Virtually all other world news, including the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, was displaced this week by the dramatic announcement by President Barack Obama on late Sunday night that American Special Forces – widely speculated to be Navy SEALs – had stormed a mansion in Abottabad, Pakistan and killed Osama bin Laden: leader of the terrorist organization al Qaeda; mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed more than 3,000 people, and the world's public enemy #1.
Four days after the news of bin Laden's death, President Obama visited Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, where he met with family members of 9/11 victims and laid a wreath of red, white and blue flowers at the 9/11 memorial.
National Underwriter was in the crowd, among the thousands of New Yorkers who turned out to see the President and to share in a unique event where what is often termed "the saddest part of New York" turned, if only briefly, into the happiest.
0
1. Security
-
- Security was tight with a noticeable police presence. In addition to a small army of NYPD and Port Authority uniformed officers, numerous plainclothes officers mingled with the crowd. The Secret Service was also out in force. Sharpshooters were stationed on rooftops, but were not visible from ground level.
[]
-
- A uniformed NYPD officer mingles with the crowd before President Obama's arrival.
[]
-
- K-9 units were also on hand, barking mainly at photojournalists who made it past the security barrier.
[]
-
- Even for New York's finest, the scene was a bit out of the ordinary.
[]
-
- As President Obama's arrival grew near, the Secret Service appeared in force, scanning the crowds and on high alert. Even when photographed from a distance, the Secret Service agents had an almost supernatural ability to sense they were being observed and homed in on anyone paying special attention to them.
[]
[]
2. The media
-
- Television crews set up at the intersection where President Obama's motorcade passed both on the way to and on the way from the 9/11 memorial.
[]
-
- Print, radio, television and online media were out in force, filming the crowds but also getting reactions and 9/11 stories from bystanders.
[]
-
- National Underwriter associate editor Michael K. Stanley interviewed a number of bystanders on how 9/11 changed their views on the need for preparedness. Several people noted that immediately after the 9/11 attacks, they reviewed – and usually upgraded – their personal life insurance. One man said that it took 9/11 to make him realize that the group life he got from work simply was not sufficient for his planning needs.
[]
[]
3. Opinion
-
- While the mood at Ground Zero was a mixture of relief, celebration and reverence, not everyone felt those emotions equally.
[]
-
- "Obama got Osama! God bless the Navy SEALs!"
[]
-
- This international relations student told the Associated Press that she felt Osama bin Laden should have been captured and tried, rather than killed. "It bothered me when people cheered that the Towers fell," she said, "and it bothered me when people in this country cheered that bin Laden was dead."
[]
-
- For many of the people in the crowd, the death of bin Laden re-opened emotional wounds from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
[]
-
- Evidence still remained from the night when President Obama announced bin Laden's death, prompting late-night celebrations in lower Manhattan.
[]
-
- Handmade signs like this one were commonplace across the scene, where the mood was clearly in favor of the President.
[]
[]
4. We will rebuild
-
- Meanwhile, construction continues on the Freedom Tower, scheduled for completion by Sept 11, 2011.
[]
-
- Construction crews are working around the clock to complete the Freedom Tower on time. While crews are working double shifts, stopping only for mandatory rest breaks, they are adding one floor each day to the building.
