we have that aerial view. >> nobody knows exactly what happened. i think the picture is pretty clear. according to one u.s. army officer who went running past me at a full trot, he said that it appears that a bomb was detonated at the heliport. that is the helicopter landing area right next the pentagon adjacent to it. the offices nearest the heliport area are u.s. army reserve officers and the army reserve officers are located there. as you can see, it appears to be a pretty significant blast. to give you some perspective we are almost on the opposite side of the building, the world's largest office building. as i reported to you, we could feel the building shake and the windows rattle. as i was in the hallway just a

few moments ago, i could smell and acrid kind of smoke, almost woody would smell with a fluorescent light goes bad, that kind of balance smell. authorities are clearing the building. u.s. intelligence sources are confirming the report that one of the planes was a hijacked flight, an american flight from boston to los angeles.houg "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review. and now angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. you can easily buy and schedule services from top-rated providers. conveniently stay up to date on progress. and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. visit angieslist.com today. ♪ ♪ take a deep breath in... and... exhale. aflac!

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i don't know if you can hear

the sirens outside right now, but it appears that what i think people here in the building are already describing as a highly sophisticated, coordinated attack more not only against the world trade center, but against the pentagon and u.s. military right here in washington. >> i worked at the pentagon as well, and it's a huge building. it's miles and miles of offices. at what location did this seem to detonate? >> it's at the heliport which is as you sit in the pentagon, you have the potomac river and washington d.c. on one side. heliport is almost exactly on the opposite side of the building a long one of the highways easily accessible, even though they have increased security share significantly at the pentagon within the past couple of years.

>> we are hearing again unconfirmed reports that this was the result of a plane crashing in the area as well. >> i have no idea. all i know is that people who were in the building that came running from that part of the buildings thought it was a bomb of some kind. according to chris brown, my colleague who just came in, it appears that whatever it was, and perhaps it was a plane, katie, if those are the initial reports, crashed into or the damage is on the roof of the building at the heliport side of the pentagon which is just opposite of the potomac river as i just said. >> we are looking at the white house, mik, because we're learning that there have been some evacuations from the white house. i'm assuming that everyone is being evacuated from the pentagon? >> reporter: well, nobody's

given us the official word yet. but i think that is probably a safe bet. thank goodness that was a helicopter that just flew by. i'm just a little nervous right now when you hear aircraft go past. they have in fact, evacuated that portion of the building. usually they have sirens going off in the building alerting you to the fact that it's time to get out. i haven't heard those yet, but judging by the pictures, it is clear that that part of the building, that is not damaged at least, has been evacuated. like i said, in the hallway, it was pandemonium. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: people were rushing from their offices, rushing outside. >> and you are in your office at the pentagon right now reporting to us? >> reporter: i am in the office, but i'm at the opposite side of where this crash occurred. >> all right. why don't you see if you can gather more information and please be careful, and we're going to go to matt who's going to be talking with jamie. >> yes, thank you. i am joined by tom brokaw and we

are going to recap on what's been going in washington, and new york as well. we want to go to jamie with some more information. jamie? >> reporter: matt i just want to tell you that u.s. intelligence sources are confirming the reports that one of the planes was a hijacked flight, american flight, from boston to los angeles. they are also now looking into what is going on at the pentagon, and they don't have any details, but they have now put government buildings around the city of washington on a heightened state of alert. i think that part of that is happening formally, but obviously people are seeing what is going on, and some people are leaving buildings as well simply because of the concern following these latest reports from the pentagon. >> we have this as a major development. the federal aviation administration has shut down all air traffic nationwide.

this country has been immobilized by these terrorist attacks in terms of air travel today, and we don't know where it goes from here. we'll just ask that you stay with us so that as we get hard information we can share that with you. ♪ [music] ♪ jackie's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today her doctor has her on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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to get out of the first building. we have confirmed reports right now that there was one hijacked flight, american airlines, from boston to los angeles and that is apparently one of the planes used in this crash. >> terrorism always has two prongs to it. the physical threat and now the psychological threat. this does seem to be surreal, but in fact, it is real when you have an explosion of undetermined origin at the pentagon and the most conspicuous symbol of american capitalism, the twin trade towers here in new york, two deliberate attacks on those towers today and we don't know for sure who is responsible. >> and the u.s. capitol, also has been evacuated. there have been evacuations taking place at the white house. needless to say many people in the pentagon have left that building as well. >> airports in new york -- >> and in this building in midtown new york they have asked

people at 30 rockefeller plaza to leave, which is another high-rise building which in new new york. i came down the length of manhattan and a lot of people were unaware of what happened. as you tuned into the radio, they began to get it. it is election day here in new york. >> primary day. >> and what we have is something that most americans thought could never occur. >> we have this as a major development. the federal aviation administration has shut down all air traffic nationwide. this nation has been immobilized by these terrorist attacks in terms of air travel today. we don't know where it goes from here. we will ask that you stay with us so that, as we get hard information, we can share that with you. there's going to be a lot of speculation, and the president has described this apparently as a terrorist attack, and the fbi has confirmed that american airlines flight from boston to los angeles was hijacked and believed that is the first plane that went into the twin trade towers. >> let's go to james kallstrom, the former director of the fbi here in new york.

i'm sure you have never seen anything like this. do you have any information that might be helpful to us? >> not particular information on this tragedy, but certainly what an incredible tragedy, and, you know, all of us in law enforcement and prior in law enforcement have talked for years, and the public have seen the hatred in the world and seen the bombing of the world trade center and the conspiracy to blow up the tunnels and the united nations and the fbi buildings and the bomb at the "u.s.s. cole" and the bombings in the embassies in africa. and we have known for some time that the hatred exists, and now it looks like it has culminated in this absolutely horrendous, incredible ability. >> if you could stand by, because we have more information from the pentagon. mik? >> reporter: katie, my colleague, chris brown here at the pentagon, encountered some of those who survived whatever it united states, whether it was a bomb or an airplane crashing into the pentagon. one of the survivors who was reportedly injured had various

lacerations, was on the second floor of the d-ring which is one ring inside of the outer ring of the pentagon, when suddenly, there was a horrific blast and he said that the second floor buckled upward, and then the third floor above him actually collapsed downward. the scene on the other side of the building, as it is being described to us, there are people being removed on stretchers, and security forces are evacuating the building right now. and according to the officials here at the pentagon, they still don't know exactly what it was, but as you reported, katie, eyewitnesses reported that in fact it was a plane that crashed into the pentagon. >> and mik, any idea -- i wasn't quite sure if you said this about the number of people who might have been hurt or worse in this? >> reporter: no idea at all, katie. as you know having worked here

on any given day, this is a small city and 25,000 to 30,000 people may be working here at any one time. that portion of the pentagon, by the way, had just been remodeled and just reopened. if the crash had occurred just a few months ago, that section of the pentagon would have been virtually empty. but at this time of day, early morning, or mid-morning, the pentagon is very busy and it is impossible to say how many casualties there may be. but there have been a large number of sighted being removed on stretchers, and again, as one survivor said, the floor just buckled up under him, and the roof caved in on him. >> mik, thank you very much. we want to move a couple of miles away from you to the white

house where bob kerr is standing by. we understand that the building is evacuated? >> reporter: yes, that is true. it is utterly surreal. as soon as word came from the pentagon incident we were forcefully removed from the white house. and the scene was one of administrators, cooks, running at fairly high speed, all the way out of the building through the top gates and then we stayed at lafayette park across the street and now we have been moved from there a block or so away. the offices along jackson place, which are across the street from the white house and adjacent to lafayette park, also has been evacuated, and in the most surreal of this morning's scenes here at the white house, a white plane, a very big jet, was flying an unusual pattern near the white house over lafayette park and very slowly and made one circle, and then we have not seen it since.

there was a lot of concern about what that plane might be, but again, it is only speculation, but most people say that since flights have been cleared from u.s. air space, and it was a totally white plane and looked unusual to all of us, that it was a government plane of some kind. >> we should point out that we are looking at pictures as you speak, bob, of the world trade center, because all of the camera crews have been evacuated from the white house as well. when do you expect president bush to arrive there, bob? >> reporter: well, katie, he's coming back directly, and you figure it's a two-hour flight, so you can do the math. the reason i said that it was so surreal is that within just about 20 minutes ago, they were still conducting tours. you had hordes of tourists and others still in the white house on tour lining up outside to get in. there seemed to be absolutely no unusual activity outside of the white house until word came of the incident at the pentagon.

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wealth management at charles schwab this is a task for investigators of extraordinary magnitude to determine who did this and how they got away with it. you think about an american airlines flight that was on its way from boston to los angeles was hijacked in mid-air and now the citing transmission from the plane. and they have hard evidence of that and then brought down here and made to fly into the twin trade towers. did one of the hijackers get control. did they shoot the pilot? it boggles the mind beyond the ability to figure out what was going on. >> you talked about transmissions and i am curious, have you had any evidence of what was said during those transmissions? >> they are citing transmissions to know that the plane had been hijacked. and that is all they're saying at this point.

we want to remind everyone, once again, that this is an exceptional development that the faa has banned all takeoffs at all airports across america. this country in terms of air travel has been immobilized and a good portion of the nation's capital, the most powerful center in the world has been immobilized as well. >> we saw a live picture of what seemed to be a portion of the building falling away from the world trade center and if we can rerack that to 20 seconds ago, you will see something dramatic happening, and i don't know whether it is another explosion or a portion of the building falling away, but something major just happened at that building. >> here we go to the tape. >> we have the tape. >> watch at the left-hand tower. i don't know if this is the correct tape. there. something there is about to happen. falling away right there. >> yeah, looks like a big chunk of it has peeled away.

>> one can only hope that the area has been evacuated, but you wonder about the emergency vehicles and the people who were injured early in the morning. these pictures are beyond belief. >> we have a report that the second plane may have flown out of newark, new jersey. and this is and official speaking on the condition of anonymity, and again, no confirmation of that and we know there were two planes that went in and the first one was an american airlines flight from boston to los angeles. and we are now seeing it from the harbor view of this continuing damage and destruction to the world trade center. we want to tell you that american airlines has confirmed that one of the flights from boston's logan airport scheduled to go to l.a.x. left at 8:00 a.m. this morning and 45 minutes later it was diverted into the world trade center. >> let's go back into a few seconds ago because this is now an hour after the first impact, and we saw dramatic footage of the portion of one of the twin

towers appearing to fall away from the rest of the building. can we go to the tape now? this is -- when you look at it, the building has collapsed. that tower just came down. >> well, the consequences go on not just to the world trade center and to the poor people who were trapped and caught there. but of course, that is the heart of the world financial markets which have now been shut down effectively as well. so the ripple effect continues this morning as we all try to adjust psychologically and intellectually to what we are witnessing here. it is difficult to comprehend, but this country, the strongest country in the world, has been the target of a major coordinated terrorist attack, and the end is not over yet even if it is confined to just these three targets. the ripple effect goes on. >> and of course, who knows the is human toll that would be the result of this action. matt and -- matt just pointed out to me that on any given day, 50,000 people, tom, work at the

world trade center. >> and at 8:45 in the morning, if they are not in the building, they are around the building. that is a beehive of activity down there, and there is no more active area in terms of pedestrian traffic. >> one of the reporters for the "today show" was there and saw the collapse of one of the towers. >> hi, matt. >> tell us what you saw. >> on the corner of duane and west broadway and walking toward the twin towers and it just collapsed. it looked like the building demolished and smoke and clouds of smoke everywhere. people running towards me as i was going toward the twin towers and people going away from the towards -- away from the towers. and it was just people running like i've never seen a scene like it. >> can you give me an idea of the reaction of people down there? pedestrians? >> everyone, everyone in tears. people who were -- i met some woman in the building to the right of where the

first -- the first thing happened. and, just all crying and having -- wondering if the people they know in the buildings next door are okay. >> mina, take care of yourself. jamie gangel, our national correspondent, is on the phone. jamie? >> katie, as you well know, buildings around town are being evacuated. the state department has been evacuated. the white house has been evacuated and the pentagon has been evacuated. intelligence officials ñ tmsq that they do believe at the pentagon that that was a third plane going down. they have had -- the intelligence source that i have talked to say that they have not received any claim of responsibility yet. >> jamie, have you gotten any information from reagan national airport as to air traffic in the area this morning or anybody who might have somehow traced this plane or figured out from where it came or where it was going?

>> reporter: they still do not have any of those details yet. it is almost impossible. they were confused for a long time, as to whether it is a bomb or a plane. they say now that it appears to be a plane. but they say that that is all the information that they have. >> all right. jamie, thank you very much. we will be talking with you. >> and you know, it goes without saying that this is the most serious attack on the united states in more than 100 years. and not since the war of 1812 and the damage we did to ourselves in the civil war has this country suffered this kind of damage within its interior and obviously pearl harbor which triggered world war ii was a horrific event as well, but there has never been an event to match the magnitude of this one in which everything has been shut down in terms of air traffic. the national capital has been immobilized and the financial markets are shut down and there is an untold loss of life.

>> the other tower of the world trade center has just collapsed. that i believe was the first tower that was struck this morning at 8:42 eastern time. i am so nervous right now, it's not even funny. oh my gosh... driver 1 you ready? yeah! go! [sfx] roaring altima engine woah! ahhhha! we told people they were riding nissan's most advanced altima race car. we lied... about the race car part. altima, with 270 horsepower and active understeer control. how did you?...what! i don't even, i'm speechless. innovation that excites. ♪ [music] ♪ jackie's heart attack didn't come with a warning.

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fast your business needs to adapt if hp big data solutions can keep wireless customers smiling imagine what they can do for yours. make it matter. hello, everybody. the cia says the number of isis fighters in the deal has grown since june. the militant group now has a force of between 20 and 31,000 fighters. senators huddled at the capitol for a briefing on isis. the strategy to degrade and destroyed the militant group. john kerry held meetings. pledging to join a corporate campaign against crisis. now it's back to your program. >> it is 7:15 in the west obviously for those who are just joining us at 8:45 eastern time,

8:42 eastern time american airlines flight 11 from boston to l.a.x. crashed into one of the twin tower buildings and 15 minutes later another plane hit the other one. that building has now collapsed. and within an hour of those two attacks, the pentagon is now hit as we're told by a plane and an untold number of casualties. president bush has been on the air, he was saying apparently it is a terrorist attack and everyone believes that, carefully coordinated from the air, and the consequences of it in terms of human loss and the effect on this country are still to be determined. katie, what we are worrying about is that the other building may come down, and they have evacuated that area because of the crash, and one world trade center and now we are told about the concern of the second one collapsing as well. we are told now that the spokesman for yasser arafat, the

leader of the palestinian, and leader of the pla, the palestinian liberation organization, that he has -- arafat has condemned what has happened here in new york. he says that p.l.o. has no role in it whatsoever, and they are completely shocked and appalled by what is happening. there was one earlier report that the radical front of palestine claimed responsibility, but that is later denied as well. we don't know yet who is responsible for this, but it was very carefully planned and coordinated, and fair to say it has been devastating efficient and effective attack on the heart of this country. >> let's go to pat dawson who is down by the world trade center. >> reporter: there are probably at this stage, i would say, hundreds, perhaps in the thousands of emergency workers who in the last hour and a half have managed to work their way down here to lower manhattan and basically tried to get into this fray. we are standing right here about 10 to 12 blocks north of the world trade center.

these firemen that you can see, firefighters, firefighters are walking down towards the site now and they literally have been arriving by the dozens over the past hour or so as we say probably in excess of 1,000 or more emergency workers from new york city and surrounding areas converging on this site now to try to make some sense of it. as you can imagine, at this point, there is a certain level of chaos, because they are just trying to sort out who is alive and who is not. when i asked one of them why he was going back in as he suited up, since he could barely breathe, he said because it's my job and there may be some of my brother officers in there. and as you can see from these pictures the amount of dust from the fire that is still burning, flames and ash is extraordinary at this point. at least a few emergency workers have said that they really are not so sure that other tower won't stay up now. they really didn't think that the first one was capable of

coming down, but it did. so they are basically saying keep back as far as you can. on the other hand facing that danger as we have been telling you, many, many hundreds of these workers are heading over those lines down towards that burning building to try to rescue those people who are in there, be they emergency workers, be they civilians. >> we'll go to mik. mik, what is the latest from the pentagon? >> katie, security officials here at the pentagon have not only evacuated the building, but are clearing the entire area. security forces have reported that they have received information of another plane hijacked, and that it is about 20 to 25 miles out of washington, d.c., headed in this general direction. secretary of defense donald rumsfeld, a few moments ago was refusing to leave the building. there is no confirmation of the latest threat, but security officials here are taking it very seriously, and we were standing with secretary

rumsfeld's security detail who, as soon as they got the report, were running into the building and we were herded away, but they have set up an alternative command site somewhere in the area. the pentagon set up a crisis team to deal with this situation. but, so far, the latest reports are that another plane of some kind may have been hijacked and headed in this direction. katie? >> yeah, we also should tell you, mik, this is tom brokaw, that the faa says that all international flights headed for the united states are being diverted to canada. this at a time when, as jim is telling us, there is an unconfirmed report that there is another hijacking, and all takeoffs were stopped, but there were planes in the air obviously at the time of the first two attacks on the twin trade towers and then on the pentagon. >> let's look at the live pictures at the world trade center and the other tower of

the world trade center has just collapsed. you are looking at live pictures of the second twin tower at the world trade center collapsing as a result of the crash of an airplane into its side. that, i believe, is the first tower that was struck this morning at 8:42 eastern time. that is now -- that has now fallen to the ground. >> the profile of manhattan has been changed. there is a declaration of war by terrorists on the united states. more than 100 stories of steel and concrete, electrical. there it is. that is a videotape replay. >> many of the emergency workers basically just happy to be alive. certainly, that picture tells it all. you know, millions of people have saved with progressive, so i get invited to quite a few family gatherings. heck, i saved judith here a fortune

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we are back at 10:30 eastern time on this tuesday morning, this horrific, incredible, not- to-be believed tuesday morning. you are looking at live pictures of the world trade center where just a few minutes ago, within the last minute actually, the second twin tour collapsed. >> this is a declaration and execution of an attack on the united states. two of our most conspicuous symbols of the american system of capitalism, the pentagon which is the headquarters of the most mighty military in the world was attacked today and the white house has been evacuate and the state department has been evacuated and the financial markets are immobilized and all flights taking off after these attacks are grounded. >> international flights have been sent to canada. >> transatlantic flights are sent to canada. so there is great chaos on this country to say nothing, as you pointed out so importantly, of

the untold loss of life. and it's going to be horrendous. we don't know yet what the exact numbers are, but we can only tell you that by looking at the pictures you can guess as well as we can that there are a lot of people who are not able to escape. >> back in 1993 when the bomb blew up in the basement of the world trade center, so many survivors talked about how long it took them with no power in the elevators to walk down the smoke-filled stairways. you think of how many were trying to escape the buildings when the first one, and the second one collapsed. >> and the buildings important in so many ways, and now it has been attacked by terrorists at world trade center and the damage is beyond our ability to tell you in great detail. >> let's go to pat dawson, if he can hear us. he's on the ground. >> quite extraordinary. these are the emergency workers who are coming back. it was ten minutes ago that we described to you the possibility of that north tower collapsing. about five minutes after we went

off of the air, it did collapse. once again, we have no idea at this point the loss of life, but i can tell you that there were hundreds of emergency workers down there about five or six blocks. it took probably about, i would say, no more than 50 or 60 seconds for that dust cloud, dust and smoke to literally make it the five or six blocks up here and begin to envelope us at which point we started to move out of the way. there were literally dozens and dozens of firemen who were trying to run past us, and in fact, our cameraman put one of the captains in the car and drove him down to a command post. the people you see here are pretty much all emergency workers, and many of them that i have seen in the last two to three minutes, quite frankly are coming out of here and remember this, these are professionals and they are coming out of there looking literally stunned, in shock, many of them, struggling for breath, obviously, in serious distress and breathing problems are the biggest problem

for those who managed to make it safely out of that area down below us. you can't see much more than a block south of me right now. and the world trade center probably stands about ten blocks south of where i am at this moment. as you can see now, the dust is beginning to pick up here. it really depends upon which way the wind blows as to whether or not we get heavy dust or not. but at this point, i can tell you that in the first few minutes, emergency workers were trying just basically to get out of there and to survive. you could see it written in their faces. the situation was so desperate, they just wanted to get out of there. now many are beginning to regroup. and a couple of them asked where the commander might be and they are trying to get together and go back in there and try to take care of the people who are obviously in serious trouble. no other way to describe it. the language here at times if i slip into language which seems a little melodramatic, forgive me. but this is a circumstance which

is very, very difficult to describe in many ways without sounding melodramatic and certainly in 20 years of covering horrific events this is something i have never seen before. and many of the emergency workers just happy to be alive and certainly that picture tells it all. many are happy to be alive at this point. >> that is nbc's pat dawson who is standing about ten blocks from where the world trade center twin towers used to = w stand. you are looking at one of the collapse of those towers now. we have an alert out of pittsburgh that the officials at somerset county are confirming a crash of a large plane north of the airport 80 miles southeast of pittsburgh. and again, officials at the somerset county airport confirm the crash of a large plane north of the airport which is located 80 miles to the southeast of the city of pittsburgh. we do not know whether that crash of that plane is related to what has become an obvious terrorist attack both here in new york city and washington,

d.c., at the pentagon. >> we want to go to jim miklaszewski who is at the pentagon. jim? >> they are still clearing people from the pentagon and officials belief there is another incoming plane headed in the washington region, but there was a telling, dramatic moment a second ago when a u.s. air force f-16 flew at low level and did a wide sweeping turn around the pentagon and back over washington. and as one air force officer standing near me said, they are now flying air cover over washington. a very dramatic moment. a milestone in what tom has already described as a declaration of war, terrorist war, against the u.s. katie? >> let's go back to show you the pictures of lower manhattan where the situation is only worse and not better. that is the financial district of the world and a great residential and commercial area and both twin trade towers have

collapsed onto the ground. there is an untold loss of life and heroic rescue workers down there trying to get the people out of the building when the first building came down and then the second building did as well, without any sound and in looking at this, there is a kind of surreal quality, but that is the epicenter of a great, great national tragedy and a great loss of life. no question about it this morning. >> it is hard to overstate the consequences of all of this, and this is just the beginning. we will be living with this story and dealing with the consequences of it for some time. the united states will change as a result of all of this. we already thought that there was a lot of security in america at the airports and so on, and yet, there was a successful hijacking in boston airport today and the consequences of that we're seeing on the screen here this morning.

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we have a report here that of some of the lawton, who is often identified as the world's and leading terrorist more than three weeks ago that he and his followers of this would carry out an attack on u.s. interest for its support of israel. >> editor of the london-based newspaper said islamic fundamentalists were almost certainly behind the attack of the world trade center in new york. quote, it is most likely the work of islamic fundamentalists. he said he would attack american interestss in a very big attack. >> he has maintained close contact with his followers according to reuters. that is the first report we have

had that he may have been responsible. we have word from americanairlines that it had two aircraft in this strategy, flight 11, a boeing 67. flight 77 a boeing 757 operating from washington dulles to l.a. with 58 passengers, four flight attendants and pilots. from americanairlines. >> so now we know the identity of two of the flights involved in today's incidents. that leaves one more. the report of the crash in pittsburgh, two more. >> united airlines confirming one of its flights crash, flight 93, boeing 757. originating in new york and bound for san francisco. no information on how manyççsñ people were on board.

it was a collapse not just of intelligence but air force security that that many plays were hijacked almost simultaneously. >> we go to bob at st. vincent's hospital. we are very concerned about the people in the world trade center when these two planes crashed into them. bob, tell me about this scene at st. vincent's hospital. >> k.v., the wounded are coming in with great regularity almost 30 seconds and ambulance pulls up. some of them very badly burned. i have seen several dead bodies go and. the head of the catholic archdiocese is on the street getting last rites. may god help us many times over. above lower manhattan because all of the subways and commuter lines and bridges and tunnels

have been shut down. many people are not injured are wandering around aimlessly. in the hospitals, so many injured that they have run out of breeze. they brought every office chair down and put sheets over that. enormous amount of work for the staff. people have come in everybody who was off has come in. calls have gone out to specialists, plastic surgeons. it will be a very grueling several days ahead. >> ron is here with us in the studio. ron, obviously, you were downtown at some point because we see you have basically said and read your hair and on your jacket. what happened? >> one of the cameramen and i were trying to get across the street having driven down to cover the event. as we were going across the street, we were not terribly far from the building, the south tower appeared as we were cutting across in a quarantine zone the building began to disintegrate. we heard it and looked up and

started to see elements of the building come down. it was like a scene out of independence day. everything began to ring down. the wins were whipping through the corridors. i ducked around a corner, got into a car that was open. it was night time for several minutes before things cleared up. >> the first hour? >> are believed it was. as it was coming down the, it looks mild compared to what it was like to be there. it was pitch black 4 blocks. >> smoke as well as dust. >> smoke dust, part of the building coming down. pieces of a disintegrating building coming down as well. >> what it did begin to clear, what did you see? >> it was a very deep gray smoke. it looked like a nuclear winter what you see the movies with ash all over the ground, on top of cars, police cars, windows. i'm and stay there until a couple police officers in a few other people were able to get into a

vehicle. we picked up injured people and drop them off at the hospital. >> what were their injuries. >> when a policeman had a deep gash in his forehead. he was all right. a young lady had shrapnel in her arm. i don't know what it was part of the building or glass from another building. it was the most intense and frightening experience i have ever had in my life. it was literally pitch black on the streets, and people were obviously in hailing a great deal of this material as well. many people were having a problem breathing. >> we have united airlines confirming that united flight 175 from boston to los angeles is down as well. no details. flight 93 we believe from the work to san francisco is down. that is the one we think went down in the pittsburgh area. i wish that we could be more specific. the information is, as you might expect, pretty chaotic.

there have been at least four airliners that have been hijacked today. >> maybe there is going to be an awful lot of scrutiny on the security in boston because it appears that two of these flights average needed there. some house someone managed to get on these points and hijack them. >> this is an event that we are happy to see you. >> you have no idea how happy i am to be here. >> but then you think about the experiences of thousands of other people down there in the epicenter of all that and were there when it occurred. our hearts go out to them. we don't know what the numbers are. >> you heard about the cardinal delivering out last rights. >> this magnitude will go on, a national tragedy. this is a national security event. the president is coming back and we are at war. this country has suffered a devastating attack that will cost us a loss of life and also

in terms of our psychological security that we have in this country. we will have to revisit a lot of our freedoms as a result of this kind of attack. of course, the question of retaliation. this place remains an enormous part in the eyes of a lot of people and we are so vulnerable because of all those things that make us so great, our freedoms and sense of security that we have. america has been changed today by all this.

oh, another one just hit! >> a very large plane just flew directly over my building. >> the instant that second plane hit that second tower the looks that were exchanged in that studio were chilling, and i'll never forget them. >> they were eyewitnesses to history. >> there has been a declaration of war by terrorists on the united states. >> i think the role of a journalist is to tell everyone that there is a new reality here.