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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Political voices silenced at 9/11 anniversary
NEW York City will commemorate the 11th anniversary today of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but this year's ceremonies will be different -- at least at the main commemoration site in Manhattan. There, politicians will be voiceless.
About 3,000 people died in the co-ordinated hijackings by Islamic terrorists, and the nation has traditionally marked the anniversary with speeches and commemorations at all three sites and elsewhere. In that, this year's ceremonies will be true to form.
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At 8:46 a.m. EDT, bells will toll in a moment of silence to observe the time at which American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower of the World Trade Center, and the names of the fallen will then be solemnly intoned. There will also be moments of silence to mark the exact times at which United Airlines Flight 175 struck the south tower, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pa.
But this year will be unusual too. What will be missing are the voices of politicians speaking and often reciting patriotic speeches such as the Gettysburg Address, poetry and religious psalms.
In July, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as chairman of the foundation board, announced that in this presidential election year, politicians may attend but the only recitation would be the victims' names. "You always want to change," Bloomberg said in a radio interview in July, " ... and I think it'll be very moving."
The decision came amid the continuing dispute among Bloomberg, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over how to pay for the site's proposed museum and its operating expenses.
Cuomo and Christie control the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the World Trade Center site. Bloomberg's foundation controls the museum and oversees commemorations.
-- Los Angeles Times
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 11, 2012 A2
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