Obama to visit all 3 Sept. 11 crash sites

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama will visit all three crash sites of hijacked jets that terrorists used 10 years ago to attack the United States, White House aides said.

His schedule wasn't altered despite a flurry of reports Friday that U.S. intelligence officials were investigating threats of possible al-Qaida attacks using car bombs to mark the 10th anniversary, The Hill reported.

Obama and first lady Michelle are scheduled to attend a ceremony in New York at the site of the fallen World Trade Center towers Sunday morning, accompanied by former President George W. Bush. The Obamas will then go to Shanksville, Pa., where passengers overpowered hijackers and crashed a Washington-bound United Airlines flight into a field.

The president will also attend a ceremony at the Pentagon, the third target of the al-Qaida extremists. His day will conclude with remarks at a memorial concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington Sunday night.

Rick Nelson, a domestic security and counter-terrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told The Los Angeles Times Obama has a fine line to walk to be both reassuring but not too political by claiming credit for finding and killing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., agreed.

"There's only so much you can do," Durbin said. "If you go overboard in taking credit for it, there's a reaction against you."