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NEW YORK (AP) – Americans solemnly celebrated the 20th anniversary of September 11, commemorating the dead, calling on heroes and taking stock of the aftermath of the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil less than two weeks after the difficult end of the war. war in Afghanistan.
The ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City began exactly two decades after the attack began, with the first of four hijacked planes crashing into one of the World Trade Center’s twin towers.
“It was as if an evil specter had descended on our world, but it was also a time when many people were acting beyond the ordinary,” said Mike Low, whose daughter, Sara Low, was a hostess. air in this plane.
His family “experienced unbearable grief and disbelief” in the years that followed, the father told a crowd that included President Joe Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
But “as we continue these 20 years, I find my sustenance in a continued appreciation for all who have become more than just ordinary people,” Low said.
The anniversary took place under the veil of a pandemic and in the shadow of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which is now led by the same militants who gave refuge to the 9/11 plotters.
“It’s difficult because you were hoping it would be just another time and another world. But sometimes history starts to repeat itself and not in the best possible way, ”said Thea Trinidad, who lost her father in the attacks, before reading the names of the victims at the ceremony.
Bruce Springsteen and Broadway actor Kelli O’Hara performed at the commemoration, but traditionally no politician spoke. In a video posted Friday night, Biden addressed the lingering pain of loss, but also highlighted what he called the “central lesson” of September 11: “that to our most vulnerable … unity is our greatest strength “.
Biden was also due to pay homage to the two other sites where the 9/11 conspirators crashed the jets: the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Together, the attacks killed nearly 3,000 people.
Calvin Wilson came to the Pennsylvania Memorial to reflect on his brother-in-law LeRoy Homer, the first officer on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew fought to regain control. The hijackers are said to have targeted the United States Capitol or the White House.
Wilson said he believed a polarized country had “missed the message” of heroism from passengers and crew.
“We are not focusing on the damage. We don’t focus on hate. We don’t focus on retaliation. We’re not focusing on revenge, ”Wilson said. “We are focused on the good that all of our loved ones have done.”
Former President George W. Bush, leader of the country on September 11, and current Vice President Kamala Harris were scheduled to speak at the Pennsylvania memorial. The only other post-9/11 U.S. president Donald Trump planned to be in New York, in addition to commenting on a boxing match in Florida at night.
More celebrations – from a wreath laying in Portland, Maine, to a firefighter parade in Guam – were planned in a country now filled with 9/11 memorial plaques, statues and gardens.
In the aftermath of the attacks, security was redefined, with changes to airport checkpoints, policing practices and government oversight powers. For years thereafter, virtually any large-scale explosion, accident or act of violence seemed to raise a crucial question: “Is this terrorism?” Ideological violence and conspiracies followed, although federal officials and the public have recently become increasingly concerned about threats from domestic extremists after years of focusing on international terrorist groups in the aftermath of September 11.
New York was confronted early on with the question of whether it could one day recover from the blow to its financial hub and restore a sense of security among crowds and skyscrapers. New Yorkers finally rebuilt a more populous and prosperous city but had to rely with the tactics of a post 9/11 police force and a growing gap between the haves and have-nots.
A “war on terror” led to invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, where America’s longest war ended last month with a massive and rushed airlift punctuated by a bombing -suicide. which killed 169 Afghans and 13 American servicemen and was attributed to a branch of the extremist group Islamic State. The United States is now affected that al-Qaida, the terrorist network behind 9/11, could regroup in Afghanistan, where the flag of the Taliban militant group again flew over the presidential palace on Saturday.
Melissa Pullis lost her husband, Edward, on September 11. His namesake, Edward Jr., serves aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, where he threw a wreath bearing the words “Never Forget” into the water on Saturday.
“I really don’t care about the Taliban,” said Melissa Pullis, who attended the ceremony with her other son, Andrew. “I’m just happy that all the troops are out of Afghanistan… We can’t lose any more troops. We don’t even know why we are fighting, and 20 years have gone by the wayside.
Two decades after helping sort and treat injured colleagues at the Pentagon on September 11, retired Army Col. Malcolm Bruce Westcott is saddened and frustrated by the continuing threat of terrorism.
“I always thought my generation, my military cohort, would take care of it – we wouldn’t pass it on to anyone else,” said Westcott, of Greensboro, Ga. “And we passed it on.”
September 11 launched a wave of shared mourning and a common goal, but it quickly gave way.
Muslim Americans endured suspicion, surveillance and hate crimes. The quest to understand the catastrophic toll of terrorist attacks led to changes in building design and emergency communications, but it also spurred conspiracy theories that sowed a culture of skepticism.. Schisms and resentments have grown about immigration, the balance between tolerance and vigilance, the sense of patriotism, the right way to honor the dead and the scope of a promise to “never forget” .
Trinidad was 10 when she heard her father, Michael, say goodbye to her mother over the phone shopping center on fire. She remembers the pain but also the camaraderie of the days that followed, when all of New York “felt like it was family.”
“Now when I feel like the world is so divided, I just wish we could come back to it,” said Trinidad, of Orlando, Fla. “I feel like the world would have been so different if we could just have kept that feeling.”
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Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
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