By: Sandra Sobieraj
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, who will mark the
remembrance of Sept. 11 by visiting three terrorist attack
sites, plans to start the observances in prayer and close
them with a prime-time address to the nation.
The White House on Tuesday released details of the
president's Sept. 11 schedule, which will take him and
first lady Laura Bush from a private morning church service
in Washington, to a moment of silence observed at the
White House at 8:46 a.m., EDT. That's the exact time
that the first terrorist-hijacked jet slammed into the
World Trade Center tower in New York. They will go from
there to a ceremony at the Pentagon, which also was
attacked on that fateful day.
The president and Mrs. Bush will then journey to Shanksville, Pa.,
and lay a wreath in the field where Flight 93 crashed, presumably
en route to another target in Washington.
"Those who were here at the White House that day feel strongly
about honoring those who gave their lives that day on Flight 93,
particularly given the fact that most of us view that as savings the
lives of those who were here at the White House that day," said
White House deputy press secretary Scott McClellan.
That afternoon, at 4:30 p.m., Bush will lay a wreath at Ground Zero,
site of the former Trade Center towers in New York. At 9:01 p.m.,
he is to address the nation from New York. White House press
secretary Ari Fleischer promised a "respectful, solemn tribute to
those who lost their lives on the attack on our country on Sept. 11,
words of thanks and love to the families of those whose relatives
were taken from us."
"And I think it will be a reminder of the importance of liberty, and
how our United States stands strong throughout the world in
promoting liberty," the spokesman added.
Meanwhile, Tom Ridge, director of Bush's Office of Homeland Security,
said Tuesday he thinks U.S. security has improved significantly since
the attacks.
"I think we've made substantial progress and I think we are
substantially safer than we were on Sept. 11," he said on ABC's
"Good Morning America."
"We still have considerable work to do in the years and months
ahead," Ridge acknowledged.
He said he knew of no "specific credible information" about any
particular threat on Sept. 11.
"We have been in an elevated state of alert for quite some time,"
he said. "It's our job to worry about, be concerned about security
every day," Ridge said on CBS'"The Early Show."
"Obviously, this is a day that we are going to celebrate heroes.
We are going to remember some extraordinary things that Americans
did on behalf of one another. It's a day of mourning," he said.
He said he believed that "on that day, like every day since Sept. 11,
America will be vigilant" and authorities at all levels of government
"will continue to be on guard."
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