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For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretarySeptember 13, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: National Security      In Focus: Remembering 9/11 THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week, Americans marked seven years since the terrorist attacks that shook our Nation on September 11, 2001. On that day, we witnessed unspeakable destruction perpetrated by evil men. But we also witnessed selfless acts of valor and compassion performed by courageous citizens. And we saw the strength of the American people as they rallied in defense of the Nation. On Thursday, I dedicated a new 9/11 memorial at the...

THE HEROES OF FLIGHT 93 AND HOW THEY HELPED FOIL AN ATTACK ON THE CAPITOL The terrorists used knives and box cutters to commandeer the three airplanes and then crash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They also indicated that they had bombs. GTE Airphone calls from the hijacked aircraft indicated that the terrorists, who numbered between three and six on each aircraft, would take control of the aircraft by taking a stewardess or passenger and either threatening, or actually cutting or stabbing them, and then take control of the aircraft when the crew came out...

America's fight against terror, seven years after the September 11th attacks AT THE most basic level the “war on terror”—a label many reject—over the past seven years has been successful. There has not been an assault on the American mainland since the September 11th attacks, remembered on their anniversary with a visit to “ground zero” by the two candidates for the presidency, Barack Obama and John McCain. But with two American-led wars in the Islamic world, al-Qaeda still thriving in Pakistan and imperfections in homeland security, the war has not been won. Nor will it ever be, in a conventional...

"A HATE fanatic has boasted that Muslims will one day conquer Britain — by having more BABIES. Speaking at a rally marking 9/11, Anjem Choudary bragged that a birth explosion would let followers of Islam take control of the country. Undercover Sun investigators secretly recorded Choudary telling a young and impressionable audience that they would eventually rule under strict Sharia law. And our team listened in chilled silence as he predicted: “Islam is superior and will never be surpassed. The flag of Islam will rise over Downing Street.” Lawyer Choudary also said it would be easy for vast numbers of...

The Barack Obama campaign is attacking rival John McCain for being computer illiterate. However, it looks like the Obama forces are the ones in need of a lesson in online research.In a new advertisement, Obama attempts to portray McCain as “out of touch” for not using a computer. However, according to Jonah Goldberg, writing at National Review, it only took a few minutes of “googling” to find out why the Republican doesn’t surf the net: “The reason he doesn't send email is that he can't use a keyboard because of the relentless beatings he received from the Viet Cong in...

The US military conducted another airstrike inside Pakistan's lawless tribal agencies. The target of the strike was an al Qaeda-linked group called Al Badar, which is run by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Unmanned Predator aircraft launched several missiles in the early morning at a target in the village of Tol Khel on the outskirts of Miramshah, the administrative seat of North Waziristan. Twelve members of Al Badar (or Al Badr) were reported killed and 14 were reported wounded in the attack, according to AFP. Al Badar is a Kashmiri terrorist group supported by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The group "is reported to have training...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 11, 2008 – More than 300 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and civilians gathered today at Camp Eggers here to remember the thousands of victims who lost their lives during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against America. Servicemembers of Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan salute the colors at a remembrance ceremony at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 11, 2008. U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Tim Newborn, Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Navy Chaplain (Cmdr.) Patrick McCormick, Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan’s command chaplain, gave the invocation commencing the remembrance ceremony....

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: As the American campaign against suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal areas seemed to intensify, two missiles fired from American pilotless drones killed 12 people Friday in an attack on a village compound in North Waziristan, according to a local journalist and television reports. At the same time, fighting between Pakistan security forces and militants elsewhere in the wild lands bordering Afghanistan killed 32 militants and two soldiers, The Associated Press reported, citing a Pakistan Army spokesman, Maj. Murad Khan. The missile strike was said to have taken place near Miranshah, the main settlement in...

9/11 is no longer a wedge issue that one side or the other can use as a political club. It has become part of our national story, awaiting perhaps a Scott Fitzgerald or Frank Capra to give the event a definitive place in our cultural treasure chest. September 11, 2001 belongs to all of us now in a way it didn’t just four short years ago. To dramatize that, John McCain and Barack Obama took a time out from campaigning on Thursday and visited Ground Zero in New York City. It was a simple gesture....

On ABC News's Political Punch blog, senior national correspondent Jake Tapper writes "Why Wasn't Michelle Obama at the 9/11 Ceremony?" Some readers have asked me why it was that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was without spouse at the 9/11 commemoration ceremony today in New York City. After all, they point out, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was accompanied by his wife Cindy. Where was Michelle? The Obama campaign responds that Michelle was back in Chicago with her daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, since this is the first week of school. The McCain kids, incidentally, have all graduated from high school...

It’s a small gesture, but gestures matter at the hallowed grave site of so many murdered innocent Americans. Barack Obama flings a memorial rose at Ground Zero like he’s a kid tossing pennies into a fountain at the shopping mall — or a spectator tossing flowers at a bullfight. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. (Clueless NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg copies him.) By contrast, John McCain and his wife kneel and gently, somberly, place their roses down at the foot of the 9/11 tribute. Tons of you e-mailed me about this. Here’s the vid for the rest of you who...

It was this latter incarnation of "neomedievalism" that proffered a cache of analogies about the "medieval" nature of contemporary non-state actors, including terrorists, which subsequently influenced the reasoning behind the legal judgments expressed by the authors of the torture memos as they set about demonizing the Taliban and al Qaeda...

Georgia attack is 'Russia's 9/11' Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has described Georgia's assault on South Ossetia as Russia's 9/11. He said the world had learnt lessons from the attacks in the US on 11 September 2001 and hoped the same would happen after events in the Caucasus. Reports say Russian troops are showing signs of preparing to pull back from inside Georgia. This is in line with a ceasefire deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday. However, a Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman cast doubt on the preparations, saying: "There has been no sign of a withdrawal." 'Changed world'...

Can't seem to find a quality image online anywhere. It's on the front page of the Des Moines register today.

KABUL (Reuters) -- At least 23 people were killed when Taliban insurgents ambushed a U.S. security firm convoy in southwestern Afghanistan on September 12, provincial officials said, in the second attack on the firm in as many days. Farah provincial police chief Khalilullah Rahmani said 15 of the dead were Taliban militants killed in the fighting that broke out following the ambush. Rahmani said U.S. Protection and Investigations, a firm involved in escorting supplies for coalition forces, also suffered casualties, but he had no details. "The Taliban militants attacked the convoy with heavy machine guns; four vehicles were set on...

An independent watchdog group says that Republican John McCain's campaign aired a negative TV ad on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but a tracking company says there's no evidence of that yet. The group Factcheck.org said Friday that the Campaign Media Analysis Group, an advertising data and analysis firm, found a negative ad from the McCain campaign airing on Denver television on Thursday. That would be a violation of the pledge both the Democratic and Republican camps took to take a one-day break from attacks and traditional campaigning. But Evan Tracey of CMAG said the company's data...

Yesterday we accompanied Mom and Dad to a September 11th memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City. Mom and Dad met with Senator Obama and they accompanied New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg to the temporary memorial that exists in the middle of the construction site where the towers once stood. It was a day of somber reflection and remembrance.

While ex-CIA analyst Michael Scheuer likened Osama bin Laden to figures such as Robin Hood and Saint Francis of Assisi in his 2004 book, Imperial Hubris, one would've assumed that with the publication of The Al Qaeda Reader in 2007, which presents a very different picture of bin Laden, based on his own words, that Scheuer, at the very least, would have stopped depicting the former as nothing more than a man with grievances fighting tyranny and oppression. Yet, according to this article, in his latest book, Scheuer is now presenting Osama's writings as being similar to Thomas Jefferson's! I...

Poll needs freeping before 5PM CST broadcast: Do you believe the country is safer 7 years after 9/11? Yes 48% No 56% Total: 50 votes

The various speeches, statements, and pontifications by the president and the political class arrayed around him on Thursday's seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon serve as a reminder that -- despite silly suggestions to the contrary -- nothing has changed. George Bush and Dick Cheney were running things on Sept. 11, 2001. And George Bush and Dick Cheney were still in charge on Sept. 11, 2008. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate were ridiculously deferent to Bush and Cheney on Sept. 11, 2001. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate...