The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has decided for the second consecutive year to be absent from the main event in his native New York in remembrance of those who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Instead, in order to capture solo prominence with a speech, this morning he attended a ceremony at the Pentagon, the building that was the target of the third major impact of a hijacked plane on that tragic day, 25 years ago today.
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After a solemn ceremony, which consisted of reading the names of all the people killed, and lamenting the murder of nearly 3,000 people in the attacks, the president took advantage of his speech to justify his war in Iran, which has already lasted more than half a year. “Today we renew the sacred oath we made a quarter of a century ago. Never, ever will we forget. That is why we fight today. We have no choice. There can only be victory. We fight with all our might. We fight to win,” Trump said.
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“Today we pay tribute to all members of the Armed Forces who served in the war on terror,” he continued, “and we pay tribute to those who are working right now to ensure that the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran, never, ever has a nuclear weapon.”
His speech was preceded by that of the head of the Pentagon and host in the building, Pete Hegseth, who also reminded that the so-called war on terror, initiated by George Bush as revenge for the attacks, is still alive today.
In 2001, “many Americans were unaware of the Islamist threat we faced,” but “the fight against evil continued, and continues now, until Judgment Day,” Hegseth declared, in a religious statement. “Over the past six months, we have devastated the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” the head of the Pentagon celebrated, despite the fact that the threat of Iran, its Islamist regime and its allied militias in the Middle East remains.
Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of Defense
“The fight against evil continued after 9/11, and continues now, until Judgment Day”
The Pentagon attack, which occurred an hour after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, struck the west side of the Defense building in Arlington (Virginia), and pierced three of its five rings, causing a huge fire and significant structural damage. It left a total of 184 victims, not counting the five hijackers: 59 passengers and crew members and 125 people who were inside the Pentagon, both military and civilian employees. There could have been many more if part of the Department of Defense headquarters had not been under construction at that time.
Trump, who traveled overnight from Dallas (Texas), where he appeared yesterday at the closing of the midterm Republican convention, did not attend the main event at Ground Zero in New York, where his four living predecessors were present: Republican George Bush, who was in office when the attacks occurred, and Democrats Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. Representing the White House was Vice President J.D. Vance, who also gave a speech in Dallas last night.
According to several U.S. media outlets, Trump decided not to attend the World Trade Center in New York partly because the organization banned any political speech, but also in an attempt to distance himself from both his predecessors and the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani. At the Pentagon, the First Lady, Melania Trump, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, were also present.
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On this occasion, Trump did not reiterate his unproven claim that he was heavily involved in the cleanup and reconstruction of New York City, sending his workers and even going to the site after the attacks. This Tuesday, he even said that shortly after September 11 he went to visit lower Manhattan and some firefighters carried him “in their arms” because they feared the One Liberty Plaza skyscraper was going to collapse.
“Two firefighters, two big strong guys — and I’m not exactly the smallest guy in the world — grabbed me under the arm and said, ‘We have to get out of here.’ And they literally lifted me up,” the president said, mythologizing his version of events. “They thought the building was going to collapse.”
In the past, the president has told a series of strange stories about September 11. Another example is when he claimed in 2018 that he had predicted the attacks in a book he wrote before they happened, in 2000, although in that book he simply warned that Osama Bin Laden, leader of Al Qaeda, was a danger to the U.S.
