"This anniversary allows us to
renew our faith that even the darkest night gives way to the dawn," Obama said
at the Pentagon, where 184 people died when one of four hijacked planes slammed
into the iconic building symbolizing U.S. military might.
"As painful as this day is and
always will be, it leaves us with a lesson that no single event can ever destroy
who we are, no act of terrorism can ever change what we stand for," Obama said,
adding: "When the history books are written, the true legacy of 9/11 will not be
one of fear or hate or division. It will be a safer world, a stronger nation,
and a people more united than ever before."
Earlier, Obama and first lady
Michelle Obama stood with heads bowed and hands clasped on the White House lawn
to observe a moment of silence at the exact time the first hijacked plane hit
New York's World Trade Center in 2001.
White House staff stood in quiet
observance on the grass behind them as a lone bugler played "Taps."
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At the ground zero site in lower
Manhattan, family members and others read the names of the 2,753 people killed
there. No politicians were included in the New York ceremony, near a new
high-rise tower built where two hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center
buildings.
Obama later went to Arlington
National Cemetery. He also was to visit wounded troops at the Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center, while Vice President Joe Biden attended a
commemoration near the crash site of another hijacked plane in Shanksville,
Pennsylvania.
"What they did for this country
is still etched in the minds of not only you, but millions of Americans
forever," Biden said of passengers on Flight 93 who forced the hijackers to
crash the plane believed headed for a suicide attack on the U.S. Capitol. All
aboard died.
In deeply personal remarks that
reflected his own experience of losing his wife and daughter in a 1972 car
crash, Biden told family and loved ones of the victims that "no matter how many
anniversaries you experience, for at least an instant, the terror of that moment
returns -- the lingering echo of that phone call; that sense of total disbelief
that envelops you, where you feel like you're being sucked into a black hole in
the middle of your chest."
Neither Obama nor Biden planned
any campaign events for the day, even though the November election against
Republican challenger Mitt Romney is less than two months away.
In a speech Tuesday afternoon to
a National Guard Association meeting in Nevada, Romney refrained from his usual
political attacks.
"I would normally speak to a
gathering like this about the differences between my and my opponent's plans for
our military and for our national security," the former Massachusetts governor
said. "There is a time and a place for that, but this day is not it."
At the same time, Romney made
clear his support for maintaining or increasing defense spending -- an issue on
which he has previously criticized Obama.
The president's plan to end the
war in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 "must not be used as an excuse to hollow
out our military through devastating defense budget cuts," Romney said.
Before he left for Reno, Romney
greeted firefighters and other first responders holding a 9/11 commemoration on
the airport tarmac in Chicago.
At the U.S. Capitol, legislators
displayed rare bipartisanship with a united commemoration. Despite the bitter
partisan divide that has permeated Congress in recent years, party leaders
insisted the nation was more unified in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
"Americans showed the world how
a unified nation can fight back against darkness and fear," said Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, while his GOP counterpart, Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky, remembered how legislators gathered on the steps of the
Capitol on that day to sing "God Bless America."
"It was one of the most
uplifting and unifying moments in the history of our country," McConnell said of
the shared display of patriotism 11 years earlier. "And I think it is safe to
say that we are, as a nation, together even though we have our political
differences, together and stronger in the wake of what happened."
At the National Law Enforcement
Officers Memorial in Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder honored the
memories of the 72 officers who died in the line of duty on September 11,
2001.
The names of the 9/11 victims
are inscribed together on the memorial, located a few blocks from Capitol Hill,
which has a total of 19,660 law enforcement officers carved into it dating back
to the earliest known officer fatality in 1791.
Despite the solemnity of the
day, some election-year politics continued.
Obama made sure to mention his
signature foreign policy achievements, noting that the war in Iraq has ended,
the war in Afghanistan is winding down, al Qaeda's leadership is devastated and
"Osama bin Laden will never threaten us again."
After his remarks, he greeted
family members of 9/11 victims at the Pentagon and was seen shaking hands with
one man wearing a Romney hat.
In a post on Twitter, Romney got
in an apparent political jab by making sure the words "under God" were
included.
At its national convention last
week, the Democratic Party initially omitted the word "God" from its
platform.
"On this most somber day,
America is united under God in its quest for peace and freedom at home and
across the world," the Romney tweet said.
It followed a statement by
Romney that his campaign released overnight that initially made no mention of
God, then later added a similar "under God" reference.
"On this most somber day, those
who would attack us should know that we are united, one nation under God, in our
determination to stop them and to stand tall for peace and freedom at home and
across the world," the amended statement said.
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