President Obama shakes hands with a Port Authority Police officer before the ceremony.
Photo Credit: Marc Fader/City Limits
President Obama shakes hands with a Port Authority Police officer before the ceremony.
Photo Credit: Marc Fader/City Limits
President Obama observes a moment of silence during the wreath-laying ceremony
Photo Credit : Marc Fader/City Limits
Diane Wall of Rumson, New Jersey, who lost her husband on 9/11, hugs the president during the ceremony.
Photo Credit: Marc Fader/City Limits
A view from inside the construction site at Ground Zero.
Photo Credit: Marc Fader/City Limits
(L to R) U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-NY), U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) look on at a wreath laying ceremony at Ground Zero with U.S. President Barack Obama, after accused 9-11 mastermind Osama bin Laden was killed on May 5, 2011 in New York City. Obama visited a firehouse and met with victims’ families earlier in the day. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
New York Police Department officer Stephanie Moses, U.S. President Barack Obama, New York FIre Department firefighter Joseph Lapointe and Port Authority Police Department officer John Adorno bow their heads during a moment of silence at a wreath laying ceremony at Ground Zero after Osama bin Laden was killed on May 5, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama (2nd L) carries a wreath with a New York City police officer (L) a New York City firefighter (2nd R) and a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officer® at the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan May 5, 2011 in New York. (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
Andrea Scott, left, of Bear, Delaware, Dilma Zabala, center, of Newark, N.J., and Karina Alvarez, Mineola, N.Y. trey to get a glimpse of President Barack Obama near ground zero, Thursday, May 5, 2011 in New York. President Obama came to New York to visit with the firefighters and to visit ground zero after announcing that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden on Sunday, May 1. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Deanne McDonald, right, of Brooklyn, waves American flags near ground zero, Thursday, May 5, 2011 in New York. President Obama came to New York to visit with the firefighters and to visit ground zero after announcing that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden on Sunday, May 1. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
President Barack Obama meets with Avery Wall, left, and Payton Wall, whose father died in the attacks at the World Trader Center, in New York, Thursday, May 5, 2011, during wreath laying ceremony. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
President Obama speaks with New York City Police Sergeant Stephanie Moses (L) after laying a wreath at the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan May 5, 2011 in New York. (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, left, meet with police officers and first responders at the First Precinct before visiting the National Sept. 11 Memorial at Ground Zero in New York, Thursday, May 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Amanda Baptiste, left, and a man hold up a T-shirt that says, “OBAMA GOT OSAMA, God Bless America” while waiting for President Barack Obama to make an appearance at the fire station for Engine 54 Ladder 4 Battalion 9 in New York Thursday, May 5, 2011. President Obama came to New York to visit with the firefighters and to visit ground zero after announcing that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden on Sunday, May 1. (AP Photo/Andrew Burton)
President Obama and New York Police Department officer Stephanie Moses bow their heads at a wreath laying ceremony at Ground Zero, after Osama bin Laden was killed on May 5, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (AP) — Days after the death of Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama has paid a somber visit to the place where al-Qaida inflicted its greatest damage.
The president silently placed a wreath at the outdoor memorial where the World Trade Center once stood, then met privately with about 60 relatives of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001.
On the way to ground zero, the president visited with firefighters and police officers who responded to the terror attacks.
He stopped at a firehouse that lost 15 firefighters on 9/11, calling it “a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice that was made on that terrible day.”
Without mentioning bin Laden by name, Obama told the firefighters that he hoped the military’s success brought them “some comfort.” He thanked them for their daily work and told them their president has “got your back.”
Obama also stopped by the First Precinct police station in lower Manhattan.
