The United States on Sunday observed the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, with President Joe Biden considering the sacrifice of Americans and New York residents respected nearly 3,000 people who were killed when the plane that was hijacked destroyed twin towers.
Relatives of victims, police officers, firefighters and city leaders gathered at the 11th National Commemoration in Manhattan, where the names of those who died were read out loudly in the ritual for hours that had occurred every year since the single attack The most deadly in US land in US US in US.
They sounded the bells and held a time -quiet six times, including at 8:46 am and 9:03 in the morning (1246 and 1303 GMT), the right minute, the passenger jets hit North and South Tower of the World Trade.
Biden commemorates the birthday at the Pentagon, where the Al-Qaeda hijacker crashed into a plane to a large building that functions as the headquarters of the Department of Defense.
In a steady rain, the president approached the bouquets of flowers and put his hands over his heart.
“I know for all of you who lose someone, 21 years old is a lifetime and there is no time at all,” Biden said in a bleak speech outside the Pentagon.
“The American story itself changed that day,” he said. “What we cannot change, will never, is the character of this nation” The attackers try to hurt.
“The character of sacrifice and love, generosity and grace, strength and resilience,” he said.
Biden also remembers how at the hours after the attack, Queen Elizabeth II – who died Thursday at the age of 96 – sent a touching message to Americans.
“He sharply reminded us: ‘Sadness is the price we pay for love,'” Biden said.
Al-Qaeda hijacked a total of four aircraft. The third reached Pentagon and fourth, flight 93, fell on the field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after the passenger launched a rebellion on the ship.
First Lady Jill Biden attended the ceremony there on Sunday.
– ‘Secure our democracy’ –
Vice President Kamala Harris and Mayor Eric Adams are among high officials who attended the New York event, where relatives hug and cry, place flowers at warnings and hold placards with pictures of lost loved people.
“While the sadness was a little receding over time, the lack of permanent my father was as clear as before,” Jon Leslie Albert’s son after reading several names of the victim, including his father.
September 11 marked a foreign attack on the land of America, but Biden had warned the country to face anti-democratic chaos from within, especially from supporters of its predecessor Donald Trump who entered the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 who tried to cancel the 2020 election.
On Sunday he subtly touched this problem, urged Americans to “secure our shared democracy.”
“It’s not enough to defend democracy once a year or occasionally,” he said. “That’s something we have to do every day.”
The condolences arrived from foreign officials including NATO Head Jens Stoltenberg, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called September 11 “One of the most tragic days” for the US and the world.
“Facing missile attacks every day, Ukraine knows very well what is terrorism and sincerely sympathize with Americans,” Tweet Zelensky.
New York was illuminated Saturday night by “respect in light” which showed two blue beams, symbolizing twin towers, projecting into the night sky.
Besides those who were killed on September 11, the first thousands of respondents, construction workers and residents had since fallen ill, many of them in the terminal, as a result of inhaling toxic smoke.