The president was accompanied by elected officials from the New York area. He also laid a wreath at the foot of the Survivor Tree, which sustained damage during the attack but was freed from the rubble.
Earlier, Obama visited a fire station that lost 15 firefighters during the attack and stopped by a lower Manhattan police station.
He told the police officers "'there are still going to be threats out there," alluding to the death of bin Laden. Of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack that bin Laden masterminded, he says: `'We keep them in our hearts. We haven't forgotten."
The First Precinct Police Station, which covers the World Trade Center area, did not lose any officers on 9/11 but one of its officers was buried under some rubble and survived.
Obama told the officers they will always have an entire country behind them.
The police station stop came after Obama had a private lunch at the fire station.
"This is a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice that was made on that terrible day," the president said Thursday after shaking hands with firefighters at Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9.
As for the killing of bin Laden by U.S. commandos, Obama declared, "'When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say."
"What happened on Sunday because of the courage of our military and the outstanding work of our intelligence sent a message around the world but also sent a message here back home," he said.
Obama said he hoped the outcome brought the firefighters "some comfort," thanked them for their daily sacrifice and said they had a president and administration that has `'got your back."
In his brief remarks, the president never mentioned bin Laden's name.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led the city in dark days after the attacks, joined Obama in the visit to the station.
The president viewed a bronze memorial plaque commemorating the firefighters who were lost and then lunched privately with a dozen firefighters.
Months before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and days after bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, Obama's visit was giving New York its own moment of justice.
Obama's visit came as new details emerged of the daring raid on bin Laden's Pakistan compound. A senior defense official said Thursday that only one of the five people killed in the raid was armed and fired a shot - an account that differs from original administration portrayals of an intense firefight. The White House also now says bin Laden was unarmed when he was shot, after officials initially said the terrorist was holding a gun or even firing.
Such details perhaps mattered little to New Yorkers who suffered most grievously in the attacks and are now deeply gratified to see bin Laden's demise.
Ahead of Obama's arrival, Deanne McDonald stood at the northeast corner of the World Trade Center site waving an American flag in each hand and shouting "Obama got Osama! Obama got Osama!"
"God bless the Navy SEALS," said McDonald, 38, from Brooklyn. She took work off on Thursday to wait for the president, saying she was prouder than ever to be an American.
"I'm so proud of the president," she said. "It happened on his watch."
Obama's New York visit was intended to have a measured tone - not a bookend to President George W. Bush's visit after the attacks when Bush took a bullhorn and called out his defiance to the terrorists. Obama spokesman Jay Carney told reporters traveling with the president on Air Force One that the trip was intended in part "to perhaps help New Yorkers and Americans everywhere to achieve a sense of closure with the death of Osama bin Laden."
The bustling construction site that Obama was visiting bears little resemblance to the pit that remained after the rubble of the towers was removed. The emerging skyscraper informally known as Freedom Tower is more than 60 stories high now. Mammoth fountains and reflecting pools mark the footprints of the fallen twin towers.
Jim Riches, whose firefighter son was among the nearly 3,000 people killed at the World Trade Center, planned to meet with the president on Thursday.
"I just want to thank him, hug him and thank him and shake his hand," Riches said. "Father to father. Thank you for doing this for me."
Obama arrived in New York City Thursday after rejecting calls to release photos of a slain bin Laden so the world could see some proof of death. The president said he would not risk giving propaganda to extremists or gloat by publicizing grotesque photos of a terrorist leader shot in the head.
To those who keep on doubting, Obama said, "You will not see bin Laden walking on this earth again."
The president sought to handle the moment without being seen as overly celebrating bin Laden's death or aiming to boost his own standing.
"The president is coming here because this is the place where you can really feel what happened that day," said Joelle Tripoul, a tourist visiting Manhattan from Marseilles, France. "And I think he wants to come to say that bin Laden's death marks the end of this stage of our human journey after 9/11."
Al-Qaida terrorists hijacked jets and flew two of them into the World Trade Center's towers. Both buildings collapsed, trapping thousands inside and also claiming the lives of firefighters and others who had rushed to help. A third plane slammed into the Pentagon. Officials have speculated that a fourth plane had been heading for the U.S. Capitol or perhaps even the White House when it crashed after passengers fought back in Pennsylvania.
A few days later, Bush stood amid the rubble and spoke through a bullhorn. When one worker yelled, "I can't hear you," the president responded: "I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people - and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"
All these years later, Obama said this is no time for gloating. "We don't need to spike the football," he said as he told CBS he would keep bin Laden's death photos sealed.
Obama invited Bush to join him Thursday, but the former president declined.
Heightened security put in place in response to the killing of bin Laden remained for Obama's visit. Police officials said there were no specific threats against the city but also said they assumed bin Laden's "disciples" might try to avenge his death with a terror attack.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/5/238458