President Obama delivered remarks outside the Pentagon Sunday to memorialize the 15th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, telling gatherers that the “3,000 attractive lives” lost that day will never be forgotten. “And yet you, the survivors and families of 9/11, your steadfast love and faithfulness has been an inspiration to me and to our entire country”. Write that on the tablet of your heart.
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Sunday’s ceremony began with a moment of silence and tolling bells at 8:46 a.m., the time when a terrorist-piloted plane slammed into the World Trade Center’s north tower. Al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four planes and flew them into the World Trade Center in NY and the Pentagon near Washington, while one crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
“Out of many, we are one”.
He also mentioned several such attacks in recent years – including the Boston Marathon bombing and the incident in December 2015 in which a husband-wife team in San Bernardino, Calif., who were apparently “self-radicalized”, fatally shot 14 people at a holiday party.
In an indirect reference to the controversial anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Obama recalled that Americans were “a people drawn from every corner of the world, every colour, every religion, every background”.
The president’s speech was preceded by more bellicose remarks from Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, who warned that terrorists who threaten the United States will “come to feel the righteous fist of American might”. He said the nation’s security has been strengthened since 9/11 and that other attacks have been prevented. The city took in almost 7,000 plane passengers when all flights across North America were grounded on the day of the attacks.
He said the terrorists’ goal is to frighten Americans into changing how they live, but “Americans will never give in to fear”. “And today, we once again pay tribute to these patriots, both military and civilian, who serve in our name, including those far away from home in Afghanistan and Iraq” he went on to say.
“We’re still the America of heroes who ran into harm’s way, of ordinary folks who took down the hijackers, of families who turned their pain into hope”, Obama said.
Some family members reciting the names of loved ones killed on 9/11 have spoken about how their losses have inspired them to do good for others.
“This idea of physical transformation is so real here”, September 11 memorial President Joe Daniels said.
Obama said his government will resolve to do everything in power to protect the country. “You don’t move forward – it always stays with you”, said Tom Acquaviva, of Wayne, New Jersey, who lost his son Paul Acquaviva.
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They believe that rogue elements within the U.S. government orchestrated or at least encouraged the 9/11 attacks in coordination with Israeli and Saudi Arabian officials to accelerate the United States war machine and advance the Zionist agenda.
