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CNN Live Sunday

President Bush, First Lady Arrive at 9/11 Prayer Service; Remembrance for 9/11 at St. Paul's Chapel

Aired September 10, 2006 - 16:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In Bermuda, the 65,000 residents there are getting ready for hurricane Florence. Jacqui Jeras has an update.
(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right Jacqui, thank you so much.

I want to show you pictures now out of Lower Manhattan there where you are able to see the First Lady Laura Bush and the President Bush who have just arrived alongside New York Governor Pataki as well as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and of course Mayor Michael Bloomberg. All of them right now getting ready to make their walk to the sacred ground of Ground Zero there in Lower Manhattan, momentarily.

The president will also be laying two wreaths, one at each location of where the North Tower and the South Tower once stood. And then after making their solemn visit there to ground zero, they will be heading a few blocks away to St. Paul's Chapel which, at the time, shortly after 9/11, for eight months, it became sort of a refuge for many of the volunteers working in the recovery efforts of 9/11 where people were able to lay their heads to rest, get food, just assemble themselves after the grueling task of going through the debris of 9/11.

And there you are seeing that walk of the first lady and the president. Our Suzanne Malveaux has been traveling with the president, has been in position there at Ground Zero awaiting the arrival of the president. And Suzanne, give us a better idea of exactly what is to take place.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And Fred, actually I am watching the same pictures you are, but I have the vantage point of about 10 stories high, right across from Ground Zero.

Really right behind me is where you see the president, the first lady and of course top officials from New York making that walk. More than 100 yards or so at the end of that walk, you will see that is where the president and first lady are expected to lay a wreath. It is at the what is called the footprint of the North Tower. That is a small pool of water that represents the center of that building that once stood at that particular location.

And then also that's where they will go from the footprint of the North Tower, walking to a second pool of water. That is the footprint of the South Tower. That is where they will also lay a wreath there commemorating those who passed away, the victims of September 11th.

After that, they are expected to go to a church service, a prayer and remembrance service at St. Paul's chapel. It is really just right adjacent to the Ground Zero location and it is a very important location for many New Yorkers, because it was at that place that served as really rest and refuge for so many of the recovery workers, the hundreds of volunteers who worked around the clock to help the firefighters, the police, many of those people in the first eight months who were dealing with the tragic scene of Ground Zero.

Now, as you can see, they are walking towards what is the first footprint, that small pool of water that I noted before. And these are the kinds of pictures that the president and the White House clearly want Americans to see. It is one of remembrance, but also of resolve, a sense that this is a time in which this administration has worked very hard to protect the American people from another September 11th attack.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right Suzanne, and as we watch these somber moments there of the wreath being laid at that pool that you talk about being the footprint of the north tower let's listen in and we are going to bring in Deborah Feyerick who is also there.

After taking in that moment of silence being honored by the president and first lady, Deborah Feyerick is also there at Ground Zero.

Deborah, you had a chance to talk with the former fire commissioner earlier as you profiled this day and what it means to him. Give us an idea of the importance of the president and first lady to come here on the eve of the fifth anniversary of 9/11 to make this very poignant mark and occasion there at the North Tower before making their way over to the location of where the South Tower used to be.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, obviously it's important that president is here. So many of the families come each and every year to remember this particular day and really the pain does not diminish. Everybody moves on, but the pain still stays very strong, very consistent. You can hear some of the bagpipes, perhaps, just behind me. Those bagpipes are lined up just along the route.

To give you an idea of some of the things I am seeing, there's an honor guard there people standing attention all along the outside of really what is still what is a very large, empty space. You have got the two pools of water, very black water there, tomorrow families will come and they will lay flowers in those pools, a recollection of those people who have died. You have protesters who where on the other side of this area earlier today, they were here trying to make a statement.

They were arguing that this was all part of a large conspiracy. And the thing about that is that a recent, a Zogby Poll found that 42 percent of all Americans do believe perhaps this isn't what it just looks like, maybe perhaps there was some form of a government conspiracy. Of course, all of that knocked down by the 9/11 commission report but the feeling powerful indeed.

Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Deborah, thanks so much.

Let's listen in now as -- and respect the moment of silence that the president and first lady are about to take there, now at the South Tower.

You've been witnessing the somber occasion on the eve of 9/11, marked by the bagpipe there in the background, those sounds and the site of the president and first lady also joining some recognizable New York faces there.

The president and first lady laying those wreaths at the footprint of the north and south tower at the World Trade Center. Now they will be making their way a short distance to St. Paul chapel which immediately following 9/11, for eight months that location which we are now seeing the live pictures of, but that location, the St. Paul chapel served as a refuge and place of relief for many of the volunteers who worked on the recovery efforts there for eight months immediately following 9/11.

Just as in New York, across the nation's capital today, various events were marking the anniversary. In the fourth annual "Rattle the Runway" bikers rode to commemorate the heroes of 9/11 as well as the lives lost and people of different faiths joined together in a unity walk throughout downtown Washington. Gary Nurenberg is live in Arlington, Virginian with more on the day's events. Gary?

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, the Pentagon as an institution and as a larger sense as a family is determined to take proper tribute to those who died. It's doing so this evening with special ceremonies at the Pentagon and it's doing so in a permanent way, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NURENBERG (voice-over): Just outside the Pentagon construction began three months ago on a memorial to those who died here on September 11th.

DAVID LAYCHAK, LOST BROTHER IN 9/11: They are probably 50 feet from where they found my brother's body inside the building.

NURENBERG: Jim Laychak's brother David has his name on the memorial wall inside the Pentagon and Jim wears a bracelet with David's name but he wants that new memorial outside where people can sit and think.

LAYCHAK: I hope they come away with a feeling of hope and renewal and think about how each of these lives was special.

NURENBERG: The gaping hole in the Pentagon, the damage done by the impact and explosion were repaired quickly. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Initially there was a lot of anger. Most people working on the project we got over that pretty quickly, you threw yourself into the work.

NURENBERG: Working around the clock, doing three years in work in one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the last visible scar of the attack on the Pentagon.

NURENBERG: Now tourists walk by the spot marked with charred stone from the explosion and are moved to expressions both simple and profound.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To me it means freedom and patriotism of America and the blessings of America.

NURENBERG: Motorcyclists Sunday marked the anniversary by riding from Dulles Airport to the Pentagon, the beginning and end of Flight 77. In downtown Washington, Muslims, Christians and Jews marched in a unity walk and held religious services together.

On the National Mall the Heart of America quilt, a half acre American flag with individual panels of tribute was displayed as part of a day of remembrance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NURENBERG (on camera): There's a special service here tonight presided over by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It will happen after dark where 184 beams of light will penetrate the night sky. One beam of light for every victim who died here on 9/11.

Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Gary Nurenberg, thanks so much from Arlington.

The bravery of those on board United Flight 93 is being remembered as well. You will recall passengers and crew turned the tables on the hijackers and the plane went down in rural Pennsylvania. Instead of striking its intended target in Washington, DC. CNN's Bob Franken is live in Shanksville, Pennsylvania with more, with a significant gathering on this day before the five-year mark.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's been quite a significant gathering and this has become more and more a place that is off the beaten track here in Pennsylvania that people come and visit.

You can see over my right shoulder off there in the distance where the plane went down. That little white marking, that was an abandoned strip mine. And it came crashing down there instead of making its way about a half hour or less to Washington where the hijackers had intended to fly that plane into the White House or the Capitol. Because of the heroism of those on board it came down here and has made this a memorial where they commemorated each year and again, on this fifth year, the day before September 11th there was a service in a chapel set up not far from here.

The United Flight 93 chapel where there was a mass this morning that was held, including members of the families who decided that they wanted to participate in that, as they filter into this area to come and partake in the ceremonies that will mark the fifth anniversary of September 11th.

You can see in back of me the people who are here now. They are very quiet, of course, they are looking at what is here to mark that. This is a temporary memorial. They are also leaving different memorabilia that will be taken from here and stored in a museum. They are planning to build a permanent memorial. That is something in the works and is going to take years to do. Tomorrow the president will be here among others. He's going to be meeting with some of the families of those left behind by the heroes of United Flight 93.

Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Bob Franken, thanks so much from Shanksville.

And stay with CNN all day tomorrow for our distinctive coverage of the 9/11 anniversary. Then in primetime Paula Zahn is live from ground zero and at 8:00 Eastern. At 9:00 p.m. Wolf Blitzer leads our coverage of the president's prime time address scheduled by Larry King.

At 10:00 p.m., Anderson Cooper reports live from Afghanistan. But first ...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you go to sleep at night and you think about 9/11 what do you hope?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hate to say this but I hope when there's another incident I hope it's not here in New York City.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Up next CNN's Deborah Feyerick goes back at Ground Zero with the former chief of New York's Fire Department. CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The nation prepares to mark the fifth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. A CNN poll finds 85 percent of respondents say they feel sadness when they think back to 9/11. Forty-seven percent of those polled feel anger, 44 percent fear and 43 percent feel a need for vengeance.

The figures show an increase from negative emotions from a year after the attacks. One person who can certainly relate to those poll results is New York's former Fire Department chief Tom Von Essen. CNN's Deborah Feyerick has spent time with the former chief and she joins us now from ground zero. Deborah, I wonder what the overriding emotions are that are felt there.

FEYERICK: It's so interesting. There are people who sort of come here to protest against the war and protest what happened on 9/11, but also when you look down at the pit it's just still so empty and still so raw, almost as if it's a wound that has yet to heal. You look past and see the tall buildings you never have seen once the towers were here. There's a sense that there is still a lot needs to be done.

It's the same feeling I got when I talked to the commissioner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): These are the eyes of the man who narrowly escaped death on 9/11 only to see close friends die. These are the eyes of former fire commissioner, Tom Von Essen.

TOM VON ESSEN, FORMER FDNY COMMISSIONER: I can't find anybody from five rescues and seven squads. And it's a devastating thing. I don't know -- the Fire Department will recover, but I don't know how.

FEYERICK (on camera): Tell me about search for the firefighters and what stands out most in your mind to this day.

VON ESSEN: The fathers that were looking for sons, guys that I grew up on the job with. To see them lose their pride and joy, and to not even have their body to have a funeral and say good-bye to them. But to be searching for them for months.

FEYERICK: The site that you see in front of you, describe, if you were walking towards that site five years ago, what would you have seen?

VON ESSEN: It was just enormous pieces of twisted steel and concrete and dust everywhere. In the beginning we all thought we were going to find lots of folks underneath pieces of steel and heavy pieces of concrete, and a little bit of water and some air and we were going to rescue a lot of people and after the first 24 hours, we didn't save anybody.

FEYERICK: You went to so many of those funerals. After a while, what kind of a toll did that take?

VON ESSEN: Giving eulogies at 60 or 70 funerals, whatever it was. And looking at the young mothers in the first row and the parents of men that you knew. That was absolutely the worst part of it.

FEYERICK: There's always a question about the radios. Do you wish there had been different radios on that day, that things had just worked out better?

VON ESSEN: I have never felt that would lost a couple hundred lives more because of radios.

I do think there were people that didn't get the word to get out and better radios maybe would have gotten the word to more people.

FEYERICK: What is the one word you would use to describe that day, one word that just sums it all up?

VON ESSEN: Well, it's painful for me.

FEYERICK: What is the word you use today to describe how you feel now?

VON ESSEN: I would go back to probably the same word. But these folks can never move on. Because every day those buildings fall down. Every day they turn on the television, those buildings fall down.

FEYERICK: If there's one thing you can change from that day, what would it be?

VON ESSEN: I think I would send less people, less firefighters into the building.

FEYERICK: When you go to sleep at night and you think of 9/11, what do you hope?

VON ESSEN: I hate to say it, but I hope when there's another incident it's not here in New York City. I don't wish it on anybody, but I especially don't wish it on the firefighters of New York City and the people of New York City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VON ESSEN: And the fire commissioner, the ex-fire commissioner used his words carefully when he said "when" not "if" it happens again. And he was very emotional. As a matter of fact, he was able to keep it together during the course of our on camera interview, but the moment the cameras were off he pulled out his handkerchief and dabbed his eyes.

So the emotions, the feelings, still very, very raw today. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And Deborah, I wonder since the Fire Department suffered so many losses, if, particularly tomorrow is there any special ceremony or way in which the Fire Department is trying to help one another get through tomorrow?

FEYERICK: There will be special ceremonies at various churches throughout the city. There was a ceremony at a church here on the corner of where the World Trade Center fell. And also one thing about the Fire Department, although they have been able to rebuild. The one thing they feel has always been missing in the last five years that is so many people with so many, many years of experience who died on that day. So while many were promoted, there's a sense that that gray hair that can pull you through these kinds of situations, that is gone.

Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Deborah Feyerick at Ground Zero.

Right there, live pictures at St. Paul's church, a special memorial service will be getting underway momentarily. The president and first lady are in New York and they will be in attendance at this ceremony. When it does begin, we will be taking you there live.

Stay with CNN all day tomorrow for our special coverage of the 9/11 anniversary. Then in primetime is live from Ground Zero at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, at 9:00 p.m. Wolf Blitzer leads our coverage of the president's primetime address, followed by Larry King and at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Anderson Cooper reports live from Afghanistan. CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues right after this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: We continue to receive I-Reports from across the country marking the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, here's a picture from Stephen Kosloff. It shows the lingering debris cloud after the Twin Towers fell. Stephen says he took the picture from a bike path and that people walking along were eerily quiet.

Daniel Daly sent us this image for last year's memorial from the World Trade Center. You can see the moon coming in representing the lights of where the Twin Towers once stood and here's a moving tribute, to all September 11th victims, Ron Gorman is bringing his light a candle September 11 memorial bus to New York on Monday. The bus is covered inside and out with the names and faces of all the fallen victims.

If you have photos or videos such as this, send it to us at CNN.com/ireport and stay tuned to CNN as we observe the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks with distinctive contributions of our viewers.

And right now we are taking you inside St. Paul's church, this special memorial service on the eve of the 9/11 attacks. You are looking at President Bush and the first lady lighting candles there as they are now lead to their seating area as they shake the hands of many people touched directly by the 9/11 attacks, five years ago.

Inside the church it's quite quiet as the president and first lady take their seats, but moments ago there was a bit of music that was being played for the people who have all taken their seats their inside St. Paul's before the memorial service gets underway.

(MUSIC)

WHITFIELD: You've been listening to the Trinity Choir there at St. Paul's Chapel. We'll have more of this special memorial service, right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In Lower Manhattan, just steps away from hallowed ground where the World Trace Center once stood, we rejoin the special memorial service at St. Paul's Chapel with the president and first lady in attendance.

(MUSIC)

WHITFIELD: You've been listening to the Trinity Choir. We're going to continue to monitor the memorial service there and take you back there live momentarily.

Meantime, on the eve of the five-year anniversary of 9/11, just about a half hour ago the president and the first lady were at Ground Zero. They laid wreaths where the two World Trade Center towers once stood. And then earlier this afternoon, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke at a firefighters' prayer service at the St. Patrick's Cathedral -- 343 firefighters were killed in the World Trade Center attacks.

Outside the nation's capital, more than 1,000 bikers held a ceremony near the same runway at Dulles Airport, where one of the planes took off. The bikers then rode to the Pentagon, the site of the second wave of attacks.

And along Washington's Embassy Row, an anniversary walk. National leaders of various faiths took part in the event, dubbed the Unity Walk.

A lasting tribute to 9/11 victims is on display across New York. Memory quilts, one includes pictures of those killed in the attacks in New York, Washington and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

And outside Dayton, Ohio, Boy Scouts helped placed more than 2,600 flags in a field in honor of the fifth anniversary.

The images of Ground Zero immediately after the 9/11 attacks, we all know what they look like. But through our I-Report, we are hearing from many of you who were there. Thomas Fletcher (ph) is a rescue medic who lives in Maine. He responded to calls for help at Ground Zero and snapped these photographs on September 12th. Fletcher was on the scene for three days and worked triage for other rescuers. He says he took the pictures because he says it's, quote, "history that had to be documented," end quote.

And if you have photos or video such as these, send it to CNN.com/I-Report and stay tuned to CNN as we observe the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks with distinctive contributions from our viewers.

For relatives of the victims of 9/11, the loss never fades. Mark Davis was among those killed when United flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center. Now his twin brother is speaking out for the first time. Mike Davis voices his concerns about air travel security to our Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were literally mirror images of each other. Mike Bavis and his twin brother Mark looked so much alike, at times only their clothing distinguished them. The two shared that special bond identical twins often talked about.

MIKE BAVIS, LOST IDENTICAL TWIN ON 9/11: We were very close. We spent so much of our time together, being in sports and really always together.

CARROLL: They grew up in Boston in a large, loving, Irish Catholic family, went to the same schools, played on the same hockey teams, even in College.

JACK PARKER, BOSTON UNIV. HOCKEY COACH: They did everything together. When we were recruiting them, there was a question of whether we were going to take both of them or we were only going to take one. There was no way they were going to split up and go to different schools.

BAVIS: We played together quite a bit. We were very lucky.

CARROLL: In 2001, Mark Bavis was working as a hockey scout for the Los Angeles Kings. On September 11, he boarded United Airlines flight 175 in Boston. His life and the lives of 64 others cut short when the plane hit the World Trade Center.

BAVIS: I got two children and my brother was a big part of all of my nieces' and nephews' lives. So I think that, you know, I look at that, and I know they have missed that. And that's tough.

CARROLL: For the first time since his brother's death, Bavis has agreed to talk publicly, motivated by anger over what he sees as preventable gaps in airline security and concern that Mark's death might have been in vain.

BAVIS: In my brothers eulogy encourages people to get back on planes. You know if I had known then what I know now, I don't know if I could make that statement.

CARROLL: Today Bavis is especially critical of the Transportation Security Administrations or TSA. He says they are withholding key documents relating to the 9/11 hijackings and are not open enough about their current security procedures.

BAVIS: I don't think being secretive, in terms of the performance, in terms of the job they're doing, is good for the American public. And I think if the American public knew before 9/11 that there was a threat, we would have been much better prepared to act when those people entered the planes. What we don't know is bad for national security.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clear bag.

CARROLL: The TSA says they provided information about their security operation to 9/11 families who requested it, redacting only the minimum necessary to continue to protect our aviation system. Bavis said that's not enough. He says there needs to be more federal oversight of the TSA and he's urging people to lean on their lawmakers.

BAVIS: Wherever you might be, red state or blue state, if you can't get engaged to learn more about what's happened since 9/11, then we're destined to have another terrorist act.

Get over, get over, get over.

CARROLL: Bavis now coaches hockey at his alma matter, Boston University. The ice is where he has some his fondest memories of his brother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bavis, backhand goal with one second left.

CARROLL: In the school's arena, an image, memorializing Mark shooting a championship goal.

(on camera): Is it OK for you to look at things like this.

BAVIS: Yes. I think that some are probably harder than others. I think that if you asked anybody in my family, we all have times that we feel like he's right there with us.

CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Jason Carroll's report first aired on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." And you can see the show weeknights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

Randi Kaye is here filling in for Carol Lin this evening to give a preview now of what's ahead.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well all this week we have been hearing Fred, as you know, very much about the air quality at Ground Zero, so coming up tonight at six, we're going to introduce you to two men. They were New York police detectives. They were partners for 11 years. They worked together side by side on the pile at Ground Zero. Now both of them are very sick. One of them has leukemia, the other one has double kidney failure. And they're not alone. There are thousands who say that they got sick from working in those conditions at Ground Zero.

We're also going to talk to an attorney who says he represents 8,000 people who also said they got sick at Ground Zero. And we'll also take you to Mount Sinai in New York City, which has a screening program for all of these people. We'll let you know what they're doing to try and figure out if there could possibly be a connection between cancer, these respiratory illnesses and the air at Ground Zero.

WHITFIELD: So many people impacted in so many different ways. Randi, thanks so much.

Well on this eve of the 9/11 anniversary, a look at the roots of terror in the mountains of Afghanistan. What changes have taken place there in the last five years? CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This special church memorial service continues at St. Paul's Chapel in the shadows of Ground Zero. And soon to follow the singing of God our father whose almighty hand will be Reverend Dr. James Cooper.

(MUSIC)

REVEREND DR. JAMES COOPER, ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL: Please be seated. Welcome to St. Paul's Chapel, a place of respite, love and hope, a house of prayer for all people where each of us equally is a guest in this holy place.

We gather with families to honor them and their loved ones. We gather as a city, state and national family. Our city represented by Mayors Bloomberg and Giuliani. Our state by Governor Pataki and Senator Clinton. The nation, of course, by President and Mrs. Bush.

And as we are all one nation under God, we worship this evening as a full interfaith community. Would you reflect with me on a memorial anthem, a traditional memorial anthem: I am the resurrection and the life said the lord. He that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live. And who so ever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Know that my redeemer liveth, that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though this body be destroyed, yet I shall see God. Whom I shall see for myself, mine eyes shall behold and not as a stranger for none of us liveth to himself and no one dieth to himself. For if we live, we live unto the lord. And if we die, we die unto the lord. Whether we live therefore or die, we are the lord's. Blessed are the dead who die in the lord, even so set the spirit, where they rest from their labors. Amen.

WHITFIELD: And more of our special coverage in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COL. TOM COLLINS, CHIEF U.S. MILITARY SPOKESPERSON: We know that there is a cell here in Kabul, at least one, whose primary mission is to seek out coalition or international troops and hit them with suicide bombs.

WHITFIELD: Colonel Tom Collins, the U.S. military's chief spokesman in Afghanistan talking about the growing violence there. Just weeks after the 9/11 attacks, U.S. forces struck back against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Five years later, our Nic Robertson files this progress report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Women still wear burkas, some men still choose to grow beards. There is still a very religious element in Afghanistan, but so many things have changed for people.

Just looking behind me over here, there's a construction site. It was never that way under the Taliban. This is a new hotel that I'm standing on here. Something new is being built over there and a look at the gardens over there, there's men working in the fields, they're making the gardens look pretty, they're watering the fields there. That wasn't happening under the Taliban.

The city feels different, it's brighter, cleaner, there is no doubt about it, there are still some very serious issues, security deteriorating for a start. There was a suicide attack that killed Paktia's governor, Governor Taniwal, killed his secretary, killed his bodyguard as well in the attack in Gardez. Three policemen were also wounded in that attack. And there was another suicide attack on Friday in Kabul, the most deadly since the Taliban were forced from power, is a significant increase and more than doubling on the number of suicide attacks last year, which last year it was up significantly on the year before.

On the eve of 9/11, Kabul is a far brighter place than it was five years ago under the Taliban, but there's no doubt in the past year or so the issues facing the government here or Hamid Karzai have grown and security is worse. The situation for the people, though, compared to five years ago is better.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And back now to the St. Paul's Chapel memorial service in New York for 9/11. Hear now the American Boy Choir.

(MUSIC)

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