NATION/WORLD
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 7A
U.S. marks 9/11 with resolve, tears and hope
NEW YORK (AP) — Amer-
icans commemorated 9/11 on
Monday with tear-streaked tributes,
a presidential warning to terrorists
and appeals from victims’ relatives
for unity and hope 16 years after
the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S.
soil.
Looking out at the solemn crowd
at ground zero, Debra Epps said she
views every day as time to do some-
thing to ensure that her brother,
Christopher Epps, and thousands of
others didn’t die in vain.
“What I can say today is that I
don’t live my life in complacency,”
she said. “I stand in solidarity that
this world will make a change for
the better.”
Thousands of family members,
survivors, rescuers and others gath-
ered for the hourslong reading of
victims’ names at the World Trade
Center, while President Donald
Trump spoke at the Pentagon
and Vice President Mike Pence
addressed an observance at the
Flight 93 National Memorial near
Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Elsewhere, thousands of Amer-
icans marked the anniversary with
service projects. Volunteer Hillary
O’Neill, 16, had her own connec-
tion to 9/11: It’s her birthdate.
“I always feel a sense of respon-
sibility to give back on the day,”
O’Neill, of Norwalk, Connecticut,
said as she packed up meals in New
York City for needy local people
and hurricane victims in Texas and
Florida.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed
when planes hijacked by terrorists
hit the trade center, the Pentagon
and a field near Shanksville on Sept.
11, 2001, hurling America into a
new consciousness of the threat of
global terrorism.
Reflecting on a tragedy that still
feels immediate to them, victims’
relatives thanked first responders
and the military, worried for people
affected by Hurricane Irma as it
continued its destructive path as
a tropical storm and pleaded for a
return to the sense of cohesiveness
that followed the attacks.
“Our country came together
that day. And it did not matter
what color you were or where you
were from,” said a tearful Magaly
Lemagne, who lost her brother,
Port Authority of New York and
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
People hold flags and wave at passing vehicles on Sept. 11, 2017, to remember the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks
from an overpass on Interstate 35 near Melvern, Kan. Area residents began manning the bridge on the anniversary in 2002 and have
done it every since drawing about 300 people throughout the day.
New Jersey police officer David
Lemagne. She implored people to
“stop for a moment and remember
all the people who gave their lives
that day.
“Maybe then we can put away
our disagreements and become one
country again,” she said.
Trump, a native New Yorker
observing the anniversary for the
first time as the country’s leader,
assured victims’ families that “our
entire nation grieves with you” and
issued stern words to extremists.
“America cannot be intimidated,
and those who try will join a long list
of vanquished enemies who dared
test our mettle,” the Republican
president said as he spoke at the
Pentagon after observing a moment
of silence at the White House.
When America is united, “no
force on earth can break us apart,”
he said.
At the Flight 93 National Memo-
rial, Pence said the passengers who
revolted against hijackers might
well have saved his own life.
The Republican vice president
was a member of Congress on 9/11,
and the Capitol was a possible target
of the terrorist piloting Flight 93.
Instead, it crashed near Shanksville
after the passengers took action.
Thirty-three passengers and seven
crew members were killed.
At the United Nations, some
ambassadors noted the anniversary
as the Security Council unani-
mously approved new sanctions
against North Korea in response to
its Sept. 3 test of what Pyongyang
said was a hydrogen bomb
“We will never forget the victims
of Sept. 11, and we will never forget
the lesson that those who have evil
intentions must be confronted,”
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said.
At dusk, the annual “Tribute
in Light” art installation beamed
two giant towers of light into the
lower Manhattan skyline as a visual
memorial to those who perished in
the terror attack.
The ceremony on the National
September 11 Memorial &
Evolving Trump: From business
celebrity on 9/11 to stern leader
WASHINGTON
(AP)
— In the 16 years since
the Sept. 11 terror attacks,
Donald Trump has evolved
from a celebrity developer
whose first public thoughts
were about Manhattan’s
suddenly altered skyline to
the combative commander
in chief who warned “savage
killers” on Monday “there is
no dark corner beyond our
reach.”
Trump was in his Fifth
Avenue penthouse that clear
fall day in 2001, four miles
from the World Trade Center
and, seemingly, in a previous
life from the one he now
leads.
When the towers fell, he
spoke with measured words
about the attackers and about
the wounds inflicted on his
hometown, a sharp contrast
to his more recent incendiary
rhetoric about terrorists and
his unproven claims about
celebrating Muslims.
On Monday, his first 9/11
anniversary as president,
Trump carried out a familiar
ritual for U.S. leaders.
He stood, head bowed and
hands clasped, for a moment
of silence at the White
House to mark the instant
that a hijacked airplane had
slammed into the World
Trade Center. Later, at the
Pentagon, where another
plane had crashed, he prom-
ised American resolve.
“The terrorists who
attacked us thought they
could incite fear and weaken
our spirit,” Trump said. “But
America cannot be intimi-
dated, and those who try will
join a long list of vanquished
enemies who dared test our
mettle.”
“American forces are
relentlessly pursuing and
destroying the enemies of
all civilized people,” he
declared. “We are making
plain to these savage killers
that there is no dark corner
beyond our reach, no sanc-
tuary beyond our grasp, and
nowhere to hide anywhere on
this very large Earth.”
Trump’s initial response
in the hours after terror
attacks was more restrained.
He had flirted with a pres-
idential run before, but he
Museum plaza in New York strives
to be apolitical, allowing politicians
to attend but not to speak. Yet last
year’s 15th anniversary ceremony
became entangled in the presiden-
tial campaign when Democratic
nominee Hillary Clinton left
abruptly, stumbled into a van and
ultimately revealed she’d been
diagnosed days earlier with pneu-
monia.
This year, the focus remained
on the names read out beneath the
waterfall pools and lines of trees.
While many Americans may
no longer interrupt their days to
observe the 9/11 anniversary, the
ceremony remains a touchstone for
many victims’ families and friends.
“I’ll come every year for the rest
of my life,” said Rob Fazio, who
lost his father, Ronald Fazio. “It’s
where I get my strength.”
After 15 years of anniversaries,
the reading of names, moments
of silence and tolling bells have
become rituals, but each ceremony
takes on personal touches. Name-
readers Monday gave updates on
family graduations and marriages
and remembered loved ones’ flair
for surfing or drawing on coffee-
shop napkins.
A few never even got to know
the relatives they lost on Sept. 11,
2001.
“I wish more than anything that
I could have met you,” Ruth Daly
said after reading names in remem-
brance of her slain grandmother and
namesake, Ruth Lapin.
Delaney Colaio read names in
honor of the three relatives she lost:
her father, Mark Joseph Colaio,
and her uncles, Stephen Colaio and
Thomas Pedicini.
Just a toddler on 9/11, she is
now making a documentary about
the children who lost parents in the
attacks.
“I stand here as a reminder to
the other families of 9/11 and to the
world,” she said, “that no matter
how dark moments of life can
get, there is light ahead if you just
choose hope.”
Family Health & Fitness Day
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump
stand as “Taps” is played during a ceremony Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, Monday at the Pentagon.
had yet to embrace some of
the hardline ideas that later
emerged in his campaign.
Nor had he yet had his rebirth
as a national celebrity thanks
to “The Apprentice.”
In a local radio interview,
Trump said that if he were
president he’d be taking “a
very, very tough line” but he
drew no conclusions about
who perpetrated the assault
on American soil.
“Most people feel they
know at least approximately
the group of people that did
this and where they are,”
Trump told WWOR. “But,
boy, would you have to take
a hard line on this. This just
can’t be tolerated.”
Trump vowed that his
home city’s spirit would not
be broken. Nor his. He could
not resist noting that with the
destruction of the 110-story
twin towers, his building at
40 Wall Street now stood
above all others in Lower
Manhattan.
“When they built the
World Trade Center it
became known as the second
tallest,” Trump said of his
building. “And now it’s the
tallest.”
In the years that followed,
Trump’s views on terrorism
hardened and his claims
about 9/11 grew more
outlandish and untrue. As a
candidate, he often pledged
to “bomb the hell out of
ISIS” and vowed to enact a
Muslim ban.
In 2013, he posted a tweet
saying, “I would like to
extend my best wishes to all,
even the haters and losers, on
this special date, September
11th.” And when his pres-
idential campaign ramped
up, he singled out Muslims
in saying that “thousands
of people were cheering”
in Jersey City, New Jersey,
across the Hudson River
from lower Manhattan, as
the towers collapsed. There
is no such evidence in news
archives.
Trump also said he lost
“hundreds of friends” in
the attack and helped clear
rubble afterward. He has not
provided the names of those
he knew who perished in the
attack, but has mentioned
knowing a Roman Catholic
priest who died while serving
as a chaplain to the city’s fire
department.
He
also
criticized
President George W. Bush,
accusing him of failing in his
duty to keep Americans safe.
He repeatedly suggested
President Barack Obama had
not done enough to stamp out
the threat posed by Islamic
terror groups — in part by
not calling out the danger as
“radical Islamic terror.”
On Monday, neither
Trump nor his top aides used
that phrase, though Trump
has said it since taking office.
The president has shown
some signs of being affected
by the gravity of his office.
When he announced his war
strategy for Afghanistan last
month, he acknowledged that
“decisions are much different
when you sit behind the desk
in the Oval Office.”
Saturday, September 23, 2017
9am-2pm at Hermiston High School
FREE Health & Wellness Event for All Ages
• BMI and body composition analysis
• Blood pressure checks
• Car seat checks
• Cooking classes
• Dental screening
• Dental treatment for the uninsured
• Teddy Bear clinic
• Vision and hearing screenings
• Mental health resources
• Alcohol abuse and Addiction resources
• Early childhood programs
• Senior programs
• SHIBA (Medicare), Oregon Health Plan,
Veterans Services
• Community Resource referrals
• Door prizes
• And much more!
NO COST Well Checks for ages 12-21!
Questions? Contact angie.treadwell@oregonstate.edu