US pays tribute to September 11 victims

The United States, its forces on high alert at home and abroad, yesterday solemnly and tearfully remembered the traumatic day one year ago when 19 young Arabs launched a carefully planned assault on America that killed 3,025 people.

On the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, virtually every town and city across the nation, every school and college, churches, synagogues and mosques as well as many factories and offices held ceremonies and observed a moment of silence for victims, young and old, from dozens of nations.

US military forces in the Middle East went on top alert in response to warnings of possible terror attacks, some provided by a captured top official of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organisation that is believed to have masterminded last year's attacks. In videos shot late last year, the Saudi-born bin Laden claimed advance knowledge of the attacks and praised their outcome.

President George W. Bush, speaking outside the newly rebuilt Pentagon façade, said the victims of September 11 did not die in vain and would be avenged.

"The enemies who struck us are determined and they are resourceful. They will not be stopped by a sense of decency or a hint of conscience. But they will be stopped," he declared.

Four aircraft hijacked by extremists motivated by an extreme offshoot of Islam and hatred of America destroyed the World Trade Centre, smashed a crater in the Pentagon and inspired an act of self-sacrifice in the skies over Pennsylvania when passengers fought back knowing they faced certain death.

In addition to the 3,025 victims, all 19 hijackers were also killed.

On a glorious sunny day eerily like the lovely morning of a year ago, tens of thousands of mourners that included bereaved family members, many clutching pictures of their loved ones, gathered with dignitaries, police officers marching in formation and carrying flags, troops wearing combat fatigues, fire-fighters, religious leaders and survivors. They gathered at the strangely sterile void in bustling lower Manhattan that used to be the site of the tallest skyscrapers in New York City.

Bagpipers played a dirge and then fell silent and came to attention at 8.46 a.m. (1246 GMT) - the moment the first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Centre, turning a beautiful late summer morning into an inferno, trapping thousands of people in a burning tomb from which there would be no escape.

A banner draped over the site read: "We will never forget." Accompanied by cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing a Bach partita, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani began a reading of the names of each of the 2,801 victims of the World Trade Centre.

The reading was interrupted by the tolling of bells at 9.03 a.m. (1303 GMT), marking the moment when the second plane struck the south tower.

As they listened, family members and friends descended into Ground Zero to lay flowers at the site. Some clutched pictures, and others held young children tightly. Some were stoic, but many wept seemingly inconsolably.

Less than an hour later just outside Washington DC, ceremonies began at the Pentagon where 189 people died. Another solemn remembrance soon followed near Shanksville, in the placid countryside of western Pennsylvania, where a bell tolled 45 times for each person who died after refusing to allow hijackers to steer the plane they had commandeered to its presumed target in the US capital.

"In the air, a wave of courage made its way from the cockpit to the rear of the aircraft and back again, with all persevering to the end," Sandy Dahl, widow of pilot Jason Dahl, told a crowd of mourners and local residents. Bush arrived at the site early in the afternoon to console family members of the victims and lay a wreath.

The ceremonies were choreographed to echo the horrific unfolding of events a year ago. Bells tolled again in New York at 9.59 a.m.(1359 GMT), marking the moment when the south tower of the World Trade Centre collapsed, sending a massive cloud of smoke and ash spiralling high into the sky, blanketing most of lower Manhattan in a choking fog of destruction. The north tower collapsed exactly half an hour later.

The United States was on its second highest state of alert in response to intelligence that suggested new attacks were possible, especially in the Middle East and South Asia.

In an editorial in The New York Times, Bush wrote of his determination to defeat those who attacked the country and hinted at his intention of extending the war into an assault to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi state-controlled media mocked the United States, with the weekly al-Iqtasadi (Economist) magazine calling the September 11 attacks the "punishment of God".

The US State Department closed 15 embassies and several consulates around the world, either for security reasons or to allow staff to attend memorial ceremonies. Britain and Australia also closed selected embassies in Asia.

The US Embassy in Malaysia was shut indefinitely because of fears over security. "We are now closed until further notice, we have received very credible and very specific threats," a spokesman said.

US embassies or consulates in Germany, Denmark, Italy and Luxembourg received letters containing white powder yesterday, sparking fears of an anthrax attack, a State Department official said. Police in Hamburg, Germany, said the powder was sugar.

Expressions of sympathy for the United States around the world were mixed with cries of opposition to a possible war against Iraq.

Trading was thinner than usual on Asian and European financial markets but stocks were mostly higher. New York markets opened late after a moment of silence, and prices immediately rose.