President Bush said today an outpouring of public gifts to the victims of last week's attacks assured victory in the "first phase in the war on terrorism," a nationwide effort to shore up the home front.
At the same time, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell described as an "encouraging development" the new pledge by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to end the violence in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian officials said the action was in response to the administration's effort to develop an anti-terrorist coalition.
"Americans have donated $55 million in seven short days," Bush said during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. "At this moment many of our charities are overwhelmed by the public response. That's the kind of problem we like in America.
"Nobody can threaten this country," he said. "Oh, they may be able to bomb a building, and obviously disrupt lives. But we're too great a nation to allow the evil-doers to affect our soul and our spirit."
The ceremony to recognize "our compassionate and generous citizens" seemed to buoy the president's spirits a week after hijacked airliners sliced through the World Trade Center in New York and smashed into the Pentagon outside of Washington.
Inside the damaged Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today that the U.S. military is preparing a sustained offensive against the terrorists responsible for the attack and the governments that shelter them.
"This is a very new type of conflict, or battle or campaign or war or effort, for the United States," Rumsfeld told a news conference. "As a result, we are moving in a measured manner as we gather information."
He said the target will go far beyond terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaida organization. "We're talking about a very broadly based campaign to go after the terrorist problem where it exists, and it exists in countries across the globe," he said. "As I've indicated, this one network, Al Qaida, that's receiving so much discussion and publicity may have activities in 50 to 60 countries, including the United States."
But there was little doubt that the most likely target was Afganistan where Bin Laden lives. Fearing a U.S. attack, thousands of Afgan civilians have fled their homes, many of them hoping to escape to Pakistan despite the Islamabad regime's decision to close the border.
The chief of the U.N. refugee agency, Ruud Lubbers, hurried to Washington to urge the administration to exercise restraint to avoid needless casualties among non-combatants.
"It is importajnt to be aware of the already desperate plight of millions of Afghan civilians and of the humanitarian consequences to ordinary people while formulating policy options," Lubbers said.
Meanwhile, the State Department announced a new contribution of $2 million to Lubbers' agency to provide food and other supplies to Afghan refugees.
Department spokesman Richard Boucher said most of the supplies will be distributed to refugees in Pakistan because all foreign humanitarian workers have left Afghanistan with the exception of two Americans, with their German and Australian colleagues, who are detained on charges of preaching Christianity, a crime in the rigidly Muslim nation.
In another development, the administration said it has no intention of negotiating with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan over terms for the extradition of Bin Laden. Mullah Moyhammed Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader has convened a panel of Islamic scholars to consider sending Bin Laden to a country--not the United States--for trial.
"Bin Laden must be expelled to a country where he can be brought to justice for his crimes," Boucher said. "That's what the U.N. resolutions require. And that's what we would expect to see.
"It's not just that Bin Laden must be brought to justice, but that the whole structure of support for the terrorist organizations has to be dismantled," he said. "We're not negotiating this. U.N. resolutions are quite clear."
The response seemed to reduce the already slim chance of a compromise settlement that could head off U.S. military action.
In White Plains, N.Y., a federal grand jury has been convened to investigate the suicide hijackings. The Associated Press said the panel is expected to issue subpoenas for relevant documents. The FBI has arrested four persons as material witnesses.
Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said in an interview with CNN that the United States will use the lure of trade relations and the threat of economic sancitons to expand the coalition of nations that has promised to support a U.S. campaign against global terrorism. 
