(Observer News)
It has been 20 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
On September 11, 2001, then-U.S. President George W. Bush said, "Today is the day when all Americans unite in the search for justice and peace. In the past, the United States defeated its enemies, and today's Americans will defeat their own enemies. ”
On September 11, 2016, Obama quoted "E pluribus unum," one of the mottos printed on the U.S. coat of arms: "They tried to intimidate us, hoping to stir up enough fear to make us kill each other," "which is why it is so important for us today to reaffirm our identity as a nation's 'United as One.'"
On September 11, 2020, Trump said: "In honor of them (the victims of '911'), we are determined to unite as an 'America' to defend our freedoms, to uphold our values, to love our neighbors." ”
On the eve of September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the current US President Joe Biden delivered a speech commemorating those killed and injured in the attacks and renewing his call for "national unity."
For 20 years, four U.S. presidents have repeated the word, "unity." The irony is that today's United States is no longer what it used to be, and the accelerated division of society is becoming more and more difficult to bridge, making "unity" a kind of "9/11 thought." On September 10, the US NBC News Network pointed out that the "911 incident" once united the United States, and now 20 years later, the United States is divided.
An NBC poll on the same day also showed that a poll after the "9/11 incident" showed that up to 72 percent of Americans believed the country was moving in the right direction, while only 11 percent opposed it. But now, those numbers are almost the exact opposite. Only 29 percent believe the United States is on the right track, and 63 percent believe the country is on the wrong track.
Screenshot of US President Joe Biden's tweet
On September 10, US President Joe Biden published a video saying that "fear, anger, resentment and violence against American Muslims" distorted the unity of the United States. Biden argues that "unity" provided the strongest greatest strength in the most vulnerable period of america after 9/11, and that's not forgotten.
As the U.S. president calls for national unity, political divisions over COVID-19, gun ownership, and abortion rights are increasingly tearing apart the United States.
Jon Stewart, a well-known American talk show comedian and television presenter, told NBC News that on September 12, 2001, the United States had an unprecedented scene of unity.
In 2021, with the embarrassing withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the U.S. still mired in the COVID-19 pandemic due to domestic political discord, the U.S. superpower seems to be experiencing a crisis of confidence.
After 9/11, "a delayed bomb filled with hatred was detonated" and the United States was being destroyed.
The Associated Press quoted data from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that after the 9/11 incident, hate crimes against Arab Americans, Muslims, etc. in the United States surged, and although it has decreased in recent years, the number has never returned to the level before the attacks. Recently, discrimination and hate crimes against Asians in the United States have also risen.
In a Sept. 10 commentary on the events of 9/11, NBC analyzed the process of american public opinion moving from "unification" to division.
The article quotes Michael J. Allen, a professor of American history at Northwestern University, as saying that the United States is now much less confident and optimistic than it was in September 2001. Allen said that in the decade after the Cold War, the United States used technology as a driving force to promote economic growth, and the US president adopted a policy of presidential centrism at this stage, and the "9/11 incident" marked the end of this phase.
Stimulated by the "911" terrorist attacks, this optimistic spirit of the United States condensed into a united and high spirit of the United States at that time.
This state of mind fell apart step by step after 9/11, and NBC's review article listed a series of key events in the process.
The first rift came during the reign of Then President George W. Bush, when the George W. Bush administration attacked Iraq under the pretext of involving terrorist attacks, but Iraq was not involved.
Meanwhile, millions of American Muslims find themselves labeled terrorists by bigots.
Professor Allen analyzed that the Bush administration's failed foreign policy against the "911" attacks discredited the Republican leadership at the time and the Democratic leadership of Hillary Clinton, who supported the war against Iraq.
That paved the way for Obama to be elected president, one of the few politicians to speak out against the war in Iraq. "A new political class" has also emerged, Allen said, adding that "this new political class is more confrontational and less trusted." Trump was subsequently elected President of the United States.
The "net effect" of this, Allen said, is that it is more difficult for Americans to reach a consensus on any issue we face — from coronavirus to climate change, from counterterrorism to policing — leaving [the U.S. government] powerless to develop a public policy response." ”
NBC said the network had also contributed to the intensification of divisions in the United States.
Robert Thompson, a professor at Syracuse University, hypothesized that "if what happened on September 11, 2001 had happened today, people would have reacted very differently."
Instead, after 9/11 in 2001, narratives like "in this case, we're all together" dominated the media until March 2003, when the Bush administration began pushing for an invasion of Iraq.
In today's social media age, Thompson says, "This feeling of warmth, unity can't happen today." ”
On Sept. 11, Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, planned to visit New York City, where the World Trade Center in New York was destroyed by two planes, killing 2,753 people on Sept. 11, and the Bidens would visit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the crash site of United Flight 93 outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, according to the Associated Press.
However, Biden's plans to attend the 9/11 commemoration can be described as "twists and turns".
Previously, NBC disclosed a statement signed by the families of nearly 1,800 "911" victims, survivors and rescue workers on August 6. The statement said that if Biden did not fulfill his promise to "publish the relevant declassified files" during the campaign last October, the families of the victims would not want him to participate in the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of "911".
The statement from the families of the victims also mentioned that "there is considerable evidence found that Saudi government officials supported the terrorist attacks." He also said that if Biden does not disclose the relevant confidential investigation files, it will be a "favor" for the Saudi government. But NBC added in the report that while the 9/11 investigation committee's report found Saudi Arabia to be a "problematic ally" in intelligence sharing, the report said there was "no evidence that the Saudi government or individual senior officials support al-Qaida."
On September 3, local time, the US White House website published an executive order and a statement signed by Biden on the same day, which required the US Department of Justice and other relevant departments to review, decrypt and release some confidential documents related to the "911" terrorist attacks.
"We must not forget the lives lost in 9/11 and the suffering they inflicted on their loved ones." Biden said in a statement, "My heart will continue to be with them, and the U.S. government will continue to communicate with them with respect and will listen to their voices." ”
The Washington Post mentioned in the report on the 3rd that some families of "911" victims praised Biden's move. A group of victims' families said in a statement that Biden's order "looks like a real turning point."
On 11 September 2001, suicide bombers from the terrorist group Al Qaeda hijacked four airliners, two of which crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, a landmark commercial building in New York, and the other two into the Pentagon. Three planes hit the target, while another crashed near the city of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.
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