He will again make the ritual journey to sacred American landmarks of loss. He will another time bow his head in silent prayer He will repeat words of comfort for those whose lives changed forever thereon brilliant September day 20 years ago But this point , Joe Biden will hold the rank of commander in chief as he marks the anniversary of the nation’s worst terror attack. Now, he shoulders the responsibility borne by previous presidents to stop future tragedy, and must do so against fresh fears of an increase in terror after the United States’ exit from the country from which the 9/11 attacks were launched.
This 9/11 comes little quite fortnight after a terrorist in Kabul killed 13 U.S. service members because the military concluded its withdrawal from Afghanistan. And as Afghanistan returns to Taliban rule, there are fresh concerns that the country could again be a launchpad for attacks that Biden’s government are going to be charged with preventing.
But for Mr. Biden, like his predecessors, the 9/11 anniversary also can present a chance to undertake to reclaim the sense of national unity that followed the attacks, a sprit long ago faded amid the country’s divisive politics.
“For Biden, it is a moment for people to ascertain him not as Democratic president, but as president of the us of America,” said Robert Gibbs, who served as President Barack Obama’s press secretary.
“The American people are somewhat conflicted about what they need seen out of Afghanistan the last few weeks,” Mr. Gibbs said. “For Biden, it is a moment to undertake to reset a number of that. Remind people of what it’s to be commander in chief and what it means to be the leader of the country at a flash of such significance.” The president will commemorate the solemn anniversary on Saturday by paying his respects at the trio of web sites where the hijacked planes struck, puncturing the United States’ air of invincibility and leading to the deaths of three ,000 Americans.
First are going to be a stop in ny City, where the dual towers of the planet Trade Center were toppled as a horrified world watched on television. Then, a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a plane fell from the sky after heroic passengers fought terrorists to stop it from reaching its Washington destination. and eventually , the Pentagon, where the world’s mightiest military suffered an unthinkable blow to its very home.
Mr. Biden’s task, like his predecessors before him, are going to be mark the instant with a mixture of grief and resolve. a person who has suffered immense personal tragedy, Mr. Biden speaks of loss with power and eloquence, and he has repeatedly addressed the grief caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed quite 600,000 lives across the country.
While the ceremonies on Saturday don’t involve him to form public remarks, the White House said Mr. Biden would release a videotaped message “We all remember distinctly that day and the way much it’s impacted us and has impacted us for the last several decades,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in the week . “That’s true for him also .” Afghanistan will shadow the day.
Osama bin Laden used that nation to mastermind the 2001 attacks, introduction an expanded era of terror attacks on soft targets — hotels, office buildings, nightclubs — in cities across the West. Al-Qaeda was routed from Afghanistan within the months after 9/11 . But other groups have haunted the cause, including the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, believed to be liable for the Kabul attack last month.
Mr. Biden has long argued that the United States’ mission in Afghanistan was over, that the U.S. needed to prevent allowing its soldiers to die there. except for some, the return of the Taliban to power, and therefore the terror threat it could produce, has made the 20th anniversary a bitter and worrisome one.
Mr. Biden are going to be the fourth president to console the state on the anniversary of that dark day, one that has shaped many of the foremost consequential domestic and policy decisions made by the chief executives over the past 20 years .
The terror attack defined the presidency of George W. Bush, who was reading a book to Florida schoolchildren when the planes slammed into the planet Trade Center. He spent that day being kept out of Washington for security reasons — a choice that then-Senator Biden urged him to reconsider, the present president has written — then delivered a quick , halting speech that night from the White House to a terrified nation.
The following year, Bush chose Ellis Island because the location to deliver his first anniversary address, the Statue of Liberty over his shoulder as he vowed: “What our enemies have begun, we’ll finish.” “In the ruins of two towers, under a flag unfurled at the Pentagon, at the funerals of the lost, we’ve made a sacred promise to ourselves and to the world: we’ll not relent until justice is completed and our nation is secure,” Bush said.
At that point , the state had been on war footing for months, one conflict raging in Afghanistan and another looming in Iraq. America’s “war on terror” reshaped its citizens’ daily lives and expanded the powers of its government because it sought, sometimes on shaky legal grounds, to stop further attacks.
“One year after, it still felt love it was immediately after the attack, the state was still gripped by its consequences,” said Ari Fleischer, Bush’s press secretary. He said that each one presidents must offer messages of “comfort and reassurance” but also strength There are lessons to be learned because there are terrorists who would like to create a September 12th if the U.S. ever lets down its guard,” said Fleischer.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were still deadly when President Barack Obama visited the Pentagon to mark his first September 11th in office in 2009 No words can ease the ache of your hearts,” said Obama. “We recall the sweetness and meaning of their lives,” he said. “No passage of your time , no dark skies can dull the meaning of that moment.” By the time Obama spoke at the 10th anniversary, bin Laden was dead, killed during a May 2011 Navy SEAL raid. Though the state remained entangled overseas, and vigilant against terror threats, the anniversary became more about healing, as a shocking memorial and soaring skyscrapers rose at Ground Zero, symbols of remembrance and rebirth at what had once been a pile of twisted steel and terrible anguish.
President Donald Trump pledged to urge the U.S. out of Afghanistan, but his words during his first September 11th anniversary ceremony in 2017 were a vivid warning to terrorists, telling “these savage killers that there’s no dark corner beyond our reach, no sanctuary beyond our grasp, and nowhere to cover anywhere on this very large earth.” On Saturday, as Biden visits all three sites, Bush can pay his respects in Shanksville while Obama will do an equivalent in ny . Trump, meanwhile, are going to be delivering ringside commentary at a match at a casino in Hollywood, Florida.
