As presidential hopefuls watched, some relatives of 9/11 victims made a demand for accountability on Wednesday, marking an anniversary fraught with election-season politics in the United States.
Just hours after Trump and Harris squared off in their first-ever debate, Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, and former President Donald Trump stood together at ground zero in a unique tableau. Trump shook hands with Biden, the successor whose inauguration Trump skipped, and it seemed that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped Trump and Harris touch hands.
Then, with Biden and Bloomberg positioned between the two presidential candidates, the ceremony got underway with a bell-ringing and a silent moment. Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running partner, was by his side.
At yet another mournful remembrance of the hijacked airline strikes that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001, the image was one of putting politics aside. Politicians have been merely observers at the Ground Zero Memorial ceremonies for years; family have been given the microphones to read the names of the fallen publicly.
On Wednesday, a few of those readers used the opportunity to make their own political statements.
Allison Walsh-DiMarzio stated, “We are pleading for your help, but you ignore us,” putting Trump and Harris on notice to question Saudi Arabia about any possible official participation in the attacks. While the state denies senior Saudi officials’ participation, the majority of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.
Which among you is going to be brave enough to save the day? Walsh-DiMarzio remarked, “We should have better.” She’s a daughter of 9/11 victim Barbara P. Walsh, an administrative assistant.
The 9/11 attacks on September 11, 2001, left 2,977 people dead and thousands of bereaved relatives and survivors. The attacks altered U.S. foreign policy, domestic security practices, and the mindset of many Americans who had not previously felt vulnerable to attacks by foreign extremists. The U.S. responded by leading a “Global War on Terrorism,” which included invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis and thousands of American troops.
Communities around the country hold their own 9/11 remembrances and volunteer projects mark the anniversary, which Congress has titled Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance. In 2012, the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum decided to limit the ceremony to relatives reading victims’ names. Some relatives have used the forum to bemoan Americans’ divisions, exhort leaders to prioritize national security, acknowledge the casualties of the war on terror, complain that officials are politicizing 9/11, and even criticize individual officeholders. Others appeal for peace.
In 2008, then-senators and presidential campaign rivals John McCain and Barack Obama paid their respects at ground zero. The anniversary became a fraught part of the 2016 presidential campaign, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton abruptly leaving the trade center ceremony and later disclosing her pneumonia. Over the years, some relatives have used the forum to bemoan Americans’ divisions, exhort leaders to prioritize national security, acknowledge the casualties of the war on terror, complain that officials are politicizing 9/11, and even criticize individual officeholders.
(AP)
