RA PITCHES REBUILD THE TOWERS STORY

Rubenstein Assocs., New York, represents Larry Silverstein's Silverstein Properties, the firm that holds the lease on the World Trade Center complex. He has vowed to rebuild the four 50-story towers at the site. Silverstein believes the site must be re-developed as a sign of defiance of the terrorist attack.

RA's Steve Solomon handles the account with Howard Rubenstein. Solomon told this NL he is "trying to be as sensitive as possible" in pitching the rebuilding story. Solomon, a 38-year PR veteran, said he's never seen a story with so much media "pop."

A CNN poll finds support for rebuilding the Twin Towers as they stood. More than half of the respondents (51 percent) agree that the buildings should go back up. Support for a memorial is at 19 percent, while 17 percent want an open green space and 12 percent want a scaled back office complex.

SP and Westfield Americas agreed to a 99-year lease on the Twin Towers and other buildings on the WTC site last April. The $3.2 billion lease with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey was the biggest real estate transaction in New York City history.

AIR TRANSPORT ASSN. HIRES B-M FOR ADS

The Air Transport Assn. turned to Burson-Marsteller to develop its issue ads in wake of the terror attacks Sept. 11.

The group won Congressional approval for a $15 billion rescue package consisting of cash and loan guarantees for the airline industry, which is collapsing following the terror attacks. The airlines are said to be losing $200M a day because of disruption in air traffic, and the public's general unwillingness to fly.

American Airlines, which is B-M's client, and United Airlines each announced layoffs of 20,000 people, bringing total industry layoffs to the 100,000 mark since the Sept. 11 attacks.

America West Chairman Doug Parker has warned that his carrier faces bankruptcy if Congress does not approve the rescue package. Wall Street analysts predict that Continental and US Airways could follow suit. The ATA represents carriers with a combined 700,000 work force.

B-M's aviation and transportation group is based in its Washington, D.C., office. The firm, in May, added Chris Chiames, who worked at the ATA and American Airlines, and Matt Triaca, a United Airlines veteran, to the group.

MWW SAYS SIKHS ARE NOT MUSLIMS

MWW Group is getting the word out that turban-wearing Sikhs are not Muslims, according to Bob Sommer, EVP at the firm, who handles the account.

There have been acts of prejudice against Sikhs in the U.S. in the aftermath of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. There are 400,000 Sikhs in North America.

A Sikh group in New Jersey, according to Sommer, hired the firm to launch a national PR campaign to educate Americans about the religion that was founded in India more than 500 years ago.

"Some Americans, reeling in anger from the events and seeking an outlet for that anger, are confusing turbans worn by the Taliban and bin Ladin and his followers in the Middle East with the turbans worn by Sikhs in America," according to Sikh.Net.

It says the group shares "no political, religious, cultural or social links" to Osama bin Laden's followers.

Sommer said MWW's message to the media is that hate attacks have been launched against a number of groups in the U.S., not just Sikhs. He also handles PR for another MWW client, the persecuted Falun Gong group, which is being hounded by the Government of China.

On the WTC relief front, MWW volunteers handed out food to rescue workers at a McDonald's restaurant that was two blocks from Ground Zero.

McDonald's Tri-State Restaurants is a client of the Golin/Harris International unit.

BOEING LANDS AT APCO

APCO Worldwide is lobbying for Boeing on "regulatory and safety issues" for commercial aircraft, according to its Lobbying Disclosure Act filing.

The Chicago-based aircraft maker said on Sept. 18 that it may lay off 30,000 or nearly 30 percent of its workers because of the recent terror attacks.

Alan Mulally, president of Boeing's commercial aircraft unit, said both domestic and international airlines "are going to need substantially fewer planes" than they were forecasting before the terror strikes.

Peter Goelz, APCO's senior VP/worldwide crisis management, handles the Boeing account.

Omnicom is donating $3 million to The Twin Towers Fund established to help the families of firefighters, police and emergency medical workers who lost their lives in the World Trade Center terror attack.

CANTOR FITZGERALD TURNS TO EDELMAN

Edelman PR Worldwide is helping Cantor Fitzgerald rebound from the devastating loss it suffered when a hijacked jet crashed into the World Trade Center, according to Richard Mahony, executive VP in the firm's financial group.

CF had more than 1,000 staffers at One WTC located on the building's 101st and 103-105 floors. More than 700 are still missing and presumed dead.

Mahony said Edelman coordinated its initial response to the tragedy with CF's London office because it was impossible to communicate with the WTC site.

He said about 50 Edelman staffers donated their time to staff bereavement centers established at the Plaza and Pierre Hotels in New York for families of the missing people.

CF CEO Howard Lutnick, who lost his brother in the tragedy, emerged as the top spokesman for the firm, appearing on the three TV networks and with Larry King on CNN. His overall message was that the firm must go on to support the families of victims.

CF, noted Mahony, has promised that 25 percent of its future profits will go to the families of those who died.

The financial services firm has listed on its website the names of survivors, and the dates and directions to memorial services for those who were lost.

The British Government has agreed to provide tickets for two to New York, and three nights free lodging to its citizens who had relatives killed in the WTC. They also are promised a meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Edelman's crisis team for CF includes Matthew Harrington, New York, president; Hollis Rafkin-Sax, general manager of the financial services group, and media contacts Jeff Siegel, Mike Holloway and Claire Corrie.

Hill and Knowlton named David Langston as senior managing director of its national employee communications. The former creative director in Burson-Marsteller's New York office had been running his own firm.

PAKISTAN RETAINS EX-REP. WILSON

Former Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson is representing Pakistan, which is the focus of President Bush's effort to press neighboring Afghanistan to give up Osama bin Laden.

The Democrat is receiving $30,000 a month for advising Pakistan on matters regarding its national security.

A Wilson aide told this NL that the former Congressman is very involved with the fallout from the Pentagon and World Trade Center attacks.

The Naval Academy graduate made his mark in Congress as a champion of the Mujaheddin, which kicked the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

As head of the Appropriations Defense subcommittee, he traveled 14 times to Afghanistan and Pakistan during the 1980s, and sponsored secret U.S. appropriations for the Afghan rebel forces in 1982.

The Mujaheddin was ultimately kicked out of government by the Taliban.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are the only governments to recognize the Taliban as the rightful rulers of Afghanistan.

Wilson reports to Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.S., Maleeha Lodhi, who once edited The News, the country's leading English-language daily paper.

BAYER ON VERGE OF PR DECISION

Bayer A.G. said it expects to make a decision shortly on PR counsel as the company faces a financial backlash from its decision to pull a popular cholesterol-reducing drug last month.

"We're considering our PR counsel but haven't made a definite decision yet," Ellena Friedman, communications director for Bayer, told this NL.

Bayer voluntarily withdrew Baycol in early August after it was deemed responsible for over 50 deaths worldwide.

The drug, Bayer said, causes muscle cell damage when combined with another drug which lowers blood triglycerides.

The removal of Baycol has caused a flurry of suits against Bayer, which the company says are unfounded.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Baycol for use in the U.S. in 1997.

Bayer has also delayed its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, which was scheduled for Sept. 26, until the beginning of February 2002.

Bayer has used Edelman PR Worldwide, and Manning, Selvage & Lee.

SHELP BECOMES ANNE MCBRIDE CHAIR

PR veteran Ron Shelp was so impressed with the IR work that Anne McBride Co. did for his client, MIM Co., that he joined the New York-based IR firm as its chairman.

MIM, a pharmaceutical healthcare management company, is highlighted on AMC's website as one of its success stories.

Shelp, who had been running his own consulting firm, added that he's known "Anne McBride for a long time" and has great respect for the work her firm has done for its clients.

Prior to setting up Kent Global Strategies in 1996, Shelp held communications posts at American International Group, Hoeschst Celanese Corp. and Burson-Marsteller. He was B-M's vice chairman and a member of its New York executive committee.

Shelp also has toted up extensive non-profit experience. He was president of the New York Chamber of Commerce and the New York Partnership, where he coordinated the activities of the leaders of 200 businesses, civic, cultural and educational groups.

The Anne McBride Co. serves clients in 25 countries including Copamex, a Mexican paper company, and CEMIG, Latin America's largest energy distributor.

NATION TURNS TO TV FOR NEWS

More than 80% of Americans relied primarily on TV for coverage of the recent terrorist attacks and their aftermath, according to The Pew Internet & American Life Project.

NBC, ABC and CBS led the list among the 77 million viewers who turned to TV news on Tuesday (Sept. 11) and 55 million on Wednesday (Sept. 12). CNN was No. 1 on cable.

The Pew report shows:

-81% of the public got their information from television
-11% got most of their information from radio
-Only 3% of Internet users got most of their information from the Internet.

Although most turned to the tube for breaking news about the attacks, online became a useful way for people to express their sorrow or contact people.

For example, on the day of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 15% of all Internet users sent an e-mail to family members, 12% sent e-mails to friends. Women were more likely to e-mail others than men.

Researchers said 13% of Internet users participated in virtual town hall meetings or posted comments in chat rooms, online bulletin boards or e-mails listservs. That number is substantially higher than normal.

Also 58% of users who wanted the latest news logged onto multiple news websites.

Overall, 30% said the "Net helped them" learn about what was going on during the first few days after the attacks, and 29% went online to communicate with people they needed to reach.

Overall 'Net usage fell as only 51% of Internet users went online Sept. 11 and 12 versus as much as 58% on a typical day.

When they did go online, they went in droves to sites run by mainstream newspapers and TV networks, the Pew study found.

"At a moment of crisis, people want reliable intermediaries," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Merrill Brown, editor-in-chief of MSNBC.com, told USA Today that media outlets are redirecting their news coverage away from health and entertainment as the result of the attacks.

MAGAZINES RUSH OUT SPECIAL EDITIONS

Major U.S. newsweeklies weighed in with extra editions about the terrorist attacks. The editions were free of advertising.

Newsweek's extra edition, "America Under Attack," hit newsstands on Sept. 13, two days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Two million copies have been put on newsstands across the U.S. and overseas.

"Extraordinary news events deserve an extraordinary response," said Richard Smith, editor-in-chief of Newsweek.

Several magazines also replaced their covers at the last minute to make way for artwork to mark the terrorist attacks.

Time ran a black border around its cover, the first time it has dropped its trademark red frame since adopting it in 1927, according to Diana Pearson, who is the magazine's spokeswoman.

Business Week's cover declared the attacks an "Act of War," and Fortune ran a photo of a business executive covered in dust clutching his mouth with his handkerchief as he walked away from the World Trade Center area. The Economist used a shot of the financial district smoldering following the collapse of the skyscrapers.

Other weeklies not usually devoted to hard news coverage scrapped their original plans for cover art.

New York magazine ran a photo of the twin towers burning. People cancelled a cover on shark attacks in favor of a news picture of the disaster, and devoted the entire issue to the attacks.

The New Yorker, which withheld cartoons from last week's issue, used an all-black drawing by Art Spiegelman, a frequent contributor, showing a barely discernible image of the Twin Towers.

N.Y. TIMES POSTPONES CELEBRATIONS

The New York Times has postponed a series of events for its sesquicentennial because of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

A special news section that had been scheduled to appear on Sept. 20 was also postponed.

The first issue of the New-York Daily Times came off the press 150 years ago on Sept. 17.

The Times said it will announce new dates shortly.

DAILY NEWS SUSPENDS FREE PAPER

The New York Express, a free afternoon newspaper, has suspended publication.

The paper, which was started last September, was published by The New York Daily News.

Circulation of the Express, distributed by hawkers at Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal and the Port Authority Bus Station, went as high as 100,000 copies. An estimated 20,000 copies were handed out at the World Trade Center.

PUBLISHER OFFERS OFFICE SPACE

The Silicon Alley Reporter, a magazine that fell on hard times when New York's Internet business community collapsed, is offering temporary office space to firms displaced by the terrorist attack.

The destruction of the WTC Twin Towers has wiped out about 20 million square feet of commercial real estate, leaving hundreds of small businesses, some in neighboring buildings, homeless.

The magazine is located at West 36th st. in the heart of the garment district. Two-thirds of its 19,000 square feet of office space is empty.

(Media news continued on next page)

NAT'L BUSINESS PAPER CREATED ON 'NET

Bizjournals.com, a subsidiary of American City Business Journals, will use NewsEdge's electronic publishing technology to create a national business news medium on the Internet.

The new system will deliver some 5,000 weekly news stories from 40 metropolitan business publications, which are owned by S.I. Newhouse family's Advance Publications.

Bizjournals said the move to integrate and web-enable its content will give its 3.2 million+ print readers, and nearly 2.5 million web users a complete picture of developing business news, region-by-region, industry-by-industry, all across the U.S.

Under the licensing agreement, bizjournals.com will use NewsEdge's proprietary indexing and editorial refinery technology to process and web-enable its original content.

The content will be sent to its website bizjournals.bcentral.com in real time XML format.

PR FIRM TO OPERATE BOXING WEBSITE

PR Specialists Inc., a PR firm in Woodland Hills, Calif., has signed an agreement with Communicate.com to lease, with an option to buy, the Internet domain Boxing.com.

PRS intends to use the domain to publish an interactive website for boxing fans.

Bryan Eggers founded PRS in March 2000 to specialize in developing and promoting Internet websites. The firm is publicly traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol of PLTS.

PLACEMENT TIPS

Women's Health In the News, a weekly digest of news on women's health topics, is adding video to its news package.

Information in the publication is currently available to subscribers on www.womenshealthinthenews.com, by fax and e-mail.

Starting in January, companies will have the ability to run up to two minutes of video with each sponsorship of an "Of Note" column.

This can be a VNR or other video, including sound bites and highlights from medical meetings.

At the end of each Of Note column will be an icon that will put a video segment in real time, according to Susan Null, who started the publication five years ago.

"Not only will our visitors have access to these segments, but so will our strategic partners, who tap into our site as content for their own websites," said Null, who can be reached at 845/634-9140; fax: 634-9125 or via www.womenshealthinthenews.com.

Roll Call, a twice-a-week newspaper, has begun publishing a daily e-newsletter, called "Roll Call Daily," emphasizing breaking news.

Subscribers to the print edition of Roll Call will pay $198 for a one-year subscription to Roll Call Daily. Non-print subscribers will pay $265 per year.

Roll Call Daily will be published on the web in the early afternoon from Monday to Friday while Congress is in session.

Ed Henry, previously a co-editor of Roll Call, was named editor of the online edition, and David Meyers, formerly news editor at the newspaper, was appointed managing editor. The new online staff includes writers Polly Forster and Erin Billings.

Henry will continue to write the "Heard on the Hill" column in the print edition.

The new online edition will feature a new column, called "Today's Spin," that will be written by a different person each day.

On Mondays, Chris Black, former Congressional and White House correspondent for CNN, will write an irreverent column about the Sunday morning news programs, and on Tuesdays, Tim Curran will write a political column. On Wednesdays, Jim Mills will write a column with behind-the-scenes tidbits.

Curran, who was previously a co-editor, was promoted to editor of the newspaper, and Doug Freuhling, formerly managing editor of The Washington Business Journal, has joined as managing editor for Roll Call.

PEOPLE

Howard Burns was named editor of The Hollywood Reporter, in Los Angeles. Burns had been acting as interim editor while the trade paper conducted a search to replace Anita Busch, who left April 30.

Burns, 41, has been with the paper for 13 years.

Glenn Fowler, 77, a reporter and editor for The New York Times for 37 years until his retirement in 1991, died on Sept. 10.

He had covered many beats from city and state to retailing and had also been real estate editor of the Times.

Fowler had been a cast member of two annual shows, sponsored by the Inner Circle and the New York Financial Writers' Assn., and was a member of the NYFWA, the Silurians, the Downhold Club of UP Writers and the National Real Estate Editors Association.

Jim Rohwer, 52, a former deputy editor at The Economist, who was a senior contributing editor for Fortune, based in Hong Kong, died Sept. 2 in a sailing accident off the coast of France.

Susan Pearcy has succeeded Tom Barry as executive editor of Georgia Trend magazine.

MOVED: Seven Babcox Publications, whose titles include BodyShop Business, Brake & Front End, Counterman, Engine Builder, Import Car, Tire Review and Underhood Service, has moved to 550 Embassy pkwy., Akron, OH 44333; 330/670-1234.

COMPANIES AX PR BUDGETS 29%

Companies have chopped their PR/PA budgets 29 percent to an average of $2.3 million this year, according to the 9th annual Thomas L. Harris/Impulse Research survey of PR spending. That's the biggest decline in a decade.

Internal budgets were slashed 40 percent, plummeting from $1.6 million in 2000 to $963,000 this year. External spending dipped 17 percent to $1.3M.

Tom Harris isn't surprised by the severity of the spending shortfall.

He noted that companies-especially in the high-tech category-were "spending wildly" for PR last year.

They were "trying to do something that PR can't do, which is to create instant brands," he told this newsletter.

About an upturn, Harris said PR doesn't operate in a vacuum. The business will pick up whenever the economy and stock market show signs of life. Nobody is sure that will happen, cautioned Harris.

The uncertainty about PR's revival has been compounded by the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.

The 1,515 respondents to the survey represented companies in the computer/technology (14 percent), health/medical services (12 percent), banking/finance (nine percent), information technology and telecommunications (eight percent each) industries.

PR NEEDED TO KEEP CONSUMERS SPENDING

The greatest service PR pros can provide in support of the country is to ensure that the consumer continues to buy, says Maureen Lippe, CEO of Lippe Taylor Marketing PR.

But products and services in industries hit hard by the terror attacks must be pitched carefully, adds Karen Weiner Escalera, CEO of KWE Assocs.

They provided this NL input on PR in the aftermath of the terror attacks.

Product Pitches Continue

LT said a recent round of calls to editors at women's magazines confirmed that products continue to be pitched - health/lifestyle pages are still being planned.

The firm said editors indicated they are taking special efforts to ensure that copy and editorial don't focus too heavily upon frivolous themes. Editors told LT staffers that they are working hard to strike a balance between servicing the consumers' need for information and entertainment and maintaining a "sensitive and mindful" tone.

Escalera offered communications tips to the travel and lifestyle industries, which have been hard hit.

She said it is important to "demonstrate understanding and flexibility in travel policies" and to provide additional services to travelers to help them "cope."

Escalera said companies should give price and other incentives to travel now and proactively call major clients and groups to express understanding and flexibility, and to ask how to help.

She said companies should also reaffirm commitments to travel agents.

Escalera said pitching proximity to the U.S., ease of travel and destination security are important now, and that companies should avoid anything that says excess, flamboyance or frivolity.

Few Changes in Youth Market

Lippe outlined some changes in the PR and media fields. With regard to the consumer market, she said a few trends have become evident. Young adults are exhibiting "evident and powerful" feelings of resolve, unity and national pride. The firm cited the emergence of the American flag as a fashion element.

Tommy Hilfiger's use of pro-American ads on MTV has taken on a "PSA-type" feel while pitching its clothing and fragrances.

The firm said young adults will continue to buy products and services they had before with the exception of products that exhibit "overt sexuality, ostentatious displays of expensive brands, and dark or 'juvenile' humor."

According to Lippe Taylor, consumers will want news and programming that provides a diversion and alternative to the ongoing flow of breaking news.

SEARS, FEDEX PULL ADS

Sears, Roebuck and Federal Express have pulled their ads from ABC's late-night talk show Politically Incorrect after its host, Bill Maher, referred to U.S. military strategy as "cowardly."

"Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away - that's cowardly," Maher said, referring to the U.S. response to the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole last year. "Staying in the airplane when it hits the building - say what you want about it - it's not cowardly."

Maher was responding to President Bush's assertion that the suicide bombers who attacked New York and Washington, D.C., were cowards.

ABC said in a statement that while it remains "sensitive" to the climate in the U.S. following the terrorist attacks, it has "an obligation to offer a forum for the expression of our nation's diverse opinions."

Rev. Mychal Judge, 68, who was chaplain of the New York Press Club and the New York Fire Department, was killed in the World Trade Center collapse Sept. 11 while giving last rites to victims of the attack.

Father Judge, a Franciscan priest, was a reformed alcoholic, who became a supporter of people who tried to give up drinking.

His funeral was attended by former Pres. Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton, firemen, and news reporters.

The Publicity Club of New York, at its Oct. 3 luncheon, will discuss the "new sobriety" editorial tone that is expected in lifestyle/fashion magazines in the aftermath of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. President Peter Himler has lined up top editors from Vanity Fair, W, New York and In Style for the session. They also will talk about how their magazines will cope with a potential recession. The event will be held at the 3 West Club on Manhattan's 51 st. Cost is $55 for non-members. Reservations: 212/-978-PCNY.

We were in Ireland Sept. 11 when suicide squads demolished the World Trade Center.

"Your twin towers have been attacked and are on fire," said an employee of a golf course who ran out to meet us as we finished a round of golf. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon or 9:30 a.m. in New York, 45 minutes after the first tower was hit.

Stunned golfers gathered around TV sets in the lounge and bar. Almost nothing was said as horrific images passed before our eyes in the next few hours.

For the next eight days we read the Irish press and watched CNN and Rupert Murdoch's Sky TV, the European news channel. U.S. papers were not available. Our scheduled flight back to the U.S. Sept. 15 was pushed back to Sept. 18.

The Irish took the news as though one of their own cities had been bombed. It was pointed out that 40 to 44 million Americans have Irish blood. The Irish angle was played up although sympathy went out to all Americans and all peace-loving citizens throughout the world.

It was noted that many Irish firefighters and police died in the disaster. Stories noted that one of the hardest-hit firms, Cantor Fitzgerald, had many Irish employees. The firm, located on floors 103-105 of 1WTC, lost 700 of its 1,000 employees, leaving about 1,500 children without one or both parents.

Virtually unlimited coverage was given to the attack by such papers as the Irish Times, the largest circulation paper in the country, the Irish Examiner, and the Irish Independent. The Times did a special 24-page section Sunday Sept. 16 that covered the numerous facets to the story.

Irish writers overwhelmingly pleaded for the U.S. to show restraint and not rush into attacks on other countries. A common theme was that completely rooting out terrorism was impossible. Writers noted that Ireland has been unable to do this despite decades of trying.

"Let's give peace a chance," said a banner headline in the Examiner Sept. 14. Writer Suzanne Harrington said American "pride, confidence and impenetrability" had been "slit open and laid bare" by the attack. She and other writers said the grievances of the attackers must be addressed or there would be no end to violence.

The U.S. has acquired "a lot of enemies," she said, listing Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, east Africa and "huge chunks of South America." The Islamic world "cannot support a state that so obviously backs Israel and so blatantly dismisses large tracts of the Arab nation," she said.

Columnist Kathy Sheridan of the Times said "the reality that has gripped Northern Ireland for over 30 years" has come to the U.S. She said Americans are wondering how "any human being could be capable of such bottomless hatred" and are aghast at a Middle East poll that shows 70% of people to be in favor of "martyr-bombings."

It may be "too early" to list the grievances of the other side, she said, but these include "the one million Iraqi children dead from U.S.-led sanctions; the third of the Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank that survives on about $1 a day cheek by jowl with U.S.-subsidized, first-world Israel," and Afghans condemned to the rule of the Taliban who "began life as the well-funded pets of the U.S."

A vocal current of criticism of the U.S. was evident in Irish broadcasting. A letter to the Independent published Sept. 22 said that practically everyone who spoke on a "Questions & Answers" program on Irish TV Sept. 17 was "virulently, indeed poisonously anti-American." The "ugly tone of the show bore no relation to the way the majority of Irish have reacted to the atrocities" in the U.S., it added. Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz, who frequently appears on U.S. TV talk shows, was cut off the air on an Irish radio show Sept. 12 after he called co-panelist Robert Fisk "a bigot and an anti-Semite."

The Irish are also particularly involved at this point because Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen becomes president of the U.N. Security Council this month. He was in Israel on "black Tuesday" Sept. 11 for the start of a five-day "fact-finding" tour that was to include talks with Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat. Irish papers said he was going to tell Sharon to stop asking for "quiet periods" before peace talks with the Palestinians because these hadn't worked in Ireland. Said the Irish Times Sept. 11: "Cowen is visiting the Middle East at a time when the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is deteriorating daily into deeper violence..."

Back in the U.S., we found near-unanimity among the press and Americans for support of President Bush's military initiatives against terrorists worldwide. Americans support by at least nine to one these initiatives while an Irish Times poll found about two-thirds of respondents support them. Times Columnist David Andrews wrote Sept. 22: "By all means punish the wrongdoers but be mindful that the punishment must include an attack on the causes of hatred and sense of injustice that fuels fundamentalism worldwide." He said the WTC attackers were not "a group of mentally deranged fanatics but an intelligent, dedicated adversary" ...addressing concerns that Israel is being unfairly linked to the bombing was Norman Podhoretz, editor-in-chief of Commentary, who wrote "Israel Isn't the Issue," for the Sept. 20 Wall Street Journal...Salon.com took up the topic of Israeli policies in a piece called, "The bloody Jordan river now flows through America"...South China Post (via drudgereport.com) had a piece, "Everyone but U.S. could see it coming."
--Jack O'Dwyer