Bush plans prime-time speech on 9/11

WASHINGTON — President Bush will make a prime-time address on Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorists attacks on the United States.

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On Friday, White House press secretary Tony Snow said the administration had requested network time for the address at 9:01 p.m. EDT. The address is expected to run 16 to 18 minutes, he said.

The speech will come after Bush visits each of the attack sites, in New York, Shanksville, Pa., and the Pentagon, where terrorist hijackers used commercial airliners as weapons to kill nearly 3,000 people.

Snow said Bush's address would not be a political speech or a charge to Congress for action. Rather, he said, it would be reflective of what Sept. 11 has meant and "how we move ahead as a country in making use of the lessons of Sept. 11."

"It will have a note of optimism as well as sobriety about what we've been through," Snow said.