(MENAFN- The Peninsula) US President Barack Obama yesterday warned Americans "do not give in to fear" as he marked the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, hours after summoning his weary nation to a new war on Islamist extremism.
Obama and his wife Michelle solemnly observed a moment of silence at the White House, and then travelled to the Pentagon - where a hijacked passenger jet plowed into the US military headquarters as Al Qaeda brought horror to the US homeland in 2001.
The president said terror cells that turned four jetliners into fuel-laden bombs had done more than try to destroy signature US buildings, including the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York.
"They sought to break our spirit and to prove to the world that their power to destroy was greater than our power to persevere and to build," Obama said. But the president said Al Qaeda had underestimated US endurance. "We carry on because as Americans we do not give in to fear. Ever."
The 13th anniversary of the attacks - which killed nearly 3,000 people and pitched the United States into wars in Afghanistan, eventually Iraq, and a perpetual struggle against global terrorism - was particularly poignant. Only hours before, Obama delivered a national televised address in which he told Americans he intended to pursue a new, open-ended campaign against extremism in the Middle East, targeting Islamic State militants.
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