A ceremony to mark Sept. 11 takes place under the new cloud of ISIL

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The reality of a new terrorist fight lingered Thursday over a U.S. ceremony to mark the anniversary of a 13-year-old attack whose effects continue to be felt around the world.

There was a high-profile no-show at a solemn event to commemorate the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, held at the Colorado Norad facility where Canadian and American military personnel work together on continental security.

The U.S. deputy secretary of defence was supposed to attend. But Robert Work couldn’t make it. He was busy in Washington, dealing with the fallout from President Barack Obama’s speech announcing plans to expand the fight against Islamist rebels in Iraq and Syria.

One of the speakers referred to that schedule change, to make a point about the anniversary.

“Our international efforts, along with those of Canada, to deal effectively and decisively with the scourge of ISIS is a fitting backdrop to our reflections on the 13th anniversary of 9-11,” U.S. Gen. Charles Jacoby, the Norad commander, said in a speech.

“As we work to build a coalition to confront the ISIS threat we also reflect on how, on 9-11, America’s friends and allies stood by us, shoulder-to-shoulder.

“And we can say with certainty that no one has stood by us closer than our Canadian partners.”

On Wednesday, Obama extended the scope and geographic range of airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, leading an international coalition in a mission with multiple objectives and no end date.

Canada has contributed special-operations soldiers and humanitarian aid in Iraq, but says it won’t be militarily involved in Syria.

The Canadian defence minister participated in Thursday’s event, which included a wreath-laying ceremony and a speech from the widow of one of the crew members on Flight 93, which was brought down in Pennsylvania before it reached its suspected target: the U.S. Congress.

Defence Minister Rob Nicholson did not specifically mention the newer threat in his speech. But he described terrorism as an ongoing concern.

“The events of Sept. 11 radically affected us and the way we saw the world — sending ripples of change across the United States, across North America, indeed across the world,” Nicholson said.

“Canadians were shocked at the audacity and cruelty of the attacks. We were horrified by the invasion of North America, a continent we believed was relatively safe and distant from the threat of terrorism.

“Our sense of security was shattered.”

He said that as people pause to remember the men and women who died 13 years ago, they must also pledge to keep working to defend the continent so that such a terrible day never occurs again.

He described how Canadians reacted on 9-11, and afterward.

As Norad deployed 200 military aircraft, commercial flights were shut down and 293 planes were diverted to Canada. He said Canadians opened their homes to more than 33,000 stranded travellers — offering them shelter, food and comfort.

“The actions of Canadians that day stand as a powerful example of the Canada-U.S. relationship.”

It was a theme of Jacoby’s speech, too. The American general described how the binational military relationship predated that tragic event, noting that his own grandfather fought alongside Canadians in the Second World War.

And it continued in Afghanistan, Jacoby said. He described how Canadian troops were among the first deployed to the Taliban-run country that had served as a base for al-Qaida in the leadup to Sept. 11, 2001.

— By Alexander Panetta in Washington