NEW YORK, 12 September 2005 — The United States paused yesterday in solemn and tearful remembrance of the horror of the Sept. 11 attacks four years ago in ceremonies overshadowed by the death and destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
On the lawn of the White House, President George W. Bush led the nation in a minute of silence that began at 8.46 a.m. (1246 GMT) — the time when the first of four airliners hijacked by Al-Qaeda members slammed into New York’s World Trade Center.
A grim echo of that day was provided by a suspected American member of Al-Qaeda who threatened attacks against Los Angeles and the Australian city of Melbourne in a videotape shown yesterday by ABC television.
The threat was made by Adam Gadahn, a US national who converted to Islam and became a radical supporter of Osama Bin Laden, ABC said. At Ground Zero, the focus of remembrance events, the moment’s silence was followed by brothers and sisters of the victims, their voices choked with emotion, reading out the names of the 2,749 people who died in the attacks on the twin trade center towers.
“Again, we are a city that meets in sadness,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who also paid tribute to those killed in the recent terror attacks in London.
Hundreds of relatives gathered at the site, many of them holding pictures of their loved ones with messages like: “Always missed, never forgotten,” and “God bless my son.” During the roll call of the dead, family members descended into the pit of Ground Zero to lay flowers in two small reflecting pools representing the footprints of the twin towers.
This year, the thoughts of many Americans were focused on other victims: The estimated one million left homeless and the thousands feared killed by the hurricane which devastated the US Gulf coast nearly two weeks ago. “To Americans suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, our deepest sympathies go out to you, this day,” Bloomberg said.
Bush, under fire for the sluggish federal response to the disaster, was scheduled to visit the hurricane-devastated region later in the day. Both tragedies served to highlight the vulnerability of the world superpower, but where Sept. 11 forged a sense of national unity out of trauma and anger, Katrina highlighted divisions of race and class and triggered accusations of government indifference.
Ceremonies were also held at the Pentagon for the 184 people who died in the attack there, and in the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania where a fourth airliner crashed after passengers staged a rebellion against the hijackers.
“They were innocent lives taken by incredible evil,” US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in Shanksville. “But these 40 brave patriots also began a call to action that helped turn our nation’s darkest moment into one of our finest hours.”
In Washington, several thousand people took part in a Pentagon-sponsored “Freedom Walk” to honor US troops in Iraq. “We are here to support the United States of America,” said Alan McComb, 49, who came with his wife for the march, which critics denounced as a stunt to build support for the Iraq war.
“We believe in this country, we believe in what it supports and what it gives to other countries in the world,” McComb said.
Among the senior officials attending the Ground Zero ceremony were New York Governor George Pataki and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who read a work by 19th century British poet Christina Rossetti.
Later in the evening, two powerful spotlights were to send two shafts of light up into the night sky to symbolize the fallen structures. Since the emotional intensity of the first Sept. 11 anniversary, subsequent annual memorials have aimed for a more low-key, personal tone and other events — once canceled or postponed — have crept back onto the calendar.
Three years ago, television networks devoted their programming to a day of remembrance. Yesterday they offered live coverage of the start of the American football season, including the opening game of the New York Giants, and the season premiere of the cult cartoon sitcom “The Simpsons.”
Broadway shows were open as usual and the fashion industry converged on Manhattan’s Bryant Park for the third day of the annual Fashion Week.
Church bells rang throughout the city as fire fighters gathered in front of their fire stations to observe a moment’s silence. The New York fire service lost 343 firefighters.
Pope Benedict XVI marked the anniversary by calling for peace. All people of good will should “renounce hate and build a world based on justice, solidarity and peace,” the pontiff said before the faithful at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo near Rome.
Bush, after taking part in ceremonies in Washington, prepared to make his third visit of the states devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Troops in the city’s downtown district echoed to the pounding of jackhammers and heavy machinery, as crews cleared out debris and the remains of looting, ahead of a prolonged reconstruction drive.
Under intensifying crossfire for his handling of the Aug. 29 hurricane, Bush drew a parallel between Katrina and the terror assaults on New York and Washington in 2001 that killed several thousand people.
“Today, America is confronting another disaster that has caused destruction and loss of life,” Bush said in his weekly nationwide radio address on Saturday.
“This time, the devastation resulted not from the malice of evil men, but from the fury of water and wind,” he said.
“We are again being reminded that adversity brings out the best in the American spirit ... Above all, we remember the resolve of our nation to defend our freedom, rebuild a wounded city, and care for our neighbors in need. America will overcome this ordeal, and we will be stronger for it.”
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that an inquiry like that which probed the September 11 terror attacks may be needed to investigate alleged official mishandling of the disaster. But Giuliani quickly added that any probe should be deferred until after rescue and recovery operations end.
In Beijing, China used the fourth anniversary yesterday of the Sept. 11 attacks to criticize Washington’s “war on terror,” saying the campaign faced a “gloomy future.”
In a commentary issued by the official Xinhua news agency, China said although the “war on terror” helped Bush get re-elected, it had not achieved much progress. “At present, the United States is suffering a rising number of casualties and facing more problems in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said the editorial.
Some 50,000 people turned out for an anti-terrorism demonstration in the Russian city of Volgagrad yesterday amid otherwise low-key commemorations of Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, Russian news agencies said. The demonstrators formed a 40-kilometer (25-mile) chain, some wearing large letters on their clothing that spelt out the phrase “We Choose Peace!,” a spokesman for the administration of the southern Russian city, which organized the event, told Interfax news agency.
In Moscow, a commemorative requiem for victims of terrorism took place, attended by foreign diplomats, news agencies said. The speaker of Russia’s lower house of Parliament, Boris Gryzlov, said he hoped “that our common position will allow our countries and all countries of the world to take the measures needed to counter terrorism.”
In Havana, Cuba’s foreign minister honored the victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, but blasted Washington’s “hypocrisy” in setting standards on who is a terrorist. In a statement made public, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque expressed opposition to “all kinds of terrorism” as he remembered “the terrible death of thousands of innocent people in the attack on the Twin Towers, for which we offer a tribute in their memory.” September 11 “is a day in which Cuba ratifies its opposition to all forms of terrorism,” Perez Roque said.
