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Fitial marks 9-11 anniversary in airport rites
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Posted on Sep 11 2008
In a speech at Saipan’s international airport Thursday, Gov. Benigno Fitial marked the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying the violence damaged the CNMI’s tourism economy and played a significant role in the federal government’s push to take control of local immigration rules.
Seven years ago Thursday, terrorists hijacked four passenger jets in the skies over the United States, crashing two into the World Trade Center and a third into America’s national defense headquarters, the Pentagon. A fourth jet crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers rallied to fight the hijackers. An estimated 3,000 people perished in the attacks, including the 19 al-Qaeda terrorists involved.
“Those events changed our world forever and contributed to the federalization of our immigration system,” Fitial said before an assembled crowd.
The CNMI’s tourism industry, he added, saw an immediate downturn in the aftermath, noting the attacks prompted the cancellation of flights that day and later a drop in visitor numbers.
“During those moments in 2001, we saw how quickly our local tourism industry can be affected by international events beyond our control,” he said.
The wars that followed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Fitial noted, along with mounting gas prices, took a steep toll on the CNMI.
“A lot of these directly affected our flight capacity and tourism,” said Fitial. “We are still struggling to rebuild our tourism industry today.”
Staff with the Transportation Security Administration Thursday night commemorated the anniversary in a ceremony and held a “Freedom Walk” in Garapan earlier that day.
Meanwhile, a poll conducted by ABC News and the Washington Post released the same day reveals Americans are less worried about the prospect of a terrorist attack than in previous years. Terrorist attacks concern 64 percent of Americans, the poll says, down 10 percentage points below figures seen last year.
