NEW YORK, United States— The US marked the 20th
anniversary of September 11 on Saturday with solemn ceremonies given added
poignancy by the recent
chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and
return to power of the Taliban.
اضافة اعلان
At the 9/11 memorial in New York, relatives wiped away
tears, their voices breaking as they read out the names of the almost 3,000
people killed in the Al-Qaeda attacks.
"We love you and we miss you," many of them said
as somber violin music played at the official ceremony, attended by dignitaries
including President Joe Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
At the Ground Zero site where 2,753 people died — some of
whom jumped to their deaths from the collapsing towers — the service started
shortly after 8:30am under tight
security, with Lower Manhattan effectively locked down.
The first of six moments of silence were marked at 8:46am,
with a bell ringing to symbolize the time the first hijacked plane crashed into
the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
At 9:03am, attendees stood still again to mark the moment
the South Tower was struck. At 9:37am, it was the Pentagon, where the hijacked
airliner killed 184 people in the plane and on the ground.
At 9:59, the moment the South Tower fell. At 10:03am, they
remembered the fourth plane to crash in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania,
after passengers fought the hijackers. At 10:28am, the North Tower falling.
Mourners clutched photos of their loved ones, their pain
still raw despite a whole generation having grown up since the morning of
September 11.
"As we carry these 20 years forward, I find continuing
appreciation for all of those who rose to be more than ordinary people,"
said Mike Low, whose daughter was a flight attendant on the first plane.
Bruce Springsteen sang his song "I'll See You in My
Dreams," and after nightfall twin light beams will be projected into the
New York sky.
Smaller ceremonies took place across the country, including
outside fire stations throughout New York in remembrance of the 343
firefighters who lost their lives to save others, while a brief moment of
contemplation took place in Times Square.
Heart-wrenching commemorations also took place at the
Pentagon and Shanksville.
'Unity'
In the last 20 years, Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden has
been hunted down and killed and towering new sky scraper has risen over
Manhattan, replacing the Twin Towers, dubbed the "Freedom Tower."
But 9/11 is never far away.
In Guantanamo Bay, accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed and four other men continue to await trial, nine years after charges
were filed.
And even the full story of how the attack came to happen
remains secret. Only last week did Biden order the release of classified
documents from the FBI investigation over the next six months.
The memorials come with US troops finally gone from
Afghanistan, but national discord over the exit has overshadowed what was
supposed to be a pivotal day in Biden's nearly eight-month-old presidency.
Less than two weeks ago, the last US soldiers flew from
Kabul airport, ending the so-called "forever war."
But the Taliban who once sheltered bin Laden are back ruling
Afghanistan, the mighty US military humiliated.
In a video posted on the eve of the
anniversary, Biden urged
Americans to show unity, "our greatest strength."
"To me, that's the central lesson of September 11. It's
that at our most vulnerable, in the push and pull of all that makes us human,
in the battle for the soul of America, unity is our greatest strength,"
Biden said in a six-minute message from the White House.
But former president Donald Trump shattered that unity,
releasing a video message slamming the "inept administration" of
Biden for its "incompetence" over the Afghan withdrawal.
World leaders struck a more cordial tone, sending messages
of solidarity to the United States, and saying that the attackers had failed to
destroy Western values.
The UK’s Queen Elizabeth II said the victims and survivors
were in her prayers as she paid tribute to the "resilience and
determination of the communities who joined together to rebuild."
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