SILENCE, PRAYERS, PROTESTS LOCALLY

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Sep 11, 2007 | by ANDREA BROWN

Six years ago today, nearly 3,000 Americans were killed, and the United States was shaken as it had not been since the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. There were four planes hijacked by 19 men. The hijackers flew two planes into the World Trade Center buildings in New York and a third into the Pentagon in Washington. The fourth plane was brought to the ground in Pennsylvania by the passengers aboard Flight 93 before it could strike its intended target.

Planes crashed into tall buildings. Flames shot up like giant candles.

It hurt.

That's how students in Helen Ochs' fifth-grade class, then 4, recall Sept. 11, 2001.

They were old enough to know something was terribly wrong on that sunny day six years ago when the cartoons on TV stopped.

They were too young to grasp the news footage that replaced the cartoons -- graphic images repeated for days to come.

Today, these Divine Redeemer School students will mark the tragedy with a class visit from soldiers who have served in Iraq.

Observances around Colorado Springs on the sixth anniversary will range from moments of silence to anti-war protests.

Groups will picket defense contractors.

Flags will fly at half-staff.

Heads will bow in prayer.

For Ochs, the anniversary is a special lesson plan.

Monday, her students made thank-you cards for deployed soldiers and wrote questions in preparation for today's military guests.

"A lot don't understand why we are at war. I felt they need to be educated," Ochs said.

Students have a dichotomy of vague yet vivid memories of the 2001 attack.

"The twin towers collapsed. Everyone was screaming," Rachel Craft said.

"I wondered, 'Why'd they do it?'" Michael Tafolla said.

"I thought it was an accident," said Adam Bull. "When I got older, I learned more about it."

The school's church at 927 N. Logan Ave. will host a 2 p.m. nondenominational prayer service open to the public.

It will be a different scene on the sidewalks along Academy and Fountain boulevards.

Mark Lewis, spokesman for the Colorado Springs Action Alliance, expects about 60 people from various peace groups at today's banner- toting vigil from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Lewis said the targets are nearby companies such as Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin.

"We're going to protest where there happens to be a great many war profiteers and contractors," Lewis said.

"We all bleed with everyone else about the attack, but it's being used and exploited for foreign policy that is completely irrelevant to the attack and killed more U.S. soldiers than the number of people that died in the towers."

Many people will honor those who died on 9/11.

Some will pay respects at Memorial Park at the ring of honor monuments and Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial.

Colorado Springs firefighters will observe a moment of silence at 8 a.m. at all 20 stations in the city.

Air Force Academy cadets will have a flag-raising ceremony at sunrise.

People are expected to gather for a candlelight service at Acacia Park.

Schools will pay tribute to local victims.

Kathryn Yancey LaBorie, a 1975 Mitchell High School graduate, was a flight attendant on the United Airlines flight that crashed into the second tower.

Also killed that day was Nina Patrice Bell, a 1980 Doherty High School graduate who worked for an insurance brokerage firm in the World Trade Center.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0253 or andrea.brown@gazette.com PREPAREDNESS

EXPERT OPINION:

The U.S. government is better prepared to disrupt terrorist plots than it was six years ago, but the country continues to face a serious terrorism threat that could persist for a generation, top intelligence and counterterrorism officials testified Monday during a Senate hearing.

The four officials said that the government is better at collecting and analyzing intelligence, and that federal agencies have broken down many of the barriers that hampered communication.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the Osama bin Laden tape that surfaced last week refuted any notion that al-Qaida had "lost interest" in attacking Americans on their own soil.

He also announced new steps for screening crews, passengers and cargo on commercial and private aircraft and ships arriving from overseas.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said that there is already a problem with radicalization in the United States, and that the Internet makes recruiting people to the radical cause much easier. He said working with state and local law enforcement and reaching out to Muslim and South Asian communities is critical to root out violent extremists in U.S.communities.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said monitoring overseas conversations was key to catching the suspected German terrorists arrested last week. He stressed the importance of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and said the United States would lose half of the tools it uses to fight terrorism if lawmakers choose to roll back its powers.

PUBLIC OPINION

60 percent say the country is safer now than it was before 9/11.

About 50 percent are confident the U.S. government can prevent further terrorist attacks in this country.