Bush calls for new security checks

WASHINGTON -- The administration ordered new security checks for airline workers Monday and granted mortgage relief to thousands of reservists called to active duty as part of the coming war on terrorism. The stock market rallied after last week's plunge. \n"We'll come out of this and we'll come out of it strong," said President George W. Bush, as he sought to coax investors and consumers to open their wallets. Despite the impact of this month's terror attacks on the economy, he said, "The fundamentals for growth are very strong." \nFrom halfway across the globe, Osama bin Laden rallied Pakistani Muslims to "give everything they own" to combat what he called "a Christian-Jewish crusade (against Islam) led by the big crusader Bush under the flag of the cross." \nIdentified repeatedly by administration officials as the lead suspect in the attacks, he said those who died in Pakistan protesting the United States' response were martyrs to Islam's cause. \nBush met privately at the White House with relatives of those who died aboard a hijacked plane that crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside Sept 11. Neither he nor those he met with spoke publicly afterward. \nThe plane hit the ground after what officials have described as a heroic struggle in which passengers prevented the terrorists from flying into a high-profile target in Washington. \nThree other planes were hijacked that day; two were piloted into the World Trade Center twin towers in New York, the other into the Pentagon in Washington. In all, more than 6,000 people died in the worst terrorist attack on American soil in history. \nA CBS-New York Times poll released during the day underscored the extent to which the attacks had galvanized public opinion and also disclosed a broad anxiety about potential terrorist threats. \nBush's handling of the issue drew the support of 90 percent of those surveyed, and 92 percent expressed backing for American military action in response. At the same time, 78 percent said they believed another terrorist attack was likely in the United States. The survey questioned 1,216 individuals between Sept. 20-23 and had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Gradually, the administration was disclosing details of what Bush has called a "different kind of war," announcing some steps that were offensive in nature, others designed to protect the nation from further terrorist attacks. \nIn a letter sent to Congress under the War Powers Act, Bush said he had ordered the deployment of "various combat-equipped and combat support forces to a number of foreign nations" in the Middle Eastern, Asian and Pacific regions of the world.