ASSOCIATED PRESS

As U.S. troops and warplanes move into position, President Bush addresses a Joint Session of Congress on Capitol Hill, to prepare Americans for a long, deadly and often covert war against the elusive terrorists last night. Sitting behind Bush are Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., president pro-tem of the Senate, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. (left).

Friday September 21, 2001

WASHINGTON - President Bush summoned America and all nations to wage war on terrorism yesterday night and vowed "justice will be done" against those who killed thousands in last week's attacks. With warplanes and ships on the move, he urged an anxious nation to be calm, "even in the face of a continuing threat." Bush issued a series of demands - not open to negotiation or discussion - to the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan: Turn over Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the attacks, or share in his fate.

"Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom," he said nine days after the suicide attacks that leveled World Trade Center and wounded the Pentagon. "Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution."

Bush spoke before a joint session of Congress and a nationwide television audience counted in the millions. Security concerns were high enough to keep Vice President Dick Cheney away from the Capitol.

A few hours before the commander-in-chief spoke, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani sharply revised the number of missing and presumed dead upward - to 6,333 - at the World Trade Center twin towers, destroyed by the impact of hijacked jetliners. An additional 189 are believed dead from a similar attack on the Pentagon, and 44 more perished when a fourth hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

Compounding the nation's woes were concerns about the economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said "much economic activity ground to a halt" after the attacks, and the country's main stock index suffered its third triple-digit loss of the week, down more than 300 points for the day. The cost of the nation's response to the terrorism could reach $100 billion, which would create the first federal deficits since 1997.

With planes flying far below capacity and public confidence shaken, lawmakers and the administration labored through the day on economic relief for the airline industry, coupled with measures to limit their liability from lawsuits. House Speaker Dennis Hastert said he hoped for legislation by the end of today, and Bush said he and lawmakers would find a way to stabilize a sudden vulnerable industry. The extraordinary developments unfolded as a delegation of senators traveled by train to New York to view the rubble that once was the World Trade Center.

"The magnitude of it, the horror of it," said Senate GOP Leader Trent Lott. More than 200 miles west, Attorney General John Ashcroft visited the Pennsylvania crash site of another hijacked plane. A gash in the ground marked where the plane hit short of its presumed Washington target - after what Ashcroft said was a heroic struggle waged by passengers against the terrorists on board. The widow of one of those passengers was Bush's guest yesterday night.

Bush's speech marked an occasion unlike any other in recent history. Security, normally high for a presidential address, was tightened considerably, as bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled the Capitol and barricades were erected on the streets outside.