'We must rebuild the towers and show strength'

Voices of America

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton, the former president, at the missing persons' bureau in midtown Manhattan: "We need not to show fear and not to give in. We need to prove them wrong by how we respond to this.'"

Andrew Molchan

Andrew Molchan, of the Professional Gun Retailers' Association, said dealers had sold out of weapons. "People around here don't have to go out and buy a handgun to protect themselves from a stolen 747, but people are afraid, and they go out and look for something that will make them feel better."

Gerard Fitzpatrick

Gerard Fitzpatrick, of Dearborn Heights: "The towers must be rebuilt. They represented the pillars of strength and stability in our country. If we do not rebuild them, then the scar will remain for ever in our hearts and the New York City skyline. Those who have lost loved ones in this terrible tragedy will understand over time that those who have perished are now heroes, not casualties, when these towers are erected once again."

Rabbi Michael Cahana

Rabbi Michael Cahana, one of the New York rabbis rewriting their sermons for the High Holy Days, which start on Monday: "This is one of those incidents where you take the sermon that you have written so far and start all over again. This is going to be a New Year of fear and concern. I pray it will be a year of healing. In a way, we're all survivors."

Dennis Hastert

Dennis Hastert, House Speaker, after the Bush administration named the main suspect: "I think Osama bin Laden ought to say his prayers."

Robert Smith

Robert Smith, a school superintendent in Washington: "Some children drew pictures of tall buildings with people flying out of the windows. That image must have had a fair amount of impact on them."

Collette Smith

Collette Smith, 32, who volunteered to dig through the rubble of the Trade Centre: "It was like a mission. It was just something I had to do."

Dr Susan Silk

Dr Susan Silk, a clinical psychologist who is counselling many at the Pentagon: "I went home Tuesday night and saw it on television; it was really shocking. It's like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz We aren't in Kansas anymore. We don't feel safe anymore. On Wednesday, we woke up to a different world."

Rashed Rabaa

Rashed Rabaa of West Bloomfield, Michigan: "As an Arab American, I am very sad of what happened last Tuesday. I was horrified of what I have seen on TV. I am angry too of what happened, like anybody else. Regardless of our background, whether Americans, Arab, German, Jews, Africans, Europeans, we are all angry about what happened."

Eric Boyd

Eric Boyd, 26, who queued for two hours at Chicago City Hall to give blood: "New York is kind of like a big brother to Chicago. Now the bigger, older brother got hurt and the little brother is helping out."

Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire, of the St Louis Cardinals, on the cancelled baseball games: "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out sporting events are absolutely meaningless compared with what's going on in Washington and New York."

Robert Soule

Robert Soule of Clinton Township, Michigan: "The backlash against Arab communities appals me. No one ever said, 'Let's close our doors to whites' following the destruction in Oklahoma City. Terrorism feeds on panic, insecurity and suspicion. By jumping to conclusions and making such statements out of anger, Americans are playing right into the hands of these terrorists."

Written message

Message left on rolls of poster paper in Lower Manhattan: "Andy and to all of those still to be found, we won't lose hope. God is with you.''

Ronei Foumia

Ronei Foumia, 25, of West Bloomfield, fled the World Trade Centre. "This lady is next to me yelling, 'I can't see,' and at this point I'm hysterical, I'm crying and I look at her and point to the building and tell her I was just there. She just hugged me."

Jeanine Nardone

Jeanine Nardone, whose brother, Mario, 32, was on the 84th floor of a tower: "We're not giving up hope and we're going to continue, because he's a strong person. He would never give up on us, and I'm not going to give up on him. We will not stop until we find him.''

Sharon Cole

Sharon Cole, whose boyfriend, Keithroy Maynard, 30, a firefighter, is missing in New York: "I have to know whether he's alive or dead. I just have to.''

Written message

Another message left at Union Square Park: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, leaves us blind and toothless. Your justice is another's injustice. Please do not kill more innocents.''

Walter Schaub

Walter Schaub, a volunteer firefighter from New Jersey, as he sat exhausted on the sidewalk: "This is more than a donation of time, or effort. This is part of a brotherhood."

Dorothy Ridings

Dorothy Ridings, president of the Council on Foundations in Washington, which has been inundated with donations: "Today, I had an e-mail from a business in Bangladesh, offering help. It made me weep."

Arshad Majid

Arshad Majid of the Islamic Centre on Long Island: "We're hurting, too, and we're also Americans. There were Muslim lives lost in that building, as well. We're all human and we need to get together."

Michael Cheston

Michael Cheston, the executive director of the Rhode Island Airport Corp, on tightened airport security: "This is the kind of security you expect to see diplomats get before they board an airplane. That's what we're doing for the average citizen now. That's going to slow down everything."

Jennifer Kouzi

Jennifer Kouzi, who escaped from the Trade Centre: "It was pure black. There was this tidal wave of smoke. It was like a horror movie. People were trampling each other. All of a sudden, I found myself on the ground. I thought I was going to die. I covered my head with my arms and I prayed that a building wouldn't fall on me. Later, when I stood up, I had inhaled such dust and ash I got sick right there. It was like being blind. Pure blackness. I was groping around, I heard a girl crying next to me, and we sort of found each other's hands."