REMEMBERING 9/11

We pause today, just as we have in the past six years since 9/11, to somberly reflect on the events of that bright, sunny September morning in 2001, when terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners. Two planes, American Flight 11 and United Flight 175, departed Boston’s Logan Airport and were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. After taking off from Dulles International Airport in the Washington, D.C. suburbs of Northern Virginia, terrorists seized American Flight 77 and flew it into the Pentagon. Shortly after take-off from Newark, terrorists killed the pilots of United Flight 93 and turned the plane toward Washington, D.C., with the U.S. Capitol as a likely target. Brave passengers fought back, rushing the cockpit and forcing the terrorists to crash the plane in the rural Pennsylvania town of Shanksville, thus saving possibly thousands more American lives and serving as a prominent symbol of American democracy. For a nation enjoying the peace dividend resulting from the end of the Cold War, the attacks of September 11, 2001 were a shocking reminder that we live in a dangerous world. Adherents of an extremist ideology used civilian airliners to target American civilians of diverse race, ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs. The terrorists sought nothing less than to destroy Americans and to irreparably harm the American spirit. Fortunately, the terrorists badly misjudged the American spirit. In the days and months following the attacks, Americans came together in resolve that no extremist shall curb our freedom or undermine our liberty. Americans pitched in to rescue victims of the attacks and to help the recovery effort. That very dark day yielded to the shining brilliance of American compassion and our indomitable will. Today, President Bush joined Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, survivors and family members of 9/11 victims in dedicating the Pentagon Memorial. President Bush said, “The day will come when most Americans have no living memory of the events of September the 11th. When they visit this memorial, they will learn that the 21st century began with a great struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of terror. They will learn that this generation of Americans met its duty -- we did not tire, we did not falter, and we did not fail.” On this day of remembrance, I ask you to join me in praying for the survivors and the victims’ families to find peace. I also ask you to pray for the men and women who protect us from further attack.

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