Ground Zero flag sent to Afghanistan

The flag carries many messages of defiance

An American flag from Ground Zero in New York, signed by relatives of victims of the World Trade Center attack, is to fly from the base of US Marines in southern Afghanistan.

"Pay-back time," says just one of the many messages written on the red and white stripes by relatives and recovery workers.

It is going to bring a little piece of lower Manhattan... to marines who have never been here

Major David Andersen

The 12ft by 18ft (3.6m by 5.5m) flag is being sent to the marines who on Sunday helped to seize an airstrip near Kandahar - their mission there appears to be to cut off the escape routes for Osama Bin Laden, blamed by the US for the 11 September attacks.

Major David Andersen, a Marine Corps spokesman in New York, says he believes the troops will treasure the flag.

"I think it is going to bring a little piece of lower Manhattan, of Ground Zero, to marines who have never been here," he said.

Connection with Marines

The flag is being given to the Marines because three members of New York Police Department's emergency services unit who died in the attack were former marines.

The flag first appeared at Ground Zero two weeks after the attacks when it was draped over a building near the twin towers site under a giant banner reading: "United We Stand."

US Marines have taken over an air base in southern Afghanistan

It was later taken to a command centre run by the police emergency services unit, where it was eventually filled with names, messages, prayers and poems.

Some of the messages are directed at the troops like "Unleash hell boys" and "Be safe and do us proud".

Others are aimed at the terrorists themselves: "May the last breath you take be spent looking at this flag."

The 50 stars contain the names of the 23 New York police officers killed in the attacks, plus the 17 US sailors who died in the October 2000 bombing in Yemen of the USS Cole - an attack also blamed on Osama Bin Laden.