Mixing grief and defiance, the US today marked the three-month anniversary of the terror strikes of September 11th as President Mr George W. Bush forecast victory in his war on terrorism.
At 8.46 a.m. (13.46 Irish Time), the exact moment when a hijacked airliner sliced into one of the towers of the World Trade Center, Americans in Washington, New York and around the world paused to honour the 3,300 people killed on a day of horror.
"Today, the wrongs are being righted, justice is being done," said Mr Bush. "We still have far to go, and many dangers still lie ahead, yet there can be no doubt how this conflict will end," Mr Bush said at a special ceremony at the White House.
In New York, firefighters, police officers and community leaders assembled in the crater where the World Trade Center stood, until its signature towers were levelled on September 11th.
A lone tenor sung Let There Be Peace on Earthbefore a priest, a rabbi and an imam addressed a solemn crowd, watched by New York mayor Mr Rudy Giuliani.
Bagpipers performed a rendition of Amazing Graceas cranes and the heavy machinery of construction workers excavating the site stood idle.
At the Pentagon, where another airliner ploughed into the US military headquarters, a US flag was unfurled in front of a gaping hole in one side of the building, where a massive reconstruction programme is under way.
AFP