Congress Authorizes Use of Force

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 15, 2001 -- As the nation continued to grieve, the government prepared to wage war.

In a 420-1 vote late Friday, the House gave final congressional approval to a resolution authorizing President Bush to "use all necessary and appropriate force" against those involved in Tuesday's deadly terrorist attacks.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-California, registered the lone dissenting vote, saying she was reluctant to approve any force that could worsen the situation.

The move came hours after the Senate unanimously gave Bush the green light to strike against individuals or nations that "planned,authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks."

Thousands were presumed to be dead when four hijacked planes crashed into New York'sWorld Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

Though not a formal declaration of war, it adds weight to the president's desire to launch a massive retaliation while requiring the White House to continue consulting with lawmakers.

As Congress got behind the president, he declared a national emergency and led the nation in mourning at a memorial service in the National Cathedral on Friday. Bush expressed grief and sorrow, but used the pulpit to warn of a violent retaliation to come.

"Our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil," Bush said. "War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder.

"This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others; it will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing."

Reservists Called Up

The strong words came as Bush issued an executive order calling reservists out of civilian life to protect the nation's skies. The Pentagon is starting off with an order of 35,000 of the 1.3 million — just the first in what is expected to become a much larger mobilization in the future.

ABCNEWS' John McWethy reports the military's plan involves placing up to 26 U.S. airfields on "strip alert," putting fighter aircraft in position to quickly intercept any planes that appear even remotely suspicious. Similar but more limited combat air control has been in effect over several metropolitan areas since Tuesday's attacks.

The Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard will also be calling reserves, to bolster security in New York — on the streets and in the port — and to provide medical help and to assist with the grim chore of identifying bodies, McWethy reports.

The unprecedented plan — the largest call-up of reservists since the Gulf War — will come at a high cost. Lawmakers as recently as Monday were bickering over ways to trim spending. But today, both houses of Congress swiftly and unanimously approved a massive $40 billion emergency spending package in response to the deadly terrorist strikes.

"We gave the president the money and the power to make war on those who have made war on us," Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, said after the Senate vote.

The plan would provide $20 billion for cleanup and rescue operations in the stricken areas, and another $20 billion for fighting terrorism and terrorists — essentially a down payment on a much larger amount expected to be needed to fight what the administration signaled would be a years-long battle against terrorism around the world.

The first $10 billion will be released immediately from this year's budget with no strings attached. The White House is required to detail how the next $10 billion will be spent before it is released. And the rest of the money will be allocated in the 2002 budget and released after the new fiscal year starts next month.

Bush Visits Ground Zero

On Friday, Bush got a firsthand look at where a large chunk of that money will go. After speaking at the cathedral, he flew to New York — with F-16 fighter jets escorting Air Force One — for a tour of the destruction in lower Manhattan.

While in the terror-stricken city, Bush visited ground zero — the mountains of debris that were the World Trade Center towers before hijackers slammed two jets into the buildings Tuesday morning. Rescue crews and volunteers chanted "USA! USA!" as the president waved an American flag and thanked them for working around the clock to find survivors.

"I can hear you," Bush shouted into a megaphone, drawing cheers from firefighters and other dust-covered rescue workers who stopped digging through rubble to rally around the president. "The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."

The American public seems equally determined to go to war. The latest ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll finds a wide majority, 85 percent, supports "getting into a war." Even if it means heavy casualties and a lengthy war, 69 percent support attacks.

But not everyone supports attacks. A handful of liberal Democrats took to the floor of the House tonight to argue against authorizing the use of force.

"Let us not become the evil that we deplore," said Lee before opposing the force resolution.

"America should not have an eye for an eye mentality," Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich said, arguing that to kill the terrorists would mean sinking to their depths.

Targeting Bin Laden

Behind the scenes, the president and his administration have been busy preparing to fight back against those who caused the destruction.

A senior administration official said late Thursday the administration was nearly prepared to finger suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect — perhaps as early as today.

Bin Laden is thought to be holed up in Afghanistan, making the bordering nation of Pakistan critical to any U.S. retaliation. With investigators noticing bin Laden's footprints early on in their hunt for suspects, the administration has been swiftly laying the groundwork to strike targets in Afghanistan if needed.

At a briefing on Friday, Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a stern warning to Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia.

"To the extent that you are providing havens, support, encouragement and other resources to organizations, such as the organization headed by Mr. Osama bin Laden," Powell said, though stressing that no prime suspect has yet been named, "you need to understand you cannot separate your activities from the activity of these perpetrators. And in our response, we will have to take into account not only the perpetrators, but those who provide haven, support, inspiration — financial and other assets to the perpetrators, as the president said in his very first set of remarks some days ago."

Powell and other administration officials have been working the phones all week, shoring up support with world leaders for the military campaigns to come.

The administration is telling diplomats and leaders they can either side with the United States in the fight against terrorism, or risk bearing the wrath of an angry nation.

"We're in this together and this is the way we judge our relationship," is what a senior administration official said is the message to ambassadors. "We expect you to do this."

Islamic countries, considered critical to combat any efforts to blunt any anti-Muslim charges that would come in the wake of an attack of an Islamic nation like Afghanistan, are under particular pressure to join the U.S. coalition.

But the biggest focus is on countries that neighbor Afghanistan: particularly Pakistan, but also Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and China.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf gave Powell a general commitment of cooperation. But the secretary told Musharraf the United States wants action — not talk. Powell's deputy, Richard Armitage, has hand-delivered a list of concrete actions to Pakistan's ambassador.

Senior administration officials said the list asked Pakistan to assure that, if needed, it will provide airspace, cut off fuel supplies to Afghanistan and close borders. The administration expects an answer quickly, Musharraf has been told.

"We will give the Pakistani government a chance to cooperate and to participate as we hunt down those people who committed this unbelievable, despicable act on America,"Bush said.

While the legislative, diplomatic and military work of Washington continued, the nation's capital remained on edge as intelligence officials feared the violence may not be over.

"It look like the terrorists had long-term plans, not just one event, not just one day," a senior State Department official told ABCNEWS. "We've probably disrupted some of those plans. But it's fair to say people should still be concerned."

ABCNEWS' Brian Hartman, Terry Moran, Rebecca Cooper, Phuong Nguyen, Martha Raddatz, Ed O'Keefe, Dean Norland and Linda Douglass contributed to this report.