Remarks by Obama and Bush during 9/11 ceremonies
Former first lady Laura Bush, former president George W. Bush, first lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama walks down steps after Obama spoke at the Ground Zero memorial. (Sept. 11, 2011) Credit: James Carbone
Remarks by President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush during the tenth anniversary ceremony of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
President Obama read from Psalm 46:
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear,
even though the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea.
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake
with its swelling,
there’s a river
whose streams shall make glad
the City of God,
the holy place of the Tabernacle
of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her.
She shall not be moved.
God shall help her
just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged,
the kingdoms were moved.
He uttered his voice.
The earth melted.
The Lord of Hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come behold the works of the Lord
who has made desolations in the Earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the Earth.
He breaks the bough
and cuts the spear in two.
He burns the chariot in fire.
Be still and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted in the Earths.
The Lord of Hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Former President George W. Bush read one paragraph from the letter from Abraham Lincoln to Lydia Bixby, who was believed to have lost five sons during the Civil War.
“I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom,” Lincoln wrote.
