A minute's silence will be observed across the city, the focus of the attacks, at 8.46 am (4.46 am GMT), the exact time when the first hijacked plane crashed into World Trade Center's north tower. Prayers will also be said for 9/11 victims in churches across the country.
In one of many special ceremonies throughout the U.S., the names of those who perished in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as on board the ill-fated United Airlines Flight 93, will be read out by survivors, rescue workers, and family members of the deceased at a site near Ground Zero. The former site of the World Trade Center was unavailable for the ceremony due to construction work.
The 9/11 attacks orchestrated by the terrorist group al-Qaeda remain fresh in the minds of all Americans, not just New Yorkers. According to a recent survey carried out by the U.S. social research company Zogby International, 81 percent of U.S. citizens consider the day to be the most significant historical event in their lives. Sixty-one percent of Americans said that they think about the attacks "at least once a week," while 16 percent that they think about them "every day".
However, reflecting growing disillusionment with the White House, 44% of respondents said they believe President George W. Bush exploited the attacks to justify the invasion of Iraq. Furthermore, a mere third of New Yorkers now consider the decision to invade, to "wage a war to save civilization," as President Bush put it, to have been the correct one.
Al-Qaeda is also reported to have marked the date of its largest terrorist operation so far with the release of a video clip showing the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin-Laden. In the footage, released on an Islamist website, bin Laden praises Waleed al-Shehri, a Saudi born 9/11 hijacker. He also calls on Americans to convert to Islam, mocks U.S. democracy, and criticizes the country over the Iraq war.
