US: A legacy of insecurity and vulnerability remains, writes Conor O'Clery in New York
Two years and two wars on and New Yorkers feel no more secure from terrorist attack than in the days immediately after two hijacked sirliners smashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, killing 2,792 people.
As they prepare to commemorate the second anniversary of the attacks today, 68 per cent remain "very concerned" about another attack and 56 per cent of city residents expect an attack in the next few months, according to a poll conducted by the New York Times.
The figures, slightly up from this time last year, is a measure of how the war in Iraq has done little to remove the legacy of insecurity and vulnerability left by 9/11.
For the relatives of the victims, the anniversary is a particularly painful time. Of the 2,792 people killed, just over half - 1,520 - have been identified in two years of painstaking work, mostly from DNA taken from body parts and fragments painstakingly recovered from the site where many bodies were pulverised by the falling towers.
Incredibly the process of finding remains is still continuing. On Monday nine pieces of human bone and muscle were recovered from scaffolding that had been erected before 9/11 on a building near the South Tower.
Among the 2,792 victims are 42 people listed as missing - not dead - because their remains have not been identified and their whereabouts on September 11th cannot be established with certainty.
Some of those people may not be dead, or even exist. A few people on the list may be trying to fake their deaths, while others could have been wrongly reported missing, city officials told the Associated Press.
Among likely victims not yet certified dead are Kacinga Kabeya (63) and Kapinga Ngalula (58) whose children reported them missing on a sightseeing trip to New York on September 11th and applied for death certificates which a court has refused.
In the case of Fernando Jiminez Molinar, his mother reported that she has not heard from him since three days before the attack, when he told her he was starting work near the site. In March a judge ruled that his whereabouts on September 11th "cannot clearly be fixed."
Some of the relatives have marked the anniversary week by expressing outrage that the 4.7-acre site is to become the location of a new tower taller than the originals, a tapering spire designed by Daniel Libeskind, with a transport hub and memorial and museum at its base.
Work on the project could begin at the end of next year and be completed in three years. However, filling the office space in the new tower could be a problem in the future: the poll also showed that two-thirds of people would be unwilling to work on the upper floors of any new tall building at Ground Zero.
This autumn an 11-member jury will decide on what shape the memorial should take.
Today the names of the dead at Ground Zero will be read by 200 children associated with victims, four moments of silence will be observed to mark the times when the aircraft hit and the towers fell, and at sundown twin towers of light will be projected into the sky to re-create the image of the towers. Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm that lost 658 staff, will hold its own memorial service for relatives.
Unlike last year, President Bush will not attend any commemoration in New York. His place will be taken by Vice-President Dick Cheney. New York's Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday he had asked Mr Cheney not to attend the World Trade Centre ceremony because his security would have "inconvenienced" family members of victims. He had asked him instead to attend a memorial service later in the day honouring fallen Port Authority officers and employees.
Last night Mr Bush was scheduled to host a private dinner at which the Academy Award-winning documentary, Twin Towers, was to be screened. Today he takes part in a moment of silence on the White House's South Lawn to mark the moment of the first aircraft impacting on the north tower.