Moving on?

Three years after the 9/11 atrocity, many Americans feel the time has come to move on -- except, that is, for the Bush administration, Khaled Dawoud writes from Washington

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Mourners embrace in Ground Zero

Two days before the third anniversary of the horrific 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, gigantic American flags suddenly emerged in scattered streets and in front of federal buildings in the capital of the United States.

But unlike the concomitant emotional and patriotic zeal showed by the majority of Americans three years ago when planes smashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the American flags were posted last week by local authorities and Republican Party activists who wanted to re-emphasise the core message of President George W Bush's re- election bid: he is the best and only candidate able to protect the nation against an attack similar to that of 11 September.

To deny charges that he was seeking to exploit the pain and fear Americans felt after the attacks in his campaign to win a second term in the White House in the 2 November elections, President Bush decided not to stage any major public appearances on Saturday, and did not pay a visit to the site of the twin towers, known as Ground Zero. However, instead of delivering his regular weekly address on radio, he chose to read out a comemorative speach, in front of television cameras, surrounded by firefighters and children who lost relatives in the terrorist attacks.

"Three years ago, the struggle of good against evil was compressed into a single morning," Bush said. "Time has passed, but the memories do not fade," he added. Bush had already made that point loud and clear earlier this month when he delivered his acceptance speech at the conclusion of the Republican National Convention in New York, saying he would "never forget the lessons of 9/11".

Choosing the city as a venue to hold the convention for the first time in the Republican Party's history, and delaying it to the latest possible date to coincide with the third anniversary of the 9/11 attacks were other obvious indications that the Republican strategists were aware that Bush's main asset in the electoral battle with his Democratic contender, John Kerry, was his image as a strong leader able to handle the ongoing "war against terror".

Stating that the 9/11 attacks were "a turning point for our nation", Bush stressed, "the US is determined to stay on the offensive, and to pursue the terrorists wherever they train, sleep, or attempt to set down roots." He also reiterated another cornerstone of his post-9/11 strategy: that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were "historic and essential" as first steps towards the "advance of democracy in the broader Middle East, because freedom will bring the peace and security we all want".

Disregarding all latest American and international opinion polls reflecting that the majority of Arabs and Muslim now hold deeply unfavorable views of the US, mainly because of Bush's unilateral policies and the Iraq war, he claimed that "when the peoples of the region are given new hope and lives of dignity, they will let go of old hatreds and resentments, and the terrorists will find fewer recruits."

The White House also released on Saturday a six-page document titled "Three Years of Progress in the War on Terror", recalling the "successes" the Bush administration achieved since the 9/11 attacks: toppling the regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, arresting or killing "three- quarters" of leaders of Al-Qaeda held responsible for the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, gaining the support of allies such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in the war on terror and showing determination in preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction which convinced Libya to voluntarily give up its own programmes.

Meanwhile, Kerry attended a memorial service in Boston, where the two planes which hit the World Trade Center had taken off from. Like Bush, Kerry avoided using the occasion to score points against his opponent, and stressed that he was also capable of leading the nation in its anti- terror war. "We are one in America in our prayers for those who were taken from us on 11 September and their families. And we are one America in our unbending determination to defend our country -- to find and get the terrorists before they get us."

After Bush's popularity received a clear boost from the Republican Convention, Kerry has been harshly criticising his opponent over his policies, both in Iraq and on the domestic level. Bush maintained nearly the same lead this week, although this came before the recent upsurge of violence in Iraq, which is likely to continue until the November elections.

Analysts here believe that unless the chaos and bloodshed in Iraq recedes soon, it would likely influence the outcome of the US elections, particularly after the number of US losses in Iraq passed the 1,000 benchmark last week.

But while the two presidential candidates saw in the 9/11 anniversary an opportunity to flex their muscles in the anti-terror war, a significant section of the American media was openly questioning whether the time has come to "get over" the 9/11 attacks, consigning it to recent history.

As the anniversary of the attacks came on a weekend for the first time, there were few signs in Washington and New York that many people were devoting the day to remembrance and grief. In the popular hangout of George Town in Washington DC, residents of the capital filled the streets, parks and restaurants, enjoying a beautiful sunny day. American football games were not cancelled, neither were weddings. And hardly anyone remembered that the nation remained officially on a heightened state of security alert, or colour orange, according to the colour-coded alert system introduced by US Attorney-General John Ashcroft last year.

Ashcroft raised the alert level to orange in early August after alleging that he received "credible" reports that Al-Qaeda might target financial institutions in Washington DC, New York City and Newark, New Jersey.

In a New York Times survey based on 339 detailed interviews with families and close friends of 9/11 victims, nearly half said they were aware that other people feel too much has been said about what happened on 9/11, and resent the attention paid to them. "They've got this idea we're all multimillionaires and why don't we just get over it, or life goes on," said William Wilson, husband of one of the victims. Indeed, the survey found out that the families continue to be divided on whether to accept money from the federal fund providing compensation, or to sue the government, possibly winning bigger money.

But the survey also found out that almost half of those interviewed still have a hard time getting a good night's sleep, very few who lost a spouse have remarried, and three quarters said they received counselling from a therapist. Two in five said life was not yet back to normal, one-quarter said it never would be and many said they were now more religious than before 9/11. When asked how concerned they were that another attack would take place in New York, three quarters said they were "very concerned". That compares to two-thirds of New York City residents who expressed a similar fear in separate opinion polls.

Some of the family members interviewed said they were also annoyed by the fact that the memory of the 9/11 attacks seems to be now confined to New York City, as opposed to other parts of the country where local channels hardly provided coverage of the anniversary or the reading of the names of over 2,700 victims by their parents. Others said they were offended by the fact that the area around Ground Zero had become a tourist attraction, with souvenir vendors trying to cash in on their grief.