Retired General Perry Smith. FILE/STAFF

''How we handle this and how we take action against the perpetrators and how we work with our allies to diminish the terrorist problem that we have will be a huge challenge facing the Bush administration,'' Mr. Smith said. ''It's going to be a huge challenge because they're now going to have to take military operations against known terrorists groups in places like Afghanistan.''

The United States will be supported throughout the world in those operations because of the shock of Tuesday's attack, Mr. Smith predicted.

The important think is that the military operations be well orchestrated and precise, so that many innocent people are not killed in the process, he said.

Going after the right terrorists will be a big challenge that will require good presidential leadership, he said.

''Dick Cheney would be a good guy to put it all together,'' he said. ''And it will require a lot of coordination with our friends and allies.''

One of the prices of Tuesday's attack is that some of the freedoms Americans have known will disappear, said the retired officer and former television news analyst.

''I've been predicting it for the last five years that we would have a major terrorist event that would kill around 10,000 people,'' he said. ''This looks like it may have killed more than that. And we will pay a price.

''We will probably have to go to some kind of federal ID card, picture ID card, so that we can track everybody in our midst and everybody who's not in our midst better. Right now ,you get on an airplane and all you have to do is show a picture ID. I don't think that's going to be good enough anymore. It's going to make travel, particularly air travel, much more difficult and less convenient.''

The United States will probably have to protect its most valuable assets with much more in the way of military and police forces, he said.

''For instance, if we had on the top of the World Trade Center military force sitting up there pulling alert we probably could have shot those airplanes out of the sky before they hit the building, but we didn't have that,'' he said.

In a few days, everyone will know who is responsible for the attack, and the United States will have to take some military action against them, Mr. Smith said.

He said he thinks the radical Islamic fundamentalist Osama bin Laden is responsible for the attack.

''He's got lots of money. He's got lots of good organizations.... I think he also was involved in the bombing of our two embassies in Africa, in Kenya and Tanzania. So he's the most likely choice.''

Once the administration is sure who orchestrated the attack, the next question is how it is going to take military action. Then it must decide how quickly they can take that action and how much they can get allied support, he said.

''They'd (need) to have the Pakistanis, for instance, to support it,'' he said. ''You can't get into Afghanistan without going through Pakistan. So putting that all together and orchestrating the effort will take a lot of work.''

The attack was unquestionably ''the Pearl Harbor of the new century,'' Mr. Smith said.

''We haven't had an event of such a shocking nature in 60 years,'' he said. ''I was at Pearl Harbor as a little boy, so I remember that event, and this is very much the Pearl Harbor of the day.

''It was brilliantly executed. The fact that they were able to hijack all those airplanes and crash them into the buildings they wanted to crash them into was very, very skillfully done.''

Mr. bin Laden and his followers believe Americans are bad people, Mr. Smith said. In addition, America is a capitalist country and the only super power that they would love to ''knock off,'' he said.

''If they could really weaken us as a nation as a leader and a supporter of Israel that would be a great victory,'' he said.

Developments

A hijacked commercial jet crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York, killing 92 people onboard and untold numbers in the building and on the streets.

A second hijacked jetliner crashes into the south tower of the Trade Center.

President Bush, visiting a school in Sarasota, Fla., is informed of the two crashes. He addressed the nation, saying, ''Today we've had a national tragedy.''

The attacks are compared with the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Vice President Dick Cheney and first lady Laura Bush, who are in Washington, are taken to safe locations.

Although no one has claimed responsibility, all fingers point to Saudi exile and terrorist Osama bin Laden, who is being sheltered in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military is ordered to Threat Level Delta, the highest level, at least in the Washington area. Secret Service agents with machine guns patrol the White House grounds, and fighter jets circle over the city. The Navy sends missile destroyers and other vessels to New York and Washington.

Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers condemn terrorism in general and reject suggestions that Mr. bin Laden could be behind the attacks.

Trading on Wall Street is canceled. Government and office buildings around the country, including the Capitol, the White House, the State Department, the CIA and the United Nations, are evacuated. All of lower Manhattan is closed to all but rescue personnel.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounds all domestic flights and orders all planes in the air to land.

A third hijacked commercial plane crashes into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va.

The north tower collapses into rubble; a short time later, the south tower follows suit.

A fourth plane crashes near Somerset, Pa., southeast of Pittsburgh. It apparently was headed toward Camp David, Md., the presidential retreat.

New York City's mayoral primary election is postponed.

The Southern Governors' Association cancels its annual fall meeting in Lexington, Ky.

All major league baseball games are postponed, and other sporting and entertainment events are canceled. Broadway shows close, Disney World shuts down, and NASA halts shuttle operations.

Churches, volunteers and organizations rush to donate blood and supplies to the injured.

Mr. Bush convenes the National Security Council.

A third skyscraper, Seven World Trade Center, collapses.

Explosions rock Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. A U.S. official denies American responsibility, saying the rocket attacks appeared to be by rebels opposed to the ruling Taliban.

Mr. Bush returns to the White House. He declares a major disaster in New York City, easing the flow of federal aid.

In a speech televised to the nation, he says that 'thousands of lives were suddenly ended'' in the terrorist attacks. He vowed the United States would retaliate against ''those behind these evil acts,'' and any country that harbors them.

Late Tuesday night, a police source says cell phone calls had been received from trapped victims in the remains of the World Trade Center. It was not clear when all the calls were made.

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylviaco@augustachronicle.com.