We must never forget those we lost during 9/11 attacks: Biden
A moment of silence was observed on Saturday at a memorial in Lower Manhattan to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack, which left nearly 3,000 people dead.
US President Joe Biden was joined by former President Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in Lower Manhattan for the ceremony at the National September 11th Memorial. They each wore blue ribbons and held their hands over their hearts as a procession marched through the memorial. Before the event began, a jet flew overhead in an eerie echo of the attacks. Biden was a senator when hijackers commandeered four planes and executed the attack. Family members of the victims read out the names of all their relatives to honour them.
The President spent Saturday paying his respects at the three sites where the planes crashed but he left the speech-making to others.
Instead, the White House released a recorded address late on Friday in which Biden spoke of the “true sense of national unity” that emerged after the attacks, seen in “heroism everywhere – in places expected and unexpected”.
“To me that’s the central lesson of September 11,” he said. “Unity is our greatest strength.”
Biden then took to Twitter saying the US must never forget those “we lost during one of the darkest moments in our history”.
“Twenty years ago, nearly 3,000 lives were cut short by an unspeakable act of cowardice and hatred on 9/11. As a nation, we must never forget those we lost during one of the darkest moments in our history and the enduring pain of their families and loved ones,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, Biden visited the field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a plane fell from the sky after passengers fought terrorists to prevent it from reaching its Washington destination. Finally, he headed to the Pentagon.
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was an attack on humanity and such tragedies can only be avoided by inculcating human values. “Today is September 11th i.e. 9/11! A date in the history of the world that is known to have struck humanity,” he said.