this point. we ought to remind everyone once again this is an exceptional development. the faa has banned all take offs at all airports across america. this country in terms of air travel has been immobilized. the most powerful center of the world has been immobilized as well. that s a haunting description bob kerr just gave of the low-flying aircraft near the white house and one can only wonder if that was ultimately we just saw a live picture of what seemed to be a portion of the building falling away from the world trade center. if we can rerack that to about 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. we have the tape. watch what happens in the left-hand tower.
talking with us. hopefully you can stay on the phone and we can check back in with you at another point in time. we really appreciate it. you re welcome. we want to also report that remind people that world trade center bombing that took place on february 26th back in 1993, the product of a terrorist attack, the result of a terrorist attack, that killed six people and injured more than a thousand. of course that happened on a friday afternoon. i think, matt, you and al were working that day. we were. i know i was at home in virginia watching it in disbelief. and now it feels a bit like deja vu. this is so much more by very. and keep in mind that killed six people, injured a thousand. the explosion happened in a garage in a basement. this is a direct hit on the mid section or upper section of the towers. so the potential for injuries and death much larger. of course, also some people on the planes. yeah, that s right. exactly. if they were hijacked and on route to a differen
minister perez is scheduled to meet with yasser tear farafat. the palestinians were accusing the israelis of racism. there hasn t been one specific incident. the israelis vacated that meeting, as well. but there has not been one specific incident. it s also worth pointing out the 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, the most conspicuous symbol of american capitalism, the twin trade towers in new york, two deliberate attacks on those towers today. we do not know for sure who is responsible. and the capitol, by the way, the u.s. capitol has been evacuated. there have been evacuations taking place at the white house. needless to say, many people at the pentagon have left that building, as well. and here in new york the this building in midtown,
crash took place just about quarter to nine by my reckoning. i don t know the exact time, about quarter to nine, and when that took place, obviously at that hour the building would not be packed with people but it is still late enough in the morning that there would be enough people. we are listening to pat dawson standing near the world trade center in lower manhattan and i was thinking while pat was talking you spent time in oklahoma city after the explosion and it took more than a week to sift through that rubble of a building that was how many stories? probably it was about 30 stories as i remember. i am sorry to interrupt you both. apparently we have gotten a report that a car bomb has exploded outside the state department. again, that s an initial report that i am hearing from our producers in the control room. can we go to anyone for more information on that? apparently no more information. where is andrea mitchell? is she at the state department? the state department
the president is going to do next. the president declared this an apparent terrorist act. he offered a prayer for the families, promised to hunt down in his words the people responsible for this. he will now travel back to washington and aides are telling us now that he will immediately convene a national security meeting to see what steps are taken next. david, i m sorry to interrupt you but we re looking at live pictures of the pentagon where there is billowing smoke. jim miklaszewski just reported they heard an explosion. right now we re looking at an aerial view of the pentagon. mik, can you talk to us? officially 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. the heliport is a helicopter landing area right next to the