The New York Times Almanac 2002

2431 Pages·2001·10.76 MB·English

by  John Wright

The New York Times 2002
ALMANAC
Edited by John W.Wright
WITH EDITORS AND REPORTERS OF
The Times
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CONTRIBUTORS AND STAFF
General Editor
John W.Wright
Executive Editor
John Rosenthal
Senior Editors and Writers
Bryan Bunch, John Connelly, Jeffrey Hacker, Alan Joyce, John Major, Allison Paxton
Paine, Lincoln Paine, Patricia Szczerba, Jenny Tesar
Contributing Editors
Abigail Elbow, Alice Finer, Glen Gendzel, Deborah Kaple, Jerold Kappes, Michael
Kaufman, Thomas LaRosa, Steven Lichtman, David Major, Lisa Renaud
Researchers and Fact Checkers
Grant Flowers, William T.LeGro, Susan McMichaels, Robert L.Spring, Johanna
Stoberock, Victoria Vine
Data Entry
Arlene Jacks, Dorothy Green
The New York Times
Thomas K.Carley, President, News Services; Nancy Lee, Vice President, Business
Development; Mitchel Levitas, Editorial Director, Book Development
Editors
Laura Chang, Renee Murawski, David Rampe, David Stout
Correspondents
Lawrence K.Altman, James Barron, Barry Bearak, Pam Belluck, Alex Berenson, Dana
Canedy, Francis X.Clines, Alan Cowell, Steven Erlanger, Howard W.French, Joel
Greenberg, Linda Greenhouse, David Johnston, Gina Kolata, Clifford Krauss, Warren
E.Leary, Steve Lohr, Alison Mitchell, Seth Mydans, Floyd Norris, Norimitsu Onishi,
Andrew C.Revkin, James Risen, Kevin Sack, David E.Sanger, Eric Schmitt, Katharine
Q.Seelye, Thom Shanker, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Alessandra Stanley, James Sterngold,
Richard W.Stevenson, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Ginger Thompson, Patrick E. Tyler,
Louis Uchitelle, Don Van Natta Jr., Nicholas Wade, John Noble Wilford.
Maps
Steve Hadermeyer, John Papasian
CONTENTS

PART I: ALMANAC OF THE YEAR
1
112
PART II: THE UNITED STATES
984
PART III: THE WORLD
1620
PART IV: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1843
PART V: AWARDS AND PRIZES
1958
PART VI: SPORTS
INDEX 2253
MAPS

Immediately follow page 618

Africa • Asia and the Pacific • Australia Canada • Europe • Mexico,
Central America & the Caribbean • Middle East Nations of the

former Soviet Union South America • United States physical United
States political • World
September 11, 2001 and the Aftermath
AMERICA ATTACKED: UNCONVENTIONAL WAR ON TWO
FRONTS
Like the day on which John F.Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 or the day on which
Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, Sept. 11 was one of those days that divide things into
“before” and “after.” What happened in less than two hours on that morning was
unthinkable, almost indescribable. Four commercial jetliners were commandeered by
small teams of terrorists armed with ordinary box cutters and a ruthless understanding of
how to turn planes into fiery missiles that could destroy quintessential symbols of
American wealth and power.
The next day the Bush Administration singled out Osama bin Laden’s terrorist
organization as responsible for the attacks. Washington also demanded that the Taliban
rulers of Afghanistan, who had long sheltered his terrorist training camps, turn him over
or face military attack. After cobbling together a fragile coalition of allies that included
NATO countries, Russia, China, India and even Muslim Pakistan, the U.S. launched a
retaliatory air war.
Then, unexpectedly, a spate of biological attacks in Florida, Washington, New York
City and New Jersey unnerved the nation. No one claimed credit for the refined spores of
anthrax contained in ordinary envelopes, but soon postal workers in Washington and
New Jersey were infected. Anthrax also killed a hospital worker in Manhattan, though it
was not immediately clear how she would have been exposed to the highly dangerous,
inhaled form of the disease. The source of the attacks was unknown by early November,
prompting a remarkable plea from the baffled F.B.I. for help from the public, along with
a million dollar reward for information.
Fears of a fresh terrorist assault rose in October as an initial surge of confidence and
patriotic unity began to fade. Although 88 percent of those questioned in a New York
Times/CBS News poll taken in late October applauded the attacks on Afghanistan and put
President Bush’s approval rating at 87 percent, only 18 percent of the public said it had a
“great deal” of confidence in the ability of the U.S. government to protect against future
terrorist attacks.
By Oct. 29, when a coalition of civil liberties groups said it would file a lawsuit
demanding that the government identify everyone who had been taken into custody and
explain what charges they were facing, the F.B.I. was detaining more than 1,000 people.
But no one had been arrested as a suspected conspirator.
THE ATTACKS On the morning of Sept. 11, President George W.Bush was in
Sarasota, Florida, speaking to children about education. Informed of the attacks, he left
hastily, and as the brutal efficiency of the hijackers became clear, Air Force One took a
circuitous route back to Washington, moving the president to command posts in
Louisiana and Nebraska before returning to the capital.
One of the hijacked planes—American Airlines Flight 11, which had veered off its
Boston-to-Los Angeles route and barreled over New York at more than 500 miles an
hour—took aim at the north tower of the World Trade Center, to be followed less than 20
minutes later by United Airlines Flight 175, also headed from Boston to Los Angeles. It
smashed into the second tower. A third jet, American Airlines Flight 77, flying from
Dulles Airport outside Washington to Los Angeles, slammed into the Pentagon. The
fourth, United Airlines Flight 93, on the way from Newark to San Francisco, went down
in Pennsylvania after passengers apparently fought with the terrorists. Its original target
was believed to be another national symbol in Washington—perhaps the White House or
the U.S. Capitol.
The twin towers collapsed less than two hours after they were hit, consumed by jet
engine fuel in a meltdown that left thousands of tons of smoldering debris at what came
to be called “ground zero.” Desperate employees plunged to their deaths from blown-out
windows hundreds of feet in the air. Mayor Rudolph W.Giuliani warned on Sept. 11 that
the death toll from the attack on the trade center, an enormous city-within-a-city, would
be “more than any of us can bear.” Hundreds of emergency rescue workers—firefighters,
police officers and paramedics—had clambered into the two buildings, lugging hoses and
heavy equipment and looking for injured people to carry out. At last count 343
firefighters did not make it, devastating entire fire companies throughout the city; the
police said that more than 70 officers were missing. At the Pentagon, an estimated 125
perished. A total of 266 crew and passengers aboard the four airliners also died. By Oct.
31, the toll of victims at the trade center was estimated at 4,295.
On Sept. 14, the F.B.I. released the names of 19 suspected hijackers; some had studied
to be pilots at flight schools in Florida. Washington’s case against bin Laden was largely
circumstantial, though NATO officials said on Oct. 2 that the United States had provided
“clear and compelling proof” that bin Laden and his radical Islamic organization, Al
Qaeda (the Base), were behind the attacks.
THE AFTERMATH In countless ways, the rhythms and rituals of American life
changed overnight. Within hours of the attacks, the police began checking trucks heading
into New York City. Guards checked concert-goers’ briefcases at temples of high culture;
backpacks were barred at ballparks. Some lawmakers called for a reassessment of
intelligence activities and an end to the perennial turf wars that thwart the exchange of
secret information while others in and out of Congress sought ways to determine how an
open society could defend itself without compromising individual liberties.
President Bush got credit for making the right political moves and sounding the right
spirit of resolve in bringing the “evildoers” to “justice” while deploring scattered
vigilante attacks on middle easterners in several American cities. The President’s prime-
time speech to a joint session of Congress on Sept. 20 was widely considered the high
point of the administration’s efforts to rally public opinion here and abroad. In his speech,
Mr. Bush also announced the creation of a new executive agency of Homeland Security
and appointed Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania to plow through bureaucratic roadblocks
that threatened to slow the defense of things that had never had to be defended before—
not only border crossings, but power plants, bridges and reservoirs. Airline passengers
paid attention to what they carried in carry-on luggage as airport guards confiscated nail
clippers and other seemingly innocuous items that now were deemed potential onboard
weapons. National Guard troops were pressed into service to patrol major airports.
The economy, which had been sliding toward recession before Sept. 11, stumbled
badly. After a four-day suspension of trading—the longest since the Great Depression—
the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 14.3 percent, making it one of the worst weeks
in Wall Street history. By mid-October, the stock market had largely recovered, then
sagged again as some economists said a “doomsday scenario” for a full-scale financial
meltdown would linger for some time. Unemployment jumped to 5.4 percent in October,
the highest in five years. Over 400,000 workers lost their jobs.
The airlines—grounded for almost a week after Sept. 11—appealed for federal
assistance. After passenger traffic plunged dramatically, Congress approved a $15 billion
bailout package on Sept. 21. The House and Senate also agreed to set up an open-ended
fund for victims of the attacks in New York and Washington.
THE DIPLOMATIC COALITION The attacks reshuffled the diplomatic deck. Russia,
scarred by its own war against rebels in Chechnya in the 1990’s—a decade after its
humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan—opened its airspace for American warplanes.
“Not only is the cold war over,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said on October 18, “the
post-cold-war period is over.” Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain took the lead
among NATO allies. Among Muslim countries, which were understandably ambivalent
about aiding the United States, the shakiest was also the most essential: Pakistan. Its
president and former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, agreed to allow American
use of Pakistani bases after receiving assurances of billions of dollars in American aid
and the end of Washington’s trade embargo, imposed when Pakistan exploded a nuclear
weapon.
Large anti-American protests in Islamabad and other cities were tightly controlled by
police, but as America’s bombing war continued, General Musharraf urged a quick end to
the campaign. As the Islamic holy month of Ramadan approached, Defense Secretary
Donald H.Rumsfeld pledged to continue the assault, now bolstered by small numbers of
American ground troops who helped coordinate the bombing of Taliban positions with
opposition forces of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.
Though Pakistan was clearly the focus of the Muslim role in the allied coalition,
internal tensions also were apparent in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the latter an even more
lukewarm partner. Indeed, both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had contributed enormous
sums to support bin Laden and the Taliban during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan
in the 1980’s. The C.I.A. itself had funneled weapons and money to Pakistan, whose
intelligence agencies worked closely with the Taliban leadership—and still do, according
to some reports.
THE MILITARY RESPONSE President Bush declared war on terrorism hours after the
jetliners hit their targets at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But the actual
military response did not begin until Oct. 7, when the United States and Great Britain
launched a barrage against Afghanistan, Bombers, fighter planes and cruise missiles
pounded bin Laden’s training camps and knocked out what the Pentagon described as the
military strongholds of his Taliban protectors.
Three million pounds of explosives blasted Afghanistan in the first month of the
campaign as the Pentagon tried to block the Taliban’s supply lines. Soon after the air