(CBS) 48 Hours: Attack on America

A look back on the events of 9/11, three days later, from the CBS news team.

0:01Copy video clip URL Footage of explosions in a city from the film Independence Day is shown, with an at this point in the footage, unnamed male interviewee sitting in what appears to be a movie theater, stating that this type of film and others like it were meant to be  forms of “escapism”, and that they had become “too traumatic” to watch in the aftermath of the September Eleventh Attacks. 

0:27Copy video clip URL Vince McMahon and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – then still working as a professional wrestler, can be seen at a wrestling event in Houston, Texas with their hands over their hearts as the national anthem plays, amid a crowd of people with American flags and other patriotic signs. 

0:30Copy video clip URL The castle and turret-style main gate at Folsom Prison in California is shown, with it being mentioned that inmates there raised one thousand dollars in relief for New York. 

0:40Copy video clip URL The camera pans down and shows a large crowd that is numbered at fifteen-thousand in downtown Seattle, Washington, praying, with some people also shown waving miniature American flags. 

0:50Copy video clip URL The previously unseen news reporter that has been narrating these segments is revealed as Bill Whitaker of CBS News reporting live from Los Angeles, California. He mentions that in a small town Washington State, a Senior Class at a local high school donated the money they’d saved for a class trip to the American Red Cross, with the monetary amount being stated as three-thousand-five-hundred dollars. 

1:02Copy video clip URL The focus switches to veteran reporter Dan Rather, discussing how the September Eleventh Attacks have affected countless American Citizens. In the background of the newsroom he’s in, large screens with colorful digital headlines that say “ATTACK on AMERICA” on the left, and “DAY OF REMEMBRANCE” on the right, with the screen on the right depicting a white rose with the text. 

1:11Copy video clip URL A shot from the water of New York City in either a sunrise or sunset is shown with the World Trade Center before the attacks shown while a classical, operatic rendition of America the Beautiful is played. The footage then transitions to one of the towers being filled with smoke during the beginning of the September Eleventh Attacks. 

1:25Copy video clip URL President George W. Bush can be heard solemnly addressing the American public regarding the September Eleventh Attacks, and footage of the attacks is played during this address. 

1:43Copy video clip URL On the ground footage of one of the towers falling down, engulfed in flames and with a large ash cloud spreading outward, and with a small crowd of people running away is shown. Police Officers and two ambulances can also be seen in the footage – most likely evacuating people. 

1:47Copy video clip URL An unseen and unnamed American female can be heard saying “It’s not New York anymore. It’ll never be the same”, while the camera pans out over the Statue of Liberty, while the massive ash clouds from the ruins of the World Trade Center can be seen in the background. 

1:51Copy video clip URL Fires can be seen raging at the Pentagon after it was attacked on September eleventh, and firefighters and paramedics working to put them out and evacuate people, respectively. 

2:00Copy video clip URL The Capitol Building in Washington, DC can be seen behind the smoke from the Pentagon. 

2:03Copy video clip URL Firefighters can be seen standing in the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center, looking up as the smoke clears. 

2:09Copy video clip URL Firefighters and rescue workers raise an American flag in the ruins of the World Trade Center while one firefighter can be seen standing and saluting the flag as it is being raised. 

2:22Copy video clip URL An unnamed preacher stands before a large congregation in a large church or cathedral, stating somberly that, “September eleven will go down in our history as a day to remember”, while the congregants can be seen weeping, while “Battle Hymn of the Republic” plays in the background.

2:34Copy video clip URL Firefighters and rescue workers form a chain and pass rubble in buckets and by hand out of, and away from, the ruins of the World Trade Center. 

2:43Copy video clip URL The aforementioned “ATTACK on AMERICA” news headline graphic shows up on screen with the word “ATTACK” being shown in thick white lettering with a glowing red bordering, and “on AMERICA” being shown in the same way, but with a noticeable grey bordering. This text is in front of a glowing green, rotating radar graphic. 

2:53Copy video clip URL Live footage of the September Eleventh Attacks are shown, first showing the World Trade Center bing hit by one of the planes. 

3:29Copy video clip URL Former President Bill Clinton and former First Lady Hillary Clinton are seen sitting in pews at the church service mentioned above. 

3:37Copy video clip URL President George W. Bush, with a black suit with an American flag lapel pin, white shirt, and a very pale purple tie with a dotted print, can be seen standing at the main podium and giving a speech at the church. 

3:55Copy video clip URL Firefighters and rescue workers chant “USA! USA!” as President Bush in a causal grey windbreaker, stands in the World Trade Center ruins with a firefighter as he speaks to the crowd on a megaphone, while the crowd can be heard cheering. 

4:06Copy video clip URL American Fighter-Bombers can be seen moving along a runway to take off.

4:39Copy video clip URL Dan Rather presents the updates on the situation in the US after the September Eleventh Attacks – notably that the FBI arrested a “material witness”, with this person being held in federal custody in New York, that two others linked to the September Eleventh Attacks were detained and were reported to have been cooperating with law enforcement, that nineteen hijackers linked to the attacks were identified, that four-thousand FBI Agents were investigating the September Eleventh case, that the US Congress voted to approve forty-billion dollars in spending to help victims of the attack, and fund the War on Terror, as well as that thirty-five-thousand Reservists (any one particular branch is not mentioned) were activated, that airlines were resuming flying between New York and Washington, DC with the protection of US Military Air Patrols, and finally that Fighter Pilots were on alert at twenty-six military bases across the US. 

5:50Copy video clip URL CBS News Reporter John Roberts reports live from Washington, DC outside the White House, that President Bush would be going to Camp David to meet with the National Security Council to discuss the next steps for armed retaliation, and on fighting the War on Terror. 

7:08Copy video clip URL An Imam named Muzammil Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of North America, speaks at the church mentioned prior, with the service being held at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, due to President Bush requesting that the service be “multi-denominational” and “multi-faith”. 

9:22Copy video clip URL President Bush is shown touring a FEMA Headquarters in New York and meeting with police officers. 

12:26Copy video clip URL Citizens in New York City are seen looking at and putting up printed out missing persons flyers of loved ones, with a parked pickup truck being shown covered all over in these flyers. 

13:04Copy video clip URL One New York City man is seen standing outside in a plain black t-shirt, and the audience is told that he lost his brother-in-law in the September Eleventh Attacks, while he is being interviewed by a news reporter as he (the man) weeps. 

23:24Copy video clip URL Secretary of State Colin Powell can be seen in a black suit, with a white shirt, and a black and yellow horizontally-striped tie, in a press conference discussing how the War on Terror will be different from previous American wars. 

23:44Copy video clip URL The Pentagon – still in a state of partial ruin, is shown and it is mentioned that the number of those killed in the attack there was one hundred and ninety-five. 

25:20Copy video clip URL Dan Rather asks a reporter named David Martin about the possibility of the US working with the Russian Federation in the War on Terror – and how that would affect the image of the US, due to the then-ongoing war in Chechnya that the Russian Federation was waging.