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Subscribe to RSSThousands gathered Tuesday in New York, suburban Washington and rural Pennsylvania to mark the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. NBC's Ron Allen reports.
Thousands gathered Tuesday in New York, suburban Washington and rural Pennsylvania to mark the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, but at the somber day's biggest venue, Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, this year's observance was missing a key feature from years past: politicians' voices.
In a reminder of the global consequences of the attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed by airliners hijacked by Islamist militants, commemorations also were being held abroad. At the Kaia airport in the Afghan capital Kabul, soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force prayed during a memorial ceremony for the Sept. 11 victims.
The United States and its allies launched the invasion of Afghanistan to oust al-Qaida and its Taliban protectors in retaliation for the 2001 attacks. Nearly eleven years later, troops are still fighting there in what has become America's longest war.
President Barack Obama has pledged to end the main U.S. combat role in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but current plans call for some thousands of U.S. troops to remain long after that to train Afghans and hunt terrorists. Since 2001, more than 2,000 American troops have been killed in Afghanistan.
In search of 'more intimate' commemorations
In previous years, politicians including presidents, state governors and New York City mayors have participated in the reading of the names, or have read from the Bible or recited passages from literature, at Ground Zero commemoration ceremonies.
PhotoBlog:360-degree-view of National 9/11 Memorial at dusk
The nation pauses in honor of the spirit and sacrifice made by the victims of the September 11th attacks in ceremonies at Ground Zero, Shanksville and the Pentagon. NBC's Danielle Leigh reports.
This year, only the families of the more than 2,750 who were killed when militant Islamist hijackers crashed two jetliners into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, causing their collapse, appeared on the podium to read their names.
To Charles G. Wolf, it's a fitting transition.
"We've gone past that deep, collective public grief," says Wolf, whose wife, Katherine, was killed at the trade center. "And the fact that the politicians will not be involved, to me, makes it more intimate, for the families. ... That's the way that it can be now."
Fewer families attended the ceremonies this year, and some cities canceled their remembrances altogether.
The president and first lady observe a moment of silence on the White House font lawn in honor of the September 11 attacks.
"I feel much more relaxed" this year, said Jane Pollicino, who came to Ground Zero Tuesday morning to remember her husband, who was killed at the trade center. "After the ninth anniversary, that next day, you started building up to the 10th year. This feels a lot different, in that regard. It's another anniversary that we can commemorate in a calmer way, without that 10-year pressure."
Politicians still attended, but under event rules set down in July by the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, chaired by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, none was to speak or participate in the reading of names.
The point, memorial President Joe Daniels said, was "honoring the victims and their families in a way free of politics" in an election year.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was among the officials attending the New York ceremony this year.
From NBC 4 New York: Agreement reached on Sept. 11 museum
Political friction
But others said keeping politicians off the rostrum smacked of ... politics.
The move came amid friction between the memorial foundation and the governors of New York and New Jersey over financing for the museum — friction that abruptly subsided Monday, when Bloomberg and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement that paves the way for finishing the $700 million project "as soon as practicable."
Before the deal, Cuomo, a Democrat, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, had signaled their displeasure by calling on federal officials to give the memorial a financial and technical hand. Some victims' relatives saw the no-politicians anniversary ceremony as retaliation.
"Banning the governors of New York and New Jersey from speaking is the ultimate political decision," said one relatives' group, led by retired Deputy Fire Chief Jim Riches. His firefighter son and namesake was killed responding to the burning World Trade Center.
Spokesmen for Christie and Cuomo said the governors were fine with the memorial organizers' decision.
The restrictions will not extend to politicians at the other remembrances.
Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images
Soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force pray at Kaia airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, during an 11th anniversary memorial ceremony for those who perished in the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
At the Pentagon outside of Washington, where more than 180 were killed when a hijacked plane was flown into it, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke in a ceremony that was closed to the public, attended only by victims' families.
Also speaking to the victims’ families, President Barack Obama said that the Sept. 11 victims would be remembered "no matter how many years pass.”
Obama said that the whole country shares their loss.
US adds cancer to list of illnesses linked to 9/11 terror attacks
"Eleven times we have paused in remembrance and reflection, in unity and in purpose," Obama said. "This is never an easy day, but it is especially difficult for all of you, the families of nearly 3,000 innocents who lost their lives."
"But no matter how many years pass, no matter how many times we come together on this hallowed ground, know this: That you will never be alone, your loved ones will never be forgotten. They will endure in the hearts of our nation because through their sacrifice they helped us make the America we are today, an America that has emerged even stronger."
Earlier, the president and first lady Michelle Obama observed the anniversary in a ceremony on the White House's south lawn, and then laid a white floral wreath at the Pentagon, above a concrete slab that said "Sept. 11, 2001 — 9:37 a.m."
Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar delivered remarks in Shanksville, Pa., where 40 passengers aboard United Flight 93 were killed when that plane crashed as they revolted against their hijackers.
The names of 40 crew members and passengers aboard the plane were read beginning at 10:03, the time of the crash, by victims' families and local volunteers who assisted in the aftermath of the attacks. A bell was rung for each of the 40 victims, and a wreath was laid at the Wall of Names honoring the dead.
"How we handle the legacy of these 40 people and what they did, what they kept from happening, is really more of a statement about ourselves, about what we value as a society," said Patrick White, current president of Families of Flight 93. White's cousin, Joey Nacke II, was among the passengers who stormed the cockpit.
U.S. authorities say the al-Qaida hijackers planned to crash that plane into the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
The anniversary led to a brief pause in the presidential campaign as Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney pulled their negative ads and avoided campaign rallies. Romney shook hands with firefighters at Chicago's O'Hare Airport and was flying to Nevada to address the National Guard, whose members deployed after the attacks. His running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, had no scheduled public events.
Caitlin Leavey, who lost her father in the September 11th attacks, speaks out on how she found a way to cope and help other victims of terrorism. WNBC's Erika Tarantal reports.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Many Americans needed to be reminded.
How much freedom have we given up since 9-11? We are compliant. Mayors like Bloombug are part of the problem. I remember all the talk of how 'we're not going to let the terrorists cause us to give up freedom' & change our way of life'. What a joke.
These Muslims from SAUDIA ARABIA ram these planes into the Twin Towers and who does Bush Attack? Saddam Hussien. IRAQ. Didn't make a damned bit of sense then and it doesn't now. Saudia Arabia should have been attacked not Iraq. Look at all the free oil we would have had now.
That's because he attacked Al Queda, no the Iraq. But you're right. Attacking Iraq later, still makes no sense today...
bin laden killed americans serving in saudi arabia......containing sadaam
Still no reason to go after Iraq...
Iraq was targetted because Saddam was the one supporting the Palestinians. We are at Israel's beck and call.
@ A euro; we know how much europeans hate the Jews, and we also know how much God loves them. Go back to the EU with you're muslim cohorts, america won't ever turn it's back on Israel, doing so would only bring God's wrath against this country and we don't and won't allow you and you're diabolical cohorts to make america turn against Israel. Down with the EU, down with the enemies of Israel. God will destroy those who come against Israel, Rush is next along with it's confedaracy of Islamich nations, who God will tear into pieces and leave but 1/6 of their military. You gotta problem with Israel?
Every body remembered but you NBC. Instead of observing the moments of silence in honour of the 9/11 victims, you hold and interview with Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star Kris Jenner, What a pathetic excuse you are for a news organization. A bunch of Hollywood celebrity empty headed fakes are more important to you than the victims of 9/11.
God bless the families of those who died on 9/11. Thank you to the man who invented the cell phone because it helped save many, including the intended victims of the airplane that was foiled due to the bravery and sacrifice of those aboard.
Do you really think cell phones saved people? You are more ignorant than anything else. Technology is what will destroy this country, it is the web of the devil, worldwide web, sounds like a trap, don't spiders use web's to catch prey?
I wanted to take a moment to thank former president Bush and president Obama (along with thousands behind them) for keeping us safe and getting the guys that did this, as well as continuing to get them....
Thank You
Wow... another sane person. That is two in one day. Thanks for your example.
wow i hope you were joking being sarcastic
What are you talking about, it was the USA who stared al queda and other terrorists organizations, now they're coming against us. It really shows how God works, He brings those who turn away from Him, their enemies. Bet you God knew america would turn away from Him because He knows the future period. He is God and no manmade government can ever dictate to God.
@abccb This has been going on for thousands of years. Long long before U.S.A. was even discovered. That entire region needs to be turned to a glass plate and the culture annihilated; men, women & children. It is breed into them, and they will never stop killing people they disagree with.
God bless all those families who lost loved ones on 9/11 and may we always remember this date and may we always continue to fight for our freedom. We also need to remember those who sacrificed their own lives to protect those who were in the towers and those at the Pentagon, they are true heroes and we should only be lucky to know them all or be like them in our own lives.
The day it happened my child, who was 13 at the time asked and a Catholic, asked me what would have happened to her if she died because she had not taken confession. She was very serious and was crying. Though what I had to go through as a parent was nothing compared to what those parents had to go through who lost spouses at the Twin Towers, we were still affected by this horrific act of cowardness. I could not have been able to reassure myself as a parent or reassure my daughter that we were going to be just fine had it not been for the leadership and guidance of President Bush, who some fail to remember guided us through a very horrific event on American soil. For that I want people to remember how he lead us and the compassion he felt for those family members, the soldiers he had to send into military action to protect our freedoms, and the compassion he had for all of Americans. Never forget this date.
For one day...Just one day can we have"Peace"? Remember the innocent.
Oh yeah, you mean that false peace they're promulgating now before they start to cut peoples heads off for their belief in Yeshua.
This day breaks my heart. The pain. The loss. Its impossible to get your head around. Just like it next to impossible to get my head around how inept our government was on this day 11 yrs ago. Unforgivable. We have yet to scrape the surface on this tragedy. How much did our government know about this ahead of time? That bothers me the most.
I was working 3rd shift when the attacks happened so I found out about it about 3:00 p.m. that afternoon when I woke up and turned on the t.v. I couldn't move or speak as I watched replays of the planes crashing into the twin towers and the scenes of the field in Ohio and the Pentagon in flames. I was just an American that day, nothing else. Everyone was. It was the most unified I have ever seen this country. It was the only thing I wish I could remember about it all. Too bad that it's also the only thing that people have forgotten. There's an American flag sticker on my office window that reads "September 11, 2001 - We Will Remember". It has been there since 2001. After reading through the bulk of these comments it saddens me to say.... I guess most of us won't really remember what we should be remembering after all. Congrats everyone. I guess Bin Laden won after all.
Cole Wyatt Davis Reflects On Helping People at 9-11 2001 World Trade Center Ground Zero
Cole Wyatt Davis talks in an interview about what he experienced when he was there helping people at the fallen World Trade Towers Manhattan, New York also known as Ground Zero on 9 11 2001. He talks about "The Breaking Free World Tour"
On Sept 11, 2001 The World Trade Center twin towers collapsed, as a result of the September 11 attacks, in which terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners, flying one into the North Tower (1 World Trade Center) and another into the South Tower (2 World Trade Center). The South Tower collapsed less than an hour after being hit by the hijacked airliner, Cole like many others will never forget that day ever. Cole said, “I remember like it was yesterday. I was on a business trip in New York the day before the attack and then went to Boston to finish up my business trip when I first heard.” I asked Cole in this interview why he came all the way back to lower Manhattan, New York City, New York the next day after the twin towers fell. Cole said, “I drove there to help wherever I could. I just could not stand by without helping the people in need.” Cole is a “Gold Shield Medal Of Honor Recipient” for not caring about his own safety and saving a man’s life who was trapped in a car engulfed in flames. He stayed in that car breathing life into the man until the fire trucks were on the scene saving the man’s life. This happened a few years before the trade towers. I asked Cole what has stayed with him after that experience and Cole said, “I will never forget the bravery I saw that day and the days following from the men and women that were effected by that horrible day. I was just in Manhattan, New York a short time ago on the “The Breaking Free World Tour 2012 –2013” promoting my new business books. I take out a moment of silence on that day every year no matter where I am in the world. That day is what inspired me to help people in financial need with The Breaking Free World Tour.”
For more info Contact www.colewyattdavis.com or email at info@colewyattdavis.com
Sad day! Remember this is why we are fighting over in the middle east. They still want to kill us all. If we back down we get hit again and ruin our credibility around the world. I feel so bad for all those who lost someone, but am baffled that so many people (and so many in NYC) want to cut our military budget after what happened to them over there in NYC and to this country. Praying for you all over there in NYC, that you find peace and the pain in your heart is quelled. Pray for our men & women in arms & their families too, for they have bravely sacrificed so much for us all after that dreadful day.
If any more Muslims come, we'll kill them here.
Cole Wyatt Davis Reflects On Helping People at 9-11 2001 World Trade Center Ground Zero
Cole Wyatt Davis talks in an interview about what he experienced when he was there helping people at the fallen World Trade Towers Manhattan, New York also known as Ground Zero on 9 11 2001. He talks about "The Breaking Free World Tour"
On Sept 11, 2001 The World Trade Center twin towers collapsed, as a result of the September 11 attacks, in which terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners, flying one into the North Tower (1 World Trade Center) and another into the South Tower (2 World Trade Center). The South Tower collapsed less than an hour after being hit by the hijacked airliner, Cole like many others will never forget that day ever. Cole said, “I remember like it was yesterday. I was on a business trip in New York the day before the attack and then went to Boston to finish up my business trip when I first heard.” I asked Cole in this interview why he came all the way back to lower Manhattan, New York City, New York the next day after the twin towers fell. Cole said, “I drove there to help wherever I could. I just could not stand by without helping the people in need.” Cole is a “Gold Shield Medal Of Honor Recipient” for not caring about his own safety and saving a man’s life who was trapped in a car engulfed in flames. He stayed in that car breathing life into the man until the fire trucks were on the scene saving the man’s life. This happened a few years before the trade towers. I asked Cole what has stayed with him after that experience and Cole said, “I will never forget the bravery I saw that day and the days following from the men and women that were effected by that horrible day. I was just in Manhattan, New York a short time ago on the “The Breaking Free World Tour 2012 –2013” promoting my new business books. I take out a moment of silence on that day every year no matter where I am in the world. That day is what inspired me to help people in financial need with The Breaking Free World Tour.”
For more info Contact www.colewyattdavis.com or email at info@colewyattdavis.com
Islam is poison.
There is no honor among Luciferians. Be it the Luciferian Muslims, as clearly as a "Allah" is named in the Sumerian Tablets as "Alalu,' who is the Biblical Lucifer/Satan, or the Synagogue of Satan and their cohorts of the western secret-societies and other clandestine groups and organizations. 9-11 was an inside-job, a military operation against the American people. A modus operandi akin to the false-flag operation of the Nazis burning the Reichstag, and blaming a retarded man, saying he was a Communist. A modus operadi spelled out in Operation Northwoods, which so outraged Kennedy, the Military Industrial Complex that his predecessor Eisenhower warned about in his farewell speech, that they assassinated him on 11.22.63. Bin Laden truly had as much to do with 9.11, as Oswald had to do with the Kennedy assassination; Bin Laden was dead long before May 1, 2011. Political differences have only divided and conquered America; if you know pro-wrestling is fake, then you get the picture of the farce (s)elections which go so far as to pit family members against each other. Now there are braindeads who will read this and scoff "conspiracy theorist," as they do not even know what the word theory means. And all such will do in response is talk a bunch of crap and name call, just because there is not one sound reasoning impulse going through that organ between their ears, which I loosely call their brains. And just like Hitler seized absolute power and control over Germany, as he deceived and further destroyed the nation, so the same George W. Bush and his successor have done no less than the same. And so long as the Mafia owns all the horses in the horserace, the trend is going to continue. I thought the 2008 (s)election was a farce, but this 2012 is twice the farce of that one; America's has no choice, as the image-makers have made choice an illusion made by those with power, over those who do not have power.
On a brighter note, there was one thing in history that happened on 9.11.01, 01 AD that is: the Birth of Jesus Christ. Cross-referencing all calendars, including the one that Jesus Christ Himself taught to the Mayans, which is actually itself more a study of calendars more than one itself, Jesus was conceived on the night of the 91st Day of 12.17.01 BC and born exactly 270 days later on 9.11.01 AD.
If you do not stand up for 9.11 truth, then you are no better than the "good little Nazis," who even after realizing Hitler was a destroyer, still went along with his policies.
Where is America's government in Bible Prophecy? Revelation 13!!
Where are the articles on the 9/11 Truth Movement. PBS just released a new documentary called:
9/11: Explosive Evidence - Experts Speak Out
Jump forward 2 minutes or so past the commercials.
Alex Jones has put together some of the best documentaries on 9-11 truth. Just for the sake of the most obvious, consider how WTC #7 collapsed straight down into it's foundation at 1720hrs on 9.11. It was not hit by a plane, and buildings closer to WTC 1 and 2, though not a part of the $3.5 billion insurance settlement that lease-owner Larry Silverstein(a Mossad operative) received, had larger fires and more damages, but did not collapse. It takes weeks of preparation in an environment such as that to wire a building to proper collapse. So naturally the security company "Applied Digital Solutions" had to have been involved; this "security" company promptly no longer existed, and it was a Mossad front company. Look up on youtube "5 dancing Israelis," as well as footage of the WTC 7 collapse. This is really no different in what the Israelis did in attacking the USS Liberty, in which the intention was to sink the ship, blame Egypt, and get the US involved in a middle east war then. War is a business, it privatizes the profits while publicizes the debt, a debt that bears more than just money, but the blood of innocent people as well, be they those who died 11 years ago today, or as a result thereafter. Yes, politics aside, because the false Left-Right paradigm has dumbed down, deceived, and divided the American people, so many of them become each other's SECOND WORST enemy. I say "second worst," because when the smoke clears it will be Republican and Democrat, and Black and White under the yolk of the most wicked tyranny mankind will ever know, as Prophecied by both Biblical and Mayan Prophecies.
Well I think we should have looked even more closely at GWB! He had a hand in that frightful day!
You people are crazy who think that crap.. If anything Obama planned that attack.
Not a dimes worth of difference between GWB and Obama, anymore than there is between Robama and Obamney. 666=666="322"+344. Revelation 13:18
America is a divided and a conquered nation.
Revelation 13:11 "I beheld a beast coming out of the earth with two-horns like a lamb, but spake like a dragon..."
A two-horned/two-partied professional hysteria acting as a dialectic. And how the media(image/worldview of the beast) polishes these turds to look like Saints, but oh how only afterward, do people realize they have been lied to. "Spake like a Dragon:" The Father of Lies!!
Yeah. Was being a smart ass. But you are so right. The left and the right are taring this country apart. We need tax revolt and revolution.
You all need to lay off the LSD you be trippin on!
All I can say is what a world we live in. It's gone from bad to worse. And not getting better. People argue over 911
about who did it. The truth may be known. Who really rules this world? Take a look at it? The world is a mess and
people hate. What more can I say. It hasn't got better since 911.
I'll never forget, hearing about a plane hitting the WTC, how the whole day unfolded, the feeling of helplessness, the horror of the 2nd plane, and finding out we had been attacked, that this was terrorism.
People crying and praying and being so worried about our fellow Americans in NY, and Wa DC.and wondering who's next, where will they strike?
Later after watching nonstop coverage, the horror of seeing those buildings collapse over and over. My husband and I went outside sat in our backyard held hands and cried. The quiet, we looked up to the sky not one plane, just blue sky, it was eerie the silence.
After all the horror, we did come together, the whole country. President Bush did a good job at reminding us to to blame the terrorist's, not Muslims as Muslim Americans also died in the towers, that you can't blame a whole group of people, for what fanatics and terrorist's do. Then war....
I will never forget! This country seems to have forgotten those things, and are back to the blame game.
Yes we remember today and that is good, but come tomorrow, back to backbitting and deciet by those who say we should remember, while they sell out this country. So sad, they died in vain. My prayers are with those who lost loved ones, may they be comforted. And may those who promulgated this event continue to burn for what they did or help to do. God knows. You can fool some of the people some of the time, most of the people most of the time, all of the people all of the time. But they can't ever fool God. He will use their way's against them, and will not allow them to prevail over His truth. "The gates of hell shall not prevail."
Please remember after 9/11, the pictures of people dancing in the streets and eating some type of bread and drinking fluids - laughing, dancing, clapping at the sadness in America. I will never forget these people partying at this time of heartfelt sorrow. Women in robes sashaying and smiling - one of the saddest sights I have ever watched on television.
google '9/11 dancing in the streets',,,,, u may see thru the cloud of propaganda
Please remember all the Countries that were saddened and reached out to Americans, that shared in our horror and grief, that held candlelight vigils. Millions and of people, compared to a few.
i remember the kids in iran marching through the streets of tehran.....holding signs in english in support of americans the day after 9/11
probably some of those same iranians were killed during the green revolution.
Muslims suck balls!
Pure Nazi hate. Please wake up and see the truth. 911 was an INSIDE JOB!!!
You dishonor a lot of people with the unfounded comment of an inside job. In fact, you support terrorism when you say that!
911-INSIDE JOB. Arrest Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rummy for treason and mass murder!
You are radical. Anyone who thinks that is radical. Where is your proof? If there were proof, those people would have been executed. Y'all are nuts!
God bless America, and the families that were directly effected by the attacks.
architects and engineers for 9/11 trutrh