By Kasim Ileri
WASHINGTON (AA) – President Barack Obama visited the Pentagon Sunday to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford accompanied Obama at the Pentagon, where more than 180 people were killed after the attack on the building during the string of attacks on Sept. 11.
During his address at the Pentagon Memorial, the president said he had been inspired by the resilience of the victims’ families.
“Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the table of your heart,” he said quoting scripture.
He called the day “difficult” but one that “reveals the love and faithfulness in your hearts and in the heart of our nation”.
Obama praised the diversity that exists in the U.S. and urged Americans not to let their enemies divide them noting that terrorist groups like Daesh and al-Qaeda try to terrorize the country in the hopes to “turn us on each other”.
“We know that our diversity, our patchwork heritage is not a weakness, it still and always will be one of our greatest strengths,” Obama said.
Obama also commended the U.S. military and American diplomats for their fight against al-Qaeda, which claimed responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Thanks to their extraordinary service” Obama said, “We delivered justice to Osama bin Laden”.
The U.S. military killed bin Laden in a raid in Pakistan in 2011.
Carter, in blunt terms, talked about “hammering” those who attack Americans and vowed to kneel those fighting America.
“Wherever they are, they will surely, no matter how long it takes, come to feel the righteous fist of American might,” Carter said.
