Somber U.S. ceremonies mark 12th anniversary of September 11 attacks

Somber U.S. ceremonies mark 12th anniversary of September 11 attacks

12:31pm EDT

By Victoria Cavaliere and Mark Felsenthal

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Bagpipes, bells and a reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed when hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field marked the 12th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in 2001. More than a thousand people gathered Wednesday on a hot and hazy morning at the National September 11 Memorial plaza in Manhattan, for the annual reading of victims’ names from both the 1993 and 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.Bagpipes and a youth choir ushered in the start of the solemn proceedings, held around two reflecting pools that stand in the footprint of the fallen twin towers.

“To my nephew Michael Joseph Mullin, we miss you and think of you every single day,” said one of the 250 people chosen to read names. “You’re gone but not forgotten,” another woman said of her lost cousin.

In keeping with a tradition that began last year, no public officials spoke at the New York ceremony, though former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, his successor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, and other city and state leaders were in attendance.

In a memorial service at the Pentagon, President Barack Obama called on Americans to pray for those whose lives had been lost.

“Let us have the strength to face the threats that endure, different though they may be from 12 years ago, so that as long as there are those who would strike our citizens, we will stand vigilant and defend our nation,” Obama said.

The morning after a speech in which he urged Americans to support his proposal to use military force against Syria, in retribution for President Bashar al-Assad’s poison gas attack on his own people, Obama also reflected on the limits of force.

“Let us have the wisdom to know that, while force is at times necessary, force alone cannot build the world we seek,” Obama said.

Americans observed moments of silence at 8:46 a.m. EDT, the time American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower and with a second pause at 9:03 a.m. when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.

Further moments of silence were observed at 9:37 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon; at 9:59 a.m. when the South Tower fell; at 10:03 a.m. when United Flight 93 hit the ground near Shanksville, Pennsylvania; and at 10:28 a.m., when the North Tower collapsed.

Nineteen hijackers died in the attacks, later claimed by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, which led directly to the U.S. war in Afghanistan and indirectly to the invasion of Iraq.

Two skyscrapers are nearly completed on either side of the plaza, including One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at 1,776 feet, a symbolic number chosen to allude to the year of the Declaration of Independence.

At the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania, the National Park Service’s memorial service Wednesday included a reading of the names of the Flight 93 passengers and crew, a ringing of bells, a wreath-laying and brief remarks.

 

Obama Marks 12th Anniversary of 9/11 in Moment of Silence

President Barack Obama temporarily set aside his Syrian agenda to lead the nation in a moment of silence to observe the 12th anniversary of 9/11, the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

The president, joined by first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill, along with White House aides, gathered on the South Lawn of the White House, where flags were at half-staff.

They stood silent at 8:46 a.m., the time on Sept. 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 11 smashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Taps were played at the end of the moment of silence.

“On September 11, 2001, no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family,” Obama said in a proclamation issued yesterday. “May the same be said of us today, and always.”

The proclamation declared today as Patriot Day and a National Day of Service. U.S. flags were to be lowered to half-staff, and the president called on the nation to observe a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. and mark the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

The president was scheduled to participate in a separate ceremony later today at the Pentagon, which was hit by American Airlines Flight 77, the jet hijacked and turned into a weapon killing 59 passengers and crew and 125 people on the ground.

Obama also planned to participate in a service project in the afternoon in the Washington, D.C., area.

Security Reviews

The Obama administration said in a statement that it’s taken several steps to prevent another 9/11-style attack in the U.S., citing a review of security procedures “over the past several months” and led by Lisa Monaco, the president’s assistant for homeland security.

The steps weren’t identified, though the review included global threats, including those from the Arabian Peninsula that led to the closing of 19 U.S. diplomatic posts last month.

Press Secretary Jay Carney also recalled the deadly attack at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, a year ago today where four Americans were killed, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Investigations into the attack have become a partisan issue. The administration is “committed to bringing the perpetrators of the Benghazi attacks to justice and to ensuring the safety” of U.S. personnel worldwide, Carney said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net