Ten years after the 9/11 terror
attacks, Barack Obama joins
thousands of Americans to honour
the 2,977 who died that day.
Victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks
will be remembered today at a new
World Trade Centre where workers
are completing the last floors of the
main 104-storey-tower. US officials and selected family
members of the nearly 3 000 people
killed in the United States on
September 11, 2001, will meet at dawn
in Lower Manhattan to remember
them in a commemorative service held each year on the anniversary to mark
the tragic event. The names of all the victims will be
read, including 2 740 in New York and
the other people killed at the
Pentagon and in Shanksville,
Pennsylvania. New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and top US officials in New York and New Jersey
will be present, but none of them will
deliver speeches. The low-key anniversary in New York,
as in past years, will focus on
remembering the dead. Similar services
will take place in Washington and
Shanksville. President Barack Obama
will attend a ceremony at the White House's South Lawn this morning. "This anniversary is about them,"
Obama said in a radio address on
Saturday. "It's also a time to reflect
on just how far we've come as a
nation these past 11 years." The attacks "brought out the best in
the American people," Obama said,
noting the more than 5 million men and
women who have volunteered to
serve in the military since the attacks. White House spokesperson Jay
Carney said Obama "certainly hopes
and knows that Americans across the
country will take a moment to reflect
upon the events of September 11,
2001, and all that our country has been through together since then,
and especially, I think, take that
moment to remember the victims and
their families from that terrible
event." Obama was briefed on security on
the eve of the anniversary, discussing
"specific measures we are taking in
the homeland to prevent 9/11 related
attacks as well as the steps taken to
protect US persons and facilities abroad, as well as force protection,"
the White House said. The World Trade Centre site is no
longer referred to as Ground Zero,
the name it had been given after 2001
to describe the massive destruction
caused by the terrorist attacks. New high-rise buildings and office-
business towers have been sprouting
at the site in the past years, costing
more than $10 billion. Last year, the
National September 11 Memorial and
Museum opened to the public and some 4.5 million people have visited in
the past year. Names of all the victims
have been etched on the walls of the
memorial. One World Trade Centre, known as
Freedom Tower, will open in 2014 with
its 3 million square feet of office
space being filled with some of the
world largest corporations. The tower will reach the height of
592 metres, symbolic for the year
1776 when the United States adopted
the Declaration of Independence
from Britain.
www.sabc.co.za/news/a/604eb2804cad1bbcbf92bfc6a116673e/US-remembers-911-victims-20121109