紀念在9 /11事件中喪生的加拿大人 / In Remembrance of the Canadians Lost During the 9/11 Attack

Whenever I visit the Beechwood National Cemetery, I always drop by to see the memorial site in remembrance of the Canadians who lost their lives during the attack of the New York Trade Centre on Sept. 11, 2001. My last visit was on Feb 22 earlier this year. I am posting the photos I took on that bright winter day when all was quiet under the gaze of the stone angels.

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Osama bin Laden killed, Obama says
(CBC News Posted: May 1, 2011 10:58 PM ET Last Updated: May 2, 2011 2:42 AM ET)

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, is dead, ending a decade-long manhunt for the world's most-wanted terrorist, U.S. President Barack Obama announced Sunday night.

"I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children," Obama said during a statement televised live from the East Room of the White House late Sunday evening.

The president said that he had met repeatedly with his national security team since August and that they received information that bin Laden was hiding in a compound in Pakistan. Then last week it was determined that the U.S. had enough to take action, he said.

"Today at my direction," Obama said, the U.S. launched a targeted attack against that compound in Abbottabad, which is about 150 kilometres north of Islamabad, and that bin Laden was killed in a firefight. The U.S. has his body, he said.

"Justice has been done," the president said.

U.S. officials said four helicopters carrying CIA paramilitaries and a Navy SEAL team attacked bin Laden's compound; an Abbottabad resident said the raid took place at 1:30 a.m. local time.

Following the attack, Pakistani television broadcast pictures of flames shooting from the roof of bin Laden's two-storey house in the night sky.

The development comes just months before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York and Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The four airplane hijackings orchestrated by bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization killed more than 3,000 people.

The attacks set off a chain of events that led the U.S. into wars in Afghanistan and then Iraq, and America's entire intelligence apparatus was overhauled to counter the threat of more terror attacks at home.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said bin Laden's death will "bring some closure and comfort to all those who lost loved ones" on Sept. 11.

In New York City, celebrations broke out in Times Square and people began to gather at the site where the World Trade Center towers stood. The site is now a construction zone where a memorial and new tower are being built.

As news of bin Laden's death spread, crowds also began to gather outside the White House. After Obama confirmed the death, the crowd burst into chants of "U.S.A."

George W. Bush., who was president when al-Qaeda attacked the U.S., said the fight against terror continues "but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."

In Abbotsford, B.C., Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted that 24 Canadians died in the Sept. 11 attack. He said the death of the bin Laden "secures a measure of justice for those Canadians and their families."

"Bin Laden's death does not end the threat of international terrorism," Harper said. "Sadly, others will take his place."

Al-Qaeda was also blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 231 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.

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