Back at ground zero: Bush joins wreath-laying ceremony at World Trade Center site

NEW YORK -- On his first visit to ground zero just days after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush climbed onto a burnt-out fire engine and, surrounded in the rubble by weary, stricken rescue workers, vowed vengeance through a bullhorn.

Returning Sunday on the eve of the fifth anniversary, Bush chose grim silence, the company of only his entourage and a few reporters, and floating floral wreaths to remember the attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives and transformed his presidency.

Bush and his wife, Laura, made a slow procession into the heart of ground zero, walking four or five stories down on a ramp lined with a flag-bearing honor guard of firefighters and policemen. They were accompanied by New York Gov. George Pataki, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Rudy Giuliani, who was New York mayor at the time of the attacks.

Reaching the floor of the cavernous pit, now a construction site instead of a recovery mission, the Bushes walked on alone, hand-in-hand and with only the sound of wailing bagpipes in the background. They set wreaths adrift in two reflecting pools marking the spots where each of the twin towers of the World Trade Center once soared.

It was the start of a two-day fifth-anniversary tour that will take Bush to all three sites of devastation.

Afterward, the Bushes attended a service of prayer and remembrance at nearby St. Paul's Chapel, greeted firefighters at a firehouse overlooking ground zero and toured a private museum next door that is dedicated to 9-11 families.

"Laura and I approach tomorrow with a heavy heart. It's hard not to think about people who lost their lives on Sept. 11th, 2001," a tight-faced Bush told reporters outside the firehouse, which was destroyed in the attack and rebuilt. "I just wish there were some way we could make them whole."

Bush also called today's anniversary "a day of renewing resolve."

"I vowed that I'm never going to forget the lessons of that day," he said, still clutching his wife's hand. "There is still an enemy out there who would like to inflict the same kind of damage again."

Today, he was to hold moments of silence, to mark the times when the towers were hit, alongside firefighters and other first responders at a firehouse in lower Manhattan; attend a ceremony at the field in Shanksville, Pa., where one of the hijacked planes hurtled to the ground; and participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon. Like at ground zero, Bush did not plan to participate in the official anniversary observances at the other crash sites, intending to avoid the distraction that accompanies a presidential appearance.

He planned to end today with a prime-time address from the Oval Office.

The president's five-year anniversary schedule recalls his marking of the first anniversary in 2002, when he also toured each crash site, embracing family members of the victims and speaking at the Pentagon and New York's Ellis Island. Since then, he has taken a quieter approach to the anniversary.

Across New York on Sunday, residents marked the day at other ceremonies large and small. From a service of remembrance at St. Patrick's Cathedral in midtown Manhattan to a chant at a Buddhist temple on Staten Island, New Yorkers observed the somber anniversary with prayer and reflection.

Bush and his wife wore grim expressions as they took their places for the interfaith service at St. Paul's. The 240-year-old Episcopal church, across the street from the site, escaped damage and became a center of refuge for weary rescue workers.

Bush's pew in the church was filled with representatives of the president's experience of the attacks.

Jane Vigiano, who lost two sons in the attack -- Joe, a policeman and John, a firefighter -- greeted the Bushes and sat next to the president. On Laura Bush's side was Bob Beckwith, the retired firefighter who handed Bush the bullhorn on his first ground zero visit. Further down was Arlene Howard, the mother of 9/11 victim George Howard, a New York Port Authority police officer. Bush keeps Howard's badge as a constant reminder of the attacks.

A printed message from the Rev. James H. Cooper said: "The message to people who visit St. Paul's is simple: Go back to your communities knowing that a place of love stood next door to Ground Zero. Try to make the world a better place."

Outside the church, several dozen protesters shouted "arrest Bush" as the president's motorcade left. They held black balloons that said, "Troops home."

Even before Bush left Washington, surrogates from Vice President Dick Cheney on down spent the Sept. 11 anniversary's eve vigorously defending the administration's record on improving the national defense over the past five years.

"There has not been another attack on the United States," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "And that's not an accident."

Presidential spokesman Tony Snow rejected suggestions that the administration's hunt for al-Qaida leader bin Laden -- mastermind of the 9/11 attacks -- had bogged down. "We're not at liberty to go into sources and methods, but we have never stopped looking for him," Snow told reporters aboard Air Force One as Bush flew to New York.

"Bin Laden is harder to find these days because he in fact does not feel at liberty to move about, he does not feel at liberty to use electronic communications...Under such circumstances, somebody leaves fewer clues," Snow added.