Those across the United States on
Sunday paused -- some at formal commemorations, some in quiet remembrance -- to
honor their countrymen who died in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
and to remember the day that changed the nation, and the world forever.
Thousands gathered at New York's
ground zero, site of the World Trade Center, and stood still in silence, some
crying as they listened to the names of victims attacks read aloud.
"They were our neighbors, our
friends, our husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, children and parents,"
said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who, along with President Barack Obama,
helped lead the commemoration on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
"We have asked their families
to speak their names out loud, to remind each of us about the person we lost in
New York, in Washington and in Pennsylvania. They each had a face, a story, a
life cut short from under them."
A moment of silence spread across
New York City at 8:46 a.m. -- the time when American Airlines flight 11 crashed
into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Houses of worship tolled their
bells.
After Obama read a psalm, 167 pairs
of family members began reading the names of those who perished. The reading
was interrupted by another moment of silence at 9:03 a.m. -- the time when
United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.
The solemn ceremony at the site of
the World Trade Center came amid a heavy security presence permeating the area
in lower Manhattan, as authorities continued their search for possible plotters
of another terrorist strike.
Information considered credible but
unconfirmed indicated up to three attackers could be trying to use an
explosives-laden vehicle for an attack in New York or Washington, according to
various sources. Authorities stressed that while they were taking information
of a possible attack plot seriously, there was no evidence so far that an
actual terrorist operation was underway.
Roads near ground zero were blocked
and police checkpoints for both vehicles and pedestrians surrounded the
memorial, with backpacks checked by bomb-sniffing dogs and put through x-ray
machines.
At the ceremony, Obama and first
lady Michelle Obama stood behind bullet-proof protection. Former President
George W. Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks, read a letter
sent by Abraham Lincoln to a woman who lost five sons in the Civil War.
"I feel how weak and fruitless
must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of
a loss so overwhelming," Bush read, quoting Lincoln. "But I cannot
refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of
the republic they died to save."
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