NEW YORK, N.Y. – Joyous at the release of a decade’s frustration, Americans streamed to the site of the World Trade Center, the gates of the White House and smaller but no less jubilant gatherings across the nation to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden — cheering, waving flags and belting the national anthem.
The site of the Sept. 11 attacks at New York’s World Trade Center, more familiar these past 10 years for bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace” and solemn speeches and arguments over what to build to honour those killed, became, for the first time, a place of revelry.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this day,” Lisa Ramaci, a New Yorker whose husband was a freelance journalist killed in the Iraq war, said early Monday. “I think it’s a relief for New York tonight just in the sense that we had this 10 years of frustration just building and building, wanting this guy dead, and now he is, and you can see how happy people are.”
She was holding a flag and wearing a T-shirt depicting the twin towers and, in crosshairs, bin Laden. Nearby, a man held up a cardboard sign that read, “Obama 1, Osama 0.”
Dionne Layne, 44, of Stamford, Connecticut, spent the entire night at ground zero with her two children, ages 9 and 11. She planned to spend the rest of the day with them at the site because “they can’t get this in a history class. They have to be a part of this.”
Layne said she witnessed the second tower come down on Sept. 11, 2001, from Brooklyn, where she lived at the time.
Uptown in Times Square, dozens stood together on a clear spring night and broke into applause when a New York Fire Department vehicle drove by, flashed its lights and sounded its siren. A man held an American flag, and others sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
On an overcast morning in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a hijacked plane apparently meant for Washington crashed in a field after passengers fought back, a few visitors gathered Monday at the fence-lined overlook that serves as a temporary memorial while a permanent one is built.
“I thought of Sept. 11 and the people lost,” said Daniel Pyle, 33, of Shanksville, who stopped at the site on his way to work at a lawn care company. “I wanted to pay homage to the people lost that day. I think this brings a little bit of closure.”
In New York, authorities said there would be extra police at all three area airports “out of an abundance of caution.” The Port Authority also said there would be more police along the George Washington Bridge and at ground zero.
But for the most part, Sunday night and into the work day Monday, the nation stopped to reflect, and to rejoice.
In Washington, in front of the White House, a crowd began gathering before President Barack Obama addressed the nation late Sunday to declare, “Justice has been done.” The throng grew, and within a half-hour had filled the street in front of the White House and begun spilling into Lafayette Park.
“It’s not over, but it’s one battle that’s been won, and it’s a big one,” said Marlene English, who lives in Arlington, Virginia, and lobbies on defence issues. She said she has baked thousands of cookies to send to friends serving in Iraq and Afghanistan over the years and that she was at the White House because they couldn’t be.
The celebrations began to come together late Sunday in the U.S., after Americans began hearing about the death of bin Laden from bulletins on television, texts and calls from family and friends and posts on social networking sites.
Bin Laden was slain in his luxury hideout in Pakistan in a firefight with American forces early Monday local time. Obama said no Americans had been harmed in the operation.
As news of the president’s announcement began to filter across the country, the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies were in the middle of a baseball game in Philadelphia, and chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” began in the top of the ninth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Fans could be seen all over the stadium checking their phones and sharing the news.
The chant — “U-S-A! U-S-A!” — echoed in Dearborn, Michigan, a heavily Middle Eastern suburb of Detroit, where a small crowd gathered outside City Hall and waved American flags. Across town, some honked their car horns as they drove along the main street where most of the Arab-American restaurants and shops are located.
At the Arabica Cafe, big-screen TVs that normally show sports were all turned to news about bin Laden. The manager there, Mohamed Kobeissi, said it was finally justice for the victims.
There were smaller, spontaneous gatherings around the nation — a handful of Idahoans who made their way to the state capitol in downtown Boise, a small group who waved flags and cheered on an Interstate 5 overpass south of Seattle known as Freedom Bridge.
People said they were surprised that bin Laden had finally been found and killed. John Gocio, a doctor from Arkansas who was gathering what details he could from TV screens at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, marveled: “After such a long time, you kind of give up and say, ‘Well, that’s never going to happen.'”
The celebration in New York came precisely one year after a militant from Connecticut spread panic by driving a bomb-laden vehicle into the heart of Times Square. As the most intense manhunt in history wore on, year after year after the Sept. 11 attacks, the city dealt with smaller scares — the Times Square plot, subway and bridge threats, orange alerts.
“It’s really a terrific day for not just America but for the world. To have this cancer pulled from us is the right thing,” said Guy Madsen, 49, who drove to the city from Clifton, New Jersey, when he heard of bin Laden’s death. “This is judgment day, and we’re winning.”
Several hours later, the first copies of Monday’s tabloid Daily News hit the streets, with a big picture of bin Laden on the cover and the headline: “ROT IN HELL,” with the last word in 4-inch-high (10-centimetre-high) type.
Gordon Felt, president of an organization for families of people who were on United Flight 93, which crashed into a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, called the announcement of bin Laden’s death “important news for us, and for the world.” He said in a statement that “it cannot ease our pain, or bring back our loved ones” but does bring “a measure of comfort.”
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the union representing New York City police officers, said officers felt a sense of justice. Twenty-three city police officers were killed in the attacks.
“While all Americans rightfully gather in our streets and chant USA with pride, New York City police officers stand silently protecting their rights and defending against the next possible attack,” said Patrick J. Lynch, the union’s president. “While New York City police officers’ minds are planning and our eyes are watching, our hearts are cheering with the crowd.”
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Associated Press writers Tom McElroy in New York City, Jessica Gresko in Washington, Genaro C. Armas in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Jeannie Nuss in Chicago and Jeff Karoub in Dearborn, Michigan, contributed to this report.
