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U.S. Ready For War, Bin Laden Suspect, Missing Tops 5,000
WASHINGTON, Sept 13 (News Agencies) - The United States pledged Thursday to "battle terrorism" in the "first war of the 21st century" and nominated Osama bin Laden as a prime suspect in history's bloodiest attack, as the toll of the missing topped 5,000.
U.S. President George W. Bush's administration promised a crusade to end "states who sponsor terrorists," intensifying its push for global action to avenge Tuesday's airborne strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
An emotional Bush promised journalists in the Oval Office: "We will lead the world to victory," pledging to wage war to "root out and to whip terrorism."
After calling a string of world leaders, Bush declared: "There is universal support for the American people.
"We have just seen the first war of the 21st century."
"This country will not relent until we have saved ourselves and others from the terrible tragedy that came upon America."
A senior administration official speaking on condition of anonymity promised a multi-year campaign, if need be, to defeat those responsible for the attacks.
The U.S. military said Bush had lodged a request to Congress for $20 billion, described as a "down payment" for the fight, as signs emerged the United States is considering a prolonged and extended campaign.
"It's not just a matter of capturing these [attackers] and holding them accountable, but removing the sanctuaries, the support systems, ending states who sponsor terrorists and terrorism," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said.
In a nation still transfixed by shock, authorities deployed thousands of agents, and law enforcement agencies overseas joined the bid to snare the masterminds.
Secretary of State Colin Powell became the first U.S. official to confirm publicly that bin Laden, a Saudi dissident exiled in Afghanistan, was a prime suspect.
"Yes," he replied when asked if bin Laden was discussed as the United States piled diplomatic pressure on Pakistan - one of the few states to recognize the Taliban, bin Laden's protectors.
The administration official suggested it was possible that bin Laden's network may not have been acting alone but with "multiple organizations" - but added: "we don't want to be premature."
U.S. authorities believe bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network were behind the deadly attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
In the war-zone that was once lower Manhattan, rescuers pressed on with a grisly search for human remains in piles of masonry - all that is left of the 110-floor twin towers of the World Trade Center where more than 40,000 people once worked.
But their dangerous labor was halted several times amid fears other buildings in the World Trade Center complex could be on the point of collapse.
But joy was tempered as the list of those missing reached cataclysmic proportions - 4,763 people were unaccounted for from the World Trade Center alone, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said.
Ninety-four bodies were pulled from the ruins and 46 had been identified.
"We also have the gruesome, horrible situation where we recover body parts, and there are 70 people in that category. There are 70 body parts, I am sorry I have to describe it that way," Giuliani said.
At the Pentagon, searchers recovered 70 bodies and a preliminary toll of the dead and missing reached 190, - including 64 passengers aboard a Boeing jet that slammed into the building.
But later, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the final death toll was likely to reach "between 200 and 250."
With an additional 202 passengers and crew who died when the three other hijacked airliners crashed, the toll of those unaccounted for is now more than 5,000.
Bush placed a volley of calls to world leaders Thursday, including Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson.
The U.S. president has already called China's President Jiang Zemin, Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders of NATO allies to discuss the crisis.
NATO and Russia joined to call on the international community to unite in the struggle against terrorism, a statement released by the western alliance in Brussels said.
And China, despite its tense relations with the United States, signaled its support - albeit with reservations.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will head to Russia and then go to NATO headquarters in Brussels next week, the State Department said.
But NATO has denied reports it is plotting to invade Afghanistan.
U.S. diplomats piled pressure on Pakistan, one of the few governments to have relations with Afghanistan's Taliban. U.S. ambassador Wendy Chamberlain held crisis talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Musharraf responded by offering his full cooperation to the United States.
The U.S. probe into the catastrophic attacks on New York and Washington sped along meanwhile, after a dozen search warrants were executed in Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and elsewhere.
Only hours after reopening for the first time since Tuesday's attacks, New York's three airports Newark, Kennedy and LaGuardia were closed again.
Five people were subsequently reported to have been detained.
ABC Radio said three people were held at La Guardia Airport, while other reports said a man had been arrested at Kennedy Airport with false papers.
Investigators established that at least 18 hijackers were aboard the four planes that crashed Tuesday, but believe they had significant ground support in the United States and elsewhere.
Two of the planes had at least five hijackers aboard, another two had four each aboard, Attorney General John Ashcroft said.
Two airliners were steered into the World Trade Center, one at the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania - reports said passengers on that flight voted to try and overpower the hijackers.
In Germany, police launched an investigation into a possible cell linked to the U.S. attacks that may have operated out of the northern city of Hamburg where two hijackers who crashed into the World Trade Center briefly lived.
U.S. investigators believe that as many as 50 people were involved in Tuesday's strike, of whom at least three underwent flight training in Florida, including Ali Muhammed al-Darmaki, who died in the attacks, U.S. media reports said.
Bush, who declared a national day of mourning for Friday, said he would go to New York to see the devastation for himself.
He told Giuliani and state governor George Pataki in a telephone call that he would arrive after a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington on Friday.
In Congress, Republicans and Democrats set aside bitter party differences and backed Bush's response to the deadly attacks.
Bush also warned that Arab Americans should not be scapegoated as suspicion mounts that those of Arab and/or Islamic origin might have been behind the attacks.
"We must be mindful that as we seek to win the war that we treat Arab Americans and Muslims with the respect they deserve," Bush said in a conference call with New York Governor George Pataki and Giuliani.
Mullah Mohammad Omar, the reclusive supreme leader of the Taliban, said Thursday that bin Laden could not be held responsible for the massive attacks.
Omar argued that the Saudi dissident could not have masterminded an operation of such sophistication and complexity in a statement to the Afghan Islamic Press, a Pakistan-based news agency with close links to the militia.
Back in the United States, civilian air traffic, grounded since Tuesday's attacks, slowly started to resume.
Airlines - many of which have aircraft parked in the wrong airports following the emergency national grounding - said they were resuming diverted flights first.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Thursday foreign airlines must meet tougher security standards before landing in the United States.
And with the nation still transfixed in shock, there will be almost no major sporting events in the United States this weekend.
The National Football League and Major League Baseball decided Thursday not to play any scheduled games this weekend.
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