A spokesman says the former president appreciated the offer.
The National September 11 Memorial and Museum, center, is under construction, Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at the World Trade Center site in New York. President Barack Obama will meet at the memorial Thursday with families of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, following the death of Osama bin Laden on Sunday in Pakistan. The memorial is scheduled to open to the public in time for the tenth anniversary to be held Sept. 11, 2011. The tower under construction, top left, is 4 World Trade Center.WASHINGTON— A spokesman for George W. Bush says the former president has declined an invitation from President Barack Obama to attend an observance at New York's ground zero.
Obama plans to visit the site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers Thursday in the aftermath of a Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The al-Qaida attack, which killed about 3,000 people, occurred in the early months of Bush's presidency in 2001.
The spokesman, David Sherzer, says the former president appreciated the offer to attend but has chosen to remain out of the spotlight during his post-presidency.
Sherzer says Bush celebrates bin Laden's death as an "important victory in the war on terror."