US: The base of the Statue of Liberty reopened for visitors yesterday for the first time since the 9/11 attacks, though the spiral staircase to the crown remains closed, much to the anger of many tourists and politicians, writes Conor O'Clery in New York.
The reopening came on the heels of new terrorist warnings for New York, Washington and New Jersey, and US authorities thought of putting off yesterday's ceremony.
But the New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said that "to stay at home and lock our doors is exactly what the terrorists want".
The heightened terrorist alert since September 11th, 2001, means that getting into the statue now involves passing through security checks more intensive than at any US airport.
Those of us who arrived for the 9 a.m. Circle Line ferry yesterday had to take off belts and jackets and pass through metal detectors before boarding.
Then on the 12-acre island all visitors had to go through more magnetometers and an air-puffer to get into the base of the 120-year-old monument.
The air ruffles the clothes and is sucked into a spectrometry machine that can detect a few parts per trillion of explosives, and also - beware, counterculture fans - microscopic particles of narcotics.
In keeping with the times the slogan on the platform, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free", has been supplemented by flat-screen security monitors that exort visitors: "See something? Say something."
There is a panoramic view of Manhattan from the renovated 10-storey-high observation platform, and one can look up through a glass ceiling into the hollow iron skeleton of the statue, which sways six inches in high winds, a detail that always surprises visitors.
The torch 305 feet above the pedestal has been closed since 1916, when German saboteurs blew up a nearby ammunition dump and weakened the arm, but the closure of the remaining 192 steps to the crown has caused a furore.
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said the decision deprived people of one of the great experiences of New York and called for the resignation of Stephen Briganti, president of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation.
Last week the Senate Finance Committee criticised the foundation for poor management and excessive salaries, and for launching a $7 million campaign for renovation funds rather than dipping into its $30 million endowment.
Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York said scornfully: "Reopening her feet is no triumph", adding that the terrorists had been given a victory.
Park Service official Marie Rust defended the decision, saying it was a "terrible experience" to climb the stairs, which were narrow and not secure.
Neither Mr Schumer nor New York's other senator, Ms Hillary Clinton, were at yesterday's event, which featured only Republican figures: Mayor Bloomberg, the New York State Governor, George Pataki, and the Interior Secretary, Gale Norton, who stood uneasily beside Mr Briganti as his foundation blamed her for delays in the reopening.
The 152ft copper statue was a present from the French, but this historical footnote somehow barely got a mention in the ceremony.
This was heavy on patriotic symbolism with colour guards and army choirs and took place under the watchful eyes of heavily armed SWAT teams.
Governor Pataki recalled that all four of his Irish and Italian grandparents passed through the adjacent Ellis Island and "they recalled how the ship would list to one side as everyone crowded to see this statue."