Bush to Honor Sept. 11 Victims on Anniversary

For nearly 14 hours next Wednesday, President Bush will immerse himself in somber ceremonies marking the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

He will begin the commemoration at a private church service in Washington. He will end the day with a televised speech to the nation from New York, the White House announced Tuesday.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush would use the speech to offer a tribute to those who lost their lives in the terrorist strikes, capping what Fleischer said would be a “solemn day of remembrances.”

But beyond the salute to the roughly 3,000 victims, the speech will offer Bush an opportunity to reconnect his presidency with the strong emotions of patriotism and nationalism that the attacks aroused.

The White House has been preparing for the first anniversary of Sept. 11 for several months, arranging a presidential itinerary that will take Bush to memorial services at the three places where hijacked airliners crashed that day--the Pentagon, a field near Shanksville, Pa., and the World Trade Center site in New York.

As a political event, the route the president will follow should underscore the distance the country has traveled, emotionally and militarily, over the last year. The raw shock sparked by the attacks gave way to a military operation that overthrew the Taliban regime that harbored Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, a shadowy war against terrorism and an unease at home about the country’s vulnerability to new attacks.

On Sept. 12, Bush will turn his attention squarely to the future: In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Bush is expected to set his international agenda for the coming year.

The forum will provide him with a key opportunity to make the case among international leaders for quick action to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.

The address has taken on a particular aura of importance, because at nearly every turn on the international stage, the Bush administration has encountered doubts from some of its closest allies--and in many cases outright opposition--as it seeks support for what could turn into a war with Iraq.

By contrast, the speech the night before from New York will be targeted to the domestic audience, placing Bush in a role familiar to the nation--that of a president seeking by example and carefully crafted words to heal a wounded national spirit.

His speech, to be delivered at 9:01 p.m. EDT, will be his most extensive remarks that day.

After the morning church service at a site yet to be announced, Bush is to return to the White House, arriving in time for a moment of silence with members of his staff assembled on the South Lawn. He will then travel across the Potomac River to the Pentagon, for a memorial observance there.

Then, at midday, he will attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pennsylvania crash site, and in the late afternoon he will do the same at ground zero in Lower Manhattan.

Fleischer said the speech, to be delivered during prime time in much of the country, will offer a reminder of “how our United States stands strong throughout the world in promoting liberty.”

Montague Kern, an associate professor of political communication at Rutgers University, said she expects it will serve Bush’s advantage to deliver “a symbolic speech rather than a policy speech,” saluting heroism and American values of sacrifice.

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President’s Plans for 9/11

President Bush’s schedule for the Sept. 11 commemoration:

7:45 a.m. Attend private church services in Washington.

8:46 a.m. Observe moment of silence at the White House, coinciding with the moment of impact last year of the first hijacked airliner into the World Trade Center.

9:30 a.m. Attend an observance at the Pentagon.

12:35 p.m. Wreath-laying at the Pennsylvania crash site.

4:30 p.m. Wreath-laying at ground zero in New York.

9:01 p.m. Televised address to the nation, from New York.