Michelle Obama, Laura Bush to appear together at 9/11 memorial
First lady Michelle Obama and her predecessor, Laura Bush, will appear together next month in Pennsylvania at a ceremony marking the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Obama and Bush will participate in ceremonies honoring the victims of the attacks, including the 40 passengers and crew killed in the crash of United Flight 93, the National Park Foundation said in a statement on Monday.
“Their show of support honors the lives and memories of these 40 heroes and everyone we lost on September 11th, and serves as a valuable reminder of how important this memorial is to preserve and share their story,” National Park Foundation President Neil Mulholland said.
United Flight 93, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, crashed into a field near Shanksville, in western Pennsylvania. The passengers and crew on the flight are believed to have struggled with the hijackers who had seized the plane.
Three other hijacked planes crashed into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon outside Washington, killing nearly 3,000 people.
The anniversary ceremony will take place at a temporary memorial. A permanent Flight 93 national memorial is under construction and is expected to be dedicated on Sept. 11, 2011.
Photo Credits: REUTERS/Saul Loeb (Obama, Bush (R) at the U.S. Capitol, January 20, 2009); REUTERS/White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian/Handout (Bush (L) hosts Obama at White House, Nov. 10, 2008)
Family member of 9/11 victim presses Attorney General on trials
After the sharp exchanges of words between Attorney General Eric Holder and senators about trying the Sept. 11 suspects in criminal court fell quiet, a soft-spoken woman who lost her 31-year-old son that day approached.
Alice Hoagland’s son Mark Bingham died on hijacked United Flight 93 which crashed in rural Pennsylvania and she had come to Washington to attend the Senate Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing of the Justice Department where Holder’s decision about prosecuting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others was the main subject.
“I take great exception to your decision to give short shrift to the military commissions and to put the five most heinous criminals and war criminals into court in New York City,” an emotional Hoagland told Holder. “It will give these ugly people, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh especially, very eloquent access to all the media sources in the United States.”
That is one of several complaints some family members of the Sept. 11 victims have made. Others have worried that it will make the trials and prisons targets for attack. But some families have welcomed the trials in New York and want the suspects prosecuted quickly.
Holder took exception to Hoagland’s points, gently but firmly telling her that he did fully consider the military commissions as a venue for the terrorism suspects and that Mohammed and the others had tried to use the military commission trials at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a platform for espousing their views.
“This was a tough decision,” he told Hoagland, adding that he is privy to evidence that has not been made public that he believes makes the government’s case to convict the five suspects.
“This is almost a trust me thing I suppose, there are reasons why bringing this case in an Article III (criminal) court when it comes to the admissibility of certain evidence is really the right way to go and really maximizes our chances of getting a successful outcome,” Holder said.
Both Holder and Obama have IQ of 3 year – definition of Idiot. They are blinded by their EGO which does not allow them to see realities beyond there own noise
Congress thanks Sept. 11 air travelers who may have saved them
Congress paused on Wednesday to thank the air travelers who possibly saved their lives on Sept. 11, 2001 by fighting back against the al Qaeda hijackers who had taken over their plane.
In a brief ceremony, congressional leaders unveiled a plaque inscribed with the names of those aboard United Airlines Flight 93, who forced the hijackers to crash the plane in a Pennsylvania field before reaching its target, presumed to be the Capitol or the White House.
Hijackers diverted the San-Francisco bound plane and pointed it toward Washington that morning as part of a coordinated attack that also crashed three jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The plaque, mounted near the Capitol rotunda, notes that those aboard the plane “not only saved countless lives but may have saved the U.S. Capitol from destruction.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader John Boehner and other lawmakers read out the names of the 40 passengers and crew, occasionally stumbling over the pronunciation of their names.
Marilyn Johnson, a relative of the plane’s co-pilot LeRoy Homer Jr., said she was pleased by the recognition.
“You know how people say sometimes, ‘Oh, move on,’ but I’m happy that people know that this was a great accomplishment. … We know that our loved ones will never be forgotten,” she told Reuters.
8 years after 9/11, Flight 93 memorial moves forward
Eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. government and landowners in Somerset County have reached an agreement that will allow the building of a memorial to the passengers and crew of hijacked Flight 93 that crashed into the fields of rural Pennsylvania.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the memorial will cost about $20 million, which includes $9.5 million for the land.
“The fields of western Pennsylvania, where the heroes of Flight 93 perished, are hallowed ground for a grateful nation,” Salazar said.
“We have reached this important milestone in properly honoring the courage and sacrifice of the men and women who gave their lives that day,” he said. “The Flight 93 Memorial will soon stand in their honor.”
The National Park Service signed agreements with eight landowners and expects construction to begin after groundbreaking in November with an eye to completing the memorial by Sept. 11, 2011.
Photo Credit: Reuters/Jason Cohn (Flight 93 temporary memorial)
I think it is churlish to criticise the land owners for requiring reimbursment for the land on which the memorial will be situated. The land is very valuable.
It is reasonable that the land owner’s require compensation. They are innocent victim’s too.
Obama, Bill Clinton discuss 9/11, campaign, world affairs
NEW YORK – Barack Obama and Bill Clinton talked over lunch on Thursday about the economy and world affairs in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and what the former president can do to help the Democratic nominee defeat Republican John McCain in the Nov. 4 election.
In a joint statement, the two men said they had a “great conversation” during their meeting, which came on the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“They discussed the campaign briefly but mostly talked about how the world has changed since September 11, 2001,” the statement said. “They also spoke about what the next president can do to help make the economy work for all Americans, as it did under President Clinton, and ensure safety and prosperity far beyond the coming the election.”
The lunch at Clinton’s office in New York’s Harlem neighborhood was the first lengthy meeting between the two since Obama emerged as the victor in his drawn-out Democratic primary battle against Clinton’s wife, Hillary. Bill Clinton has been widely reported to have nursed hard feelings about his wife’s loss, although he strongly endorsed Obama at the Democratic convention in Denver and plans to campaign for him in the coming weeks.
“We’re putting him to work,” Obama joked to reporters as he stood with the former president in an office reception area lined with books, photographs and memorabilia.
“I’ve agreed to do a substantial number of things, whatever I’m asked to do,” Clinton said of his plans for campaigning on Obama’s behalf.
Asked for his predictions about the close White House race between Obama and McCain, Clinton said he though Obama would win “pretty handily.”
This is the craziest election ever. Just food for thought, John McCain and his new running mate have been proven to have lied and twisted records, John McCain lied to the American public, finished bottom of his class and only wants to be pres. to have that badge of honor. He has pandered his liberal self to appeal to the far right conservatives (just for political gain and ambition – check out the Youtube video of John himself saying so – youtube – the video that should end McCains presidental run)
And he has stayed in the middle or switched positions on several key issues important to you die hard conservatives. Nice track record. Now why would you vote for him??
