Washington — Summoning the nation to unity and service, President Barack Obama paid tribute to America’s resilience and the sacrifice of its war dead Saturday as the country prepared to mark 10 long years since the horrors of Sept. 11, 2001.
HOMAGE TO HEROES. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, visit Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011, in Arlington, Va., to pay their respects to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the past decade. Section 60, in the southeast part of the cemetery, is the burial ground for military personnel killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
A day before the anniversary commemorations, the president made a pilgrimage to Arlington National Cemetery, strolling with his wife, Michelle, among graves filled with dead from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. And he invoked the common purpose that arose from carnage a decade ago in telling Americans that the nation cannot be broken by terrorism “no matter what comes our way.”
Obama also visited a soup kitchen, where he and his family helped prepare trays of gumbo for the needy in the nation’s capital, underscoring the call to national service that rang so loudly after the terrorist attacks.
All this as the president and his national security team tracked the latest possible terrorist threat against the country, a tip that al-Qaida might be seeking to detonate a car bomb in New York or Washington. Obama met his senior national security team in the morning to review the latest developments and ensure the nation remains on a heightened state of vigilance during the anniversary commemorations. As of Saturday U.S. intelligence agencies had not found evidence that al-Qaida had sneaked any terrorists into the country to carry out an anniversary attack.
At D.C. Central Kitchen, Obama said projects to serve the community “are part of what the spirit of remembering 9/11’s all about — the country being unified and looking out for one another.”
In an email to supporters, the president urged others to follow his lead. “With just a small act of service, or a simple act of kindness towards others, you can both honor those we lost and those who serve us still, and help us recapture the spirit of generosity and compassion that followed 9/11,” the president wrote.
Earlier, at Arlington, he and his wife held hands with each other and hugged other visitors among rows of white tombstones from the long wars that Obama is winding down after more than 6,000 American troop deaths.
“A decade after 9/11, it’s clear for all the world to see — the terrorists who attacked us that September morning are no match for the character of our people, the resilience of our nation, or the endurance of our values,” the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
“They wanted to terrorize us, but, as Americans, we refuse to live in fear. Yes we face a determined foe, and make no mistake — they will keep trying to hit us again. But as we are showing again this weekend, we remain vigilant. We’re doing everything in our power to protect our people. And no matter what comes our way, as a resilient nation, we will carry on.”
Obama, a little-known state senator in Illinois at the time of the attacks, now has the responsibility to help lead the nation in remembrance of a trauma 10 years on. On Sunday, the president is scheduled to visit all three sites where hijacked planes struck — New York City, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon — before delivering evening remarks at a memorial event at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
In his weekly address, Obama sought a balance between remembering the attacks and the nearly 3,000 people who died, and moving forward. He thanked troops who have served in the post-Sept. 11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and praised the military successes that led to advances against al-Qaida and the killing of the group’s leader, Osama bin Laden.
“They wanted to deprive us of the unity that defines us as a people, but we will not succumb to division or suspicion,” Obama said. “We are Americans, and we are stronger and safer when we stay true to the values, freedoms and diversity that make us unique among nations.”
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who gave the weekly Republican address, said the terrorists achieved their goal of killing Americans, but failed to destroy the American spirit.
“The country was not broken, but rather, it was more united in the days after Sept. 11 than at any time in my lifetime,” said Giuliani, who led the city’s response to the attack on the World Trade Center.
Without mentioning Obama by name, Giuliani also used his address to criticize the administration’s policies, saying that America is safer, but not as safe as it should be. “Perhaps the most dangerous impulse we’ve developed since Sept. 11 is impatience demonstrated by the calls to put our armed forces on timetables,” Giuliani said, referring to plans to remove troops from Iraq and Afghanistan under a set schedule.