Pentagon ceremony remembers victims of Sept. 11

More than 13,000 people gathered Wednesday at the newly rebuilt west wall of the Pentagon to pay respects to victims killed one year ago when terrorists crashed an American Airlines jetliner into the 58-year-old building.

"The terrorists chose this target hoping to demoralize this country," President Bush told an audience filled with survivors, family members, Pentagon employees and members of Congress during the "United in Freedom" observance, which included inspirational songs and prayers from military chaplains. "They failed," he said.

Including the five terrorists aboard the plane, 189 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon last Sept. 11.

More than 24,000 military and civilian employees work at the Pentagon and thousands were displaced when the airplane plowed into the building last September. But rebuilding efforts moved forward aggressively, and in late July tenants started moving back into the rebuilt offices.

"Within one year, this great building has been made whole once again," the president said while standing on a stage adjacent to what was a mass of rubble, fire and smoke one year ago. "The Pentagon is a working building, not a memorial."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard Myers and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld joined Bush on the podium during the service.

"What happened to our nation on a September day set in motion the first great struggle of a new century, for a battle was joined on that day, a battle still unfolding between a nation of free people and forces that seek to plunge that nation and, indeed, the free world into the darkness of tyranny and terror," Rumsfeld said.

Like Bush, Myers focused on the resolve people exhibited in the wake of the attacks.

"Singular acts of courage were repeated a thousand times," Myers said. "Police, firefighters, medical personnel and passing citizens rushed to this building, just as they did to the World Trade Center and to that pasture in western Pennsylvania. No matter who they were, all shared a common purpose: 'How can I help?'"

Before leaving to participate in similar memorials scheduled in Pennsylvania and New York, the president lauded the efforts of military members in Afghanistan and promised that the war on terrorism would be won for the people who died as a result of the terrorist attacks. The nation showed its true mettle when men and women rushed to rescue their colleagues following the attacks, and when the planning for a military response began in the waning hours of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush said.

"The murder of innocents cannot be explained, only endured, and though they died in tragedy, they did not die in vain," he said.