By: Brian Murphy
Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A bugler playing taps in Afghanistan.
A twisted metal cross in Rome symbolizing the carnage of a
year ago. An Arab man in Jordan hoping America receives
another terrorist blow.
On the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the world became
a vast stage Wednesday to revisit and contemplate what
was once unimaginable.
"No situation of hurt, no philosophy or religion can ever
justify such a grave offense on human life,"
said Pope John Paul II.
Memorials from Asia to Latin America sought to express
how the attacks touched citizens from 91 countries and
shook outlooks on politics, security and religion to the core.
In Norway, more than 3,000 torches burned outside
Oslo City Hall, one for each victim. The same number
of white rose petals fluttered through
St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
Choirs in New Zealand and Japan began a "Rolling Requiem"
that carried the master work by Mozart across 20 times zones.
In Rome's Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli, a memorial Mass
included a twisted metal cross resting on a pile of rocks to
symbolize the devastation of the attacks.
Leaders pledged never to succumb to the terrorists' ultimate
weapon: widespread insecurity and panic. "The forces of
darkness against civilization," said Greek Premier Costas Simitis.
But the message rang hollow in some quarters.
"Nothing can make us feel the world to be a safe place again
until those behind the attacks are captured and punished,"
said Romaine Iskandar following a hilltop memorial service
outside Beirut, Lebanon, for her nephew and three other
Lebanese who died in the attacks.
Authorities, too, see the world differently. More aggressive
policies have drawn complaints from civil rights activists
and Muslim groups.
In Pakistan, authorities stormed a suspected hide-out of
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network in Karachi. A three-hour
gun battle killed two suspects and wounded five officers.
Five suspects were captured.
In Hamburg, Germany - where three of the Sept. 11 hijackers
had lived - police searched an Islamic center after receiving
a tip of plans for a bomb attack. No evidence of terrorist
activity was found.
"Mosques are under scrutiny here now and I don't like that,"
complained Zulhajrat Fejzullahi, an ethnic Albanian from
Macedonia who emigrated to Germany.
The anniversary prompted officials to step up security alerts.
Citing "credible and specific" threats, the State Department
and some of America's closest allies closed diplomatic offices
in nine countries. All but one - the African nation of Malawi
were in Asia or the Middle East.
Many airports vividly displayed the depth of the public's worries:
terminals packed with security, but with far fewer travelers than
normal. At London's Heathrow Airport, British Airways canceled
half its trans-Atlantic flights for lack of passengers.
In Afghanistan, U.S. forces came under fire.
A gunman shot at a guard tower at Bagram, the headquarters
of U.S. led forces hunting al-Qaida remnants, spokesman
Col. Roger King said. Soldiers returned fire, but the
gunman escaped.
In the southeastern city of Khost, unidentified attackers
fired two rockets at the airport where of U.S. special forces
are based, an official said. No injuries were reported.
But the Afghan capital, Kabul, witnessed a somber memorial
at the U.S. Embassy, which reopened after the fall of the Taliban.
A bugler played taps. The American flag was lowered to half-staff.
A chunk of heat-fused glass and cement from the
World Trade Center was buried under the flag pole.
"My fear is that people will start to take things for granted and
forget about it," said Marine Capt. Farrel Sullivan, who collected
the wreckage. "That some sort of amnesia will set in."
Officials insisted that will never happen.
"This date has been forever etched into our memories,"
said New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark.
"Those attacks were acts of utterly incomprehensible violence."
But in the Muslim world - and especially the Middle East,
many see clear reasons for the attacks: perceived U.S.
policies for unchallenged dominance and Washington's
backing for Israel.
"I hope the White House will be hit," said Mohammad Ali Masa'id,
a retired Jordanian army officer.
"We feel anger and hatred toward the American government
and American companies that support it," said Abdel Aziz el-Husse
an engineer from Cairo who has helped lead a boycott of U.S. products.
In Iraq, the state-owned Al-Iktisadi newspaper covered its front
page with a photograph of a burning World Trade Center tower
with a headline in red: "God's punishment."
Unease about a possible U.S. military campaign to topple Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein runs deep across the region.
"The world is not a jungle where a powerful country decides for
the rest of the world," said Iranian Morad Musseinpour, whose
country was labeled part of an "axis of evil" by President Bush
for alleged terrorist support.
In Nairobi, Kenya, a memorial carried special resonance.
Bombings against the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
in 1998 killed 231 people, including 12 Americans.
"Kenya was the victim of a terror attack," said Kenyan
Health Minister Sam Ongeri. "Kenyans can sympathize
with the victims of Sept. 11."
Amid the countless memorials and events, some of the
most profound moments occurred in silence. Perhaps
millions of people - workers, children, stock market traders,
athletes - paused around the world for silent prayer or meditation.
After two minutes of silence in Copenhagen, Denmark,
the city's Lord Mayor Jens Kramer Mikkelsen spoke out:
"We will not allow fear to overtake us."
A banner by Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa read:
"From the tower to the towers. Sept. 11, 2002. Memory,
solidarity, peace."
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