[Fredricka Whitfield, Cnn Anchor:] Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in today for Kyra Phillips at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
[Whitfield:] September 11th, 2008, at Pentagon, at Ground Zero, on a quiet field in Pennsylvania. The nation remembers and vows never to forget.
[Unidentified Male:] There will be no medical services. There will be no fire department. There will be no law enforcement, groceries, gasoline, drugs, electricity.
[Whitfield:] A Texas sheriff lays it on the line as Hurricane Ike surges towards the Texas Gulf Coast. Hundreds of thousands of people are being urged, warned, or ordered, to get out.
[Unidentified Female:] I think this is a capitalistic society, and I just want to capitalize on this.
[Whitfield:] A future family counselor hopes to raise money for grad school by selling what she'd probably lose anyway. Commerce with a purpose, this hour. We begin with bells and bagpipes, tears and prayers and silence. Seven years after nearly 3,000 people died in barbaric acts of terror, Americans relive the pain and renew their resolve.
[Music: "taps") (music:] "AMAZING GRACE"]
[Whitfield:] This September 11 once again the nation focuses on Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon. Here at the Pentagon the anniversary is marked with a permanent, newly-dedicated memorial. Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, joins us now Jamie.
[Jamie Mcintyre, Cnn Sr. Pentagon Correspondent:] Fredricka, seven years to the hour after terrorists crashed a jetliner into this building behind me, a memorial was dedicated at this attack site to the 184 victims. It was quite a scene this morning as President Bush, flanked by his wartime defense secretaries, stood silently as an honor guard made up of all the services removed the blue shrouds from the 184 individual benches that make up this memorial, to officially dedicate it to the memory of those who lost their lives, and those who fought in the wars since then. The memorial is laden with symbolism. The benches are designed, are lined in the path that the plane took into the building. They point either toward or away from the building, depending on whether the person died on the plane or in the building, and it's designed as a place of quiet contemplation. It was something that was recognized today in the remarks by President Bush as he dedicated this hallowed ground.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] Seven years ago at this hour, a doomed airliner plunged from the sky, split the rock and steel of this building, and changed our world forever. The years that followed have seen justice delivered to evil men in battles fought in distant lands. But each day on this year each year on this day, our thoughts return to this place.
[Mcintyre:] The real intent and design of this memorial is to make sure that the events of September 11 are never forgotten, as generations to come, come to visit this site. Right now behind me there's still some family members and members of some of the survivors who are getting a close-up look at the individual aspects of the memorial. Later tonight it will be open to the public, and from now on it will be open. The Pentagon expects that somewhere between one and two million visitors a year will come to this site of where the United Air excuse me, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building seven years ago Fredricka.
[Whitfield:] All right. Jamie McIntyre, thanks so much, from the Pentagon there. Well, time clearly hasn't healed all the wounds from that hellish day, but it has made the nation less afraid, apparently. A CNNOpinion Research poll shows just 30 percent of Americans believe a terror attack on U.S. soil is likely in the next several weeks. That's the lowest percentage since 911. But President Bush, by and large11. Sixty percent say he is not. Well, the hunt for al Qaeda remains as urgent, unfinished and far-flung as ever. CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena brings up to up to date now.
[Kelli Arena, Cnn Justice Correspondent:] For years we've been told that terrorists are hiding out on that porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
[Bush:] These extremists are increasingly using Pakistan as a base.
[Arena:] but what you may not know is that's not the only safe haven being used by al Qaeda. Last year powerful explosions leveled the U.N. headquarters in Algiers, the work of al Qaeda operating out of North Africa.
[Craig Whitlock, "washington Post":] The area is remote, is desert, or mountainous, and it's very easy for these al Qaeda sympathizers or al Qaeda cells to train, meet regroup in these these territories.
[Arena:] Algeria is part of the region known as the Margrave, the swath of Muslim North Africa stretching from Mauritania to Libya. This terrorist safe haven is particularly worrisome to U.S. officials. Europe is a boat ride across the Mediterranean. Get to Europe and the door to America is wide open.
[Frances Fargos Townsend, National Security Contributor:] Then you're a six-hour plane ride. And in many of the visa waiver countries, you don't even need documentation to get on that plane. And we know what happens when bad guys get on planes.
[Arena:] In places where government is weak or poor or struggling to control remote areas, al Qaeda is finding refuge and striking new alliances. Take Yemen. It was there that journalist Craig Whitlock snapped these photos of Djibaro Bana, one of the world's most wanted terror suspects, walking right past disinterested policemen.
[Whitlock:] This weak central government, it's an easy area, comparatively, for Islamic extremists to rebase themselves and conduct secret operations.
[Arena:] By expanding its footprint and joining forces with local extremists, al Qaeda is upping the number of jihadists who have adopted its mission of targeting the west. [on camera] The war on terror is more like a global game of Whack-a-Mole. As long as al Qaeda keeps expanding, America's hammer has no choice but to follow. Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
[Whitfield:] Well, the presidential election may be just 54 days away, but on this day politics is on hold. Barack Obama and John McCain plan to stand together at Ground Zero today. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us with more on that. Suzanne, they'll be standing together, but will there also be words exchanged?
[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, they're not expected actually to give any speeches but, of course, the two of them will probably exchange some pleasantries. Both of their campaigns have said they're going to suspend the campaigns, suspend the kind of animosity that we've heard over the last couple of days and even weeks between them, and they're going to walk together between 3:30, 4:30 and lay a wreath. Their campaigns say this is a time not to emphasize partisan politics, the Democrat, Republicans, but a time to emphasize that we are all Americans. They've even pulled some of their negative ads from the television, at least for this particular day. Now, what this really shows, and it exemplifies President Bush, his views since the September 11 attacks just really shaped and almost defined his presidency and his legacy. So it's made national security a top issue for many voters. And the contrast between these two candidates couldn't be even couldn't be more clear, Fredricka. So you're going to hear in the coming days, obviously, Barack Obama as well as John McCain talking about national security. Barack Obama really making himself the candidate of the anti- war candidate, if you will. His agenda very, very different than McCain's. He talks about how he's his first mission as commander in chief, that he would bring an end to the Iraq war. He says he'd pull pull out those combat troops, within about 16 months. That is his goal. One or two brigades a month or so, so that this would be wrapped up by 2010, summertime. He also has talked about this notion of aggressive diplomacy, and that is speaking to the leaders of Iran and even Syria. As you know, he got a lot of criticism for that, but he believes that that is a way of bringing peace to the Middle East. He is going to be focusing, bringing those troops home from Iraq and redeploying them to Afghanistan. He believes that President Bush has failed in making the American people safer, and that is his approach to national security Fredricka.
[Whitfield:] All right. Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much. From hallowed ground there, Ground Zero. Well, even on this day, running mates, particularly Sarah Palin, remains in the spotlight. Well, she left Alaska two weeks ago as governor and a relative unknown nationally. Well, she returned as the Republican vice-presidential nominee and a relative rock star.
[Unidentified Male:] Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!
[Whitfield:] This was the scene, more than 2,000 people showing up last night in Fairbanks to welcome Palin back home. Today she sits down for her first media interview since John McCain put her on the GOP ticket. Also on her agenda today, Palin attends an Army deployment ceremony at Fort Wainwright. Her 19-year-old son, Track, is headed to Iraq. Well, the clock is certainly ticking in Texas, with Hurricane Ike heading that way. The state is shifting its emergency preparations into high gear now. We'll find out what's happening as this big storm moves even closer. And on this seventh anniversary of 911, we'll check in at the New York Stock Exchange, which paused to remember the victims of this national tragedy.