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Ground Zero
Trump visits Pentagon instead of New York on 25th anniversary of 9/11 attacks
The US president decided to pay his respects at the Pentagon instead of a large commemoration event at Ground Zero.
LAST UPDATE | 11 Sep
TODAY MARKS 25 years since the terror attacks on the Twin Towers, and New York is commemorating the lives lost – without US President Donald Trump, who travelled instead to the Pentagon.
US vice president JD Vance and Trump’s four living predecessors (Republican George W Bush, who was in office during the attacks, and Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton) all attended the memorial at the “Ground Zero” site in lower Manhattan.
New York’s mayor Zohran Mamdani also attended the memorial, despite right-wing efforts to get him to skip the event.
Mamdani, New York’s first Muslim mayor, had been the target of a campaign urging him to stay away that was spearheaded by the right-wing New York Post and former mayor Rudy Giuliani.
At the ceremony, bereaved family members read out the names of all of those killed and a bell was rung to mark major moments during the attack.
Meanwhile, at the Pentagon, Trump said: “Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago. We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today.”
“We don’t have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win.”
Mamdani attended the New York commemoration event despite a petition that gathered more than 100,000 signatures accusing him of associating with unspecified individuals who are “dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.”
He won praise, however, for recently revealing thousands of documents showing what city officials knew about toxicity levels of the air in Lower Manhattan following the attacks.
After the initial dust cloud that followed the collapse of the World Trade Center, months of pollution and lingering dust ensued, causing cancers from which thousands of New Yorkers still suffer today.
“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mamdani said on Tuesday.
Beyond those killed on 11 September, more than 9,400 other people have died from 9/11-related illnesses, according to the federal program established to provide medical care to those affected.
Logan Miller (32) lost his uncle during the attacks, and his grandfather to 9/11-related illness in the aftermath.
“I think the next generation just can’t fathom what actually transpired and how someone could be impacted by that, and so I actually find them asking more questions,” he told AFP.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee is expected to lay a wreath at the 9/11 Memorial later this month during UN High Level Week.
“We remember today the 2,977 innocent lives lost in the attacks, including at least 18 Irish citizens, and the multiplicity of family, friends and loved ones who continue to grieve for their loss,” she said in a statement today.
“In remembering, we recall the centuries-old bonds between Ireland and New York,” she said, mentioning the 200 Claddagh rings that were found in the rubble of the World Trade Centre.
Ahead of the memorial, a drone show with 2,977 lights rose above New York Harbor, one for each person killed in the attacks.
Al-Qaeda meanwhile has marked the anniversary by releasing a video showing images of late leader Osama bin Laden and his son Hamza, who Trump said in 2019 had also been killed.
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