The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

JIM LEHRER: Good evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. On the NewsHour tonight: A summary of what happened this second day of U.S. attacks in Afghanistan; analysis of the military actions; a report on the Arab television service Osama bin Laden uses to get his message out; a look at the situation on the ground in Pakistan; some perspective on tightened security in the United States from the mayors of Boston, Dallas and Long Beach, California; and a farewell tribute to Herblock, master editorial cartoonist.

FOCUS - AMERICA STRIKES BACK

JIM LEHRER: The U.S. military struck Afghanistan for a second day. Bombers and Cruise missiles blasted targets around several Afghan cities. They focused again on the ruling Taliban, and the terror network of Osama bin Laden. Military cargo planes also dropped food packages to Afghan refugees. At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs chairman, said they were "generally pleased" so far. They said 31 sites were hit Sunday, including radar systems, ground forces, terrorist bases, and airfields. All U.S. planes returned safely. The Taliban claimed Sunday's strikes, as shown on an Arab television station, missed their targets, but killed up to 20 people. They said their leader, Mullah Omar, left his headquarters just before it was hit. At the United Nations, the U.S. formally notified the Security Council the military campaign could go beyond Afghanistan. In neighboring Pakistan, violent, anti- American protests broke out. Some 4,000 people burned cars and attacked UN offices in Quetta. At least one person was killed. The country's president said "the vast majority" of Pakistanis support the war on terrorism. But he replaced his security chief and sidelined two generals regarded as Islamic hard-liners. In the Middle East, Palestinian police fought with students supporting Osama bin Laden in Gaza. Two people were killed, fifty hurt. At the White House, Tom Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor, was sworn in as head of the new Office of Homeland Security. He urged federal agencies to work together, and had this message for the public.

TOM RIDGE: I ask the American people for their patience, their awareness, and their resolve. This job calls for a national effort. We've seen it before, whether it was building the transcontinental railroad, fighting World War II or putting a man on the moon. There are some things we can do immediately and we will. Others will take more time. But we will find something for every American to do.

JIM LEHRER: Nationwide, police and private security managers were put on alert in case terror groups retaliate for the military strikes. The warning list included telecommunications sites, electric, oil and gas utilities, and water supplies. In Boca Raton, Florida, doctors found anthrax bacteria in a man whose co-worker died of the disease last week. The FBI sealed their office building. And health officials began giving antibiotics to others who worked there. Attorney General Ashcroft said it was too soon to tell if terrorism was involved. In Milan, Italy, a Scandinavian airliner collided with a private plane during takeoff, killing 114 people. The Italian government ruled out terrorism as the cause. And late today Air Force fighter planes escorted an American airlines jetliner to a landing at Chicago's O'Hare airport. Federal aviation officials said a passenger tried to enter the cockpit, but they said it was not an attempted hijacking.

FOCUS - MILITARY ASSESSMENT

JIM LEHRER: Now, some of the details on the bombing campaign. The first assessments of its effectiveness came today. We start with a report from Kwame Holman.

KWAME HOLMAN: Last night, the destroyer USS "John Paul Jones" and three other American ships launched Tomahawk Cruise missiles at Afghanistan from the Arabian Sea. In all, 50 Cruise missiles were launched-- some from a U.S. and a British submarine-- at training camps and other targets in and around the cities of Kabul, the Taliban's spiritual home of Kandahar, and Jalalabad, near the Pakistani border. And officials said, warplanes flew from the decks of the aircraft carriers "Enterprise" and "Vinson," also in the Arabian Sea. They were joined by 15 bombers, including two B-2 Stealth aircraft that flew from the Continental United States. U.S. cargo planes dropped leaflets explaining the U.S. action along with packages of daily food rations to the thousands of Afghans who continue to flee cities there. Today, air crews prepared for tonight's assault. It began at about the same hour as yesterday's-- shortly after 9:00 P.M. local time-- and the targets and objectives were similar. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Richard Myers and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld briefed the press this afternoon.

DONALD RUMSFELD: Yesterday we stated that our objectives were to begin to create the conditions for sustained antiterrorist and humanitarian operations. Based on our early assessment, we believe that we have made progress towards eliminating the air defense sites that have located around the country. We also believe we've made an impact on the military airfields that were targeted. We cannot yet state with certainty that we destroyed the dozens of military command-and- control and leadership targets we selected.

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS: I know you're interested in the numbers of targets hit, the number of aim points, the numbers and kinds of weapons dropped. But I think it's important to emphasize at this point, that in this kind of warfare against this kind of enemy, the true measure of effectiveness, in my opinion, will not necessarily be in numerical terms. Regardless of the pounds of munitions or the scope of the targets, yesterday's strikes began setting the conditions, setting the conditions for future operations. We did destroy some of the terrorist infrastructure and we did begin feeding and assisting the victims of the Taliban regime. Strikes are continuing as we speak. We are hitting targets that are similar to those we did yesterday. Today, we're using about ten bomber aircraft and about ten carrier-based tactical aviation assets to conduct our operations. Again today, additional humanitarian drops will also be made.

KWAME HOLMAN: Secretary Rumsfeld was asked if Afghanistan's Northern Alliance had made progress in its long struggle against the Taliban.

DONALD RUMSFELD: I've watched that over a period of time, and I'm reluctant to try to characterize that because it seems to ebb and flow. And I've not seen anything thus far that would suggest to me that there's been something approximating a permanent change in the circumstance of the Northern Alliance.

KWAME HOLMAN: Rumsfeld was asked if ground forces would be required to rock the Taliban on its heels?

DONALD RUMSFELD: I think it's unlikely that the air strikes will rock the Taliban back on their heels, as you say. They have very few targets that are of high value that are manageable from the air. The military campaign from the air can be helpful. We believe it is being helpful. But it is a part of the broad based effort that is involved-- the financial, and the diplomatic, and the economic, and the political and I think... And the covert, all of which are important-- and I think that we ought not to... We have to have a clear understanding of what is possible in a country like that.

KWAME HOLMAN: Secretary Rumsfeld also confirmed the U.S. took aim at some fighting forces on the ground yesterday. But he would not comment on today's U.S. Notification to the United Nations Security Council that American attacks may be carried out beyond Afghanistan's borders.

JIM LEHRER: Margaret Warner takes the story from there.

MARGARET WARNER: To further analyze the military campaign we turn to Retired General Merrill McPeak who was Air Force chief of staff during the Gulf War; he's now with ECC International Corporation, which produces training and simulation equipment. And John Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.Org, a non-partisan think tank in Washington. John Pike, we've just heard the Pentagon's assessment. Give us yours.

JOHN PIKE: This is a remarkably restrained, limited air campaign compared to the beginning of the Kosovo air war three years ago or Desert Storm, the Gulf War a decade ago. You're looking at a small fraction of the number of aircraft being launched, a small fraction of the number of targets being hit. Those wars started out 10, 20 times larger than this. One reason is there's simply not that many targets in Afghanistan. You're looking at maybe a dozen airfields, a few dozen aircraft. There could be a danger to special operations helicopters later on. What else they're striking remains to be seen: A few leadership targets, perhaps some Taliban forces out in the field. But I think it is clear that in contrast to those previous wars where the air campaign was the center of gravity, the focal point, this is simply setting the stage, as they said, for the follow on Special Forces and other operations.

MARGARET WARNER: General McPeak, can you tell from what the Pentagon said today how successful or effective it has been in beginning to set the stage. In other words, however limited the objectives are, how easy is it to tell how well it's gone?

GENERAL MERRILL McPEAK: Well, it's probably too soon to tell, Margaret, but it ought to be relatively straightforward. By and large, these are fixed targets. Buildings, airports, training camps and so forth that we can fly either with satellite photography or U-2s or unmanned photographic systems will give us high resolution pictures so we ought to be able to make a pretty good assessment. I must say that judging by appearances, it seems to be a very well planned and well-executed air campaign. I agree entirely with John Pike, very limited, very deliberate. We do much bigger exercises than this in normal peacetime. So, by and large it looks like a proportionate response.

MARGARET WARNER: And, Rumsfeld said-- excuse me-- Rumsfeld said that they had gone after dozens of command-and-control and leadership targets and he wasn't satisfied that they successfully disrupted them. What is he talking about there?

GENERAL MERRILL McPEAK: Well, I really am not sure. First of all, the Secretary said they attacked 31 targets with 40 sorties yesterday. So that doesn't sound like if you took the sub category of command-and-control, it would constitute dozens. Mind you, as near as I can tell, we fired more Tomahawks at bin Laden following the attacks on the African embassies two or three years ago than we have so far. So this has been a very restrained response. Now, if we have attacked Taliban headquarters and compounds and so forth, then the message clearly is to other Afghans to distance themselves from the Taliban leadership -- because we would fully understand that Sheik Omar and others are not going to be in those buildings.

MARGARET WARNER: Another big target, John Pike, related, of course, is communications. Again Secretary Rumsfeld said he felt the Taliban and Al Qaeda could still communicate. What did we know about how they communicate and what will it take to take that out?

JOHN PIKE: Well, unfortunately the open literature doesn't know an awful lot about what the communication networks are there. Presumably the national security agency, our eavesdropping agency, has been spending a lot of time looking at that. It's clear that at the strategic level, at the highest level a lot of the communications simply consist of face-to-face meetings. Now if the Taliban leadership is dispersed, if they're worried about traveling around in convoys where they may be attacked it's going to be difficult to do face-to-face meetings. It is clear from the open literature that the Taliban military out in the field use a variety of military radios, commercially available radios in order to coordinate the small militia bands that make up their organization. To the extent that they attempt to function as organized military units they're going to be talking on the radio, that's something that American reconnaissance aircraft can pick up and American attack aircraft can target. In both directions I think that this... establishing the conditions is the operative phrase that by reducing the ability of the Taliban to control its territory, giving Americans freedom of action, that that's going to enable the special operations units to go after the terrorists.

MARGARET WARNER: Let me ask you, General McPeak, about the Taliban's resistance. We heard about the anti-aircraft fire that there were some portable surface-to- air missiles. How good or how effective is the Taliban... are the Taliban's assets in this area and does it surprise you that all the planes came back unharmed?

GENERAL MERRILL McPEAK: It's not surprising at all. What I've seen on television has been unaimed fire from AAA. It looks like 37 or 57 millimeter AAA.

MARGARET WARNER: AAA?

GENERAL MERRILL McPEAK: Anti-Aircraft Artillery. It has an undisciplined look. It's not aimed. It's sort of hold the trigger down and fire off the clip kind of thing. That's a big sky up there when you're trying to hit aircraft at high altitude. I do think it's a potential threat to helicopter operations, as John Pike says, when we get around to inserting special forces-- and we may have done that already as far as I know-- but insertion of special forces and support of them on the ground and withdrawal and relief of them is going to require helicopter operations that could... these systems that they've shown so far could pose a threat to.

MARGARET WARNER: All right. Let's go to what... What's the intent here in terms of creating these conditions, John Pike? What are the steps between air strikes and essentially and apprehending or getting Osama bin Laden.

JOHN PIKE: That's still unclear both in terms of what the U.S. Government has stated and in terms of exactly how this is going to play out in the real world. My working hypothesis is that over the next several days, the U.S. Government will decide that the Taliban is no longer effectively functioning in a coordinated fashion and that based on satellite reconnaissance they're going to identify probable dispersal areas of Taliban units of Al Qaeda units of other terrorist organizations, possibly using predator drone aircraft to decide whether a group of people that they've focused in on are refugees or commandos and then possibly a ranger unit, a delta team would go out either to attack that unit, more probably I think though to try to capture people for interrogation to see what they're prepared to say about what the unit in the next valley might be doing, and gradually to try to move up the food chain, to try to roll up these organizations, to capture the leadership and to capture a lot of the commandos that might have been planning future actions.

MARGARET WARNER: General McPeak, very briefly, would this kind of operation or anything like it continue to require air cover or air support as well?

GENERAL MERRILL McPEAK: I think air support will be required but quite frankly what we're doing is fairly straightforward. The hard part to date has been the diplomatic part, assuring the over flight rights and the basing and so forth, and going forward, the hard part will be the intelligence of digging out this network and actually making it... presenting it for attack. The attacks so far and into the future are pretty easy, straightforward stuff.

MARGARET WARNER: All right. General McPeak, John Pike, thank you both very much.

JIM LEHRER: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight: What is Al-Jazeera; the situation in Pakistan; safety in America; and farewell to Herblock.

FOCUS - WINDOW ON THE WAR

JIM LEHRER: A little known television network is playing a big role spreading the word from and about Afghanistan. Media correspondent Terence Smith reports:

CORRESPONDENT: The United States has attacked Afghanistan 26 days after terrorists attacked the United States.

TERENCE SMITH: When Americans turned on their television sets over the weekend to see the first U.S. attacks on Afghanistan, many of the pictures carried Arabic language graphics. The live video from Kabul-- and, most stunningly, a videotaped statement from Osama bin Laden-- came courtesy of the Al-Jazeera Network, whose name itself was news to most Americans. Based in the tiny gulf state of Qatar, Al-Jazeera is a five- year-old satellite television network funded largely by the Qatari government. Operating 24-hours-a-day, it has a daily audience estimated at 35 to 40 million people and is received throughout the Arab world, and beyond. Al-Jazeera has become a cultural force in the Middle East offering not only news, but a range of opinion in its talk shows unseen elsewhere in the Arab world. It stands in sharp contrast to most Arab broadcast media, which are generally controlled and censored by Arab governments. And since the September 11 terrorist attacks, Al-Jazeera has been serving as an unofficial, two-way communications channel between the Arab and western worlds. Secretary of State Colin Powell, for example, granted an interview to Al-Jazeera's Washington Bureau Chief, Hafez Al-Mirazi. Other U.S. officials have done the same.

HAFEZ AL-MIRAZI, Washington Bureau Chief, Al-Jazeera: They choose Al-Jazeera to talk because they consider that this is the channel that would reach the widest audience that we would like to reach, and they have the credibility we want in order to deliver our message.

TERENCE SMITH: And the accused terrorist bin Laden has repeatedly chosen Al-Jazeera to get his message out. He has provided the network with footage of himself, here attending a family wedding, and after President Bush addressed a joint session of Congress, bin Laden faxed his response to Al-Jazeera. And this weekend, in what appears to have been a planned response to the anticipated U.S. air strikes, bin Laden had this pre-taped defiant statement delivered to the Al-Jazeera bureau in Kabul. The videotape was a surprise to the network, which aired it immediately. A translation was subsequently rebroadcast by the American networks, multiplying the audience many times over.

TOM BROKAW: We heard too from Osama bin Laden on Al-Jazeera television which comes out of Qatar, which is kind of the official voice of the Middle East.

TERENCE SMITH: Edmund Ghareeb, a specialist on Middle East media, thinks it was no accident that bin Laden and his associates chose Al-Jazeera.

EDMUND GHAREEB, American University: They wanted to have access to a major news network that's going to reach across borders. And this, to an extent, is what Al-Jazeera is, what CNN is. These are new channels that cross international boundaries and present in this globalized world new media and new access, different kind of access.

TERENCE SMITH: The communication is a two-way street. Al-Jazeera routinely broadcasts the speeches and press briefings of U.S. officials, translating them into Arabic for its listeners. They are currently booking at least six hours a day of satellite time from Washington to the Arab world. The network's coverage has attracted angry criticism from several Arab governments. And just last week, Secretary Powell urged the visiting emir of Qatar to ensure balance in Al-Jazeera's reporting. Professor Ghareeb says criticism from all sides is not new for Al-Jazeera.

TERENCE SMITH: So they've been accused of everything?

EDMUND GHAREEB: Exactly.

TERENCE SMITH: They've been accused, if I follow you, what?

EDMUND GHAREEB: Pro American, pro Iraqi, pro Israeli, pro extremist, radical extremist and divisive. They have been accused of being very divisive and sensationalistic.

TERENCE SMITH: What in your opinion are they? Give it your own description.

EDMUND GHAREEB: I think they are all of these things at the same time. They have given voice, for example, to these different points of view.

TERENCE SMITH: And last night, to the western world as well.

CORRESPONDENT: We are listening to live broadcasting from Kabul via an Arabic reporter through an Arabic television company based in the Persian Gulf in Qatar, which has been a real window on the world for people all over the region.

SPOKESMAN: The Kabul....

TERENCE SMITH: With these fresh pictures of bomb damage in Kabul today and the only reporter still able to broadcast live from the Afghan capital, Al-Jazeera seems likely to continue in that role.

FOCUS - UNDER PRESSURE

JIM LEHRER: Next, the Pakistan story. The country's president is supporting the U.S. campaign, despite vocal popular support for the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. We have two reports from ITN correspondents in Pakistan. The first from Tristana Moore in Quetta.

TRISTANA MOORE: A city under siege, hundreds of demonstrators venting their anger against the west and the Pakistani government. The crowds attack a police van. The authorities hadn't expected so much trouble. Cars were set on fire, and shops were looted. This was the skyline of Quetta. Violence started after morning prayers. Pro Taliban supporters didn't need much encouragement to take to the streets. And from these men, a chilling warning to President Bush that they will exact their revenge. As journalists were prevented from leaving the hotel for our own security we were told outside police tried to control the crowd with tear gas. But we managed to escape. All morning we drove around Quetta. Shops were closed. Fires were burning everywhere. Even cinemas showing American films were attacked. Well, most journalists have had to spend the entire day at the hotel because police haven't allowed anyone out at all. They've now imposed a curfew and set up roadblocks across the city. We took refuge in a hospital where already the casualties were being brought in. This 12-year-old boy was shot in the arm. Many more were injured. An Afghan doctor living here in Quetta tried to get through to friends in Banyan. They told her hundreds of people were already on the move. This was her reaction to the strikes on Afghanistan.

SIMA SAMAR, Doctor: To be honest, I was upset. I really did cry last night for the poor people in Afghanistan. I mean, nobody knew that... When it will happen. So they were notprepared.

TRISTANA MOORE: Reporter: Just across town demonstrators were burning the UNICEF headquarters. The building was evacuated in time but it was enough to frighten local UN officials who have now moved out of all their offices and, like foreign journalists here, are restricted by the authorities.

IAN WILLIAMS: Tear gas greeted the holy warriors in the frontier town of Kashawa -- riot police forcing several hundred mostly religious students off the streets, showing little patience for their calls for a holy war against America. While in the capital, they chanted "war will continue until America's destroyed" -- egged on by hard-line religious leaders for whom last night's bombing provides the green light for the Jihad.

MAN ON STREET: And now the holy war has become obligatory for every Muslim and people should go for a Jihad against the American attack.

IAN WILLIAMS: Islamabad's police were also braced for the worst -- though the crowd of no more than a couple of thousand was watched by onlookers with bemusement rather than fear. Pakistan's military ruler has sacked two top pro Taliban generals -- together with his intelligence chief. Nothing out of the ordinary he insisted.

PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, Pakistan: Well, this is a normal military activity, which has gone on. It has no relationship with events that are taking place, absolutely.

IAN WILLIAMS: He said his support for Washington was backed by most Pakistanis and that he's been assured military action won't last for long.

PRESIDENT PERVEZ MUSHARRAF: And I have got definite assurances that this operation will be short. It ought to be targeted. And also it should not be having collateral damage.

IAN WILLIAMS: He's aware of how protests could be inflamed by a long conflict with civilian casualties.

JIM LEHRER: Late today Gwen Ifill talked with the "New York Times" correspondent in Islamabad, John Burns.

GWEN IFILL: John Burns, welcome. What has been the reaction so far in Islamabad and throughout Pakistan to yesterday's strikes?

JOHN BURNS: Well, as I'm sure you're aware and your viewers will be seeing, there have been some fairly serious street protests today -- much more vehement than we have seen in the past three weeks since the planes hit the twin towers and, worryingly, have turned to violence-- considerable violence in one city, the city of Quetta-- in the southwest of Pakistan, which is significantly the gateway to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. That is to say, Quetta is only about 150 miles from Kandahar, and the explosions that we all saw last night in the night sky around Kandahar have a very direct resonance in Quetta where there are people who trade across the border and who have families across the border. These protests have been seen also in every other major city of Pakistan and it's, at the moment, something of an open question as to whether they will build from there and threaten the stability of Pakistan and of its military government, or whether they will turn to more short term. I'm rather inclined to think myself that the government will maintain control and will steady the ship.

GWEN IFILL: Who are these protests directed against? Are they directed against General Musharraf or are they directed against America?

JOHN BURNS: It's an interesting question. In the main, they're directed against the United States and for the Taliban, and no less for Mr. bin Laden. It has to be said that these protests are mounted by what you might call, the usual suspects. That is to say political groupies in Pakistan. It's a bit too much to call them political parties, since most of them have never competed in an election, and Islamic militants have never gained more than 5% or 6% in any general election here. These are people who are committed to replicating in Pakistan what the Taliban did in Afghanistan -- that is to say, establishing a hard-line, militant repressive Islamic state. This will absolutely play into General Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, is correct in saying that from all evidence available to those of us who are here, that this position is not supported by more than a marginal group of Pakistanis; he puts it at 10%-15%.

GWEN IFILL: Right.

JOHN BURNS: And I think that's correct. But they do have a potential to cause quite a lot of trouble.

GWEN IFILL: Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, is heading to Islamabad later this week. What does he expect, what should he expect to hear when he gets there?

JOHN BURNS: I think what he'll hear from General Musharraf is what General Musharraf told us in his news conference today. He finds himself in a very interesting position. He completed today the most important military shuffle in Pakistan in many years, and I think as of today he's probably the most important powerful political leader Pakistan has seen in 20 years. He now has a firm grip on his own army, which he has not had in the two years since he became the military ruler of this country, and so on the one hand he's a more confident man-- he feels he's taken the right track-- but these street protests make him very uneasy, and so he will be telling General Powell-- general to general, I would imagine, since he loves to speak in military terms-- that the operations in Afghanistan must be short, they must be very carefully targeted to avoid collateral damage, they must be brought to a conclusion early so that the United States and Pakistan and their allies in this venture can move on to rebuilding Afghanistan, in particular, to rebuilding Afghanistan's government. It's assumed in this that the Taliban is history, and Pakistan is very keen to see that a new government is installed in Kabul that is friendly to Pakistan and you only have to look at a map to see why that is so.

GWEN IFILL: Yesterday we saw Osama bin Laden basically send out a call to arms to all Muslims in other Muslim countries to rise up against the United States. Has that had any impact in Pakistan?

JOHN BURNS: It certainly would have an impact in the sense that Osama bin Laden has an enormous appeal throughout the Arab Muslim world to certain kinds of people. He's on the front pages of every popular magazine, his name is scrawled on highway overpasses, in Pakistan no less than any other country. So, asked if his support is broad, I believe it's rather shallow. I think that the people who go into the streets waving his placard, his portrait, will tell you that they were shocked by what happened to the Twin Towers, and they... It's very, very rare to find anybody... Even, by the way, in the Taliban, who will tell you that they support what happened. This has been a tremendous shock-- and even the Islamic militants find themselves, as we all do, in a new world, so my guess here is that the issue really is not so much Mr. bin Laden for the people to take to the street, it's certainly not Mr. bin Laden for the great middle class or the great working masses of Pakistan. I think it's rather more a sense of unease about the Taliban and the overthrow of a government in a neighboring country, which some people would say for all its repressiveness, and for all its harboring of terrorists, was the only government in Afghanistan in 20 years that created any kind of peace in the areas in which they ruled.

GWEN IFILL: Well, John Burns, thank you very much. We'll be reading what you write, and stay safe.

JOHN BURNS: It was my pleasure. Thank you very much.

FOCUS - HOW SAFE ARE WE?

JIM LEHRER: Now, security at home. Here in the United States, Attorney General Ashcroft said today Americans should have "a heightened sense of awareness of their surroundings." He spoke of new security measures at a news conference this afternoon in Washington.

JOHN ASHCROFT, Attorney General: I have instructed federal law enforcement to be at the highest level of alert to strengthen America's protections. We are taking strong precautions and other appropriate steps to protect the American people while we win this war. In addition, authorities in telecommunications, electrical power generation and distribution, banking and finance, oil and gas, information technology, water service providers, and railroads have been similarly advised. To safeguard our nuclear facilities, all have been placed at the highest state of alert, and have increased the physical security in and around the facilities. Thorough screening of all employees and of individuals with access to those facilities is also being undertaken. Similar steps are being taken in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency with regard to industrial chemical and petrochemical facilities. I do not think that Americans should avoid sporting events or should avoid undertaking their lives in a way which is appropriate to American freedom. If you listened to Osama bin Laden this last week, and it was a little bit painful to do it, but it's clear that he wants America to be intimidated away from liberty, and paralyzed so that we would be fearful instead of free. I reject that, and I believe the American people reject it, and I believe there is reason to reject it.

JIM LEHRER: Ray Suarez has more on security around the country.

RAY SUAREZ: From a parade in New York to a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, in some ways life went on as usual around the country today. But in ways both seen and unseen, already heightened security measures were made even stronger. NewsHour correspondents sampled the day in four American cities.

RAY SUAREZ: Security is always tight in the nation's capital, but it's even more so since September 11, and tighter still since yesterday's air strikes. At the White House, extra police are on patrol. Public tours have been suspended indefinitely. White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer.

ARI FLEISCHER: It remains important for Americans to remember that this is a time of war and that people need to keep that in mind. And that's why security has been beefed up across the country, and why all government agencies are on a heightened state of alert.

RAY SUAREZ: Vice President Dick Cheney would normally have joined President Bush at the swearing-in ceremony for Tom Ridge as Director of Homeland Security this morning, but Cheney has been taken to an undisclosed, secure location away from the White House. Some tourists outside the White House applauded the new security measures.

TOM PAYNE: I feel absolutely safe here. I think it's never been safer here. You can't predict what's going to happen. There's wackos out in the world, but I think that, you know, there's plenty of police here and I think that we've had our wake-up call

RAY SUAREZ: Windows on the Capitol Building have been outfitted with a blast-proof coating, and plastic chain link fencing surrounds the grounds. Roads near the State Department are closed to traffic by a two- block security barrier. And at Smithsonian Museums, security guards search now search every bag. In Manhattan, the city's annual Columbus Day Parade was a show of patriotism. Its theme was to honor America, and that included a tribute to the hundreds of police, firefighters and rescue workers who continued to remove dust and rubble at the World Trade Center site. A heavy police presence lined the 50-block route down Fifth Avenue. Citywide, more than 4,500 National Guard troops have been deployed. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani-- who marched along part of the parade route-- urged New Yorkers to remain calm.

MAYOR RUDOLPH GIULIANI: We shouldn't overdo this. I mean the reality is there's extra security because the country is engaged in a military action. We have extra police officers. We have National Guard. They're doing all the things they are supposed to do. They keep track of all the intelligence that's available. And people should calm down, relax, be brave.

RAY SUAREZ: National Guardsmen were stationed at the gates at LaGuardia Airport, and more men in blue were posted at Grand Central Station. On bridges and roads leading into Manhattan, cars and trucks were stopped and sometimes searched. Passengers in taxis were asked for identification. Almost a month later security remains tight near the site of the attacks. The public was allowed no closer than three blocks from the vast ruins of the World Trade Center complex.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: In Chicago, Coast Guard utility boats are now patrolling the shoreline, its ports and harbors, 24 hours a day. The Coast Guard is on the highest alert since World War II. And assignments have changed dramatically since last month, says Coast Guard Petty Officer Paul Roszowksi.

PETTY OFFICER PAUL ROSZOWSKI, U.S. Coast Guard: Before September 11, the Coast Guard, we'd be sitting at our stations, sitting at our bases, waiting for the search and rescue call to go out. I mean that's what we all signed up to do, save lives. Now after September 11, we're out there doing a 24-hour, seven day a week security zone around many areas especially here in the Great Lakes.

SPOKESMAN: ....Temporary security...

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The Coast Guard won't reveal the location of the security zones, but city officials have said security has increased at power plants and water filtration plants. All of Chicago's drinking water and the drinking water of many surrounding communities is taken from Lake Michigan. Boaters are warned to stay out of the new security zones on marine radios.

PETTY OFFICER PAUL ROSZOWSKI: If somebody wanders into a security zone they will be boarded as if it were a normal boarding. We'll check their credentials and find out why they're there.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The armed Coast Guard crews are also boarding all ships as they come into the Great Lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway.

PETTY OFFICER PAUL ROSZOWSKI: We're looking more at crews who is on board, foreign flag vessels, what kind of crew they're carrying. Make sure they're carrying the type of cargo that they say they're carrying.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The higher security levels have meant more guardsmen are needed. 23 Coast Guard reservists have been called up to patrol Lake Michigan, 211 for the entire Great Lakes region. Chicago's surveillance is being coordinated out of the Calumet Harbor Station where staffing has jumped from 15 to 50 since the attacks.

SPENCER MICHELS: In San Francisco today, police and security officers were also officially at "the highest" state of alert-- although in this city of recognizable landmarks, there appeared to be little change from before. Immediately on September 11, there were fears for the Golden Gate Bridge. Officials posted police vehicles at each end, instituted patrols, and shut down the pedestrian walkway. That walkway has recently been reopened and there are no plans to change that status. The road to a Civil War fort under the bridge was open today, although officials closed it yesterday after news of the bombs and missiles. A lone security officer on duty said simply, "the word had come down." Security personnel have been added at the Bay Bridge linking San Francisco and Oakland, as well as at other state bridges and highways. And aerial surveillance has been increased. Throughout California, officials beefed up security at reservoirs, closing access roads, canceling tours, and increasing police surveillance. But that surveillance wasn't always obvious. At the 48-story Trans America Pyramid Building in San Francisco's financial district, all but one tower entrance is closed. Tenants in the well-known building admit to being nervous. And BART-- the Bay Area's Rapid Transit system-- stepped up its already high state of alert, but wouldn't disclose details. The tension on the terrorist front didn't affect San Francisco giant Barry Bonds, who blasted his 73rd home run-- a new record-- on the last day of the baseball season.

SPORTS ANNOUNCER: Number 73!

RAY SUAREZ: Now, more on the increased security from three mayors. Tom Menino of Boston, Ronald Kirk of Dallas, and Beverly O'Neill of Long Beach, California. Tom Menino, the Columbus Day weekend is a time when a lot of tourists are in New England. If I was on the streets around Fanuel Hall would I notice anything different?

MAYOR THOMAS MENINO: No you wouldn't notice anything different. We had large crowds this weekend. We did have more police presence around the city of Boston but there was a lot of tourists in our city. We had a great festival on city hall plaza today. We had the Columbus Day parade yesterday. So the city has been pretty active this weekend.

RAY SUAREZ: When you put in new security procedures after September 11, did those have to be raised even further once the active hostilities began over the weekend?

MAYOR THOMAS MENINO: We've been at heightened alert since the -- September 11 and, let me just say that with this week, just today we added additional police officers to the streets of our city but nothing that is extraordinary. Just put some additional... Give the people in the city who came to our city a sense of security today.

RAY SUAREZ: And Beverly O'Neill, Long Beach is America's greatest seaport. Does that present any special security challenges to you?

MAYOR BEVERLY O'NEILL: Well, it's a beautiful city, and it's 11 miles of waterfront, but about half of it is the seaport. And we have been on tactical alert with the seaport since the September incidents. We're working together with federal agencies, with the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard right now boards all of the ships before they allow them into the port. They work with the manifest and with the orders bringing them in before they even show up. So it has slowed down traffic a little bit, but it certainly is worth it.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, you can't look at every single container that comes into a port like Long Beach. Do they... The way they do when we look at trucks coming into... On a highway, do they choose a certain number and give them a closer going over?

MAYOR BEVERLY O'NEILL: Yes, they do study it before they get here to know what the cargo actually is. You're right, in a port such as ours that had about 4.5 million TEU's last year, you cannot look into every container. So the Coast Guard knows what they're looking for. INS is involved. The Customs are involved also as well as our own port security. So there is a heightened sense of awareness and also a great scrutiny as to what the cargo really is and where the ship is from, where it has been, and we're just pleased with that. We have a breakwater in our city and all the ships are out behind the breakwater, it looks like a parking lot of ships before they are allowed into the port. They're escorted in and they're escorted out.

RAY SUAREZ: Ronald Kirk, how would the observer notice that things have changed in Dallas over the past month?

MAYOR RONALD KIRK: Well, Ray, things have been reasonably back to normal here in the last several of weeks. As you know, we're a major transportation hub because of DFW Airport and Love Field, and we've followed the FAA and national guidelines on that and actually used this as an opportunity to heighten security. But I don't know that anyone thinks of it as oppressive. And what we've found is that most of the traveling public is welcoming the increased security at the airport. The biggest event we've had of a public nature is our state fair in Texas kicked off last week. It's a largest, longest, continually run state fair in the nation. We get almost 3.5 million visitors a year in that. And I'm pleased to tell you that first day I think we the largest opening day crowd we ever had before.

RAY SUAREZ: But would visitors have to present their bags? Did people have to go through metal detectors, that sort of thing?

MAYOR RONALD KIRK: We have a little more increased security. We always have a fairly strong police presence at the fair but mostly we have done as Mayor Giuliani and Menino and others have asked the public just to exercise common sense particularly when they're going to large-scale public events, carry as little with you as possible. If you don't have to take coolers or big bags, don't do so. At least at this point, Ray, most of the public has been very accepting and welcoming of the increased security. But it's not so oppressive that it's impeded their ability to come out and have a good time.

RAY SUAREZ: You've mentioned your well-known airports. Dallas is also ringed by major highways that crisscross it and Texas. Does that give you special challenges?

MAYOR RONALD KIRK: Well, it does. You know, we are a major, major transportation hub as well. We're one of the larger border cities. But as you know, the National Guard has stepped up their involvement with our State Department of Public Safety and others. And there is a little more increased security on that. But again we're trying to take necessary measures that the public would welcome. But not make things so oppressive as to frighten people. What we want more than anything is for the public to be accepting of the fact that our nation is at war but to the degree that we can we need to go on about our daily lives as close to normal as possible.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, Mayor Menino, in the last few minutes, we heard the Attorney General talk about a heightened state of awareness and the mayor of New York telling people to calm down and relax and be brave. What do you tell your people about what they can expect in the coming months? Are these new security measures going to be in place for a long time?

MAYOR THOMAS MENINO: Our life has changed as we know it forever in America. So we have to get... be aware of the new security we have in America today. Over the last couple of weeks we've brought all the property owners with the large properties in our city to work with our Boston police. Also we brought the colleges security forces in to work with our police and also to the ethnic groups of our city, working with them all. It's a community effort to make this as safe as we can, but our lives have changed. Security will be number one from now on as we go into buildings in our city, to the airport, whatever transportation we take. We have more security than ever before.

RAY SUAREZ: And what kind of contacts have you had with other levels of government? Are he working closely to put these things in place with your state, with federal agencies of various kinds?

MAYOR THOMAS MENINO: We have worked with the -- Governor Swift over the last several weeks, very close contact with her. Our police department is working very close with the FBI, so we have the regular intelligence going back and forth, the state, federal and city governments. So we're working very closely with them. We can't do it alone. We need the federal government to work with us on these issues.

RAY SUAREZ: Mayor O'Neill if I understand the story correctly, you had already put in some drills and some closer inspection in Long Beach, even before September 11, specifically toward anti-terrorism measures.

MAYOR BEVERLY O'NEILL: We've been very fortunate. In 1998 we did get from the Department of Defense the act for -- Terrorist Protection Act, so we have had training in that arena, also the Department of Health and Human Services we have a grant from them or we did have a grant from them to understand the events with chemical and biological warfare, and then also the Department of Justice has provided us with equipment for training for terrorists. So we have had some background training in this. It's not something that we have used with our public at all, and there hasn't been a need for it in the city but we're prepared. And I would agree with Mayor Menino that the citizens have to feel that they are safe. They have to feel that they can come out of their homes. We're having several things in the community because we find that people want to show their devotion for their country, and so we have had patriotic events. We are planning the month of October to have people realize that we love America and we want to be part of showing that life can go on. But there has to be a feeling of safety first. And that's what our utmost direction is at this time.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, Mayor Kirk, how do you strike that balance to close our conversation between having a cop every 20 or 30 yards all through the city or having a very light touch when it comes to visible security?

MAYOR RONALD KIRK: Well, there's no... I don't know that there's any specific protocol for that. It's just I think given the reality of the events of September 11 the public is much more accepting of an increased security awareness in our public buildings and public places than they ever have been before. But like Boston and San Diego and other cities, Dallas has had a protocol in place because of events in Oklahoma City and others that fortunately we've got a very good strike force team, with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies that have been in place. But we're going to have to work our way through this. Tom Menino is right. This is a new day for Americans. I think most of us are willing to accept more security measures but at the same time we have to be mindful of what President Bush and others have urged us, that we cannot succumb to that fear and we can't just stay at home in cocoons. We have got to go about our normal daily lives to try to help first of all prop up our economy but also to show the terrorists they're not going to impede our freedoms. We're going to find our way through it and try to make sure that we get the right balance.

RAY SUAREZ: Mayors Kirk, Menino, and O'Neill, thank you all.

FINALLY - IN MEMORIAM

JIM LEHRER: Finally tonight, editorial cartoonist Herbert Block, better known as Herblock. He died last night of pneumonia. His work won him four Pulitzer Prizes in the 55 years he worked for the "Washington Post." Three years ago, essayist Roger Rosenblatt paid tribute to his friend and former colleague. Here is an excerpt.

ROGER ROSENBLATT: Herbert block, the political cartoonist who signs his work as "Herblock" has just published an autobiography, "A Cartoonist's Life." The title is straightforward, like its author. Herblock cartoons are unmistakable. They are clear, funny, on the nose and they are right. And they and he have been right for 50 years. Herblock knew and drew who Huey Long was, and who Stalin was; he knew that back in 1937, when most of the American left thought Stalin a savior. He definitely knew who Hitler was and what we ought to do about it. In the 1950s, he knew who Joseph McCarthy was-- he invented the term "McCarthyism." In the 1960s, he knew where Kennedy and Khrushchev ought to be on nuclear war, and where the country ought to be on racial equality. In the 1970s, he knew where Nixon ought to be on the War in Vietnam, and eventually that Nixon ought to be anywhere but the White House. He always had Nixon down cold, yet such was-- is-- Herb's sense of fair play that when Nixon was elected in 1968, a Herblock cartoon gave him a clean start and a free shave. Cursed with being right all the time, Herb could have walked around like a gloomy Gus. I can attest otherwise. In the late 1970s, when I was writing columns and editorials for "The Washington Post," I had my office next to Herb's, which was like having your office next to the Marx Brothers. He would bop in from time to time, wearing what he called his "Thinking Cap," a toy helmet with a light bulb on top, which lit up whenever he had an idea. Best of all for me, he would show me what he was working on for the next day's paper. The range of my critical responses ran from laughing very loud to laughing very loud, because Herb was always consistently great. Herblock lit up the world with his pen, and his light bulb continues to work. He gives the business to President Clinton. He gives it to Kenneth Starr. He is an equal opportunity corrector, and all his art and all his humor derive from an image of America as it ought to be-- a valuable ideal. That's what political cartoonists do. They wish the country well by illustrating how dumb it can be, and worse. At the end of his autobiography, Herblock writes of how infuriating are the misdeeds and failures of government. But, he is pleased to report; he can always vent his anger with a laugh. He has done so steadily for decades, as have so many others on whom the quality of the world depends. I'm Roger Rosenblatt.

JIM LEHRER: Herblock was 91 years old.

RECAP

JIM LEHRER: We'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night.