Obama on the Anniversary of September 11 Attacks: Extremist Groups Will Never Defeat America

Barack Obama, at the ceremony marking the fifteenth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, stated that the diversity of American society has always been one of its greatest strengths, both on that day when it was targeted and at all other times. Mr. Obama, attending the anniversary as President of the United States for the last time, will hand over to the 45th President of the United States in January of next year. Barack Obama urged his fellow citizens to remain loyal to their national identity as a people who have gathered under one flag from all corners of the world, regardless of religion or ethnicity. He stated that extremist groups will never be able to defeat America. The President spoke in front of hundreds of soldiers, relatives of victims, and survivors of the attack on the Pentagon, one of the targeted locations. In his speech, the President said that extremist groups like Al-Qaeda or the 'Islamic State' know they can never bring America down, so they focus on instilling fear among the citizens of this country; a fear aimed at forcing Americans to change their way of life. He added, 'We know that diversity and the heritage stemming from the diversity of [the American people] is not our weakness; it has always been one of our greatest strengths... This is the America that was targeted on that September morning. This is the America we must remain loyal to.' Obama also highlighted other attacks in Boston, San Bernardino, and Orlando, emphasizing that terrorists typically attempt small but deadly attacks. A day earlier, Barack Obama had honored the victims of the September 11 attacks in a radio message, stating that since then, the nature of terrorist threats has changed, but the core values that have made America great and resilient remain intact. The President began and ended his remarks at the Sunday ceremony with a passage from the 'Proverbs of Solomon' from the Old Testament: 'Never let mercy and loyalty depart from you. Bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.' In total, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives after Al-Qaeda members hijacked planes 15 years ago on this day, attacking the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, and due to the crash of a plane in Pennsylvania that was heading to Washington. Barack Obama observed a minute of silence at the White House at 8:46 AM, the moment the first plane hit one of the towers in New York.