Americans Commemorate September 11, 2001 Attacks
Friday marks the eighth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, and across the country people are commemorating the day with memorial services, volunteerism, and flags flown at half-staff.
U.S. President Barack Obama has declared it an annual day of "service and remembrance."
But critics say making the anniversary a day of service may distract people from remembering the victims of the attacks.
Mr. Obama is scheduled to preside over a service at the Pentagon Memorial, while his vice president, Joe Biden, will speak at an event in New York, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell will officiate at a memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Powell was Secretary of State when the attacks took place.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed when Islamist terrorists hijacked planes and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside of Washington. A fourth jet crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
On Thursday, a group in New York invited people to submit video, personal stories, and other personal remembrances of the attack. The group will post the media on its Web site and plans to open an underground museum on the site of the World Trade Center by 2013.
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