NEWS: 9/11 anniversary: US to mark 10 years since attacks

by **Vektrix** Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:14 pm

The US is preparing to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Commemorations are taking place in all three sites where four hijacked airliners struck, killing nearly 3,000 people.

An official memorial to those who died is to be unveiled at the site of the World Trade Center, whose twin towers were destroyed in the attacks.

President Barack Obama has said the US remained vigilant against terrorism.

As in previous anniversaries, the names of all the victims will be read out at the New York event.

There will be pauses for silence at the exact times when two airliners smashed into the World Trade Center's twin towers, the third was crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth was forced into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, by passengers who fought with the hijackers.

New York's National September 11 Memorial, to be unveiled later on Sunday, featured two reflecting pools, each almost an acre in size, in the footprints of twin towers.

The names of those who died on 9/11, as well as the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, are inscribed on the edge of the pools.

President Obama is due to travel to all three sites for the commemorations, part of a weekend of events to mark the anniversary.

Speaking on Saturday, he said the US was stronger 10 years on from the attacks. "As a resilient nation, we will carry on," he told Americans in his weekly address.

"Thanks to the tireless efforts of our military personnel and our intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security professionals, there should be no doubt: today, America is stronger and al-Qaeda is on the path to defeat," President Obama said.

"Yes we face a determined foe, and make no mistake - they will keep trying to hit us again. But as we are showing again this weekend, we remain vigilant," he added.

Security has been tightened in New York and Washington after a warning was received that al-Qaeda may have sent attackers, some of them possibly US citizens, to bomb one of the cities.

The warning, reportedly received from a CIA informant last week, was described by officials as "credible but unconfirmed".

President Obama will be joined in New York by George W Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks.

Speaking in Shanksville on Saturday at the unveiling of a memorial to the 40 victims of United 93, Mr Bush said "the United States will never forget".

He lauded the passengers and crew of the flight, saying they launched "the first counter-offensive in the war on terror".

In an interview with National Geographic he said the events of that day had changed his presidency dramatically.

"I went from being a president that was primarily focused on domestic issues, to a wartime president. Something I never anticipated nor something I ever wanted to be."

Also on Saturday, firefighters from around the world attended a memorial service in New York's St Patrick's Cathedral to honour the 343 firefighters who died on 9/11 while rescuing people from the World Trade Center towers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14869230

I remember the tragedy vividly, it was several days before I moved from Jersey (in the Channel Islands) to Preston, and my father actually sought me out to inform me of the incident. He rather oddly wanted my opinion, probably because he knew I'd studied American Politics. I watched on in awe, and confusion, and distinctly remember feeling nothing inside... not sure if this was a genuine feeling, or that the magnitude of the event was such that feeling nothing was all my brain could cope with.

However, when the Towers fell my immediate reaction was of an engineering nature - the planes struck very high up, so why did the towers fall? No-one has answered this question as far as I am aware, yet I do not prescribe to any of the conspiracy theories that surround the event.

However, on that day, 2,976 people died, and over 2,500 families lost loved ones. My thoughts as always will go out to those people most effected by this event.

It is often forgotten that not just those in New York were directly effected. On that day four aircraft were hijacked, three of which struck their targets (the Twin Towers and the Pentagon). Flight 93 was also hijacked, yet failed to reach it's target - which is thought to have been The Whitehouse.

I also think, it is inevitable, that Al-Qaeda would have a plan for the ten year anniversary (and probably every anniversary before and since) and that the death of Osama Bin Laden will have absolutely no effect on the ferocity of Al-Qaeda or any perceived threat carried.

So, on this day, EuroSpore shall be thinking of those who lost their lives on this day, 10 years ago.

by **sjhorm** Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:26 pm

There was an attempted bombing in New York a couple days ago, however it was caught in time.

And yes, this is an extremely sad event in history, and I'm thinking of all the men and women who lost their lives or their families.

by **OneDeadSlime** Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:21 pm

(I think we discussed this last year...)

Well, I'll just say that I came back from first day of school that day (I was in third grade), and my mother was watching the TV as it was a real tragedy. I didn't perceive it as one at the time, I took it very lightly and I even thought they were gonna "put out the flames".

by **LordRemington** Mon Sep 12, 2011 12:17 am

Tragic day, however at the time I wasn't able to really comprehend the gravity of what was going on. All I knew that it must have been something serious because my mum was focused on watching and looked very shocked.

3000 lost on the day and further 6000 in the days, months, years after as a consequence of that day (e.g respiratory issues from the rubble). Was definitely a day the earth stood still. Heart goes to those who lost anyone on that day.

by **Andeavor** Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:09 am

We were in our last class when one of our classmates received a text message and the news spread by whispers. Once the class was over, the phone calls and texting commenced and by the time we left, everyone knew about it.

I decided to stay and have a drink at the nearby pub when my classmates speculated about just what happened when my grandmother called me on my mobile phone and told me my suster believe our father was on business in NY at the time.

Our dad used to work at the WTC, my mom celebrated her 30th birthday there.

My friends calmed me down and said to go home and then find out more. By the time I came home the first thing my mom said was my father is on business in Rome. A brief release until I switched on the TV.

What followed was about a week in oblivion. School, recreation and any form of entertainment was carried out on the minimum. I specifically remember we had sports day and while I was taking a break between my activities, I was sitting there, still in a bit of a daze until I snapped out of it and returned to reality.

In hindsight, I must say that I realize 9/11 is considered a national tragedy with a global impact but we have to be able to move on and let it be history. Too many people have invested too much energy, money and their emotions into this event to the point where we can say the terrorists have succeeded.

I'm not saying that it's a good thing but we have to be able to leave tragic events in the past, let them rest and live in the now.

by **Arkanay** Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:33 am

It's curious that practically everyone remembers what they were doing that day. My younger cousin was over at my house and we were playing Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 on my dad's eMac. My dad was on the living room watching these huge news that eventually caught my eye and I paid attention to it.

It's a tragedy indeed, shocking that so many died on the same place within a "short interval".

But it starts to get on my nerves that every time 9/11 comes TV channels pick up this mood of displaying 9/11 images, playing sad music, showing tons of documentaries and movies about it and so on. It feels like they almost made a business out of it. I understand it's important to remember certain sad things that have happened throughout History (concentration camps, etc.) for our development as a human being, in understanding that certain atrocities happened, reasoning behind them, how they were dealt with and so on, but the way the media handle this irritates me. I think they could be more professional about it instead of their attempt to appeal to emotions the way they do.

by lloyd24 Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:08 am

I was five back then. I don't remember what I did the day of the attack, but the day after, my dad gave me the newspaper and it explained what happened. Being five, I didn't take it seriously and didn't feel any sadness for the event. I just didn't now it was far more tragic then I imagined. But now I know that many families lost loved ones and this was a national tragedy.

by **Arkanay** Mon Sep 12, 2011 7:03 am

Currently watching a program about 9/11 which is basically showing people's phonecalls and messages sent from the towers to their relatives and vice-versa. It's interesting and a bit touching.

Some guy sent a message to one of his relatives saying that a plane just crashed into tower 1 and he's fine because he's in tower 2 which at the moment was intact... Between planes. Gosh, can't imagine how that must feel like. And people trapped in the offices and what not. A terrible day, that was.

And this fireman who went in, fixed an elevator, rode it until the 40th floor and then ran up until the 78th floor where people were waiting for help. Unfortunately, the tower collapsed before he got out. Crazy stuff.

by **ProbablynotHax** Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:00 am

On the bright side, we didn't get in a dead-end war with an idea. Costing us trillions of dollars and the lives of thousands more Americans.

...

by **world_piece** Mon Sep 12, 2011 11:13 am

I can understand the hours of documentaries, file footage, still photo montages, archived reports etc. for this year's anniversary since it's the first decade after the attack. By 15 years, it won't be remembered at this magnitude and by 20 years, even less. I think 25 years will have a resurgence, though.

The US still has yet to recover from its economic shambles...

by **Didzo** Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:22 pm

I don't think it will be forgotten for a while and I do hope people do reflect on how this event, directly and indirectly, altered the path of a nation.