US flooded with aid offers after terrorist attacks

PARIS, Sept 12 (AFP) - Israel has prepared rescue teams, Germany has aircraft on standby while Russia has set its spies to work amid a flood of offers pouring in to the United States following Tuesday's terrorist strikes.

Many nations, shaken to the core by attacks on a country previously seen as unassailable, were quick not only to condemn the attack but also to offer whatever assistance they could.

In a dramatic turnaround from the previous spy-versus-spy scenario that existed during the Cold War era, Russia's FSB (ex-KGB) domestic intelligence agency said it had launched its own investigation into the attacks and promised to pass on any information "immediately" to its US counterparts.

Russia at the same time launched a donor campaign to collect blood for victims of the attacks, a lead that was followed also by Kuwait.

Germany, meanwhile, offered Washington several aircraft for use in disaster relief, with Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping saying in a statement that Germany was preparing an Airbus A-310 to carry injured by Thursday. A further plane of the same type already in Washington and Transall transport aircraft will also be put at US disposal.

German media giant Bertelsmann said it would give two million dollars (1.82 million euros) to the families of firefighters and police killed trying to carry out rescue operations.

A stunned Israel scrambled to the aid of its principal economic, military and political backer. Foreign ministry officials said Israeli rescue teams who helped sift through the devastation after Turkey's massive 1999 earthquake were poised to fly to New York to look for possible survivors of the most disastrous terrorist attack ever against the United States.

At a different level, the British government's crisis committee is studying what help Britain can give the US in trying to strike back at those responsible for the World Trade Center carnage.

A similar stance has been adopted by Japan, with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi saying Wednesday he would back the US if it used force in retaliation against the terrorist attacks.

In Brussels, European Commission President Romano Prodi promised that Europe would "stand close by America...in its darkest hour." Prodi said he had sent a message of condolence to President George W. Bush on Tuesday saying, "We are ready to assist them in every way possible." bur/bp/db