‘9/11 will always be remembered’
THE victims of the attacks which rocked the US on September 11 2001 will be remembered “no matter how many years pass”, President Barack Obama said yesterday.
Obama was speaking at one of three main ceremonies marking the 11th anniversary of the attacks in which nearly 3 000 people were killed by airliners hijacked by Islamist militants.
Obama, speaking at the Pentagon where 184 people were killed, told victims’ families that the whole country shared their loss.
“Eleven times we have paused in remembrance and reflection, in unity and in purpose,” Obama said.
“This is never an easy day, but it is especially difficult for all of you, the families of nearly 3 000 innocents who lost their lives.”
Obama said America’s fight was not with Islam, but with al Qaeda – the extremist group responsible for the attacks – and its allies.
“I’ve always said our fight is with al Qaeda and its affiliates, not with Islam or any other religion,” he said. “This country was built as a beacon of freedom and tolerance.”
Obama’s rival for the White House, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, said that the anniversary marked a day “when evil descended upon our country”. At Ground Zero in New York where the World Trade Centre’s twin towers once stood, hundreds of relatives of the victims were joined by police, firefighters and politicians for the annual reading of the list of the 2 983 people killed at the three sites. The list excludes the 19 hijackers, who died carrying out the attacks.
Unlike previous years, politicians were barred from the podium for the name-reading ceremony, which took place alongside the twin reflecting pools that mark the footprints of the fallen towers. Only families or close friends of the victims participated in the reading.
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and other politicians, including New York governor Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former New York mayor Rudolf Giuliani, who was in office when the attacks occurred, gathered near the podium as the names were read.
Yesterday’s ceremony occurred just hours after politicians reached a deal to resume work on a National September 11 Museum at Ground Zero, after a cost dispute between the foundation that controls the museum and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is building it, halted work on the multi-billion dollar project.