September 11 commemorations underway in US

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Sep. 10, 2006

Washington- US President George W Bush laid wreaths Sunday at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center, part of two days of commemorations of the September 11 attacks five years ago. Bush and his wife, First Lady Laura, gathered at Ground Zero with Rudy Giuliani, New York City mayor at the time of the attacks, and New York Governor George Pataki, who led the state government during 9/11.

Joined by current New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the leaders walked side-by-side into the pit that remains where the Twin Towers once stood in lower Manhattan.

The group walked hundreds of metres into Ground Zero before Bush continued alone to a shallow pool of water, built where the World Trade Center's north tower once stood.

He placed a floating wreath of flowers onto the still surface and stood quietly. Bush and his wife stood quietly, holding hands, before he sombrely repeated the act at a second pool at the adjoining site of the south tower.

After the wreath-laying, the Bushes attended a prayer service at St Paul's Chapel, a small Anglican church almost immediately next to ground zero that survived the falling buildings all but unscathed, and for months become a haven for teams of rescue and construction workers digging through the rubble.

In Washington, an estimated 1,000 motorcyclists rumbled through the Virginia suburbs in a rally, called Rattle the Runway by organizers who started the 9/11 commemoration in 2003. Bikers gather at a site near Dulles International Airport and ride in a procession to the Pentagon, about 30 kilometres.

The route commemorates the 9/11 attack on the US Defence Department headquarters by terrorists who hijacked a flight out of Dulles.













All original InformationLiberation articles CC 4.0



About - Privacy Policy