President Barack Obama on Thursday solemnly honored victims of the September 11 terror attacks in New York, several days after the killing of Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader responsible for the deaths of close to 3,000 people on American soil nearly 10 years ago. Obama did not speak publicly, but he laid a wreath at the National September 11th Memorial and spoke privately to family members. He also spoke privately to police officers from the city and firefighters at the at the “Pride of Midtown” Firehouse, Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 — which lost 15 firefighters at the World Trade Center.
Mr. Obama’s message to America and to the rest of the World, nearly 10 years after the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history was: “When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.”
Obama’s message to Firefighters :
This is a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice that was made on that terrible day almost 10 years ago. Obviously we can’t bring back your friends that were lost, and I know that each and every one of you not only grieve for them, but have also over the last 10 years dealt with their family, their children, trying to give them comfort, trying to give them support.
What happened on Sunday, because of the courage of our military and the outstanding work of our intelligence, sent a message around the world, but also sent a message here back home that when we say we will never forget, we mean what we say; that our commitment to making sure that justice is done is something that transcended politics, transcended party; it didn’t matter which administration was in, it didn’t matter who was in charge, we were going to make sure that the perpetrators of that horrible act — that they received justice.
Obama’s message to Police Officers:
Obviously we had an important day on Sunday. The reason, what is important, was because it sent a signal around the world that we have never forgotten the extraordinary sacrifices that were made on September 11th. We’ve never forgotten the tragedy. We’ve never forgotten the loss of life. We’ve never forgotten the courage that was shown by the NYPD, by the firefighters, by the first responders.
My understanding is all of you were there that day. And I know you’ll never forget. I know it’s hard to fill the hole that occurred as a consequence of you losing folks who you had worked with for so long. But what, hopefully, this weekend does is it says we keep them in our hearts; we haven’t forgotten; we said what we — we did what we said we were going to do; and that Americans, even in the midst of tragedy, will come together, across the years, across politics, across party, across administrations, to make sure that justice is done.
