Riyadh begins property acquisition for major road development projects    Saudi minister explores strategic industrial and mining partnerships with top Russian firms    Riyadh's Creative District to welcome Italy's Istituto Marangoni    CMA approves major reforms to ease investment account access for foreign and local investors    Saudi Arabia reaffirms OPEC+ compliance as June crude supply hits 9.35 million bpd    Lithuanian politicians taken to shelters after Belarus airspace violation alarm    EU leaders agree to send delegation to Libya after previous group expelled from country    Armenia and Azerbaijan move closer to peace, pushing Russia out from the South Caucasus    Trump says he will hike tariffs on Canadian goods to 35%    France's Lady Liberty artwork goes viral as a new Statue of Liberty could be in the works    Saudi population reaches 35.3 million in 2024, majority under 65    GASTAT: Industrial Production Index rises by 1.5% in May    Theo Hernández: Al Hilal can compete with Europe's best    Abdullah Al-Qaisoom wins silver at Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship    Aubameyang's future at Al Qadsiah in doubt after cryptic post comparing Saudi League strikers    Makkah Deputy Emir leads washing of Holy Kaaba    SFDA approves 'Winrevair' for rare pulmonary hypertension treatment    HONOR returns to Esports World Cup as Official Smartphone Partner for 2025 The renewed commitment will see HONOR elevate mobile esports competition with cutting-edge AI technologies and industry-leading hardware    Michael Madsen, actor of 'Kill Bill' and 'Reservoir Dogs' fame, dead at 67    BTS are back: K-pop band confirm new album and tour    Sholay: Bollywood epic roars back to big screen after 50 years with new ending    Ministry launches online booking for slaughterhouses on eve of Eid Al-Adha    Shah Rukh Khan makes Met Gala debut in Sabyasachi    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



US marks more than two decades since 9/11 terrorist attacks
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 11 - 09 - 2022

Two decades and one year after the deadliest terror attack on US soil, the country remembered 9/11 with tear-choked tributes and pleas to "never forget".
Bonita Mentis set out to read victims' names at the Ground Zero ceremony wearing a necklace with a photo of her slain sister, Shevonne, a 25-year-old Guyanese immigrant who worked for a financial firm.
"It's been 21 years, but it's not 21 years for us. It seems like just yesterday," Mentis said on Sunday. "The wounds are still fresh."
"No matter how many years have passed, nobody can actually comprehend that what happened that very day," she added.
Victims' relatives and dignitaries also convened at the other two attack sites, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed before reaching its intended target.
More than two decades later, Sept. 11 remains a point for reflection on the hijacked-plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, reconfigured national security policy and spurred a US "war on terror" worldwide.
Sunday's observances, which follow a fraught milestone anniversary last year, come little more than a month after a US drone strike killed a key Al-Qaida figure who helped plot the 9/11 attacks, Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
Pierre Roldan, who lost his cousin Carlos Lillo, a paramedic, said, "We had some form of justice" when a US raid killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
"Now that Al-Zawahiri is gone, at least we're continuing to get that justice," Roldan said.
The 9/11 attacks also stirred — for a time — a sense of national pride and unity for many while subjecting Muslim Americans to years of suspicion and bigotry and engendering debate over the balance between safety and civil liberties.
In ways both subtle and plain, the aftermath of Sept. 11 ripples through American politics and public life to this day.
But like some other victims' relatives, Jay Saloman fears that Americans' consciousness of 9/11 is receding.
"It was a terrorist attack against our country that day. And theoretically, everybody should remember it and, you know, take precautions and watch out," said Saloman, who lost his brother.
Like a growing number of those who read names at ground zero, firefighter Jimmy Riches' namesake nephew wasn't born yet when his relative died. But the boy took the podium to honor him.
"You're always in my heart. And I know you are watching over me," he said after reading a portion of the victims' names.
More than 70 of Sekou Siby's co-workers perished at Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the trade center's north tower. Siby had been scheduled to work that morning until another cook asked him to switch shifts.
The Ivorian immigrant wrestled with how to comprehend such horror in a country where he'd come looking for a better life.
And he found it difficult to form friendships as close as those he'd had at Windows on the World. It was too painful, he'd learned, to become attached to people when "you have no control over what's going to happen to them next."
"Every 9/11 is a reminder of what I lost that I can never recover," Siby said in the lead up to the anniversary. He's now president and CEO of ROC United, a restaurant workers' advocacy group that evolved from a post-9/11 relief center.
Speaking at the Pentagon on Sunday, President Joe Biden recalled seeing smoke rise from the stricken US military headquarters on 9/11, when he was a senator.
He vowed that the US would continue working to root out terrorist plots and called on Americans to stand up for democracy on days beyond the anniversary.
"We have an obligation, a duty, a responsibility to defend, preserve and protect our democracy — the very democracy that guarantees the right to freedom that those terrorists on 9/11 sought to bury in the burning fire, smoke and ash," the Democrat said.
Vice President Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff joined the observance at the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York, but by tradition, no political figures speak. The observance centers instead on victims' relatives reading aloud the names of the dead.
Nikita Shah headed there in a T-shirt that bore the de facto epigraph of the annual commemoration — "never forget" — and the name of her slain father, Jayesh Shah.
The family later moved to Houston but often returns to New York for the anniversary to be "around people who kind of experienced the same type of grief and the same feelings after 9/11," said Shah. She was 10 when her father was killed.
Readers often add personal remarks that form an alloy of American sentiments about Sept. 11 — grief, anger, toughness, appreciation for first responders and the military, appeals to patriotism, hopes for peace, occasional political barbs, and a poignant accounting of the graduations, weddings, births and daily lives that victims have missed.
Some relatives also lament that a nation which came together after the attacks has since splintered apart.
So much so that federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which were reshaped to focus on international terrorism after 9/11, now see the threat of domestic violent extremism as equally urgent.
"It took a tragedy to unite us. It should not take another tragedy to unite us again," said Andrew Colabella, whose cousin, John DiGiovanni, died in the 1993 bombing World Trade Center bombing that presaged 9/11.
Beyond the attack sites, other communities around the country marked the day with candlelight vigils, interfaith services and other commemorations.
Some Americans joined in volunteer projects on a day that is federally recognized as both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance. — Euronews


Clic here to read the story from its source.