Obama praises US unity on low-key 9/11 anniversary

NEW YORK - President Barack Obama lauded American unity Tuesday as the country marked a somber but low-key anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks under crisp blue skies poignantly reminiscent of 11 years ago.

"The true legacy of 9/11 will not be one of fear or hate or division," Obama said at the Pentagon near Washington. "It will be a safer world, a stronger nation, and a people more united than ever before."

Highlighting what he said were the "crippling" blows dealt against Al-Qaeda and the killing last year of Osama bin Laden, Obama said the United States is "even stronger."

As every year, relatives of the nearly 3,000 people killed when al-Qaeda hijackers slammed airliners into New York's World Trade Center gathered at Ground Zero to read out the names of the dead.

The flawless blue sky was identical to the one 11 years ago when millions of people watched from the streets and live on television as the planes flew straight into the upper floors of the Twin Towers, causing them to collapse.

However, emotions are distinctly cooler as America finally tries to draw a line under an event that sparked the decade of Washington's controversial and expensive war on terror.

No politicians joined in the reading at Ground Zero and security was less intense, in contrast to the 10th anniversary last year when Obama headed a long list of VIPs at the ceremony.

June Pollicino, who lost her husband on 9/11, told AFP: "I feel much more relaxed. After the ninth anniversary, those next days it started building up to the 10th anniversary. This year it's different in that regard. It's another anniversary we can celebrate in a discreet way."

Although most New York area newspapers featured front page stories or other mentions about the anniversary on Tuesday, The New York Times and the tabloid Post were conspicuous in deciding to keep coverage inside.

In total, 2,983 names were read out at Ground Zero, including the 9/11 victims and those killed in the precursor to those attacks, the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center.

The reading paused for silence at the exact time each of the four planes turned into fireballs -- two smashing into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon and one into a Pennsylvania field.

Another two moments of silence were observed at the times the two main towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, accounting for the vast majority of 9/11's dead.

Obama, who earlier stood for a moment's silence on the White House South Lawn, had no planned political events planned Tuesday and his reelection campaign planned to halt television advertising for the day, a campaign official said.

However, there was no formal pause similar to that in the presidential campaign of four years ago, when both Obama and his then Republican rival John McCain joined to lay a wreath at Ground Zero in New York.

Former president Bill Clinton was campaigning for his fellow Democrat Obama and speaking out against Republican Mitt Romney in Miami. Romney issued a statement thanking US troops and saying "those who would attack us should know that we are united."

Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, was traveling to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United flight 93 crashed after passengers attacked the hijackers and prevented them from hitting another presumed high-profile target, such as the US Capitol building.

The passage of time and more pressing worries about the moribund US economy have distracted public attention from the tragedy of 9/11, particularly compared to the huge media coverage of the 10th anniversary last year.

Helping to heal the wounds are the new memorial at Ground Zero and the near completion of main skyscraper at the World Trade Center, now officially the tallest building in New York.

The memorial's long delayed museum now also appears set to be opened after Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reached an accord late Monday over funding.

Underlining US successes in targeting al-Qaeda leaders, bin Laden's successor Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video on the eve of this year's anniversary in which he confirmed that his deputy, Abu Yayha al-Libi, had been killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in June.

Libi was considered Al-Qaeda's global propaganda mastermind and his death dealt the biggest blow to the group since the killing of bin Laden in May 2011.

However, the Taliban scorned the idea that they are defeated, saying in Afghanistan that they had nothing to do with 9/11 and that the United States faces "utter defeat in Afghanistan militarily, politically, economically and in all other facets."

Most foreign troops are scheduled to withdraw by the end of 2014, handing over responsibility for combat to Western-backed Afghan government forces.

source: interaksyon.com

21 Pinoys remembered with nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 attacks in US

The names of 21 Filipinos will be among those cited during the solemn reading of the names of nearly 3,000 World Trade Center victims on the 11th anniversary of the "9/11 attacks" on Tuesday.

According to a report of the Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency, the main ceremony will be the ritual reading at New York's Ground Zero of the names of the 2,983 people killed both on 9/11 and in the precursor to those attacks, the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center.

AFP said the relatives of the victims will take turns in reading the names.

The website of the 9/11 Memorial said 9/11 "is shorthand for four coordinated terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist group, that occurred on the morning of September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,977 people."

On that day, "19 terrorists from the Islamist extremist group, al-Qaeda, hijacked four commercial airplanes, deliberately crashing two of the planes into the upper floors of the North and South towers of the World Trade Center complex and a third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia," the site said.

The Twin Towers collapsed from the impacts of the plane and the resulting fires.

"After learning about the other attacks, passengers on the fourth hijacked plane, Flight 93, fought back, and the plane was crashed into an empty field in western Pennsylvania about 20 minutes by air from Washington, DC.," the 9/11 Memorial website said.

The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people from 93 nations. 2,753 people were killed in New

York, 184 people were killed at the Pentagon and 40 people were killed on Flight 93.

Filipino victims

A report of the Filipino Reporter in July this year said the Filipino victims of the 9/11 attacks are:

Twin Tower victims

• Grace Alegre Cua
• Cesar A. Alviar
• Marlyn C. Bautista
• Cecile M. Caguicla
• Jayceryll M. de Chavez
• Benilda Pascua Domingo
• Judy Hazel Fernandez
• Ramon Grijalvo
• Frederick Kuo Jr.
• Arnold A. Lim
• Manuel L. Lopez
• Carl Allen Peralta
• Maria Theresa Santillan
• Rufino Conrado (Roy) F. Santos
• David Marc Sullins
• Hilario (Larry) S. Sumaya
• Hector Tamayo, and
• Cynthia Betita Motus Wilson.

Fil-Ams killed in planes hijacked and crashed by terrorists

• Ronald Gamboa
• Ruben Ornedo, and
• Manolito Kaur.

The Filipino Reporter said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced last year that the scrapping of the name-reading was under discussion by the 9/11 Memorial and Museum Foundation, which the mayor also chairs.

However, in a letter by Joe Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial, this year said the name-reading will continue this year.

Last year’s plan was met with anger by the families of some 9/11 victims, who said the reading by family members should remain part of the official Ground Zero ceremony, the Filipino Reporter said.

A lottery system was used to select the family members that will read the names of the victims.

Health concerns

Meanwhile, in a report of Chris Francescani on Reuters said 11 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, New Yorkers will mark the anniversary on Tuesday against a backdrop of health concerns for emergency workers and a feud over financing that has stopped construction of the $1 billion Ground Zero museum.

While notable progress on redevelopment of the World Trade Center has been made since early disputes over financial, design and security issues, the project remains hobbled by political battles and billions of dollars in cost overruns.

A major sticking point is the museum at the heart of the World Trade Center (WTC) site redevelopment. Construction has been suspended because of a feud over finances between the National September 11 Memorial and Museum foundation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

When the foundation announced recently that for the first time, politicians would be excluded from having speaking roles in the Sept. 11 anniversary ceremonies, it was seen by many victims' families and others in the 9/11 community as a public reflection of these behind-the-scenes disputes.

Overall site redevelopment costs have grown to nearly $15 billion, up from $11 billion in 2008, according to a recent project audit.

But for many of the families of 9/11 victims and ailing Ground Zero workers, the redevelopment disputes are a disheartening sideshow to the rising loss of human lives.

When the 110-storey Twin Towers came down, thousands of tons of steel, concrete, window glass and asbestos came down with it. While thousands of gallons (litres) of flaming jet fuel and burning plastics released deadly carcinogens.

Last week, the New York City Fire Department added nine names to the 55 already etched on a wall honoring members who have died of illnesses related to Ground Zero rescue and recovery work.

Some estimates put the overall death toll from 9/11-related illness at more than 1,000. Nationwide, at least 20,000 Ground Zero workers are being treated and 40,000 are being monitored by the World Trade Center Health Program.

"We're burying guys left and right," said Nancy Carbone, executive director of Friends of Firefighters, a Brooklyn-based non-profit that helps treat first responders. "This is an ongoing epidemic."

In the past seven weeks, three New York City cops, two firefighters and a construction union worker who toiled at Ground Zero have died of cancer or respiratory illnesses, according John Feal, who runs a non profit that monitors Ground Zero health care issues.

The staggered nature of the respiratory diagnoses have complicated efforts to distribute $2.7 billion in federal victim compensation funds. A range of cancers is expected to be added to the list of ailments covered by the fund this month.

Leslie Haskins, who lost her husband on 9/11, said she has grown disillusioned by the politics of the reconstruction, and wants to see more attention paid to the ailing workers.

"They are sick and dying and their marriages are breaking up," she said. "Why are we pouring all this money into buildings when men don't have enough insurance to buy breathing apparatus?"

Progress and setbacks

Retired Fire Department of New York City (FDNY) battalion chief Jim Riches, who spent nine months digging through the rubble at Ground Zero before his firefighter son's body was recovered, called the reconstruction disputes "a disgrace."

Seven years ago, Riches was hospitalized with acute respiratory disease and fell into a 16-hour coma. He came out of the coma with stroke-like symptoms.

"We can send men to the moon but we can't rebuild some buildings in more than 10 years?" he asked.

Some progress has been made by Larry Silverstein, the developer who owned the lease on the Twin Towers and is now building three office towers at the Ground Zero site, and the Port Authority.

The September 11 foundation has also raised hundreds of millions in private and public funding for the overall project.

One step forward was last fall's opening of the September 11 Memorial at Ground Zero, twin reflecting pools in the footprints of the towers. More than four million people have visited.

Also, One World Trade Center, one of the tallest towers in the country, is near completion and expected to open in 2014.

Yet disagreements over costs have undermined the rebuilding and hurt public relations. Among the disputes, the September 11 foundation insists the Port Authority owes it $140 million, according to a source familiar with the financial issues.

The Port Authority believes it is owed $300 million, the source said.

Feal, a demolitions expert who lost part of his leg doing post 9/11 recovery work, is among those who said they are tired of reading about the contentious World Trade Center project when health concerns persist.

"2,751 lives were lost that day," he said "That's sad, but they didn't suffer long. These first responders have been slowly dying for 11 years." - with reports from AFP, Reuters, AM/VVP, GMA News

article source: gmanetwork.com

Americans mark more low-key 9/11 anniversary

NEW YORK -- Americans mark the 11th anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001 on Tuesday with relatively low-key ceremonies that reflect a gradual dampening of passions around the emotional day.

The main ceremony will be the ritual reading at New York's Ground Zero of the names of the 2,983 people killed both on 9/11 and in the precursor to those attacks, the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center.

Relatives of the dead will take turns to read the names against a backdrop of mournful music.

They will pause for moments of silence marking the moment when four planes hijacked by al-Qaeda turned into fireballs -- two smashing into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon and one crashing into a Pennsylvania field.

Another two moments of silence will be observed at the times the two towers collapsed, accounting for the vast majority of 9/11's victims.

However, this year New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other politicians will not take the podium at Ground Zero, in contrast with last year's 10th anniversary, when President Barack Obama led a long list of VIP guests.

Obama and his wife Michelle will observe the anniversary with a moment of silence outside the White House, then visit the Pentagon memorial.

Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, will travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United flight 93 crashed after passengers attacked the hijackers and thwarted a worse disaster had it continued to its target.

The White House said Obama had been briefed by "key national security principals on ... preparedness and security posture" for the anniversary.

But in keeping with the lower key atmosphere this year, there will apparently be no official suspension of the bitter presidential campaign.

Former president Bill Clinton will be campaigning for Obama and speaking out against Republican Mitt Romney at an event in Miami.

The passage of time appears to have cooled public attention to September 11, particularly after the huge media coverage of the 10th anniversary, which many saw as a suitable moment for allowing commemorations to peak.

The killing by American troops of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in May 2011 has helped draw a line under 9/11, as has the opening of the Ground Zero memorial, which opened for last year's ceremonies.

A skyscraper at One World Trade Center is near completion and is again the tallest building in New York, as were the Twin Towers before they fell down.

This year sees the publishing on Tuesday of a book by a former US Navy SEAL who was among the troops that shot dead bin Laden in his Pakistani hideout.

The book describes in gory detail how the special forces killed the fugitive, then radioed back the news, saying it was "for God and country."

The Pentagon has threatened legal action against the author who uses the penname Mark Owen, but has been outed by the US media as Matt Bissonnette.

Last week, Obama said in a radio address that the United States is "stronger, safer and more respected in the world" since 9/11.

But his Republican opponent has accused Obama of weak leadership during the Arab Spring turmoil and of failing to be tough enough on Iran's government.

In Afghanistan, which once hosted bin Laden, US troops continue to struggle to overcome the Taliban guerrilla army.

Most foreign troops are scheduled to withdraw by the end of 2014, handing over responsibility for combat to Western-backed Afghan government forces.

source: interaksyon.com

58 cancers receive 9/11 fund coverage

(CNN) -- Federal health authorities Monday added 58 types of cancer to the list of covered illnesses for people who were exposed to toxins at the site of the World Trade Center in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

The addition finalizes a recommendation from Dr. John Howard, administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program. Howard proposed in June that the program accept the recommendations of its Science/Technical Advisory Committee and add some cancers to the coverage list -- 14 categories in all.

The advisory committee review called for expanded "coverage for certain types of cancer resulting from exposure to toxins released at Ground Zero."

"The publication of this final rule marks an important step in the effort to provide needed treatment and care to 9/11 responders and survivors through the WTC Health Program," Howard said in a statement Monday.

The rule is expected to be published Wednesday in the Federal Register, and will take effect 30 days after its publication, Howard said.

First responders, volunteers, survivors of the attacks and residents near the site who meet specific qualifications will be eligible for coverage, according to the World Trade Center Health Program.

According to the proposed rule, an estimated 950 to 2,150 people would take advantage of the additional coverage.

The estimated cost for the total cancer treatment ranges between $14.5 million and $33 million, the proposal said.

The original bill as passed by the House had a 30-year compensation program, but the Senate reduced it to five years.

Many cancers may not appear for decades after an exposure, according to experts.

The World Trade Center Health Program was created as a result of the passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

The Zadroga Act, passed by Congress in December 2010, is designed to provide medical services and compensation for responders who were exposed to toxins while working at ground zero.

President Barack Obama signed the $4.2 billion legislation in January 2011. The law is named after a New York police officer who died of a respiratory disease attributed to working amid the toxic chemicals at the attack site.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailed the addition Monday.

"Tomorrow we will remember those we lost to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and also those who bravely responded during and after the tragedy," he said in a statement.

"As part of our ongoing commitment to our first responders, New York City led the way in ensuring that the Zadroga Act included reviews of the medical evidence so that all those ill from exposure to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks receive the care they need.

"We have urged from the very beginning that the decision whether or not to include cancer be based on science; Dr. Howard's decision, made after thorough consideration of the latest available research and data, will continue to ensure that those who have become ill due to the heinous attacks on 9/11 will get the medical care they need and deserve," Bloomberg said.

New York Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney, Jerrold Nadler and Peter T. King, said in a joint statement in June the proposal "helps pave the way for expanding the scope of available medical care and compensation for those sickened by the toxins at Ground Zero."

"As we have all seen with our own eyes again and again, cancer incidence among responders and survivors is a tragic fact, and we must continue to do everything we can to provide the help that those who are sick need and deserve," the lawmakers said.

The move is an about-face from Howard's announcement in July 2011, when he stated that cancer treatments would not be covered by the compensation fund.

At the time, Howard said there was inadequate "published scientific and medical findings" to link September 11 exposures to cancer.

To determine eligibility for the World Trade Center Health Program, visit www.cdc.gov/wtc.

source: CNN