Obama said that more than 3000 innocent people lost their lives in 9/11 incident 15 years back and Americans will pay tribute to all of them until they are alive. That’s the time when the attacks began on that sunny day in 2001 – when a hijacked airplane slammed into the north tower of New York City’s World Trade Center.
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Groups like al Qaeda, like ISIL, know that we will never be able – they will never be able to defeat a nation as great and as strong as America.
Americans “don’t give into fear”, he said, adding, “We will preserve our freedoms and the way of life that makes us a beacon to the world”.
“In the face of terrorism, how we respond matters”, Obama said in his weekly radio and online address, delivered on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks in the United States. And we salute a generation of Americans-our men and women in uniform, diplomats and our intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement professionals – who serve, and have given their lives, to help keep us safe.
Obama spoke on warm, sunny morning, noting that the threat that became so evident on September 11 has evolved greatly over the past 15 years. “Wherever they are, they will surely, no matter how long it takes, come to feel the righteous fist of American might”, Carter said. Terrorists, he said, often attempt attacks on a smaller, but still deadly scale, specifically citing attacks in Boston, San Bernardino and Orlando as examples.
“We have the opportunity each and every day to live up to the sacrifice of those heroes that we lost”.
Partisan politics traditionally has been suspended on the anniversary, but Mr. Obama seemed to refer in his remarks to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s proposals to bar Muslims from entering the USA temporarily.
Prior to his departure, Obama will privately observe a moment of silence inside the White House residence to mark the occasion, as flags across the nation fly at half-staff in remembrance of the victims of 9/11. Obama has invited governors, interested organizations and individuals to follow suit.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed almost a decade later by US forces during a May 2011 raid on his Pakistani hideout that Obama authorized.
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“In your grief and grace, you have reminded us that, together, there’s nothing we Americans can not overcome”, Obama said. “You don’t move forward – it always stays with you”, said Tom Acquaviva, of Wayne, New Jersey, who lost his son Paul Acquaviva. “We resolve to continue doing everything in our power to protect this country that we love”, he said.
