US begins 9/11 remembrances amid new terror threats

Armed police patrolled New York streets and subways to thwart a new Al-Qaeda-linked terror threat.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there was news of a specific, credible, but unconfirmed report that Al-Qaeda, again, is seeking to harm Americans and, in particular, to target New York and Washington.The latest scare was a reminder of the need for a constantly improved anti-terrorism strategy, the top US diplomat said.Calling for smart power, Clinton said America needed to fight terror on distant battlegrounds, but also needed unity in domestic politics, and to fix the troubled economy.Ultimately, this rests on the shoulders of the American people themselves, she insisted, speaking after a minutes silence at the New York Stock Exchange to remember the almost 3,000 people killed that day.Memories remain raw in New York, and across the country, of the day on September 11, 2001, when Al-Qaeda hijackers slammed three passenger planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, in the nations capital.A fourth plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field when the passengers overpowered the hijackers in a valiant bid to end the worst ever attacks on American soil.Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called on all Americans to remain vigilant, vowing to protect the American people from an evolving threat picture both in the coming days and beyond.Details of the latest threat remained sketchy, but US spy networks had been alerted after intercepting communications from a known, reliable Al-Qaeda operative.A senior US official told the network that no evidence to support the threat of an attack had been found.The general outlines of the initial report are three individuals coming into the country last month, a US official said, confirming the plot had links to militants.Vice President Joe Biden said a possible car bomb may be at the heart of the latest scare. We dont have a smoking gun, but we do have talk about using a car bomb, Biden said.President Barack Obama was briefed again on the threat and repeated his order for security agencies to redouble efforts to take all necessary precautions, his spokesman Jay Carney said.But there have been no changes to his plans to attend ceremonies on Sunday at Ground Zero in New York, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.Administration officials insisted they have weakened Al-Qaeda, especially after the killing of its leader Osama bin Laden in a US raid on his Pakistan compound in May.Our nation is not only safer, but stronger than ever before, Attorney General Eric Holder told a Washington ceremony on Friday, before laying a wreath and reading the names of 72 law enforcement officers killed on 9/11.In New York, heavily armed police patrolled the busy streets and bomb-sniffing dogs scoured the subway.Former vice president Dick Cheney meanwhile defended the previous administrations war on terror launched after the attacks, and the use of tough interrogation techniques -- denounced as torture by rights groups.Three people were waterboarded, not dozens, not hundreds, three, he said, insisting the interrogations provided valuable counter-terrorism information.The notion that somehow the United States was wildly torturing anybody is not true, he told a Washington symposium.Americas response to 9/11 showed that when attacked, we will come and get you, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned as he thanked the firefighters and emergency teams who rushed to the Pentagon after it was struck.The people who attacked us on 9/11 were trying to weaken America, trying to hurt America. And instead they strengthened us, Panetta said. Because you dont mess with this country.George W. Bush will lay a wreath at the Pentagon on Saturday and is also due to attend Sundays ceremonies.At Ground Zero, a somber litany of the names of the dead will be read against a backdrop of the progress in rebuilding the World Trade Center.Sunday will also see the opening of a national 9/11 memorial, consisting of two huge square fountains dug into the footprints of the old Twin Towers.