocks closer to the river. you could see the susquehanna from where i am now. it has dropped significantly. it is now nine feet below its record crest. that's the good news. it's not low enough so people can get back in here. an evacuation order for 65,000 people here remain in effect. just to understand the power of this flood, take a look behind me, you can see this coffee kiosk turned over on its side moved down here into wyoming avenue. we see an ice machine on people's porches. we see front lawns littered with trash. all the remnants of all the flood that happened earlier this week. they hope that later today people can get back in their houses as of now they're asking people to stay away. >> look at that mess. thanks so much. we appreciate that. across america this morning

president obama has signed a federal disaster declaration for parts of texas devastated by wildfires. near houston more people have been forced to evacuate their homes as a fire flared up again. more than 1700 homes have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of ablgers have been burned. in california a house once owned by jack nicholson has gone up in flames. firefighters had some trouble getting that fire because the house is on the side of a hill. two firefighters sufficiented from heat exhaustion and the person who lives there now escaped unharmed. nicholson moved out in 1977. in oakland california ark standoff between police and gunman. the armed man is in a home depot store. he's wearing a mask from the movie "v is for vendetta." we'll keep you updated. as promised president obama is taking his jobs message on road to the american public. next week he will roll out the

act in columbus, ho, the home state of john boehner. on friday he spoke in erib cantor's district. candor did not immediately dits miss the president's proposal. >> i've said there's plenty of areas that have room for agreement. i object to the all or nothing message ta the president is delivering. that's not how anybody operates. >> erin mcpike is a reporter for real clear politicians. good morning. >> so this is not a flat out rejection is that surprising to you? >> it's not surprising. republicans have gotten the message that they need to start compromising. the polls show the american public is so upset. >> how about the fact that they might find certain things that are acceptable leading to this somewhat accepting tone by republicans or do you think it is as you're suggesting all political? >> i think it's a combination of the two things. i think what you're seeing from

obama is a little bit of an agreement that he needs to come more to the center and do some things that republicans want. it's a combination of needing to show compromise, yes, that's political. there are a few measures that republicans do like like tax cuts. >> we'll go through some of these things that the president proposed tax cuts for companies that hired new workers. one year unemployment benefits extensions. payroll tax cuts. programs to rebuild and repair infrastructure and to modernize 35,000 schools and rehire teachers. which ones do you think the gop are going to get behind? >> they're starting to talk about the payroll tax cut and accepting that. i think this idea of tax breaks for hiring new workers that's something that some republicans don't like. but some of them like that just fine it's an interesting thing that some businesses say that's not going to help them, but others say that it just might. we're going to see a little bit

more discussion about that, i would say. as for ton employment benefits extension, you have some republicans jim demint from south carolina is a tea party hero saying it creates a per veers effect on the economy and doesn't initiate personal responsibility from people. if you continue to give them unemployment benefits they're not going to look for work. >> what about the political calculation here with respect to the 2012 election? is there a sense that the gop would not want to give the president everything he's asking for because it could produce some jobs? >> at this point i think republicans realize that it's time to start creating jobs that, that voters are upset with both parties. there is an element of that or there has been an element of that in the past. but i think that's starting to fade away some. >> let's hope so on that. in how about in terms of if this

all gets implemented when will we see jobs? >> there's a disconnect between economists and employers. employers are saying nothing in this plan necessarily is going to make them start hiring workers. it's only going to be when the economy improves. but the economy could improve some as a result of this plan and economists adjust ta 500,000 to two million jobs could be created as this is fully implemented. we could start seeing some job growth next year. it will take several months to circle through. >> many thanks as always. more on how life changed after 9/11 especially for young americans who stepped up to fight for their country after the attacks. [ groans ] you okay? i'm not looking forward to my flight. try this. bayer aspirin? i'm not having a heart attack. it's my back. no, this is new bayer advanced aspirin... clinically proven to relieve tough pain twice as fast as before.

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the events of september 11th inspired thousands of young people in america who decided to go to war to defend their country. john than robinson was a college student on september 1 19. today he's a spokesman for the iraq and afghanistan veterans for america. where were you on september 11th? >> i was in college at the time in atlanta. >> when you got news, how long did it take you to understand what was going on in new york and washington and shanksville? >> i think it took me a very long time. like most of the country i was in shock. i'm from new york. i grew up here. my father worked in the trade center for many years, although he wasn't there that day. it was horrifying to watch. >> it had a profound effect on you. here you were at emery and you decide to drop out and enlist in

the marines. in the days and weeks after 9/11 i felt a compelling need to get involved and so serve in some way. for me that meant joining the marine corp. i needed to do it as quickly as possible. >> did you have colleagues and brethren in the marine that had the same thing? was there a flood of young men that felt just like you? >> i think that's true. there was a real outpouring of fervor, need to do this to make our country safer. >> and was this something that propelled all of you to do injure jobs as united states marines? >> was this always in the forefront of your mind? >> absolutely. throughout my entire time on active duty there was a deep sense of mission the entire time. we knew what we were doing was important and we were trying to do it in the best possible way we could.

>> has the marine core changed today ten years later? >> the marine core is has developed an incredible depth of experience over the past ten years and has become even better at doing this kind of mission. i think we have a lot to be thankful for. >> what made you decide -- iraq and afghanistan veterans association as you do? what prompted that? >> i don't head up the organization. i'm a volunteer spokesperson. i'm a veteran. i'm a member. i try to help out with the cause as much as i can. the needs of veterans today they're so important between health care issues and terrible problem decide prevention and education. the employment problem is even greater for the veteran

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new security measures as the fbi and homeland security work to track down three men who may be involved in a bomb plt in theist. in new york city there will be increased security jets and at the u.s. open and the mets and jets game. mayor bloomberg says new yorkers should go about their business, but should report anything suspicious. >> we always heighten security when it gets to a big event. the event happens to be around 9/11 more so or religious holidays, for sporting events, for concerts.

anytime there's a big group of people it's common sense says you should increase security and we do. some of it you see and some of it you don't. >> the chief of police in washington, d.c. says the department's running down every tip it gets. she says residents and visitors should keep weekend plans in place. new messages from president obama on 9/11. we have more from the white house. good saturday morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, alex. >> so the president has come forth on this poignant weekend and he has a message for americans. >> reporter: he does. he plans to visit all three hallowed sites on the commemoration. 9/11 every year has become a date of service and remembrance. to that effect the president and first lady will attend a service event today. some volunteer work somewhere in the washington area. tomorrow the president will be visiting ground zero in new york. he will then go directly to

shanksville, pennsylvania. he will lay a wreath there. the flight 93 national memorial opens this weekend. later in the day he will come down to the pentagon for another ceremony there. and then sunday night the concert of hope. it was going to be taking place at the washington national cathedral. they had a construction mishap that will now take place at the kepd center tomorrow. dr. biden and his wife dr. jill biden will attend that as well and the bidens today for the service that is open in commemorating that national flight 93 national memorial in shanksville, p pennsylvania, commemorating the heroes that saved countless lives here in washington. maybe many the white house, maybe in the capital. perhaps in the capital according to the 9/11 commission report earlier today president obama in his weekly address spoke about the upcoming commemoration. >> a decade after 9/11 it's clear for all the world to see the terrorists who attacked us that september morning are no match for the character of our people, the resilience of our nation or the endurance of our

values. they wanted to terrorize us, but as americans we refuse to live in fear. >> a full slate of activities for your leaders here in washington and around the country weekend. >> indeed. we're going to bring you the dedication ceremony of the flight 3 national memorial near shanksville, pennsylvania. chris matthews will be anchoring our coverage of the events beginning at noon eastern right here on msnbc. then tomorrow morning we will bring you live coverage of the ceremonies at ground zero beginning at 8:00 eastern here on msnbc. the president is encouraging americans to pressure congress into action. he spoke about his just unveiled american jobs act in richard monday, virginia, on friday. >> i'm asking all of you to lift up your voices in the just here in richmond. i want you to tell your congressperson the time for gridlock and games is over. the time for action is now.

the time to create jobs is now. pass this bill. >> joining me now is john harwood. good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> we've had republicans expressing some cautious support for a few proprigss is president proposed. the trade deals, hiring subs cities. they've called for this ala cart version of the bill. are they going to cherry pick different areas that were attractive to conservatives and leave the rest on the table. >> they would like to. the administration is going to try to resist that. the president will not get the entire $447 billion stimulus bill, he is not calling it a stimulus bill. they've seen the polls that 82% of the american people are disapproving of what the congress is doing. they've taken a hit as well as

the president. they've adopted a strategy of saying we'll consider this. we're not going to say no up front. they're trying to turn the president's previous position against him by saying he's saying my way or the highway. that's been the president's argument against republicans over the summer. after a summer of playing the inside game negotiating with john boehner the house speaker and seeing that that didn't work and it hurt him, hurt the reputation of the united states in that terrible fight over the debt limit, the president's now making an outside game traveling around the country. he's going to ohio and north carolina next week to try to generate some heat. he hasn't been able to do that somp in the last year since republicans have been in control. we'll see if he can change that equation right now. >> how about were this jobs act to be implemented, how long would it take john, for the first jobs to start showing up? >> mark sandy an independent economist friendly to the

administration although he supported john mccain in 2008 has said it could add 1.9 million jobs over the next year. could raise gdp by a couple of percentage points. that would be a substantial boost. there's disagreement republicans of course say spending and the theory that says when you've got a very weak economy that's not generating jobs government should spend money even at the cost of a higher deficit and that's the way to generate demand. they don't accept that theory. many economists do. mark sandy is one of them. the administration is citing people like that. as well as support from some republican elected officials especially governors who say i want some of that construction money. i want some teach around firefighter money in trying to persuade the public they do know how to get action. >> the tone of the speech on thursday night it seemed notably

different to what we're used to hearing from president obama. i've had so many people democrats and republicans alike say we loved what we heard. we loved that he was fired up and ready to go. >> democrats loved seeing the president feisty. loved seeing him point his finger at the congress and say over and over pass this bill. of course, the risk for the president is if he keeps saying that over and over and in effect, sort of threatens the congress and says if they don't generate the pressure, it looks like an empty threat. for the moment the president has decided he is ready to fight for what he believes in. his re-election is going to ride on his success in getting this program through in lifting the

economy or persuading the americans that the reason is economy isn't recovering is because they're not doing what i asked them to do. >> can i ask you what went on in the debate the night before? who emerged as the big winner from that in your mind? >> i think mitt romney had a good night. he has been in the past a front runner. i think this was a help to rick perry. he's rocketed into the race over the last month. he's taken a national lead in the polls. that doesn't determine thins it shows he has support in the republican party. i think what he showed was that he was a conservative who's very comfortable with his views. i thought he had some weak moments, some very strong moments. on net i think rick perry came out ahead because he passed that initial test. showed people why it is that he went to the front of the pack. he's put it on the table an issue that is going to be

fascinating in the republican primary. that is the social security issue. very feisty. used very strong language on that. the romney campaign is saying he sunk himself because he is in effect created himself against social security. many conservatives agree with rick perry on social security. we're going to see that issue the fulcrum of debates over the next few weeks. >> many thanks as always. following an attack on the israeli embassy on cairo, the israeli ambassador to egypt has returned home. a mob torn down cement barriers and threw documents out of windows. at least three people were killed and 1,000 injured. was the latest on this? >> reporter: good morning, alex. egypt just declared a state of emergency with those riots overnight. at least three people dead. more than 1,000 injured. three of those killed -- one of those three kimmed we believe may have suffered a heart

attack. the pictures are quite shocking of people break sbog the israeli embassy, into the consulate offices. throwing dumts out. at one point they ripped down the israeli flag and flew that down. overnight there were clashes with tear gas fired, petrol bombs, cars set on fire. at one point six embassy staff were trapped in the building and had to be restrored by egyptian commandos. israel say they have brought that ambassador and almost all of their staff back from egypt because of what's happened overnight. >> it's an extraordinary story. we think for keeping an eye on things. in a moment the toll of 9/11 on the u.s. economy and on the national psyche and why america has yet to recover completely from the horrific events on that day.

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jtsds will. in video is from women hamton it shows waters rising above a floodwall. all three of the water filtration plants are down because of the flooding and there's a boil water advisory across the county. we're live from new york. that floodwall video is just frightening. >> reporter: we were standing by it the day before yesterday, alex, watching the river get dangerously close to it. it didn't get, the river didn't get here in binghamton. the wall that was made in the 1930s did substantiate the test.

the police chief mentioned to me yesterday, fortunately they don't make things like they used to. meaning the fact it was made so long ago and it was made so well that may have been the reason why even though it had some cracks in it. it did hold back the susquehanna river here. and didn't save everybody. downstream from there binghamton across the way. this home right here, jim lives here. he just returned brought in this dumpster. they were ready for this 2006 there's been record flooding. they have flood insurance. he knows time is of the essence. initially they went and completely gutted the house. anything that had a screw was taken out. windows, kitchen cab nets completely pulled out. they were ready for it. they moved the entire first floor gutted. he's in there. you've got to start tearing autothe walls and letting it

breathe. unfortunately this weekend and many weekends to come for many people around the northeast will be spent just like this. instead of watching football people are going to be cleaning up and wondering what they're doing next. >> i can't believe that guy went to all the trouble to take apart his first floor. i'm hoping it paid off for him. in the ten years since the 9/11 attacks the u.s. has changed in many ways and for one the american economy is not doing as well as it was before the terror attacks. joining me now rick newman. >> hi, alex. >> has the u.s. economy underperformed since 9/11? >> i think you could say it has. this is putting a aside the recession that we're recovering from. in 2001 before the attacks the u.s. economy accounted for about 23% of world gdp. that's now down to about 19%. that's likely to keep falling. that's not just because of the

recession. that's because of other countries such as india and china will becoming more prominent in the world economy. we need to keep in mind stra teemgic and military power comes from economic power. we've got chronic high unemployment here. this is not a good thing. yo you talk about india and china being mitigating factors to this. what about the cost of wars in iraq and afghanistan? >> they're not as devastating as a lot of people think. that is reflected in what's happened to the national debt that we've been hearing about for the last year. in 2001 the national debt was about $6 trillion. that was a very manageable number. it's a huge number, but it was manageable as a percentage of dpd. it's approaching $15 trillion up any $9 trillion.

part of the sad story over the last decade is we have added to that ourselves. we have just put ourselves in a weaker position. is rest of debt is from tax cuts they were not justify set by spending cuts. new benefits for medicare recipients and other people and obviously the stimulus spending during the recession. we are in a much weaker economic position than ten years ago rand we have done that to ourselves. >> are there any pockets that will benefitting from the way things are now? because i know most even's not. >> one of my theories is we are going to become a mump more resilient nation after this very tough period. we know we're on the verge of another recession. we are relearning thrift and some other habits that we kind of forget. we went on a debt bing and thought we could pay for everything by borrowing from the future. that's not the case. many, many families are getting into a better position but it's

going the take time. i think when we ask this question in 20 years are we getter off than we were before the 9/11 attacks, we'll be more comfortable saying yes. >> we're not saying that now. >> i don't think we are. pope benedict says he's praying for all those who lost their lives on september 11th and their families. the pontiff expressed his thoughts in a letter to new york archbishop timny dolan. the pope also insisted that nothing can justify the use of violence in the name of god. in a moment, the story of a woman who lost a loved one in the 9/11 attack but was determined to do something about it. stay with us for more coverage from

let's take a look at one of this weekend's touching tributes for the victims of 9/11. this one in new rochelle, new york. 2,976 american flags surround city hall there. heech flag placed in honor of the people who lost their lives in the attacks ten years ago.

a candlelight vigil will be held there tomorrow night. well, many of the families and friends who lost loved ones on 9/11 will be gathering tomorrow morning at ground zero to mark the ten years since the attacks. the site was quiet last night in lower manhattan except for a choir that came to practice for sunday's commemoration. although the site is not finished just yet, the national september 11th memorial and museum at the world trade center will be dedicated tomorrow. joining me now is valerie who lost her nephew, adam, on 9/11. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> let's talk about where he was. i know he worked on the 84th floor in tower two. >> he worked for a brokerage, that's correct, and he was along with a number of other people in the building who were -- who believed that it was an accident and building one when the first plane hit, and so he stayed to continue his work. he had recently been given a new job, a better job, and so he was very diligent and wanted to stay

and work as much as he could. >> did he make any calls to friends and family and loved ones? >> well, actually, he was called. his brother, donald, who at the time was in the air force who is now a consultant with the air force, was head of p.r. at tindale air force base in florida, and donald learned of the second plane and called him. >> oh, boy. >> and at the funeral donald told the family that when he telephoned adam, adam said to him, dude, you don't know what i'm looking at. there are people jumping out of the building across the way. donald, i won't say exactly his words because some of them were not wee repeatable on television. he said get out of there, there's one coming for you, and adam turned then and shouted out to the others in his office and subsequently i learned from my

sister that there was a woman there who was totally frozen in fear in her seat and she credits adam with saving her life because he turned and grabbed her and pushed her through the door. she couldn't move. adam was last seen on the stairs going downstairs, and to the best of my knowledge, the people who were in the office at the time all got out all right, but according to the coroner, adam's was the eighth body found. this was before the grid pattern was laid out. i don't know if you saw the wreckage immediately afterward. i worked in the building myself some 30 years ago, and i knew the place intimately, but you could not tell where anything had been. there was no frame of reference, and so no one is quite sure exactly where his body was found because the grid pattern wasn't set at that point. but the one thing that the fact

it was the -- his was the eighth body found tells me that he was either on the edge or very close to the edge because he was not under the rubble or else it would have taken longer to find the body. >> yeah. >> so my belief is that he probably -- he was a very, very dedicated and a very good person. he was -- he had a wonderful sense of humor, but also a tremendous sense of responsibility, and he really cared for other people, and it's entirely consequence mat with his nature that he would have turned around and tried to go back in though help others. >> tell me, valerie, how this has brought you to working for this commitment you have to peace. >> well, at the beginning just after president bush said that we were going to invade afghanistan because we had to go after al qaeda i thought it was perfectly right that we should find those people who were

responsible for this, but i was reading everything i could get my hands on, avidly watching television, what have you. i wanted to know everything that was going on because i was so stunned by -- i had never heard of al qaeda. >> sure. >> and after i started reading about how many civilian casualties, how many family members we were creating, we, the americans, were creating in afghanistan, i realized that violence was no way to solve the problem. we had to do it without creating more families like mine. >> and i know that so many people will be inspired hearing your story, and people will obviously carrying carry the same sentiments that you do. thank you so much for speaking with us about adam and what you are trying to do. thank you. >> thank you. we're going to take you to ground zero in just a moment with a look at preparations for tomorrow's commemorations of the tenth anniversary of dhast 9/11, and we'll go to shanksville, pennsylvania, where flight 93 national memorial will be dedicated just a bit later on today. stay with us. you're watching msnbc saturday.

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