The ceremony in New York marking the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks began this Saturday at the Manhattan Memorial where stood the twin towers of the World Trade Center (WTC) destroyed by jihadist attacks from Al Qaeda. The american president
Joe Biden presides over this ceremony and stands alongside his predecessors, including Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
A minute of silence was observed at 8:46 a.m., exactly twenty years after the first pirated plane crashed into the North Tower. The reading of the names of the 2,977 people killed that day at the three sites of the attacks (including 2,753 in New York) then began, under the air of a flute. It will be punctuated throughout the morning by musical tributes, including a song on the dry guitar by American star Bruce Springsteen. More minutes of silence will follow: for the collapse of the New York towers, the attack on the Pentagon near Washington and the crash of one of the planes in Shanksville (Pennsylvania).
Former US President George W. Bush, who was at the head of the United States at the time of the September 11 attacks, deplored in a speech the political disunity of his country twenty after the jihadist attacks. “In the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks, I was proud to lead an impressive, resilient and united people. If we talk about the unity of America, those times seem distant, ”said the 43rd President of the United States.
“Evil forces seem to be at work,” said Bush of the American political climate, denouncing “anger, fear and resentment”. “Our nation and our common future worry us,” said the former Republican president, who had launched the American intervention in Afghanistan in retaliation for September 11.
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