9/11 anniversary: Twenty years on, US and the world face a painful reflection of a life-changing moment

Published

3 years ago

September 11, 2021

admin

In the spot where the Twin Towers once stood, there is now a calmness – a peace in the heart of New York City.

The only sound is water, cascading endlessly into two vast square voids, one for each tower.

They are voids that will never be filled, representing holes for so many who mourn the loss of so many more.

On the tip of Manhattan, the scene is set to reflect on nearly 3,000 lives lost and a moment that changed the world.

The ceremony will begin at 8.40am New York time (1.40pm UK) – six minutes before the first plane hit the north tower 20 years ago – on September 11 2001.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama will join President Joe Biden for a ceremony punctuated by six stark moments of silence: three to mark the planes hitting the two towers and the Pentagon in Washington, two to mark the collapse of each tower, and one to mark the moment the fourth plane came down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

President George W Bush will be in Shanksville for the ceremony there, and President Donald Trump will mark the day with a series of as-yet-unpublished stops.

Over the coming hours, relatives and survivors will share their stories and reflect on their individual loss.

Flight crews will gather in uniform, pausing for their lost colleagues – their friends.

Firefighters, many too young to remember 9/11, will pay their respects to those who ran towards danger to rescue those trapped in the towers, including the first responders who lost their lives.

Over two hours, the names of each of those to die that day will be read out, one by one.

Twenty years ago, President George W Bush was at Ground Zero, megaphone in hand, reflecting the mood of a nation consumed by a deep trauma and a bewilderment that demanded revenge.

“The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon,” he declared.

Who would have thought that presidential vow all those years ago would be a central thread through three more American presidencies and define our collective history in the subsequent two decades.

Long conflicts in Afghanistan, then Iraq, followed. A “war on terror” waged. By definition, it required a victory that would always be elusive.

So many lives were lost in the past two decades.

The US was consumed by revenge but also wrapped up in a desire to change and remake the world according to its own image and to achieve that by force.

Increasingly it proved to be a futile and dangerous objective that brought out the worst in America. In trying to export its own values, the US was in fact repudiating them.

Key moments would be proved over time to have been mistakes causing irrevocable damage.

The missed opportunities such as the failure to capture bin Laden in the Afghan mountains in November 2001. He was to escape into Pakistan and evade capture for a decade.

Policy decisions such as diverting attention away from Afghanistan to Iraq in 2003 on the elusive hunt for weapons of mass destruction.

Then there was the CIA rendition flights, the torture, the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and of course Guantanamo.

Twenty years after 9/11, 40 prisoners remain at Guantanamo. Most have not been charged, none have yet faced trial. They include the 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

The latest inflection point in these past two decades has been Mr Biden’s chaotic retreat from Afghanistan. History is yet to judge the wisdom of that decision.

The legacy of 9/11 has been dramatic and it is enduring.

Twenty years might have helped individuals to begin to heal, but collectively, for America and well beyond, two decades of conflict has stirred so much and healed almost nothing.

Professor Bruce Hoffman, senior fellow at the Council for Foreign Relations, told me this week: “I think the sad truth of the matter is that if bin Laden were alive today, he’d be a happy man.

“Firstly, the enterprise that he commenced over three decades ago has withstood what really is the technologically most advanced military in the history of mankind and survived. It has continually overcome whatever setbacks have been meted out to it. And now that we see with the victory of the Taliban, the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan, which was always bin Laden’s kind of pet project, has once again been resurrected.”

He added: “But more to the point, according to the US State Department list of foreign terrorist organisations, there are now four times as many Salafi jihadi groups that adhere to bin Laden’s ideology today than there were on 9/11.”

For New York, for America and well beyond, this will be painful reflection of such an extraordinary moment.

US

Donald Trump on day one: Pace of change ‘like nothing you’ve seen in history’, warns campaign official

Published

3 hours ago

November 21, 2024

admin

Donald Trump on day one: Pace of change 'like nothing you've seen in history', warns campaign official

Within hours of taking office, president-elect Donald Trump plans to begin rolling out policies including large-scale deportations, according to his transition team.

Sky News partner network NBC News has spoken with more than half a dozen people familiar with the executive orders that his team plans to enact.

One campaign official said changes are expected at a pace that is “like nothing you’ve seen in history”, to signal a dramatic break from President Joe Biden’s administration.

Mr Trump is preparing on day one to overturn specific policies put in place by Mr Biden. Among the measures, reported by sources close to the transition team, are:

• The speedy and large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants

• Ending travel reimbursement for military members seeking abortion care

• Restricting transgender service members’ access to gender-affirming care

But much of the first day is likely to focus on stopping illegal immigration – the centrepiece of Trump’s candidacy. He is expected to sign up to five executive orders aimed at dealing with that issue alone after he is sworn in on 20 January.

“There will without question be a lot of movement quickly, likely day one, on the immigration front,” a top Trump ally said.

“There will be a push to make a huge early show and assert himself to show his campaign promises were not hollow.”

But Mr Trump’s campaign pledges also could be difficult to implement.

Deporting people on the scale he wants will be a logistical challenge that could take years. Questions also remain about promised tax cuts.

Meanwhile, his pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in just 24 hours would be near impossible.

Even so, advisers based at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort or at nearby offices in West Palm Beach, Florida, are reportedly strategising about ending the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Following his decisive victory on 5 November, the president-elect has moved swiftly to build a cabinet and senior White House team.

As of Thursday, he had selected more than 30 people for senior positions in his administration, compared with just three at a similar point in his 2016 transition.

Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser in Mr Trump’s campaign, told NBC News: “The thing to realise is Trump is no dummy.

“He knows he’s got two to three years at most to get anything done. And then he becomes a lame duck and we start talking about [the presidential election in] 2028.”

US

Trump pick Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration to be US attorney general

Published

7 hours ago

November 21, 2024

admin

Trump pick Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration to be US attorney general

Donald Trump ally Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next US attorney general.

Mr Gaetz, a controversial pick to be the country’s top legal official, said his selection was “unfairly becoming a distraction” to the transition of Mr Trump’s administration into the White House.

The Florida Republican had faced significant scrutiny over a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old girl.

He said in a post on the X social media platform: “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump’s DOJ (Department of Justice) must be in place and ready on Day 1.

“I remain fully committed to seeing that Donald Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honoured that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”

Mr Trump said in a post on his own social media site, Truth Social, that Mr Gaetz had a “wonderful future”.

“I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General,” he wrote.

“He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect.”

Mr Gaetz previously faced a nearly three-year Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old girl, which ended in February 2023 without him facing any criminal charges.

He has always denied the allegations.

He has also been under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee over wider allegations including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and accepting improper gifts.

The inquiry was dropped on Wednesday 13 November when Mr Gaetz left Congress – the only forum where the committee has jurisdiction.

The Senate ethics committee is deadlocked on whether their report can be released.

Mr Gaetz’s withdrawal is a blow to Mr Trump’s push to install steadfast loyalists in his incoming administration and the first sign that he could face resistance from members of his own party.

US

Dad who called 911 for help during break-in killed by Las Vegas police officer

Published

10 hours ago

November 21, 2024

admin

Dad who called 911 for help during break-in killed by Las Vegas police officer

A 43-year-old man was shot dead by police after calling 911 to report intruders had entered his home in Las Vegas.

Brandon Durham was at home with his 15-year-old daughter when he called the emergency line to report armed intruders were trying to break into his property on 12 November.

Bodycam footage shows Mr Durham struggling with a person over a knife in the moments before he was shot and killed at the scene.

“The loss of life in any type of incident like this is always tragic, and it’s something we take very seriously,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said on Thursday.

The force is investigating the incident.

Mr Durham called 911 to report multiple people were outside shooting at his residence in Las Vegas’ Sunset Park neighbourhood, where he had been staying with his 15-year-old daughter, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reports.

It was one of multiple emergency calls reporting a shooting in the area.

Mr Durham then said someone had managed to get into his home through the front and back doors of the property and he was locking himself in the bathroom, according to a police statement from 14 November, two days after the incident.

Officers reported to the scene at approximately 12:40am and could hear screaming from inside the residence.

One of the officers, Alexander Bookman, kicked open the front door and once inside, saw Mr Durham and another individual, later identified as 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux, struggling over a knife in a doorway.

Mr Bookman ordered them to drop the knife and about two seconds later, the officer fired the gun and Mr Durham appeared to be struck, the bodycam footage shows.

Both Mr Durham and Mr Boudreaux fell to the ground and the officer fired another five shots. Roughly three seconds are believed to have gone by between the first and last shot, NBC reports.

Attempts were made to save the 43-year-old but he died at the scene.

Ms Boudreaux was taken into custody and is facing charges of home invasion with a deadly weapon; assault with a deadly weapon domestic violence; willful or wanton disregard of safety of persons resulting in death; and child abuse, neglect or endangerment.