NEW YORK (AP) - America gathered again Tuesday to mark the 11th
anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks with familiar ceremony, but
also a sense that it's time to move forward after a decade of remembrance.
As in past years, thousands were
expected to gather at the World Trade Center site in New York, the Pentagon and
Shanksville, Pa., to read the names of nearly 3,000 victims killed in the worst
terror attack in U.S. history. President Barack Obama was to attend the Pentagon
memorial, and Vice President Joe Biden was to speak in Pennsylvania.
But many felt that last year's 10th
anniversary was an emotional turning point for public mourning of the attacks.
For the first time, elected officials weren't speaking at the ceremony, which
often allowed them a solemn turn in the spotlight, but raised questions about
the public and private Sept. 11.
"I
feel much more relaxed" this year, said Jane Pollicino, who came to ground zero
Tuesday morning to remember her husband, who was killed at the trade center.
"After the ninth anniversary, that next day, you started building up to the 10th
year. This feels a lot different, in that regard. It's another anniversary that
we can commemorate in a calmer way, without that 10-year pressure."
Commuters rushed out of the subway and
fewer police barricades were in place than in past years in the lower Manhattan
neighborhood surrounding ground zero. But blocks from the site, Ron Patiro
needed to consult with security guards about where he could walk his two dogs.
"It's still a military zone," he said.
Families had a mixed reaction to the changing ceremony,
keeping politicians away from the microphone in New York for the first time.
For Charles G. Wolf, it's a fitting
transition.
"We've gone past that
deep, collective public grief," says Wolf, whose wife, Katherine, was killed at
the trade center. "And the fact that the politicians will not be involved, to
me, makes it more intimate, for the families. ... That's the way that it can be
now."
But Pollicino said it's
important that politicians still attend the ceremony.
"There's something missing if they're not here at all," she
said. "Now, all of a sudden, it's 'for the families.' This happened to our
country - it didn't happen only to me."
Political leaders still are welcome to attend the ground zero
ceremony, and they are expected at the other commemorations, as well.
President Obama and first lady
Michelle Obama plan to attend the Pentagon ceremony and visit wounded soldiers
at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Biden and Secretary of the Interior Ken
Salazar are expected to speak at the Flight 93 National Memorial near
Shanksville, at the site where the hijacked United Airlines plane went down.
Officeholders from the mayor to
presidents have been heard at the New York ceremony, reading texts ranging from
parts of the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address to poems by
John Donne and Langston Hughes.
For
former New York Gov. George Pataki, this year's change ends a 10-year experience
that was deeply personal, even as it reflected his political role. He was
governor at the time of the attacks.
"As the names are read out, I just listen and have great
memories of people who I knew very well who were on that list of names. It was
very emotional," Pataki reflected by phone last week. Among his friends who were
killed was Neil Levin, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey.
But Pataki supports
the decision not to have government figures speak.
"It's time to take the next step, which is simply to continue
to pay tribute," Pataki said.
The
National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum - led by Mayor Michael Bloomberg as its
board chairman - announced in July that this year's ceremony would include only
relatives reading victims' names.
The point, memorial President Joe Daniels said, was "honoring
the victims and their families in a way free of politics" in an election
year.
Some victims' relatives and
commentators praised the decision. "It is time" to extricate Sept. 11 from
politics, the Boston Globe wrote in an editorial.
But others said keeping politicians off the rostrum smacked
of ... politics.
The move came amid
friction between the memorial foundation and the governors of New York and New
Jersey over financing for the museum - friction that abruptly subsided Monday,
when Bloomberg and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement that paves
the way for finishing the $700 million project "as soon as practicable."
Before the deal, Cuomo, a Democrat,
and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, had signaled their displeasure
by calling on federal officials to give the memorial a financial and technical
hand. Some victims' relatives saw the no-politicians anniversary ceremony as
retaliation.
"Banning the governors
of New York and New Jersey from speaking is the ultimate political decision,"
said one relatives' group, led by retired Deputy Fire Chief Jim Riches. His
firefighter son and namesake was killed responding to the burning World Trade
Center.
Spokesmen for Christie and
Cuomo said the governors were fine with the memorial organizers' decision.
Of course, it's difficult to remember
9/11 without remembering its impact on the nation's political narrative.
After all, "9/11 has defined politics
in America" since 2001, said Costas Panagopoulos, a Fordham University political
science professor. "At the end of the day, 9/11 was a public tragedy that
affected the nation as a whole."
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NEW YORK (AP) -- The 11th anniversary ceremony of the Sept. 11 terror attacks has begun in New York with a moment of silence to mark the moment that the first hijacked jetliner crashed into the World Trade Center in 2001.
The reading of nearly 3,000 victims' names in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania continued as usual this year. But many felt it was time to move forward after the emotional turning point of last year's 10th anniversary. For the first time in New York, only family members were to speak at the anniversary ceremony. Elected officials had spoken in past years.
Jane Pollicino was among the 300 people who gathered Tuesday morning at the Sept. 11 memorial, which opened last year. She says there's less pressure during this year than the 10th year anniversary.
Commemorations were also scheduled at the Pentagon, where President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were to attend. Vice President Joe Biden was speaking at a memorial in Shanksville, Pa., where the fourth hijacked jetliner crashed.
