President Bush said that three years after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 memories have not faded. "We remember the images of fire, and the final calls of love, and the courage of rescuers who saw death and did not flee," Bush said in a national radio address September 11.
The president said the United States, in pursuing the war against terror, is safer now than it was three years ago, but not yet safe. He vowed that the United States would stay on the offensive until terrorists are defeated.
Soaring "Freedom Tower" and memorial to honor victims
Even while the pulverized wreckage of the World Trade Center smoldered in the days and weeks following the savage terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Americans looked at the gaping wound in the New York City skyline and looked to the future.
Until that morning, the 16-acre Twin Towers site had been among the most expensive and productive real estate on earth. Afterward the mass of twisted steel and smoking rubble was a cemetery --- the mortal remains of over three-quarters of the 2,749 people killed there have not yet been recovered, and likely will not be.
Recalls bravery of Flight 93 passengers who thwarted hijackers
Passengers who rose up against the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks exemplified the "steely resolve" that Americans must continue to show in fighting "an enemy of immeasurable cruelty," Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge says.
Ridge paid tribute to the passengers who perished when Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, during a memorial ceremony near the crash site on the third anniversary of what has become known simply as 9/11.
Architect Daniel Libeskind, center, unveils his plan for a 9/11 memorial to be built in Padua, Italy, Sept. 11, 2004. With him are the mayor of Padua, left, and Acting Undersecretary of State Patricia Harrison, right. (DoS photo) More
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Architect Daniel Libeskind, center, unveils his plan for a 9/11 memorial to be built in Padua, Italy, Sept. 11, 2004. With him are the mayor of Padua, left, and Acting Undersecretary of State Patricia Harrison, right. (DoS photo) 
