Cranes install base of spire at 1 WTC

NEW YORK Workers using two giant cranes on the 104th floor roof of 1 World Trade Center have installed the first piece of the spire that will make it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

The nearly 70-ton piece was brought to Manhattan last month by barge. It's the heaviest of 18 parts of the spire that will complete the 1,776-foot skyscraper symbolizing America's freedom.

• Spire for 1 World Trade Center arrives in NYC

Dozens of construction workers were on hand Tuesday as the massive, round piece of steel slowly descended into its socket.

Below, there's a view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Pieces of the spire arrived on a barge from New Jersey's Port Newark to New York in December. The trade center's director of construction, Steven Plate says the spire marks a post 9/11 milestone that signifies New York City is "better than ever."

CBS Station WCBS New York reported that it will take about three months to install the 408-foot spire.

[Bush-cheney-R-Terrorists]

By the time that building is finished, we will have lost both "wars" we sunk our economy on, lost over 7,000 of this country's very best young men and women, have tens of thousands more on lifetime disability, the Taliban will be back in control of Afghanistan, stronger than ever, but using billions of dollars of US taxpayer money to rebuild their country, not counting the billions of US dollars brought in from buying that high quality heroin they produce. Thank you George Bush, Fox News, and all of you who voted for him or were not even interested enough to vote. You eeedeeyuts!!!

[Bush-cheney-R-Terrorists]

So it took 12 YEARS to build one building to replace the 4 or whatever number of NY buildings they knocked down? That'll show 'em.