Tri-City Herald 9/11-related pages

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SPECIAL COVERAGE

SEPT. 11, 2001

TERROR Attack on America Hijacked planes destroy World Trade Center towers in New York, damage Pentagon Inside

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Mounting an audacious attack against the United States, terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and brought down the twin 110-story towers this morning. A jetliner also slammed into the Pentagon as the government itself came under attack.

Thousands could be dead or injured, a highranking New York City police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A fourth jetliner, also apparently hijacked, crashed in Pennsylvania.

President Bush ordered a full-scale investigation to “hunt down the folks who committed this act.”

Authorities had been trying to evacuate those who work in the twin towers when the glassand-steel skyscrapers came down in a thunderous roar within about 90 minutes after the attacks, which took place minutes apart around 9 a.m. But many people were thought to have been trapped. About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center and tens of thousands of others visit each day.

American Airlines said two of its planes, both hijacked, crashed with a total of 156 people aboard, but said it could not confirm where they went down. Two United airliners with a total of 110 aboard also crashed — one outside Pittsburgh, the other in a location not immediately identified. Altogether, the planes had 266 people aboard.

“This is perhaps the most audacious terrorist attack that’s ever taken place in the world,” said Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane’s Transport in London. “It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. ... I would name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden.”

CNN aired videophone pictures this evening of apparent bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, thought to be the home of Osama bin Laden, identified as a suspect in the terrorist attack.

Within the hour, the Pentagon took a direct, devastating hit from a plane. The fiery crash collapsed one side of the five-sided structure.

The White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol were evacuated along with other federal buildings in Washington and New York.

The president put the military on its highest level of alert. Authorities in Washington immediately called out troops, including an infantry regiment, and the Navy sent aircraft carriers and guided missile destroyers to New York and Washington. The U.S. and Canadian borders were sealed, security was tightened at naval installations and other strategic points, and all commercial air traffic across the country was

See Terror, Page 2

Page 2 Reaction: Nation reacts with shock, fear, outrage.

Precaution: States on high alert.

Page 3 Narrative: How the Trade Center came down.

Scene: Witnesses feel horrified, helpless.

Page 4 Mid-Columbia: Security heightened at government installations.

Blood donations: Area residents contribute.

Community: Residents react to terrorism.

Page 5 Religion: Area churches pray for peace.

School: Tri-City students discuss events.

Pages 6 & 7 Photos: Cameras capture grisly scenes in N.Y, D.C. Page 8 Sports: Baseball games postponed; games still on at area high schools.

Northwest: Communities, leaders deal with terror.

Page 9 Opinion: Root out enemies of democracy.

Quotable: Reactions from around the world.

Associated Press

The south tower collapses this morning as smoke billows from both towers of the World Trade Center in New York. In one of the most horrifying attacks ever against the United States, terrorists crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center and brought down the twin 110-story towers.

Page 10 Taliban: Rulers condemn terrorist attacks.

Reaction: Palestinians rejoice; world stunned.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12, 2001

Day of Terror he day was forged by fire, shrouded in smoke.

And while the dawn explosions were nearly 3,000 miles away, the tragedy seemed much closer.

Never before had the United States felt so totally at the mercy of terrorists.

The nation was experiencing a sense of horror that — like Pearl Harbor, like the Kennedy assassination, like the Oklahoma City bombings — immediately became a defining moment for us all.

We tried to deal with the unimaginable events taking place. Many attempted to carry on their normal day, getting dressed for work, battling traffic, sitting at their computer terminals, starting meetings.

Then reality set in ...

Special coverage

T

— From the San Jose Mercury News

➤ Capital: Eerie calm settles on D.C. A2. ➤ Aftermath: Establishing death toll could take weeks. A3. ➤ Security: Hanford, other sites on heightened alert. A3. ➤ Surreal: Images hard to believe. A5. ➤ Attack: Destruction shatters American security. A6. ➤ World: Attack condemned; Palestinians rejoice. A7. ➤ Images: Photos from tragedy. A8-9. ➤ Fort Lewis: State military base mourns. A10. ➤ Oregon: Security tightened across state. A11. ➤ Opinion: U.S. must not let terrorists win. A12-13. ➤ Region: Many stranded at Tri-Cities Airport. B1.

Smoke billows from one of the towers of the World Trade Center and flames and debris explodes from the second tower Tuesday. In one of the most horrifying attacks ever against the United States, terrorists crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in a deadly series of blows that brought down the twin 110-story towers.

➤ Services: Faith offers solace. B1.

Associated Press photos

Firefighters fight a blaze amidst rubble after terrorists crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in a deadly series of blows that brought down the twin 110-story towers in New York.

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Aftermath of

Terror

➤ Worldwide: Palestinians try to alter image; Pentagon survivors talk. A6-A7.

➤ Opinion: Usually vocal writers at loss for words as others speak out. A12-13.

➤ Images: More photos of damage left by terrorist attacks. A8-A9.

➤ Mid-Columbia: Current, former Tri-Citians share stories. B1.

VOICE

THURSDAY

OF THE MID-COLUMBIA

SEPT. 13, 2001

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Tragedy sinks in 5 alive amid rubble

Officials identify suspects, gather links to bin Laden

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Federal authorities have identified more than a dozen hijackers of Middle Eastern descent in Tuesday’s bombings and gathered evidence linking them to Osama bin Laden and other terrorist networks, law enforcement officials said. In all, perhaps 50 people were involved in the plot, government officials say.

The massive investigation stretched from the Canadian border, where officials suspect

some of the hijackers entered the country, to Florida, where some of the participants are believed to have learned how to fly commercial jetliners before the attacks.

Locations in Massachusetts and Florida were searched for evidence.

The names of two men being sought by authorities emerged in Florida. There, the FBI interviewed a family who gave them temporary shelter a year ago.

The officials, speaking on con-

By the Knight Ridder news service

See Links, Page A2

Search for bodies follows destruction ■ ‘Mini-collapses’ shake Trade Center rescuers

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK — As the smoldering ashes of the World Trade Center slowly yielded unimaginable carnage, investigators fanned out across the country Wednesday to track the conspirators who orchestrated an unprecedented day of terror from the air.

In one indication of the potential death toll, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was asked about a report that the city has requested 6,000 body bags from federal officials. “Yes, I believe that’s correct,” the mayor said.

In another, 2,500 people visited a grief counseling center handling questions about

missing family members Wednesday.

The last few floors that remained of the trade center’s south tower collapsed Wednesday afternoon in yet another cloud of thick smoke.

No injuries were reported, but rescuers were evacuated from part of the area where the 1,350-foot titans stood.

Police and fire officials said there were problems with other “mini-collapses” among some badly damaged buildings nearby, and when the towers were destroyed, the Marriott World Trade Center hotel fell with them.

See Search, Page A2

The Journal News

New York City firefighters Tuesday raise a flag from the rubble of the World Trade Center. Two hijacked airliners crashed into the twin towers, which subsequently collapsed, killing and injuring the trapped and rescuers.

Life returning to normal for Mid-Columbians ■ East Coast attacks bring out patriotic spirit in Tri-Cities

By John Trumbo Herald staff writer

A day after Tuesday’s horrific terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Mid-Columbia residents resolved to get on with life in the face of tragedy.

Inside Abby....................................D5 Business..............................B6 Classified ............................C8 Comics ................................D4 Deaths ................................B2 Horoscope ........................C11 Life ..................................D1-6 Mid-Columbia..................B1-5 Obituaries ........................A11 Opinion ........................A12-13 Sports ..............................C1-7 Weather ............................A14 Circulation: 586-2138 Classifieds: 586-6181 Main office: 582-1500 Herald directory, Page A2. © 2001 Tri-City Herald Vol. 99, No. 256

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The assault on American soil 3,000 miles away cut deeply into the soul of Eastern Washington, but it also affirmed for many that freedom is worth the cost.

Hundreds of Tri-Citians snapped up patriotic red, white, blue and yellow ribbons

made available Wednesday as icons of an indomitable American spirit.

Schools in the Tri-Cities carried on, businesses resumed regular hours and people faced the day after with a renewed commitment to be united as a nation.

Many Tri-City crafts and fabric stores were selling out of patriotic ribbons, yellow ribbons and black ribbons.

People were purchasing as many as 10 spools of red-white-and-blue ribbon, said Jani Prater, assistant manager at Hancock Fabrics in Kennewick.

“In a day or two, red, white and blue will be scarce,” she said, wearing a patriotic ribbon on a yellow ribbon background.

See Life, Page A2

NEW YORK — With fires still smoldering and other buildings in danger of collapsing Wednesday night, only 82 bodies had been recovered and at least five people had been pulled out alive, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said. About 20,000 people worked in the two towers and tens of thousands more in other buildings at the World Trade Center, though many escaped before the buildings collapsed. About 300 firefighters and 70 police officers were also missing.

“There are thousands and thousands and thousands of dead,” said Dr. Ira Warheit, a volunteer medical worker on the scene.

“I really think this is a situation we’re going to be living with for a while, which is we’ll only know whether we’ve saved someone or recovered someone’s body when that actually happens,” Giuliani said at a news conference. He apologized that he could not offer anything more concrete to relatives desperate for information.

Jose Oyola, a hospital medical technician, was with a team of seven doctors and medical technicians who found a semiconscious female police officer moaning and pinned under a 10foot-long beam, bleeding heavily from a wound on her leg.

A crane couldn’t get to the area, so they tried hefting the beam. But it was too heavy. The only solution: Amputate her leg.

“Once we got the leg off of her, we tied her up, started an IV with blood transfusion” and got her to a triage center, Oyola said.

No survivors were taken to nearby St. Vincent’s Hospital on Wednesday, said Dr. Leonard Bakalchuk. The only people treated during the day were emergency workers with respiratory problems, an eye abrasion and heat exhaustion.

“We didn’t end up with the number of patients we expected because of the fact that people are under rubble,” Bakalchuk said.

FAA allows some planes to complete journeys ■ Officials keep ban in effect until security measures met

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Thousands of passengers whose flights were diverted after Tuesday’s terror attacks began resuming their journeys Wednesday, but officials kept the rest of the nation’s commercial air fleet on the ground.

Federal transportation officials said they won’t reopen the skies to all planes until they can ensure the safety of the passengers.

One plane that was diverted to Canada landed Wednesday night in the Northeast, the Federal Aviation Administration said, and other flights were on their way home.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said Wednesday that only those flights diverted Tuesday because of four hijackings and intentional crashes would be allowed to continue to their original destinations. Only passengers originally on the flights could reboard, and only after airports had imposed new security procedures. Some passengers slept in the planes Tuesday night.

Mineta could give neither a time nor a date for full resumption of air service, stopped by unprecedented government order after the

See Planes, Page A2

Herald/Molly Van Wagner

Tri-Cities Airport officials walk through a security zone in front of the airport Wednesday. After Tuesday’s terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all commercial flights.

VOICE

THURSDAY

OF THE MID-COLUMBIA

MARCH 20, 2003

www.tri-cityherald.com

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First strike

WAR ■ Saddam: U.S. actions ‘shameful’ Iraq

■ U.S. hits ‘targets of importance’

in

■ Ari Fleischer: Prepare for loss of life

■ 300,000 troops await more orders

Bush follows through with war

U.S. raids Afghan villages

By The Associated Press

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — About 1,000 U.S. troops and attack helicopters swept into villages in southern Afghanistan today in a new military operation to flush out remaining al-Qaida terrorists and their allies, an Army spokesman said.

The operation, code-named “Valiant Strike,” began with an early morning air assault assisted by a ground convoy in the remote, mountainous area of southern Kandahar province, Col. Roger King told reporters.

It was a coincidence that the operation began at the same time as U.S. forces began a broad military operation in Iraq, King said.

“Operations in Afghanistan are conducted completely independent of any operations in other sectors,” he said. An operation of similar size took place in neighboring Helmand province about a month ago. Several suspected militants were killed, and about 30 were captured.

King said the raids would focus on areas east of Kandahar. The province is the former spiritual headquarters of the ousted Taliban regime, which is allied with the al-Qaida network suspected of carrying out the Sept. 11 attacks.

King declined to say what the goal of the operation was or whether it targeted al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

The operation was likely to continue for two or three days, said Lt. Coryll Angel, a U.S. military spokesman in Kandahar.

The assault was one of the biggest in Afghanistan since Operation Anaconda just more than year ago, King said. That eight-day battle pitted hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters against thousands of American and allied Afghan troops.

Since then, the multinational, U.S.-led coalition headquartered at Bagram Air Base has carried out at least a dozen major offensives.

The United States launched the opening salvo Wednesday night of a war to topple Saddam Hussein, firing cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs into Baghdad. U.S. officials said the Iraqi leader himself was among the targets.

“This will not be a campaign of half-measures, and we will accept no outcome but victory,” President Bush said in an Oval Office address shortly after explosions ricocheted through the pre-dawn light of the Iraqi capital.

Anti-aircraft tracer fire arced across the Baghdad sky as the American munitions bore in on their targets. A ball of fire shot skyward after one explosion. The strikes used Tomahawk cruise missiles, and precision-guided bombs dropped from F-117 Nighthawks, the Air Force’s stealth fighter-bombers, military officials said.

Saddam appeared on state-run television a few hours after the attack. He said the United States had committed a “shameful crime” by attacking Iraq and urged his country to “draw your sword” against the enemy. He appeared unhurt and wore a military uniform.

“We promise you that Iraq, its leadership and its people will stand up to the evil invaders, and we will take them to such limits

See War, Page A2

■ 1,000 troops hunt

for al-Qaida members

By The Associated Press

Associated Press photos

Above: A tank crew stands on top of their M1Ai Abrams tank lined up in a front position Wednesday night as the U.S. Army 3rd Brigade prepared to move north to a location near the Iraq border.

The crew named their tank “Apophis” after the Egyptian god of death and war. Below: An F/A-18 Hornet aircraft pilot gives the

thumbs up Wednesday before takeoff from the flight deck the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, which cruises in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The Truman and its battle group are preparing for the strike against Iraq. The United States launched attacks as ultimatum for Saddam to leave Iraq ended.

War in Iraq ➤ Military families respond to news of attacks. A2 ➤ Northwest under heightened security. A6 ➤ Timeline of action leading to war. A6 ➤ Attack plan based on ‘rapid dominance’ defense policy. A6 ➤ Coalition and opposition key players. A7 ➤ Herald editorial board says there is little certainty. A10 ➤ Columnists debate validity of conflict. A11 ➤ Pasco mother spots son in photo of troops in Kuwait on front page of the Herald. B1 ➤ War may help U.S. economy bounce back. B6 ➤ Mariners, A’s work out schedule to make up games. C1

Coming Friday Continuing coverage to include extra pages of stories, graphics and photos covering the most recent developments in the war with Iraq.

Tri-Citians unite for prayer Mid-Columbians respond to combat

■ Richland Lutheran

began weekly services after Sept. 11 attacks

■ Prosser woman’s

husband deployed to an unknown location

By Kristina Lord and John Stang Herald staff writers

Heartfelt prayers, soothing stained glass windows and tapered candles flickering on the altar at Richland Lutheran Church provided the peaceful sanctuary parishioners sought Wednesday evening as the country braced for war with Iraq.

A couple of blocks away, a handful of protesters continued their daily anti-war vigil next to Richland City Hall on busy George Washington Way. They plan to continue their protest for the duration of the war.

The church’s service for peace and the safety of those serving in the military or living abroad was especially important for Gretchen Isakson on Wednesday. The 5:30 p.m. meeting coincided with President Bush’s 48-hour ultimatum for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

“It’s absolutely more poignant.

It’s foremost in all of our minds,” she said.

The Richland woman has been

By the Herald staff

Herald/Molly Van Wagner

Gretchen Isakson of Richland has been attending a weekly prayer service in the chapel of Richland Lutheran Church since they began after Sept. 11. “It’s very important for me to be there,” she said.

“There’s just something about coming and bonding with other believing Christians that is just very special.” faithfully attending the church’s weekly prayer services since they began after Sept. 11. Fifteen others attended Wednesday’s solemn ceremony.

“We thought this is something we need to continue doing because there’s a lot of people in harm’s way,” said Pastor Bill Martens. “There’s a lot of people in the military and exchange stu-

dents and people involved in the Peace Corps.”

Martens read about 70 names of those serving in the armed forces or residing overseas that were submitted by parishioners.

Isakson’s future son-in-law’s name was among those on the list. Her 30-year-old daughter,

See Prayer, Page A2

As the bombs fell in Iraq Wednesday night, a heaviness fell in Michelle Aparicio’s heart.

The Prosser woman said she didn’t know if her husband was in Iraq. If he was in danger. If he was in the midst of the violence.

Raymond Aparicio, 32, was called to active duty with the Army National Guard last month but couldn’t tell his wife where he was going. She could only sit and worry as the somber news about the bombing began.

“I just can’t wait to hear where he is,” said Michelle Aparicio, 33. “It’s just kind of scary not knowing if he’s there.

If he was somewhere in the U.S., he’d call.”

The Prosser woman, like many in the Mid-Columbia,

kept a vigil in front of the television as “the possible war with Iraq” materialized.

Aparicio last heard from her husband last week. He told her he was in Italy but said so in a way that she knew he was lying.

“I could tell he was scared,” his wife said. “I figured they were going. He told me, ‘Don’t worry if anything happens. It will be swift.’ I’m just kind of in shock. I don’t know where my husband is at. (His unit) is not allowed to say anything to me, and I don’t know where he is.”

Raymond Aparicio was called to active duty immediately after Sept. 11 and worked as an airport security guard at the Tri-Cities Airport for nine months. When his life went back to normal after he was released from active duty, he applied for a job and was hired by the Pasco Police Department in November. He was halfway through the police academy when recalled to

See Combat, Page A2

Inside Abby ....................................D5 Business..............................B6 Classified ............................C7 Comics ................................D4 Crossword ..........................D5 Deaths ................................B3 Horoscope ........................C11 Life ..................................D1-6 Mid-Columbia ..................B1-3 Movies ................................D5 Obituaries............................A9 Opinion ........................A10-11 Sports ..............................C1-6 Stocks ..............................B4-5 Weather ............................A12 Circulation: 586-2138 Classifieds: 586-6181 Main office: 582-1500 Herald directory, Page A2. © 2003 Tri-City Herald Vol. 101, No. 79

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THURSDAY

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APRIL 10, 2003

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DOE sues state Ecology

Regime topples ■ Iraqis celebrate as

■ DOE says state has

U.S. forces tear down Saddam Hussein statue

no right to set cleanup deadlines for Hanford

By The Associated Press

By John Stang Herald staff writer

The Department of Energy sued Washington’s Department of Ecology on Wednesday, contending the state does not have the right to unilaterally set deadlines for cleanup of transuranic wastes at Hanford.

Federal attorneys filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court and Benton County Superior Court.

The federal agency wants to nullify recent decisions by Tom Fitzsimmons, the Ecology Department’s director, for regulating the wastes.

The agency views his decision, plus an earlier state lawsuit, as hindering federal plans to speed up nuclear cleanup at Hanford.

Transuranic wastes are junk laced with highly radioactive materials such as plutonium and neptunium. Hanford has about 75,000 barrels of buried transuranic wastes and another 9,000 barrels stored above ground.

The state claims the Tri-Party Agreement — the legal pact governing Hanford’s cleanup — says the Energy Department and its regulators must negotiate a deadline to finish excavating, treating and shipping the wastes.

DOE contends the state has no authority over those wastes.

On March 11, Fitzsimmons declared DOE must have treatment and storage facilities in place at Hanford by June 2012.

And he said DOE must submit by Aug. 31 a detailed plan and schedule to meet that goal.

Fitzsimmons cited part of the Tri-Party Agreement that gives the Ecology Department’s director the final say in any deadlocked dispute between DOE and its regulators. However, the agreement also gives DOE the right to appeal.

The state expected DOE to appeal.

DOE’s cleanup czar Jessie Roberson said in a news release Wednesday: “Recent actions by the state of Washington could have a chilling effect on cleanup operations at Hanford and elsewhere. (DOE) has fundamentally changed the cleanup programs for every site in the country. Our balanced and integrated cleanup approach is making progress.”

She contended the state’s actions could have “unintended consequences” of halting shipments of transuranic wastes around the country.

But Sheryl Hutchison, Ecology Department spokeswoman, said the state is trying to hold the federal agency to an enforceable cleanup schedule at Hanford.

See Sues, Page A2

Inside

Kyodo News/Koji Hrada

A smiling Iraqi boy flashes V-for-victory signs Wednesday as he walks with Marines in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Jubilant crowds swarmed into Baghdad’s streets, dancing,

looting and defacing images of Saddam Hussein as U.S. commanders declared that his regime’s rule over the capital had ended.

Battle not yet over for coalition forces ■ U.S. faces grenade

attack even as Iraqis crowd street cheering

By The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq — For the weary members of “Attack” Company, it was a happy moment in a long day. Iraqi crowds were waving, grinning, cheering as the Army soldiers moved up the street Wednesday toward the tourism department.

It turned in an instant.

From somewhere in the air came weapons fire — a rocketpropelled grenade. Explosions.

An American down. U.S. tanks returning fire. Urban combat.

From the beginning, this was what the Americans had dreaded — the nightmare scenario of blameless civilians on the street, peril from dark corners and sudden fighting in a city.

The mission, as laid out, was simple.

The company, with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, was ordered to

See Battle, Page A2

WAR

in

Iraq

More inside ■ Chemicals: Commander puzzled at response to exposure. A6 ■ Celebrate: Kurds rejoice at Saddam’s downfall. A6 ■ Questions: Answers still sought on POWs, chemical weapons. A7 ■ Rally: Hundreds of Hermiston residents march in support of troops. B1 ■ Support: Red Cross offers support group led by professionals for military families. B2 ■ Expecting: Soldiers’ pregnant wives face additional burdens. D6 Associated Press

For the latest war news, visit www.tri-cityherald.com.

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The head of a giant Saddam Hussein statue is broken up Wednesday by Iraqis in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Their hour of freedom at hand, jubilant Iraqis celebrated the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s murderous regime Wednesday, beheading a toppled statue of their longtime ruler in downtown Baghdad and embracing American troops as liberators.

“I’m 49, but I never lived a single day. Only now will I start living,” said Yussuf Abed Kazim, a mosque preacher. A young Iraqi spat on a portrait of Saddam.

Men hugged Americans in full combat gear, and women held up babies so soldiers riding on tanks could kiss them.

Iraqis released decades of pentup fury as U.S. forces solidified their grip on the capital. Marine tanks rolled to the eastern bank of the Tigris River; the Army was on the western side of the waterway that curls through the ancient city.

Looting broke out in the capital as Iraqis, shedding their fear of the regime, entered government facilities and made off with furniture, computers, air conditioners and even military jeeps.

“We are not seeing any organized resistance,” said Navy Capt.

Frank Thorp at the U.S. Central Command. “The Iraqi military is unable to fight as an organized fighting force.” And Maj. Gen. Buford C. Blount III, commander of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, told reporters that “the end of the combat phase is days away.”

At a Pentagon briefing, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Saddam “is taking his rightful place” alongside such brutal dictators of the past as Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Vladimir Lenin.

And while Rumsfeld and other American officials cautioned that combat may lie ahead, Iraq’s U.N. ambassador told reporters that “the game is over, and I hope peace will prevail.” Mohammed Al-Douri’s comments to reporters in New York were the first admission by an Iraqi official that Saddam’s forces had been overwhelmed.

There was continued combat in cities to the north, though, where government troops were under attack from U.S. and British warplanes.

Early today, Marines took control of a palace after a fierce, three-hour firefight in which one Marine was killed and at least eight wounded.

The scenes of liberation in Baghdad and celebrations in scattered other cities unfolded as the Pentagon announced that 102 American troops had died in the first three weeks of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Eleven others are missing and seven

See Topples, Page A2

Troops suspect torture chambers ■ Coalition forces find what Iraqis

say is evidence of past atrocities

By The Associated Press

Circulation: 586-2138 Classifieds: 586-6181 Main office: 582-1500 Herald directory, Page A2. © 2003 Tri-City Herald Vol. 101, No. 100

Associated Press

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Capt. Pete McAleer of San Diego, Calif., with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit shows a little girl’s identification Wednesday found among documents strewn in an abandoned Iraqi security facility, which included a suspected torture chamber in Nasiriyah.

NASIRIYAH, Iraq — The Marine patrol thought they found a small police station — a onestory building in this impoverished city in southern Iraq.

But deep inside, they found a wooden stockade, what looked like a primitive electric chair and photos of burned bodies amid reams of surveillance documents. Five tiny cells weren’t just to imprison people, it seemed, but to torture them.

“It looks a bit too much like Nazi Germany to me,” said Capt. Pete McAleer, commander of Echo Company of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, whose patrol found the small compound.

Across Iraq, coalition troops are finding glimpses

of past horrors — suspected torture chambers, secret police headquarters, Iraqis who reveal scars to show the cruelty of Saddam Hussein’s rule carved onto their bodies.

At a prison in Basra, Iraqis showed journalists a white stone jail known as the “White Lion” where they claim Saddam’s secret police for decades tortured inmates with beatings, mutilations, electric shocks and chemical baths.

“They did unthinkable things — electrocution, immersion in a bath of chemicals and ripping off people’s finger- and toenails,” resident Hamed Fattil told British reporters.

Outside the jail, a man showed Associated Press Television News his mangled ears — he said Iraqi police cut them off.

Fattil said Iraqi police locked him and his two brothers in a jail dungeon in 1991, and that he was

See Torture, Page A2

Inside ➤ Hundreds of soldiers take part in raid. A4. ➤ Interrogators press for intelligence. A4.

➤ Some Iraqis mourn Saddam’s fall. A5. ➤ Capture a boon to approval of Bush. A5.

WEATHER Cloudy.

➤ World leaders praise U.S. arrest. A5. ➤ Car bomb at Iraqi police station kills 17. A8.

High 44 Low 34 Real Feel: High 38, Low 23

FORECAST, A12

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DEC. 15, 2003

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50 CENTS

U.S. soldiers capture Saddam near Tikrit

‘We got him’ ■ U.S. troops find ex-Iraqi president

hiding in a cramped hole in the ground

By The Associated Press

said. “We all feel pretty happy and hope that this is a start to the end. I’ll support them 100 percent ’till every last one our children come home.”

Several hundred men and women from the Mid-Columbia are in the Middle East or are heading there as members of the military’s active units or its reserves.

Many of their family members on Sunday reflected on what the capture means to the war, when soldiers will return home and what

BAGHDAD — Cornered alone in a cramped hole near one of his sumptuous palaces, a weary, disheveled Saddam Hussein was seized by U.S. troops and displayed on television screens worldwide Sunday, a humiliating fate for one of history’s most brutal dictators.

The man who waged and lost two wars against the United States and its allies was armed with a pistol when captured in a Styrofoam-covered underground hide-out, but did not resist, the U.S. military said. In the broadcast images, he resembled a desperate fugitive, not an all-powerful president who had ordered his army to fight to the death.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we got him,” U.S. administrator Paul Bremer said at a conference. “The tyrant is a prisoner.”

“He was just caught like a rat,” said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, whose 4th Infantry Division troops staged the raid. “When you’re in the bottom of a hole you can’t fight back.”

Whether Saddam’s capture would curtail Iraq’s insurgency, however, was unclear. President Bush cautioned that more anti-coalition attacks were expected, and Odierno said the lack of communications equipment in the hide-out indicated Saddam was not commanding the resistance.

Early today, a car bomb went off outside a police station in western Baghdad, injuring at least four people, witnesses said. The blast in the Ameriyah district appeared to target the police force’s bureau of criminal investigations. Four people were seen being carried away from the scene.

U.S. officials declined to specify Saddam’s whereabouts, saying late Sunday only that he had been moved to a secure location. The Dubai-based Arab TV station Al-Arabiya said he was taken to Qatar, though that could not be confirmed.

The Americans made clear, however, that Saddam faces intensive interrogation — foremost, what he knows about the ongoing insurgency against the U.S.led occupation, and later about his regime’s unconventional weapons programs.

During the arrest of Saddam, U.S. troops discovered “descriptive written material of significant value,” another U.S. commander told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. He declined to say whether the material related to the anti-coalition resistance.

See Morale, Page A2

See Saddam, Page A2

Associated Press photos

Captured former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein speaks in Baghdad on Sunday in this image from television. Top U.S. administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer confirmed the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam

in a dirt hole under a farmhouse near his hometown of Tikrit, eight months after the fall of Baghdad. Top: Iraqis burn a banknote with the image of Saddam. Right: Saddam after officials shaved his beard.

Raid boosts Tri-City morale ■ Capture relieves families

of Mid-Columbia soldiers

By Nathan Isaacs Herald staff writer

The capture of Saddam Hussein Saturday was a morale boost for many Mid-Columbia families with military loved ones engaged throughout the world in the fight against terror.

“We’re really excited,” said Alberta Red-

Inside Abby....................................D2 Business..............................B4 Classified ............................C6 Comics ................................D3 Crossword ..........................D2 Deaths ................................B2 Horoscope ........................C11 Life ..................................D1-4 Mid-Columbia..................B1-2 Movies ................................D2 Obituaries ..........................A6 Opinion ........................A10-11 Sci-Tech ..............................B3 Sports ..............................C1-6 Weather ............................A12 Circulation: 586-2138 Classifieds: 586-6181 Main office: 582-1500 Herald directory, Page A2. © 2003 Tri-City Herald Vol. 101, No. 349

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wing of Kennewick. She received an e-mail from her son Pfc. Jacob Redwing early Sunday with a guarded account of what happened.

Redwing, 21, is a member of the Fort Hood, Texas-based 4th Infantry Division, whose soldiers captured Saddam during a raid of an Iraqi farmhouse.

Redwing was on duty nearby when the raid occurred, he wrote his mother, and knew immediately that Saddam had been taken.

“He said it really picked up the morale for the troops and that everyone was excited,” she

Bush celebrates custody ■ Arrest marks end of ‘dark and painful era,’ president says

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Bush said Sunday that Saddam Hussein’s capture marks the end of “a dark and painful era” in Iraq but cautioned that it does not mean the end of violence.

Bush said Saddam “will face the justice he denied to millions.”

“It marks the end of the road for him and all who killed and bullied in his name,” Bush said in a nationally broadcast address from the Cabinet Room.

Just after Bush spoke, large explosions were heard in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

Bush was alerted Saturday afternoon by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that U.S. forces believed they had captured Saddam. But the final confirmation did not come until 5:14 a.m. EST Sunday. That

was when his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, called the president to say that the suspect was indeed the former Iraqi leader.

After three decades in power, Saddam was captured without a single shot, hiding in an underground hide-out on a farm near his hometown of Tikrit.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist called it “a remarkable day for the world” and “probably the single most dramatic step in this war.” But many challenges still lie ahead in Iraq, said Frist, R-Tenn.

But Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, cautioned the capture likely will not end the insurgent attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq. U.S. officials were wary of

See Bush, Page A2

Adil Rikabu, left, leads a group northbound Sunday on Colby Avenue near Wall Street in downtown Everett, celebrating the capture of Saddam Hussein while chanting Iraqi slogans thanking the United States for his capture.

V O I C E O F T H E M I D - C O LU M B I A

HOT READS

OBAMA’S ADDRESS

MARINERS FALL TO BOSTON

NASA says no shuttle launch until Sunday. | A3 1.5M gather at Vatican as Pope John II beatified. | A7

NATION | A3 50 cents

SPORTS | C1

Monday, May 2, 2011

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‘Today’s achievement is a testament to the greatest of our country and the determination of the American people.’ — President Obama

Osama bin Laden is dead Al-Qaida leader killed in raid by Navy SEALs and CIA operatives ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden, the glowering mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that INSIDE killed thousands of Amer- ◗ Bid Laden icans, was slain chose path of in a firefight fanaticism, terror. | A2 Sunday with U.S. forces in ◗ Text of Pakistan, end- President ing a manhunt Obama’s that spanned speech. | A3 a frustrating ◗ Al-Qaida leader dies at decade.

“Justice has mansion near been done,” Pakistani P r e s i d e n t capital. | A7 Obama said in a dramatic late-night announcement at the White House.

A jubilant crowd of thousands gathered outside the White House as word spread of bin Laden’s death. Hundreds more sang and waved American flags at Ground Zero in New York — where the twin towers that once stood as symbols of American economic power were brought down by bin Laden’s hijackers 10 years ago.

Another hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon on that cloudless day, and a fourth was commandeered by passengers who forced it to the ground before it could reach its intended target in Washington.

U.S. officials said the helicopter raid in Pakistan was carried out by CIA paramilitaries together with the elite Navy SEAL Team Six. The U.S. team took custody of bin Laden’s remains, which American officials said were being handled in accordance with Islamic tradition.

The death marks a psychological triumph in a long struggle, although its ultimate impact on al-Qaida is less clear.

The greatest terrorist threat to the U.S. is now considered to be the al-Qaida franchise in

Osama bin Laden

Associated Press

A crowd gathers outside the White House in Washington, D.C., early today to celebrate after President Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden.

Yemen, far from al-Qaida’s core in Pakistan. The Yemen branch almost took down a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas 2009 and nearly detonated explosives aboard two U.S. cargo planes last fall. Those operations were carried out without any direct involvement from bin Laden.

Obama said he gave the order for the operation after receiving intelligence information that he did not further describe.

Former President George W. Bush, who was in office on the day of the attacks, issued a written statement hailing bin Laden’s death as a momentous achievement. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” he said.

Senior administration offi-

“

AFGHANISTAN

Bin Laden killed in U.S. operation Islamabad near capital PAKISTAN INDIA Arabian Sea

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300 mi 300 km

SOURCE: ESRI

AP

cials said the terrorist mastermind was found inside a custom-built compound with two security gates. They said it appeared to have been constructed to harbor one highvalue target and that for undisclosed reasons, officials believed the hideout was bin Laden’s.

Officials also said they

The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.

President Obama, announcing death of Osama bin Laden

”

believe the death puts bin Laden’s al-Qaida on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse, but there was no word on the whereabouts of bin Laden’s second-in-com-

Violent legacy stretches back decades MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

mand, Ayman al-Zawahri.

The stunning end to the world’s most widely-watched manhunt came just months before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon, orchestrated by alQaida, that killed nearly 3,000 people.

The attacks a decade ago seemed to come out of nowhere, even though al-Qaida had previously struck American targets overseas.

The terrorists hijacked planes, flew one of them into one of Manhattan’s Twin Towers — and, moments later, into the other one. Both buildings collapsed, trapping thousands inside and also claiming the lives of firefighters and others who had rushed to help them.

WASHINGTON — A member of a wealthy Saudi family who had gone astray, Osama bin Laden earned his combat spurs by fighting with Afghanistan’s ragtag Mujahadeen army to drive occupying Soviet troops out of their homeland in the 1980s.

Ironically, the group had U.S. backing.

Bin Laden, though, had a far bigger vision, one that would lead him to be reviled by Western civilization and hailed as a folk hero among Islamic extremists by becoming the face of a 19-year campaign of global terror. It peaked with the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings that left 2,972 people dead in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

See DEAD | Page A2

See LEGACY | Page A2

Police investigating rash of possible gang-related shootings Attack on teenager at Pasco flea market is third incident since Wednesday ANNETTE CARY HERALD STAFF WRITER

A teenager was shot Sunday afternoon at the busy Pasco Flea Market in what was likely a gang-related incident.

He’s the third person shot since Wednesday in Pasco.

Pasco police still are investigating

and determining which of the shootings and other weekend incidents of violence may be related, possibly as part of ongoing gang retaliation.

Police were called to the flea market at East Lewis Place near Highway 12 and the Pasco-Kahlotus highway about 2:45 p.m. Sunday. Hundreds of people were enjoying the nice weather, shopping the market’s stalls that have a mix of Mexican and U.S. goods and food.

Police had a report that someone had been shot, but when they arrived they found a young teenager who had been assaulted in a fistfight, said

Pasco Sgt. Mike Monroe. No one said they knew anything about a gunfire, he said.

But as another patrol car was arriving, a car leaving the flea market stopped and a 17-year-old with a gunshot wound to the chest got out of the car, Monroe said.

He was taken to Kennewick General Hospital. Although the injury did not appear to be life-threatening, he will need surgery, Monroe said.

The young teen who had been hit in the head during the fistfight was taken to Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco.

The two people in the car with the

teen who was shot are being interviewed by police, and the shooting appears gang related at this point in the investigation, Monroe said.

Police still are piecing together how the fistfight was related to the shooting, but know they happened in the same area and at the same time, he said.

About an hour after the flea market shooting, police got several calls from people in the neighborhood east of East Oregon Avenue. They reported shots fired from a car as two cars chased each other around the neighborhood that includes Broadway

Boulevard, Hugo Avenue and Douglas Avenue.

A parked car was hit and people linked to gangs were seen running on the street, Monroe said. The cars involved in the chase included a maroon Cadillac and a gray or silver Honda.

Saturday night, Pasco police also responded to a gang fight about 11 p.m. at Kim’s Conoco at 1909 Court St. No weapons were involved, but a car was seized that appeared to have a weapon inside, Monroe said.

See SHOOTINGS | Page A2

SOFTWARE FIX

ALMOST 23M AMERICANS WATCHED WEDDING

Montana native creates furniture out of used casks from Washington wineries. | Mid-Columbia, B1

Apple vows to end storage of data on users’ location. | Tech & Gadgets, B3

Nearly 23 million Americans rose early on Friday to watch Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot. The Nielsen Co. said the 22.76 million viewers were spread over 11 networks. The measurement was for the period of 6 to 7:15 a.m. EDT, when the ceremony was taking place. Websites reported high traffic too. ABCNews.com said it’s online traffic Friday was its highest since the 2008 presidential election. And, E! Online said its 23.6 million page views Friday was its most ever. | More celebrity news, C7

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LOW

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INSIDE

BARREL ART

Bridge | C7 Classified | D1 Comics | C6 Deaths | B2

Horoscope | C7 Mid-Columbia | B1-2 Obituaries | B2 Opinion | A6

Puzzles | C7 Sports | C1-5 Tech/Gadgets | B3-4

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Have a news or photo tip, questions or comments about the Herald? Call us at 582-1500. Directory | A2

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