Bush calling up Reserves, heading to New York after prayer service

WASHINGTON — The nation on maximum alert, President Bush is activating up to 50,000 members of the National Guard and Reserve in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. The Senate voted Friday by a resounding 96-0 to provide $40 billion for anti-terrorism and cleanup efforts.

Bush met with his Cabinet at the White House, the constant hum of helicopters overhead. He planned to call up the Guard and Reserve members to aid in recovery and security efforts, officials said.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld opened the meeting with a prayer asking for "patience to measure our lust for action, resolve to strengthen our obligation to lead, wisdom to illuminate our pursuit of justice and strength in defense of liberty."

After voting for the financial help, the Senate turned immediately to a second measure endorsing the use of force in what Bush and many lawmakers have called a war against terrorists.

Bush was pledging a global campaign to whip terrorism and the likes of Osama bin Laden at the same time Americans grieve over the attacks that claimed thousands of lives in New York and Washington

Later Friday, Bush was attending a prayer service — all the nation's living ex-presidents except Ronald Reagan were expected — and then visiting the site of the first attack in New York City.

"Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation," the president said Thursday as he mapped a military response, consulted with world leaders and consoled the wounded in the wake of coordinated attacks Tuesday on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. The fight against terrorism, Bush said, "is now the focus of my administration."

But recovery was uneven at best in a land on edge.

Authorities hustled Vice President Dick Cheney out of Washington, kept the New York stock markets shut another day and slowly — very slowly — brought the nation's air traffic system back to life. Information in the hands of the government "suggests we haven't seen the end of this current threat," said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. He cited concerns that terrorists may strike in a different manner now that airport security has been improved.

The body count, meanwhile, was grim and getting grimmer.

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said 4,763 people were reported missing at the World Trade Center site, where hijackers flew two jetliners fully loaded with fuel into the twin towers Tuesday morning. There were 184 confirmed fatalities.