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US President George W. Bush, taking part in a series of low-key events marking the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Thursday a videotape of Osama bin Laden reminded the United States that "the war on terror goes on."
"His rhetoric is trying to intimate, and create fear, and he's not going to intimidate America," Bush said after visiting US soldiers wounded in Iraq at an Army hospital in the Washington area.
"We are at war because of what he and his fellow killers decided to do two years ago, and we will stay at war until we have achieved our objectives," he said.
Bush said US officials were still analyzing the video broadcast on Al-Jazeera TV on Wednesday to assess its authenticity. The video showed bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, walking down a rocky path in a mountain area.
CIA analysts said they were confident that an audiotape accompanying the video footage contained the voice of al-Zawahri, but were not yet sure about the purported voice of bin Laden.
In the audiotape, the voice identified as bin Laden praised the Sept. 11 hijackers. Al-Zawahri, meanwhile, declared that "the battle with the Americans has not yet started."
Earlier, Bush started his remembrance activities by attending an early-morning prayer service followed by a moment of silence outside the White House.
Bush and his wife Laura took part in the prayer service at St.John's Church across from the White House. Secretary of State Colin Powell and FBI Director Robert Mueller, along with White House deputy chief of staff Harriett Miers, read from scriptures.
"Today our nation remembers. We remember a sad and terrible day, September the 11th, 2001," Bush told reporters outside the church after the service. "We remember lives lost. We remember the heroic deeds. We remember the compassion and the decency of our fellow citizens on that terrible day."
At 8:46 a.m. (1246 GMT), the moment the first hijacked plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York two years ago, Bush was joined by Vice President Dick Cheney and more than 1,000 members of their staff for a moment of silence on the South Lawn outside the White House.
White House officials said the low-key remembrance by Bush was in keeping with his view that the day should be solely about the victims' families.
In the same token, Cheney scrapped plans to attend the ceremony at the site of the fallen World Trade Center towers at the request of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said he was concerned that the increased security measures required for vice presidential travel would have inconvenienced or delayed family members.
Members of Congress gathered outside the Capitol to sing "God Bless America," as they did just hours after the attacks two years ago. They also saluted passengers of Flight 93, which was believed to be heading toward the Capitol before crashing in a rural field in Pennsylvania.
The House of Representatives voted to set up a memorial in Washington to honor the victims of terrorist attacks at home and abroad. It also passed legislation to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Metal to emergency responders killed in the attacks.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld presided over a wreath laying ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery, not far from the Pentagon, to remember the 184 people killed when a hijacked plane plowed into the military headquarters. He then participated in a service at the Pentagon chapel.
More than 20,000 Pentagon workers fell silent at 9:37 a.m. (1337 GMT) to commemorate the moment when the Pentagon was hit by the hijacked plane.
(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2003)
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