Congressional leaders honor Sept. 11 victims

Members of Congress took a break from politics Thursday at a rare, solemn outdoor ceremony marking the seventh anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The half-hour ceremony featured leaders from both parties taking turns honoring the victims who died at World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on United flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, and talking about how that dark day had served to unite the country.

{mosads}A sizable audience, as well as much of the Senate and a smaller percentage of House members, attended what was mostly a quiet ceremony punctuated by brief bursts of music from a military band and a sprinkling of emphatic shouts from Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.).

Speakers focused much of their remarks on the doomed journey of United 93, whose passengers thwarted hijackers’ attempt to fly a plane into the Capitol dome by causing the plane to crash in Shanksville, Pa.

“We were spared because seven years ago today, a handful or ordinary Americans found they owned unthinkable heroism,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). “Because an airplane spiraled out of the sky into a Pennsylvania field 150 miles away, they saved us. They saved that dome.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was among those who noted that the 2001 attacks were responsible for uniting the country, despite the intentions behind them.

“They had hoped we would remember that day and their terrible deeds with fear and confusion and doubt. And of course this day will always be a day of sadness for Americans,” McConnell said. “But Sept. 11 has also become a day of solemn pride for our country … Though surely sad, we find new confidence in the strength and the goodness of America.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) contributed similar sentiments, noting that the terrorists “had hoped our nation would crumble as quickly as the buildings they destroyed.”

“But they soon discovered that America’s resolve cannot be measured by the strength of our stone, our cement or our steel,” Reid said. “Our resolve was and has been demonstrated by the first responders and volunteers who saved lives, cared for the wounded and comforted the grieving.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) recalled a speech by President Abraham Lincoln in which Lincoln referred to “the harsh artillery of time” that can dull memories of past tragedies.

“But there is no harsh artillery of time that will dull our memory of the events that happened that day,” Pelosi said.