The United States on Sept. 11 marked the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that left nearly 3,000 dead and launched the United States into the decades-long war in Afghanistan.
In the morning, President Joe Biden laid a wreath at the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia.
“We regain the light by reaching out to one another, and finding something all too rare: a true sense of national unity,” he added, although it came just over a week after he denigrated tens of millions of Trump supporters in a speech. “To me, that’s the greatest lesson of September 11th.”
A tolling bell and a moment of silence began the commemoration at ground zero in New York, where the World Trade Center’s twin towers were destroyed by the hijacked-plane attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Victims’ relatives and dignitaries also convened at Pentagon, which also was attacked that day, and a field in central Pennsylvania.
First Lady Jill Biden attended a memorial for United Airlines Flight 93 at an event in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. That airliner crashed as flight attendants and the 40 passengers fought back against the hijackers, thwarting what was presumed to be an attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Alleged Al-Qaeda conspirators had seized control of the jets to use them as passenger-filled missiles.
“This is the legacy we must carry forward: hope that defies hate. Love that defies loss. And the ties that hold us together through it all,” she said.
Vice President Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff joined the observance at the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York, but by tradition, no political figures speak at the ground zero ceremony. It centers instead on victims’ relatives reading aloud the names of the dead.
Briefly United
Some commentators and officials offered reminders that in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the United States experienced a period of brief unity.“Twenty-one years ago this morning, terrorists launched a brutal attack on our homeland and changed the course of American history,“ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement. ”Though they murdered thousands of innocent people, they failed to rip apart the sacred American ideals they intended to destroy. Instead, in the hours, days, and years following the attacks, the American people rallied together, stood by our values, and unleashed our military might.”
Rudy Giuliani, who was the mayor of New York at the time, won national praise for his handling of the crisis and steady leadership.
But during a news conference last week, the Republican mayor wondered whether the United States could ever be that united again as it was in the aftermath of the attacks.
One survivor recalled escaping the World Trade Center’s North Tower after a plane slammed into the side of the building.
“In the stairwell, there were not a lot of people coming from upstairs,” Paventi recalled. That “tells you what was going on a few flights up.”
When trying to get down the stairs from the 81st floor, he said that there was a crowd of people who amassed.
“A couple of times, we’d sit there, and we’d look at each other thinking, ‘Should we try another stairwell?’” he said of the group. “There was one point when everyone got over so the firemen could run up. Here we were all trying to get out and all these guys coming up in full gear, carrying hoses.
“I couldn’t imagine running up to this fire, running up stairs, and knowing you still have 40, 50 flights to go.”
