The world prepares to remember

Two thousand seven hundred and fifty three Flags of Honor – each baring the names of 9/11 victims in patriotic stripes of red and blue – are standing at the tip of Manhattan today as New York City prepares to mark the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The NYC Memorial Field, part of a five-day installation, was erected to give New Yorkers a public place to gather in remembrance of those who were killed in the horrific acts of September 11, 2001. It is among dozens of memorials, vigils and events organised throughout New York City this weekend, as citizens stand united, honouring their pledge to ‘never forget’ that tragic day. Yesterday in midtown Manhattan, 2,753 empty chairs, representing the lives lost on 9/11, were set to face south toward the World Trade on Bryant Park’s lawn for part of a project called Ten Years Later, A Tribute 9/11. The world will undoubtedly cast its eyes on the World Trade Centre memorial site on Sunday morning, when New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will join President Barack Obama and former President George W Bush for the reading of the names of the nearly 2,753 victims killed in New York, Washington, DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum memorial service will see family gather from 6:30am to 4pm.A moment of silence will be held at 8:46 a.m., when the first plane crashed into the North Tower, and then the names of the victims will be read.  Moments of silence will be held to mark the other attacks in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania at 9:03am, 9:36am, 9:59am, 10:03am and 10:28am. The annual ‘Tribute in Light’ will begin from the WTC site at sundown, visible for more than 60 miles. Two blue beams, made up of 7,000 watt bulbs, were switched on for the first time this year on Tuesday night. – Daily Mail

A terror threat against the United States planned to coincide with this weekend’s tenth anniversary of 9/11 may be traceable to al-Qa’ida and possibly to Ayman al-Zawahiri who assumed the network’s leadership after the killing of Osama bin Laden, US terror officials indicated last night. Security precautions were being ramped up in New York and Washington DC yesterday as preparations were under way for tomorrow’s remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan to be led by both President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush. President Obama, who tomorrow will also travel to the Pentagon and to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the other two sites where hijacked plans came down, ordered a redoubling of security in the wake of the new terror warning. There will be six moments of silence at the Ground Zero ceremony tomorrow marking when the two airliners struck the Twin Towers and when they fell down but also the exact moments when the other two planes involved in that day’s tragedy crashed at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. Tomorrow will also be the first time that families of the victims will see the new memorial at the World Trade Center site. The day of remembrance will finish with a memorial concert in the Kennedy Centre in Washington where Mr Obama will also speak. The White House said none of his travel plans had so far been affected by the terror threat. – the Independent

Blair’s Arab Spring

Mr Blair said he had no regrets about setting aside decades of hostility between Britain and Libya and holding out an olive branch in 2004. In return, Col Gaddafi agreed to give up his programme of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). “No,” he said in an interview with the Reuters news agency to mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. “I always say to people it is absolutely simple – the external policy of Libya changed.” New details of the close relationship forged between the Blair government and Libya after MI6 negotiated the scrapping of the WMD programme in 2003 have emerged in Tripoli since the fall of the Gaddafi regime. But Mr Blair said it was a “great thing for the world” that Col Gaddafi had agreed to give up the weapons programme and, in addition, co-operate against terrorism. He added that in February as the uprising began he attempted to persuade Col Gaddafi to step down. “The trouble was in the end they weren’t prepared to reform internally,” he said. “They were less of a threat to the outside world, but inside they were a threat to their people and then when the uprising happened, again, there was a big choice. I remember actually speaking to Colonel Gaddafi at the time it happened and saying this is the moment to realise you are going to have to go and be the person that gives it up.” – the Telegraph

Tony Blair, the international statesman most closely tied to the response to the Sept. 11 attacks, believes the decade-long struggle to contain the threat from Islamic extremism is far from over, despite the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. The former British prime minister, who famously vowed to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the United States and took a leading role in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in the face of domestic unease, told The Associated Press that potent threats still persist — including in nations swept by the revolutions of the Arab Spring. “It’s completely wrong,” to think the struggle to defeat extremist ideology is won, Blair said in an interview. “We shouldn’t be under any doubt about this at all. Unfortunately, as I say, this ideology is far broader than the methods of al-Qaida.” Blair also expressed concern over the uprisings which have shaken the Middle East and North Africa, insisting that the West must act as “players and not spectators” to help democracy flourish from the Arab Spring. – Washington Post

History in Northern Ireland

The first Presbyterian minister to address a Sinn Fein party conference last night praised Martin McGuinness as one of the “great leaders of modern times”. On his arrival at the Waterfront Hall for the conference, the Rev David Latimer said: “I haven’t come here for soundbites.” But he was undoubtedly the star turn of the first night of the first Sinn Fein ard fheis to be held in Northern Ireland. Delegates asked to have their pictures taken with Mr Latimer on mobile phones and many shook hands with him. “I am among friends,” he said, stressing that people could work together whatever view they took of the border. Despite his protestation he did manage a few soundbites in the course of his speech. He was greeted with tumultuous applause when he borrowed the words of the Queen in Dublin to address delegates as “a chairde” (my friends). Mr Latimer was greeted at the door of the conference by Mr McGuinness with whom he has formed a friendship. He told how the Deputy First Minster supported the opening of his Church on Londonderry’s walls, overlooking the Bogside, and helped him secure a £1.6m grant for the historic building’s refurbishment. – Belfast Telegraph

Rev Dr David Latimer described Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness as “one of the true great leaders of modern times” when he addressed the Sinn Féin ardfheis in Belfast last night. History was made on the double in the Waterfront Hall in that this was the first time an ardfheis has been held north of the Border, and the first time a northern Protestant religious minister addressed the conference. Dr Latimer, who three years ago served for a period as a British army chaplain in Afghanistan, was enthusiastically received at the conference, earning a standing ovation at the end when he finished with what he called a “Celtic blessing” on all the delegates. He delivered a relatively short address without what journalists would call any major news content. But it was his simple presence on the stage with the likes of Mr McGuinness and Gerry Adams sitting behind him that made his speech, delivered with some evangelical verve, notable and newsworthy. Learning his lesson from Queen Elizabeth, his description of delegates as “A chairde” and his final Irish good luck wish of “Adh Mór Ort” demonstrated that here was a minister who knew how to work an audience. His description of Mr McGuinness as a great modern leader will infuriate some unionists. Dr Latimer nonetheless insisted it was a strong and genuine friendship he has developed with the Deputy First Minister. – Irish Times