Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 7

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2001 DECATUR, ILLINOIS NATIONWORLD A7 D1 sap U.S. prayed bin La urn warn nut to earlier attacks so the "if" was dropped, and Article 5 was now "fully invoked," Robertson said. "The facts are clear and compelling. The information presented points conclusively to an al-Qaida role," Robertson said of the U.S. briefing.

"The United States of America can rely on the full support of its 18 NATO allies in the campaign against international terrorism," he said. Officials said Article 5 is morally but not legally binding on the NATO allies, which had already declared their full backing for the United States in its war against terrorism. A country may still decline to take any specific action. BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) The United States gave its NATO allies clear evidence Tuesday that "conclusively" links Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network to the Sept. 11 terror attacks, NATO's secretary-general said.

In response, the alliance has "fully invoked" Article 5 of its charter, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all, Secretary-General Lord Robertson said, though he added that the decision did not necessarily mean an armed response was imminent. "WTe don't intend at the moment to discuss how NATO will translate this decision into operational AMERICA RESPONDS action," Robertson said. "The United States are still developing their thinking and they will come back to the alliance in due course when that thinking is crystallized." NATO allies last month agreed to invoke Article 5 if Washington could show that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were directed from abroad. Tuesday's classified briefing demonstrated that, WORLD TRADE CENTER Respects Paying Bodies of 15 firefighters recovered; NEW YORK (AP) The -r "ffi 1 i NEW YORK (AP) The 'n 1 celebrities encourage tourist travel 7 1 y- lit ivfckss1 J- W(W'h 1111 HM 1 nil it 1 JiV, Cry I I If Wvvi -s. r.

Terrorists linked WASHINGTON (AP) In presenting its case against Osama bin Laden to U.S. allies, the Bush administration said some of the same terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 attack also have been linked to the East Africa embassy bombings and the attack on the USS Cole. Two senior administration officials said this point was part of a presentation made Tuesday by State Department counterterrorism chief Frank Taylor to NATO allies in Brussels, Belgium. Two senior officials said bin Laden's involvement became apparent after officials concluded that some Associated Press the debris on Tuesday at to be a monument to all the people who died there." An estimated $675 million has been collected so far, and Spitzer said the eventual total will probably be more than $1 billion.

On Tuesday, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, donated $2 million. Mr Sprit suspects involved in the Sept. 11 attacks also took part in the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa on Aug.

7, 1998, and the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen on Oct. 12, 2000. The bin Laden associates were not identified. Bin Laden has been indicted in the embassy bombings and is thought by U.S. officials to have masterminded the Cole attack.

Different countries are receiving different presentations, based on their relationship with the United States, said one government source, speaking on the condition of anonymity. nited We Stand' stamp introduced WASHINGTON (AP) The Stars and Stripes snaps in the breeze above the slogan "United We Stand" on a new stamp unveiled by the Iff Postal Ser- pi vice Tues- fTTf day. "The United States Postal Service: www.usps.com 'United We Stand' stamp is a ballot for freedom," said Postmaster General John E. Potter. "It is meant to send a message of unity and resolve with every letter." Potter said the agency was besieged with calls for a new patriotic stamp following the terrorist attacks Sept.

11. The design was quickly approved, and millions of the stamps are being printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and Bank Note Corporation of America. The 34-cent self-adhesive stamps are expected to be on sale nationwide early next month. The new design was announced by Patricia Jenkins and Linda Washington, postal clerks who were working at the Pentagon at the time a hijacked plane crashed into the building. Stamps "may be small but they are powerful," said Potter.

"They speak of a nation that is united." Potter was presented the flag that flew over the post office's Church Street Station in New York, the closest to the World Trade Center. It still carried the dust generated by the collapse of the trade towers. He thanked the thousands of postal workers across the country for their efforts to keep the mail moving in the wake of the attacks and the limits on air travel. "Keeping the mail moving was the most important thing the Postal Service could do as our nation worked toward recovery," he said. Robert Rider, chairman of the postal governing board, added: "Each of us, in his own way, has experienced grief and anger and each has emerged saddened and resolved that our nation will stand united." The new stamp is for the standard first-class rate Some members of Congress have proposed a stamp with a surcharge to raise money for the families of those killed at the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

Military strikes postponed Bush dispatches Rumsfeld to calm coalition doubts Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON The United States and Britain were close to launching military strikes against terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden and his protectors in Afghanistan until three key allies suddenly expressed reservations, senior U.S. officials said Tuesday. In the last two days, the officials said, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Oman have either limited their support for military action or told U.S. officials they cannot back an American-led military campaign. In an effort to repair the cracks in his anti-terrorism coalition, President Bush dispatched Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on an emergency mission Tuesday night to those three countries and Egypt, two senior officials involved in planning the campaign said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was unclear whether Egypt also had objections. Rumsfeld said he hoped to observe a U.S. military exercise currently under way in Egypt. The Pentagon also took the unusual step of ordering the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk to join the operation this week from its home port in Japan without its usual complement of jet fighters and attack planes. Defense officials said that if Oman and Uzbekistan refuse to let the United States and Britain use bases on their territory, the Kitty Hawk could steam into the Arabian Sea and serve as a floating base for U.S.

assault helicopters. The developments came as the United States and its allies amplified the drumbeat of warnings to bin Laden, his accomplices and the rigid Taliban regime that serves as his host in Afghanistan. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair each spoke of the "consequences" of Taliban intransigence amid international demands that the militia evict bin Laden and destroy all elements of his al-Qaida terrorist network. The apparently coordinated escalation of psychological warfare also included a broad effort to share evidence with U.S. allies and an unprecedented display of support from NATO.

"I have said that the Taliban must turn over the al-Qaida organization living within Afghanistan and must destroy the terrorist camps," Bush said at the White House. "And they must do so, otherwise there will be a consequence." In England, Blair called the terrorist blitz "a turning point in history" and vowed to remain by America's side "to the last." "As for the Taliban," Blair said during a passionate, carefully reasoned speech to his ruling Labor Party, "they can surrender the terrorists or face the consequences. "We will put a trap around the regime. And I say to the Taliban: 'Surrender the terrorists or surrender power. That is your In Washington, Rumsfeld described his trip as routine visit to an area of particular interest.

"We have a lot of activity in the region," Rumsfeld said before leaving Tuesday night. He expected to return this weekend. "And I have not been there yet this year. Normally, ministers of defense visit countries where there is that type of activity." Still, the trip was not announced until just hours before he was scheduled to depart. Typically, the secretary of state would be expected to conduct such a visit, unless important defense issues needed to be discussed.

"The world is fairly united in this effort to combat terrorism," said Torie Clark, Rumsfeld's spokeswoman. "And we want to make sure we have the conversations at the highest levels." A third senior administration official said it was unclear if the cracks threatened to seriously undermine the coalition and U.S. military plans. "We're not sure if this is just last-minute jitters or something more serious," the official said. families of the more than 5,000 victims of the World Trade Center attack will each receive a wooden urn with dirt from the mass graveyard, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Tuesday as a court cleared the way for the first death certificates to be issued for the missing.

The mayor said the city settled on the idea after hearing reports that con men were peddling phony mementos from ground zero to family members. "We are going to give the families soil from the World Trade Center," Giuliani said. "We will provide every single family with an urn, made of beautiful wood." Also Tuesday, a court declared 41 of the missing victims legally dead, acting at the request of their families. All had worked for the Cantor Fitzgerald bond trading firm, which lost some 700 employees. Officials have acknowledged that it could take months to recover and identify victims of the fiery disaster and that some of the dead may never be found.

Giuliani said 1,202 families whose loved ones are still missing in the smoking ruins have applied for death certificates. One of the major employers near the site, Merrill Lynch, plans to return to its offices at the World Financial Center on Oct. 22 another sign of the city's return to normalcy, the mayor said. Earlier Tuesday, after nearly a week of bickering, the state and the city struck a deal to jointly oversee the distribution of the more than $600 million in contributions collected for victims and their families. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Giuliani's administration had been at odds over which operation was best situated to oversee the fair distribution of donations and prevent fraud and double-dipping.

But the two ironed out their problems. "There isn't any turf war," Giuliani said. As the city-state discussions unfolded, the bodies of 15 firefighters were recovered from the 1.2 million tons of rubble, law enforcement sources said on condi- Ryan pledges Governor to visit trading floor today CHICAGO (AP) Gov. George H. Ryan flew to New York on Tuesday to show faith in air travel and moral support for the city.

"We're just telling the people of New York we're here, we want to help, we're going out to help and we want to open up the doors for continued business," Ryan said after he received his boarding pass at O'Hare International Airport. The state and Chicago also took out an ad in today's New York editions of The New York Times and New York Post, as well as the Washington, D.C., edition of The Wall Street Journal. The ad features an image fit i bottom left, searches through site. host Regis Philbin and actress Sigourney Weaver joined Gov. George Pataki in encouraging tourists to come back to New York.

"It's going to be rebuilt, bigger and stronger than ever," said De Niro, whose restaurant sits several blocks from ground zero. "It's going ed Pataki with a framed copy of the ad. Ryan also met with the chairman of Aon an insurance broker based in Illinois that lost about 180 employees in the attacks. Today, Ryan will visit the trading floor of Morgan Stanley and meet with municipal finance personnel. The governor said he had no plans to visit the site of the World Trade Center attacks, but would like to go if he can.

His message to the New York leaders: "We're ready and able to continue to do business with New York." The governor said Chicago and New York City have much in common, especially because they are both financial centers. "We want to help New York; we sympathize with their problem," Ryan said. STILL SEARCHING: A lone laborer, the World Trade Center disaster tion of anonymity. Nearly 350 firefighters are believed to be among the victims. The confirmed number of dead now stands at 363, including the bodies of 64 firefighters.

An assortment of celebrities including native New Yorker Robert De Niro, TV Illinois' support for NYC i I 1 of a seated Abraham Lincoln with parts of the Gettysburg Address written at the top. "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth," the ad read, in part. The state paid $45,000 for the ads in New York papers, using revenue from tourism ads. Chicago's Convention and Tourism Bureau paid for The Wall Street Journal ad but the price was not immediately available. Ryan, who was joined on the trip by about two dozen business leaders and staff members, met Tuesday with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and New York Gov.

George Pataki. Ryan present Associated Press 'NOT IN VAIN': Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan, right, makes remarks Tuesday at a news conference with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at the World Trade Center disaster command center in New York..