*EPF403 10/11/01
Ceremonies in Washington, New York Remember Victims of Sept. 11 Attacks
(President Bush delivered the keynote address at the Pentagon) (770)
By Wendy S. Ross
Washington File White House Correspondent

Washington - A month after terrorists struck the United States, memorial ceremonies were held at the Pentagon, at the U.S. Capitol and at the World Trade Center site in New York remembering the victims and ending an official 30-day mourning period.

At the Pentagon, President Bush, accompanied by First Lady Laura Bush, delivered keynote remarks at a somber memorial service for the 189 people killed there when an airliner hijacked by terrorists crashed into the building.

"On September 11th, great sorrow came to our country, and from that sorrow has come great resolve," the President said.

"Today we are a nation awakened to the evil of terrorism and determined to destroy it. That work began the moment we were attacked, and it will continue until justice is delivered."

The ceremony took place on the Pentagon's Parade Field on the opposite side of the Pentagon from where the terrorists struck, killing all 64 on board American Airlines Flight 77 and 125 people working at the Pentagon.

Flight 77 was one of four commercial airliners hijacked September 11. Two other jets crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York, and a fourth jetliner crashed in Pennsylvania.

Some 20,000 invited guests attended the Pentagon memorial service including family members of those killed as well as members of the Cabinet in the Bush Administration, and former President Bill Clinton and his wife, now a U.S. Senator from New York.

Red, white and blue flowers decorated both sides of the stage along with a round sign "United in Memory - Sept. 11, 2001." Flags from all branches of the service stood at the stage's edge.

In the year 2001, "an enemy has emerged that rejects every limit of law, morality and religion," Bush said. "The terrorists have no true home in any country or culture or faith. They dwell in dark corners of Earth; and there we will find them."

"One by one, we are eliminating power centers of a regime that harbors al-Qaeda terrorists," he said. "We gave that regime a choice: Turn over the terrorists or face your ruin. They chose unwisely."

The Taliban regime," the U.S. Commander in Chief declared, "has brought nothing but fear and misery to the people of Afghanistan. These rulers call themselves holy men, even with their record of drawing money from heroin trafficking. They consider themselves pious and devout, while subjecting women to fierce brutality. The Taliban has allied itself with murderers and gave them shelter.

"But today, for al-Qaeda and the Taliban, there is no shelter."

The September 11 terrorist attacks "fully awakened" the United States and the world to "a new kind of evil," Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said.

"In causing this awakening," he said, "the terrorists have assured their own destruction."

The new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Meyers, said that while "we mourn our losses ... we should also celebrate the spirit of the heroes of 11 September, both the living and the dead, and the heroic spirit that remains at the core of our great nation.

"This is what our enemies do not understand. They can knock us off stride for a moment or two, but then we will gather ourselves with an unmatched unity of purpose and will rise to defend the ideals that make this country a beacon of hope around the world."

At the Congressional ceremony, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said he and Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott are introducing a resolution in the Senate to make September 11 each year a National Day of Remembrance.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton said "a month has passed but in some cases the days of those months have seemed like years, wrenching painful years, particularly those who lost a loved one."

"We will memorialize the losses that we suffered, but we will also ... make clear that what really counts in the long run is the human spirit."

"That is what they (the terrorists) hate about us," she said.

At the New York site, fire and police chaplains said prayers and Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke, but work on recovering the bodies and clearing the site continued throughout the ceremonies because workmen felt it was more of a tribute to those who are missing to keep on working.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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