By Ron Fournier
The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- President Bush devoted yesterday to two kinds of heroes: the traditional ones of wars past and the new ones of modern terrorism.
He honored not only soldiers and sailors, but also the police officers and firefighters who laid their lives on the line Sept. 11.
In a Veterans Day tribute, the commander in chief said hijackings and the attacks on New York and the Pentagon had deepened the nation’s debt to soldiers who fight abroad and police and firefighters who serve at home.
“The great purpose of our great land ... is to rid the world of evil and terror,” Bush said at a Veterans Day breakfast as he thumped the lectern.
“Evil ones have roused a mighty nation, a mighty land. And, for however long it takes, I am determined that we will prevail. And prevail we must, because we fight for one thing — and that is the freedom of our people and the freedom of people everywhere.”
Several hundred veterans, uniformed soldiers and police jumped to their feet and filled a cavernous military armory building with applause. His remarks, in his first Veterans Day address as president, were Bush’s only public words on the final day of his two-day United Nations visit.
He met privately with the presidents of South Africa, Argentina and Colombia before attending a U.N. ceremony at the site of the collapsed twin towers in Lower Manhattan.
The flag-bedecked ceremony was light on oratory but heavy with symbolism. The names of all 86 nations that lost citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center towers were read by actor Ron Silver during the observance, underscoring the international scope of the attacks.
As the names of the nations were read, in alphabetical order, U.S. soldiers slowly carried the appropriate flags up a flight of stairs onto a platform. There the flags were placed in stands to form two parallel rows.
Bush, who did not speak at the ceremony, stood with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Secretary of State Colin Powell and several other dignitaries.
Bush, his eyes watery, either from tears or the stinging smoke wafting up from the rubble, walked over to a wall listing the names of the nations. Just beneath the name of the United States, he wrote, “Good will triumph over evil. May God bless you all. George W. Bush.”
On the same wall, Annan wrote, “Let’s together against evil,” apparently leaving a word out.
During the ceremony, Bush bowed his head and tightly closed his eyes as Bishop Patrick Sheridan of New York said, “The victims of vicious cruelty and diabolic revenge, they were members of the human family.”
A Muslim cleric and a rabbi also delivered prayers.
Bush looked out over the devastation, which was framed by three red excavation cranes that stretched into the blue sky.
It was his first visit to the site since Sept. 14, when he waded into the ruins with a bullhorn in one hand and an American flag in the other.
At the Veterans Day breakfast at the 7th Regiment Armory, Bush said the attacks had rekindled respect for police and firefighters.
“Whenever an American hears the word police or fire, we think differently. We think differently about the job. ... In a time of war, we look a little differently at our veterans, too,” Bush said.
Veterans Day tributes are “made with a little greater feeling, because Americans have seen the terrible harm that an enemy can inflict. And it has left us deeply grateful for the men and women who rise strongly in the defense of our nation,” he said. He drew a standing ovation for U.S. soldiers now fighting the ruling Taliban of Afghanistan in search of terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network.
“Al-Qaida and the Taliban have made a serious mistake,” Bush said. “And because our military is brave and prepared and courageous, they will pay a serious price.”