Two decades after 9/11—the most lethal attack in history on American soil—questions, anger and death still linger for the many lives impacted by the tragedy '9/11 Twenty Years Later—The Longest Shadow' begins Monday, 9/6 at 8:30pET on ABCNewsLive.
The Atlantic's Jennifer Senior explores how the family of Bobby McIlvaine struggles to make sense of his loss on the 20th anniversary of the attacks.Though she has no independent recollection of her mother, Patricia Smith has spent 20 years missing and learning about her.
That day of terror brought about changes large and small such that it is difficult to find some part of American life that hasn’t been touched by the effects of Sept. 11, 2001. From ramped-up security at airports to the militarization of policing, to years-long wars and the very fabric of our country's personality and freedoms, the nation and world have been redefined by the events of 9/11.
The war in Afghanistan spanned the administrations of four presidents and the eight-year Iraq War, only to end last month with the chaotic withdrawal of American troops and the deaths of 13 more military service members, four born the same year as 9/11. The Taliban, which controlled Afghanistan in 2001 and provided safe haven to al-Qaeda, is back in power, renewing fears the country will once again become a base for terrorism.
While it's been 10 years since Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda, was gunned down by SEAL Team 6 in Abbottabad, Pakistan, no one has been convicted of helping him carry out the diabolical plot he mastermind, and only one has pleaded guilty and sentenced to life in prison. United Airlines Flight 93 took off from Newark International Airport in New Jersey that morning headed for San Francisco. According to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, a team of four al-Qaeda terrorists stormed the cockpit and at 9:32 a.m. the cockpit voice recorder indicated a struggle was occurring and captured the words of someone yelling,"Get out of here."
Andy Card, then the chief of staff to President George W. Bush, was with the commander-in-chief that morning at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, to promote the White House's"No Child Left Behind" education program. Before entering a room of children, Card recalled a Navy captain approaching him and the president to say a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, an unfortunate tragic accident they initially thought.
The following day, Bush traveled to lower Manhattan to see the destruction for himself. He stood atop a pile of smoldering rubble, his left arm draping the shoulder of a veteran firefighter, and began to speak into a bullhorn of the unspeakable loss. When someone in the group of rescuers and volunteer construction workers huddled around him shouted,"George we can't hear ya," the president responded,"I can hear you.
"I held nobody accountable for not really taking any action on that document because, at the time period, FBI headquarters was looking at real threat information that was coming in involving, for lack of a better description, ticking time bombs," Williams said. "This is my 20-year journey, trying to figure out why. I've had basically a nervous breakdown over it, if you really want to know the truth, rattling my brain why something simple was not done. It defies logic. It defies reason. You shouldn't accept it," said Rossini, who resigned from the bureau in 2008 when he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of accessing records in an FBI database for a friend.
Other living casualties of 9/11 are people like Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when his father, Bruce, was killed at the World Trade Center. Eagleson has spent years trying to get the federal government to make public what the FBI has learned about the roles top officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may have played in the attacks. A lawsuit he and other survivors of 9/11 victims filed against Saudi Arabia contends it was more than a coincidence that 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
But the plaintiffs, whose case is pending, claim that since the commission's report was released, the FBI has continued to investigate whether the Saudi government was involved in 9/11 but has refused to declassify evidence the families suspect show the kingdom was complicit. "That added to the pain and misery," Eagleson told ABC News."My family, along with many other families, are still waiting on remains to be found."Just 45 days after the Sept. 11 attacks, as the White House feared a follow-up ambush was imminent, Congress passed the Patriot Act, expanding the government's domestic surveillance powers to include reviewing bank records and even library accounts.
Lakhdar Boumediene, an Algerian-born citizen, was held for seven years and six months at Guantanamo Bay, where he said he was relentlessly interrogated and routinely tortured."They destroyed my health. They destroyed my life," Boumediene told ABC News.Lakhdar Boumediene, an Algerian former prisoner of the U.S.
"They destroyed everything. But until now, I still didn't get anything. No compensation, no apologies. Twenty years later, I can't find the truth behind my imprisonment at Guantanamo," Boumediene said. "I think we had sent a message to the world that nobody attacks the United States and gets away with it," Panetta told ABC News.President Barack Obama talks with members of the national security team, including Leon Panetta, Director of the CIA, center, about the mission against Osama bin Laden, in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011 in Washington, D.C.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
How Television Networks Will Commemorate the 20th Anniversary of 9/112021 marks the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The nation has continued to process the terrorist event over the past two decades in many ways, including through television specials, docum…
Leer más »
Biden to mark 20th anniversary of 9/11 at 3 memorial sitesPresident Joe Biden will visit all three 9/11 memorial sites to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and pay his respects to the nearly 3,000 people killed that day. Biden will visit ground zero in New York City, the Pentagon and the memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 was forced down, the White House said Saturday.
Leer más »
Biden to mark 20th anniversary of 9/11 at 3 memorial sitesPresident Joe Biden will visit all three 9/11 memorial sites to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and pay his respects to the nearly 3,000 people killed that day
Leer más »
Sharon Stone tells fans she's grieving after tragic death of 11-month-old nephewHollywood actress Sharon Stone has told her concerned fans she is 'grieving' fellow the tragic death of her 11-month-old nephew River
Leer más »
Biden orders a declassification review of documents related to September 11 attacksPresident Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to conduct a declassification review related to the FBI's investigation of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Leer más »
Biden orders declassification of Sept. 11 investigation documentsBREAKING: President Biden is ordering the widespread declassification of information collected during the US investigation of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks following growing pressure to do so from family members of the victims.
Leer más »