President Obama Tells NY Firefighters Bin Laden’s Death Shows ‘We Never Forget’

ABCNews

President Obama told a New York City firehouse that lost 15 men on 9/11 that the death of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden showed the world “when we say: ‘we never forget,’ we mean what we say.”

The president stopped at the Manhattan firehouse, dubbed “The Pride of Midtown,” as part of his trip to Ground Zero, four days after bin Laden was killed in Pakistan.

Obama was greeted with warm applause from the men of Engine 54 and Ladder 4, the first of several stops in the city where he is meeting with those most touched by bin Laden’s plot that sent packed jetliners flying into the World Trade Center’s twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

“The president believes it’s appropriate and fitting to travel to New York this week in the wake of the successful mission to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, to recognize the terrible loss that New York suffered on 9/11 and to acknowledge the burden that the families of the victims, the loved ones of the victims have been carrying with them since 9/11, almost 10 years,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney.

The president is expected to lay a wreath later today at Ground Zero and then meet with families who had relatives who died on 9/11.

“I wanted to come up here to thank you,” Obama told the firefighters at 48th Street and Eighth Avenue. The firehouse lost 15 men when the twin towers collapsed.

“This is a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice on that incredible day almost 10 years ago. Obviously we can’t bring back friends we lost. I know each of you grieves those lost,” he told the firefighters.

“What happened on Sunday… sends a message that when we say: ‘we never forget,’ we mean what we say,” he said.

The president, who was accompanied by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, then took off his jacket and joined the firefighters for lunch.

Bin Laden’s death, secured by a U.S. Navy Seal team Sunday in Abbottabad, Pakistan, has stirred the emotions of 9/11 family members and many said they had mixed feelings about the White House’s inability to invite more family members to today’s ceremony.

The ceremony comes just three days after Obama announced bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and one day after he decided to withhold releasing the gruesome photograph of a dead bin Laden.

Many victims’ families received an invitation to the ceremony via email Tuesday night. Others, however, were not invited.

“I feel that every family member should have received an invitation,” said Maureen Santores, whose son, a New York City firefighter, was killed at the World Trade Center. “Everyone suffered the same and we should all be with the president to mark this.”

Santores said she had been invited to the ceremony and planned to attend.

Ginny Bauer, whose husband was killed at the World Trade Center, however, cut the White House a little more slack.

“I think they did the best they could. I understand why families want to be there, but I also understand why it would be difficult,” she said.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the attacks. For victims’ families already dealing with the significance of the anniversary, news that Osama bin Laden is dead brings to the fore a flurry of difficult emotions.

Those emotions, many family members said, are further complicated by Obama’s decision not to publicly release photos of a slain bin Laden, shot in the head.

Some family members said they support the president’s decision, backing his argument that the photo will only serve to incite people who might wish to do harm to more Americans.

“I agree with his reason for not sharing them if it would incite people,” said Patricia Reilly, whose sister was killed in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center. “People who are hell-bent on attacking us again are still going to do it, but there is no reason to give people on the fence a reason to do something terrible.”

Maureen Santores also agreed with the President’s decision, poignantly noting that her son was identified using only his DNA.

“I think president Obama made the right decision about the pictures,” she said. “If it was good enough for the families to accept DNA evidence, then it should be good enough for Osama bin Laden.”

But for other family members, releasing the photos– seeing the person who killed their loved ones– might give them closure, which they compare to family members being allowed to witness a murderer’s capital execution.

“The families have already been through so much,” said Bill Doyle, whose son Joseph was killed in Tower 1. “I know why people don’t want the photos released? but I know a woman whose husband was identified because they found his heart. How much more gruesome can the photos of bin Laden be?”