Washington DC, March 11 - Croatian Ambassador, Dr. Ivan Grdesic attended the ceremony led by President Bush at the White House commemorating six months since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
President Bush spoke to approximately 1,300 people at the White House South Lawn, that included members of Congress, more than 120 ambassadors, cabinet members, family members who lost relatives in the attacks and rescuers who responded to the disasters.
With more than 170 flags in his background that symbolically showed solidarity with the US, President Bush stated that the global anti-terrorist coalition must not weaken in the face of terrorists who are brazen enough to try, in any city in the world, more attacks like those launched on New York and Washington last fall. "America is now consulting with friends and allies about this greatest of dangers, and we're determined to confront it ", Bush said. Following President Bush’s speech, Ambassadors of Nigeria, Korea and Turkey also addressed the audience as the representatives of the world’s three continents, demonstrating thus symbolically global anti-terrorist coalition.
The Croatian flag and Ambassador Dr. Grdesic’s presence at the commemoration was another gesture of solidarity and partnership that Croatia and the Croatian people have showed many times since the brutal September 11 attacks. Experiencing aggression during the Homeland War themselves and therefore understanding the American people’s sufferings, Croatian Government sent numerous letters of condolence, participated in the regional and world anti-terrorism coalition actively and approved of a humanitarian donation for those in need in Afghanistan. Croatian President Mesic was one of the initiators of the anti-terrorist coalition platform in which he proposed how smaller countries like Croatia can assist in combating terrorism. Croatian Embassy in Washington staff donated blood to the Red Cross, attended the commemorations in Washington DC, and marked three months since the attacks on December 11 at the Embassy by a moment of silence, remembering the victims of the September 11 attacks and solidarizing with their families.