President Biden marked the twenty second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist assaults on Monday with a message of unity, saying Americans should defend democratic beliefs.
Mr. Biden delivered remarks from a army base in Alaska, the place he stopped on his approach residence from a diplomatic journey to Asia in order that he may commemorate the anniversary on U.S. soil.
“It shouldn’t take a national tragedy to remind us of the power of national unity,” he informed a crowd of service members, first responders and their households. “That’s how we truly honor those we lost on 9/11.”
“It’s more important than ever that we come together around the principle of American democracy, regardless of our political backgrounds,” he mentioned. “We must not succumb to the poisonous politics of difference and division. We must never allow ourselves to be pulled apart by petty manufactured grievances.”
Mr. Biden recalled how he stood at floor zero after the assaults, trying on the wreckage that resembled the “gates of hell.” But he mentioned he was struck by the braveness he witnessed within the days and years after.
He cited first responders who bumped into infernos and breathed in toxins at floor zero, the civilians working into the Pentagon to save lots of their colleagues and the “patriot passengers” who fought again towards the terrorists who hijacked United Flight 93, which crashed outdoors Shanksville, Pa.
Mr. Biden additionally praised the “9/11 generation” that deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and that “followed Osama bin Laden to the end of the earth and sent him to the gates of hell 12 years ago.”
American presidents normally mark the anniversary on the assault websites, however Mr. Biden was returning to Washington on Monday after a visit to India for the Group of 20 summit and a cease in Vietnam.
Mr. Biden mentioned that he had been pondering throughout his travels in regards to the 2,977 lives misplaced on the World Trade Center, on the Pentagon and close to Shanksville.
“These trips are a central part of how we’re going to ensure the United States is flanked by the broadest array of allies and partners who will stand with us and deter any threat toward security, to build a world that is safer for all of our children,” Mr. Biden mentioned.
Earlier within the day, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the National September 11 Memorial in New York City, and Jill Biden, the primary woman, laid a wreath on the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Va.
Mr. Biden concluded his remarks by recalling his go to to a memorial in Hanoi devoted to the army service of Senator John McCain, and the way the 2 males fought on the Senate flooring for years. But ultimately, the president mentioned, he put “duty to country first,” and his remaining phrases to Mr. Biden have been “I love you.”
“Let us honor Sept. 11 by renewing our faith in one another,” he mentioned. “Let us remember who we are as a nation.”
Source: www.nytimes.com