Verbal cease fire called between US political candidates
NEW YORK CITY, New York - DEMOCRATIC presidential nominee Barack Obama and his Republican counterpart John McCain put their differences aside today and gathered at Ground Zero to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and US Pentagon.
A joint statement issued by the men declared that both of their political campaigns would be suspended for 24 hours in order to pay proper homage to the 2,973 persons from 90 countries that died on that day.
“All of us came together on 9/11 - not as Democrats or Republicans - but as Americans. In smoke-filled corridors and on the steps of the Capitol; at blood banks and at vigils - we were united as one American family.
“On Thursday, we will put aside politics and come together to renew that unity, to honor the memory of each and every American who died, and to grieve with the families and friends who lost loved ones,” their release said.
A minute of silence was observed at the times when each building was struck and fell that morning, 8:46, 9:03, 9:59 and 10:29. ~~Adz:Right~~
The names of every victim of the terrorist attacks were read aloud by family, friends and students representing those who could not be present.
Neither Obama nor McCain spoke at the ceremony, but merely stood as observers commemorating the catastrophic event that drastically altered American foreign policy and effectively began the ‘War on Terror’.
Additionally, US President George W. Bush delivered a speech at the Pentagon before the unveiling of a memorial honoring the 184 people who died there at 9:37 a.m.
The memorial contains 184 bench-like structures dedicated to each of the victims. There is also a wall surrounding the memorial, which begins at a height of three inches in honor of the youngest victim, three-year-old Dana Falkenberg, and wraps around to a final height of 71 inches for the oldest victim, US Navy Captain John D. Yamnicky Sr.
Prior to the seventh anniversary of the attacks, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was upset over the “frustratingly slow” pace of construction on the World Trade Center memorial, a Ground Zero skyscraper called the Freedom Tower.
“The memorial must be completed by the 10th anniversary. No more excuses, no more delays,” Bloomberg told a gathered crowd at Ground Zero on the eve of 9/11.
