“For we know that our diversity, our patchwork heritage, is not a weakness, it is still and always will be one of our greatest strengths”, Obama said.
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At the White House, Obama observed a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. EDT – the time the first hijacked airplane hit the north tower of New York City’s World Trade Center.
Obama said that groups like al Qaeda, or ISIS, have tried to terrorize the USA, knowing they cannot defeat the nation, “in the hopes that they can stoke enough fear that we turn on each other and that we change who we are or how we live”.
While the vast majority of 2,983 victims were Americans, there were 372 foreign nationals from 61 countries among those killed, including 24 Canadians.
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford accompanied Obama at the Pentagon, where more than 180 people were killed after the attack on the building during the string of attacks on September 11.
Obama, who is a Democrat, has repeatedly criticised Trump´s statements, including the billionaire´s proposal in the wake of last December´s mass shooting attack in San Bernardino, California to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
Relatives and loved ones of 9/11 victims will convene Sunday to mark the 15th anniversary of the terror attacks.
It has been 15 years since the most brutal terrorist attack on the American soil.
The president said extremist groups such as the Islamic State group and al-Qaida know they can never drive down the USA, so they focus on trying to instill fear in hopes of trying to get Americans to change how they live.
“Sometimes the bad things in our lives put us on the path to where we should be going – to help others as many have helped me”, he said. “May we never forget the countless Canadians, from coast to coast to coast, who opened their hearts and their homes to those affected by the attacks”, he said.
Across our country today, Americans are coming together in service and remembrance.
It’s the courage of Welles Crowther, just 24 years old, in the South tower-the man in the red bandana who spent his final moments helping strangers to safety before the towers fell.
“The most enduring memorial to those we lost, is ensuring the America that we continue to be”.
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President Obama memorialized the 15th anniversary of the tragic attacks on 9/11 with unifying words. “Write them on the table of your heart”. May God bless the memory of the loved ones here and across the country. But he felt a sense of hope: “There are more people here today than there ever have been”.
