Obama: 'We Will Never Forget'

The AP reports:

On a mission to bury the memory of Osama bin Laden by honoring those who died in the fiery Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, President Barack Obama on Thursday visited firefighters and police who lost colleagues at New York's Ground Zero and then laid a wreath at the site.

"When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say," he said in brief comments to the firefighters and others at the station he visited in New York's theater district. The station lost 15 men during the attacks.

In his brief remarks, the president never mentioned bin Laden's name.

At Ground Zero, Obama laid the wreath at the foot of the so-called Survivor Tree, which sustained damage during the attack but was freed from the rubble.

The president closed his eyes and clasped his hands at the outdoor memorial where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once dominated the Manhattan skyline.

He shook hands with 9/11 family members and others dressed in black at the site where the skyscrapers were brought down by planes commandeered by bin Laden's followers. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

Among those attending the wreath-laying ceremony were New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Port Authority Chairman David Samson. Uniformed officers from the FDNY, NYPD and Port Authority also stood at attention along the pathway to the Survivor Tree. Other elected officials from the New York area and a group of 9/11 families also viewed the ceremony.

Obama was greeted by more than 1,000 well-wishers when his motorcade arrived at Ground Zero. Some screamed, jumped up and down, waved and flashed “V” signs with their fingers.

The president later held private talks with some 60 families of 9/11 victims.

At the Pentagon, Vice President Joe Biden laid a memorial wreath.