9/11: Kamala Harris: “We have to meet the challenge of looking back, of remembering” | Biden did not speak at the events during the 20 years of the attacks

The Vice President of the United States, Kamala harris, requested this Saturday look to the future and strengthen American alliances, during a speech on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, during the ceremony in tribute to the victims.

“On this twentieth anniversary, on this solemn day of remembrance, we must take up the challenge of looking back, of remembering. For the sake of our children. For the sake of their children. And for that, we also have to look forward, to the future, ”Harris said during a speech in Shanksville, Pa.

The Vice President attended, together with former President George W. Bush (2001-2009), the memorial ceremony for the 40 victims of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in a field in that Pennsylvania town after 10 a.m. on September 11.

According to the official version, the passengers of the plane intervened to prevent the plane from being used to achieve another objective in Washington, after learning that the terrorists had hijacked three other planes which crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. and the Pentagon building in Arlington. (Virginia).

“They fought for their own lives and to save the lives of countless others in our country’s capital. And today I hope and pray that we continue to honor their bravery (…). Strengthen our common bonds (within the country) and strengthen our global alliances, ”said Harris.

In the days following September 11, the country recalled “that unity is possible in the United States”, and even that it is “an imperative”, he declared. “This is essential to our shared prosperity, our national security and our role in the world. And speaking of unity, I don’t mean uniformity,” he added.

Harris thus underlined the same message that President Joe Biden sent this Friday, which affirmed that unity is the “greatest strength” of the country, at a time of the latent political tensions in the United States after the mandate of Donald Trump.

Although Biden attends remembrance ceremonies at the three locations where the attacks took place two decades ago this Saturday, he will not comment. in those acts and preferred to speak in a videotaped speech posted to his official Twitter account on Friday.

In his speech in Pennsylvania, Harris acknowledged that the September 11 speeches also demonstrated “how fear can be used to sow division” in the country, as evidenced by the discrimination against “Muslim or Sikh Americans because of their appearance or the way they expressed your faith ”. .

The Vice President and her husband, Doug Emhoff, were scheduled to attend a ceremony in honor of the Pentagon victims, where American Airlines Flight 77, which left 184 people dead when it struck the building’s west facade, does today ’20 years old.

A word from Biden

The president called on the inhabitants of the country for unity, “our greatest strength”, in a video message broadcast on Friday, on the eve of the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

“For me, this is the main lesson of September 11th. At a time of greatest vulnerability, (…) unity is our greatest strength,” the US president said in his six-minute taped message to the White House.

Biden and his wife Jill visited the three iconic locations of the 9/11 attacks: New York, the Pentagon near Washington, and the place in Pennsylvania where a plane hijacked by jihadists crashed 20 years ago. Criticized for his handling of the Afghan crisis, he chose not to speak during the ceremonies.

“Unity doesn’t mean we all have to believe in the same thing, but it’s essential that we respect and trust each other,” Biden said in his message to a deeply divided country.

Trump Reviews

For his part, former President Donald Trump took advantage of the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the attacks to criticize this Saturday in a video the “inept administration” of Joe Biden for his “incompetence” in the military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“It is a very sad day,” said the former president, adding that September 11 “represents a great pain for the country”.

“It is also a sad moment because of the way our war against those who caused so much damage to our country ended last week”, he continued in remarks reproduced by the agency AFP press release.

Trump thus spoke of the end of the American war in Afghanistan, launched after the attacks of the extremist organization Al-Qaeda against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC. This group, led by Osama bin Laden, had taken refuge in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and the American invasion overthrew the Islamist regime in an attempt to find the group’s leaders. But the Taliban quickly launched an offensive, and after two decades of fighting and news of the departure of international troops, they returned to power last month.

“The leader of our country has been made off as a fool and that can never be allowed,” Trump said, accusing “poor planning, incredible weakness and leaders who really didn’t understand what was going on.”

The tycoon also lamented the deaths of 13 US soldiers in a bomb explosion in Kabul last month during the evacuation from Afghanistan, and the billions of dollars in US military equipment left behind and confiscated by the Taliban “without being able to fire a single shot”.

“Joe Biden and his inept administration have surrendered in defeat,” Trump continued. “We will fight to recover from the shame that this incompetence has caused,” concluded the Republican, who despite his defeat in the elections last year still has aspirations for a new presidential term.