On the left, above, Ground Zero on October 11, one month after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. As you can see, the ruins of the Twin Towers are still smoldering 30 days later. On the right, a shot of the same spot early last month, almost eight years later. Most of the construction you can see is for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, which was meant to be completed before the tenth anniversary of the attacks but is now not expected to be done until 2012. One World Trade Center (formerly known as the Freedom Tower) and the other office buildings that were envisioned in previous master plans have been stalled by squabbles between the Port Authority and the developer Larry Silverstein, who still holds the lease on the nonexistent office space there. Last month, Governor Paterson said that construction will continue whether or not an agreement between the two can be reached.
Memorial services for September 11 victims and their families have just begun at the site, where Vice-President Biden is in attendance. Later today, President Obama will address families of those killed at the Pentagon, outside of Washington, D.C.
