U.S. dedicates new memorial before 10th anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks
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Xinhua, September 11, 2011
The United States on Saturday dedicated a new national memorial to commemorate the victims of United Airlines Flight 93 who were killed after the plane was hijacked in the 9/11 terrorist attacks ten years ago and crashed into fields of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The memorial, with first phase being finished, stood on the very site where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Thousands of people, including families of the victims and visitors, gathered for Saturday's dedication. Vice President Joe Biden, along with former American presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were present at the ceremony.
While addressing the dedication, Biden honored the 40 victims of Flight 93, and Bush reminded the audience that 9/11 terrorist attacks demonstrated events that happen elsewhere can have an impact at home.
Legislation to build the memorial was introduced as early as 2002 in the U.S. Congress, but years later, it's still unfinished, and hampered by a lack of funds. Clinton bemoaned the situation and called for action. He said he would team up with House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner to seek bipartisan funding for completion of the memorial.
According to the Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign, the memorial is still 10 million dollars short of its 62 million dollars fund-raising goal.
The dedication took place as the country is hyper-vigilant against possible terror threats around 9/11 terror attacks' tenth anniversary that falls on Sunday. Senator Bob Casey from Pennsylvania told Xinhua that terror threats has "become part of our lives as Americans... and we are gonna be facing these kinds of threats for a long time."
"We are just gotta get used to that kind of reality," said Casey.
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