Obama honors 9/11's fallen

3,000 lost, but American resilience, values live on, he says

Visitors to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at ground zero in New York City take a picture through a window of the museum Saturday.
Visitors to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at ground zero in New York City take a picture through a window of the museum Saturday.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama, hailing the values and resilience that he said both define and sustain Americans, on Saturday honored the nearly 3,000 people lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as well as the bravery of survivors and the emergency personnel who responded.

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Separately, a service was held Saturday at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said that while so much has changed since 9/11, it's important to remember what has stayed the same: "the core values that define us as Americans, the resilience that sustains us."

On the eve of the 15th anniversary of the attack, Obama said the terrorists' goal is to frighten Americans into changing how they live, but that "Americans will never give in to fear."

"We're still the America of heroes who ran into harm's way, of ordinary folks who took down the hijackers, of families who turned their pain into hope," Obama said.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in New York City, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon when hijacked commercial airliners were slammed into all three locations in attacks that were planned and carried out by the al-Qaida terrorist group. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed nearly a decade later by U.S. forces during a May 2011 raid on his Pakistani hideout that Obama authorized.

Obama noted in his address that the terrorist threat has evolved since 9/11 -- "as we've seen so tragically from Boston to Chattanooga, from San Bernardino to Orlando," cities that suffered terrorism-inspired fatal shootings.

He pledged that the U.S. will stay relentless against terrorism from al-Qaida and the Islamic State militant group, which is spreading its influence across the Middle East and the West.

Obama will mark today's anniversary by observing a moment of silence in the privacy of the White House residence at 8:46 a.m. EDT, when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center, before delivering remarks at a Pentagon memorial service.

Arkansas remembers

In Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson ordered that the state flag be flown at half-staff on all public buildings and grounds today as a mark of respect for the victims of the attacks.

"We lost thousands of innocent Americans that day -- many of whom were first responders who bravely and selflessly rushed into harm's way to aid people they'd never met," Hutchinson said in a statement. "Those lost will never be forgotten but neither will the determined spirit our country displayed in the days following the attacks. Acts of terror meant to break us failed. Our resolve was clear."

He also called on Arkansans to observe a moment of silence at 7:46 a.m.

"The country changed forever on September 11, 2001," Hutchinson said in the statement. "We faced the greatest degree of adversity in my lifetime and never wavered. Instead, we stood together as one nation with one message for the rest of the world: Terror will never win."

At the New York service, the 343 firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 attacks were honored for acts of heroism that the city's mayor said "most of us could not fathom."

Those who survived the attacks and hundreds of family members of those who died listened as many were remembered for their courage on a day that claimed the lives of more firefighters than any other day in the nation's history. Each firefighter's name was read aloud during the service.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch read a letter from Obama that described the effect left on the nation after hijacked planes struck the twin 110-story towers of the World Trade Center, causing their collapse.

"We remember that no act of terror can match the character of our country, change who we are as Americans or overcome our enduring resolve to be each other's keepers in times of calm and crisis alike," the letter said.

In a service presided over by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Mayor Bill de Blasio noted that the firefighters killed ranged in age from 22 to 71.

He said everyone in New York that day suffered, but none more than members of the Fire Department of New York.

"We remember what the members of the [Fire Department] did in the face of something that could not be imagined. They showed selflessness. They showed courage," he said. "When we needed them most, they showed us the best, the best in humanity."

De Blasio said the firefighters "did things that day that most of us could not fathom. They rushed to danger, not from it."

The mayor also noted that some firefighters died after 9/11 from diseases linked to the contaminated air they were exposed to that day and that others are still alive but suffering.

The Roman Catholic cathedral was filled to capacity for the afternoon service with city dignitaries, firefighters and the families of those killed.

A procession into the cathedral featured a banner with the number 343, followed by firefighters carrying American flags representing every member of the department killed that day.

long-term effects

Fifteen years after the attacks, many first responders, volunteers and others who were at or near the World Trade Center at the time are still bearing the burden of their time spent there, in the form of long-term or potentially fatal illnesses.

Some of those people might not be aware that cancer or a cough, diagnosed by a doctor in Ohio or California, could be connected to that work 15 years ago, activists said.

Garrett Goodwin, 39, was one of those tens of thousands of people at the World Trade Center right after the attacks. A trained medic, he traveled from Tampa, Fla., to New York to volunteer.

Now, his lungs are failing, and doctors say that will lead to his death. Goodwin is one of many volunteers who spent long hours toiling in the World Trade Center ruins, where toxic fumes made many sick or killed them.

About 9,500 went to New York from elsewhere across the country, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Dr. Michael Crane, medical director of the World Trade Center Health Program at Manhattan's Mount Sinai hospital, estimated that 90,000 people helped in the area after the attacks. Right now, about 65,000 responders are in the WTC Health Program, run by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to track and treat them.

"There's still a good chunk of folks out there who responded to the event and most likely have not been seen by anybody yet," Crane said.

Federal officials hope to reach them.

A continuing public-awareness campaign includes a May video with comedian Jon Stewart and a nationwide provider network to connect responders to help wherever they might be.

The goal is to increase sign-ups for the program, which provides medical care and monitoring through the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, named for a detective who became terminally ill after working at the World Trade Center site. In December, Obama signed a law extending funding through 2090.

More than 5,000 people in the program have Sept. 11-related cancer, Crane said. About 40 percent have respiratory or gastrointestinal problems. Studies are regularly released monitoring Sept. 11-related health issues.

John Feal, founder of the FealGood Foundation, which advocates for responders like himself, said he knows many affected in various states, but that many with symptoms don't even realize there's a link.

"Take into effect people from Illinois or other parts of the country that went to ground zero in the early weeks or months and went home and got sick," he said. "Nobody knew why they got sick."

About 1,500 registry members live in Florida, where New York police and firefighters often retire.

Information for this article was contributed by Darlene Superville and staff members of The Associated Press; by Alison Bowen of the Chicago Tribune; and by staff members of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 09/11/2016

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