Bush to Give 9/11 Address

President Bush plans to deliver a speech to the nation from the Oval Office on Monday, the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, to reflect on what the terror strikes meant to the nation and to address what the United States still needs to do to fight terrorism, his spokesman said Friday.

The speech, at 6 p.m. PDT, will conclude Bush’s participation in two days of commemorations of the attacks, which reshaped his presidency as well as the nation’s foreign and intelligence policies.

Before delivering the speech, Bush will take part in memorial ceremonies Monday at all three sites where hijacked planes crashed on Sept. 11, 2001 -- in New York City, in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said Bush’s address would avoid a partisan tone.

“This is not a political speech. There are not going to be any calls to action for Congress,” Snow said at a White House news briefing. “It will be a reflection of what Sept. 11 has meant to the president and to the country, the realities that it has brought to all of our attention, and how we can move forward together to win the war on terror.”

On Sunday, Bush is scheduled to take part in two ceremonies in New York City: The presentation of a wreath at ground zero, where the World Trade Center towers stood, and a worship service at a nearby church. He is not expected to make formal remarks at either event, Snow said.

The next morning, the president will have breakfast with New York City emergency crews; observe a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., when the first of two airplanes struck the trade center; and take part in a formal commemoration of the attacks.

From New York, he will fly to Pennsylvania to visit the site near Shanksville where United Flight 93 went down after passengers tried to seize control from hijackers. At midafternoon, he will present a wreath at the Pentagon, which was struck by a fourth airplane.

The speech Monday evening will be the fifth address in 12 days Bush will have delivered on terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The previous speeches have delineated his policies, setting out markers that differentiate them from those of Democrats, without naming the opposition party.

Snow said the speech Monday “is not something where we’re trying to draw bright lines to separate Democrats from Republicans.”

Rather, he said, Bush would try to draw on the way the country responded to the attacks, which Snow said was “nothing short of sensational, and it’s something that could only have happened in this country.”

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james.gerstenzang@latimes.com