USA commemorates the attacks of September 11: Victims in focus, politics in focus

NEW YORK (AP) — The United States remembers the people who were lost and changed by 9/11and marks an anniversary that this year was dominated by the politics of the presidential election campaign.

September 11 – the date on which nearly 3,000 people were killed in attacks on hijacked airliners in 2001 – falls in the middle of the presidential election season every four years, and this time it comes at a particularly important time.

Fresh from their very first debate Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris And former President Donald Trump Both are expected to attend September 11 commemorations at the World Trade Center in New York and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.

At that time, senators and rivals in the presidential election campaign John McCain And Barack Obama made a visible attempt to leave politics aside on the 2008 anniversary. They visited Ground Zero together to pay their respects and lay flowers in a reflecting pool, which was then still a pit.

It is not yet clear whether Harris and Trump will meet at all. If they do, it would be an extraordinary encounter at a somber ceremony just hours after they face each other on the debate stage.

Regardless of the campaign calendar, memorial organizers have long sought to focus on the victims. For years, politicians have been mere observers at Ground Zero memorials, with the microphone instead taken over by relatives who read the victims' names aloud.

“You're surrounded by people who are grieving, proud, sad – who know what this day is about and what these loved ones meant to you. It's not political,” said Melissa Tarasiewicz, who lost her father, New York City firefighter Allan Tarasiewicz.

President Joe Bidenthe last 9/11 of his term and likely his 50-year political career, is joining Harris in attending ceremonies in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon, the three sites where commercial airliners crashed on September 11, 2001, after being taken over by al-Qaeda members.

Officials later concluded that the plane, which crashed near rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania, was en route to Washington. It crashed after crew members and passengers attempted to wrest control from hijackers.

The attacks killed 2,977 people, left thousands of relatives dead, and injured many survivors. The planes left a scar on the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US military, and brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center, which were among the tallest buildings in the world.

The disaster also changed U.S. foreign policy, domestic security practices, and the mindset of many Americans who had previously felt at risk from attacks by foreign extremists.

The effects were felt worldwide and spanned generations. The United States responded with a “ Global war on terrorism”, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis, as well as thousands of American soldiers, were killed in these operations, and Afghanistan became the scene of the longest war in the USA.

As the complex legacy of 9/11 continues to evolve, communities across the country have developed memorial traditions ranging from wreath-laying to flag-raising, from protest marches to police radio calls, and volunteer projects to mark the anniversary, which Congress has designated as both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

At Ground Zero, presidents and other officials read poems, portions of the Declaration of Independence, and other texts during the first anniversaries.

But that was the end of the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum in 2012, Limit the ceremony to reading relatives Names of the victims. The mayor at the time, Michael Bloomberg, was chairman of the board at the time and still is.

Politicians and candidates were still able to attend the event, and many did so, particularly New Yorkers who were in office during the attacks, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was then a U.S. senator.

She and Trump met at the 9/11 memorial service at Ground Zero in 2016, and this became a sensitive chapter in the presidential campaign at the time.

Clinton, the then Democratic candidate, abruptly left the ceremonystumbled while waiting for her motorcade and later revealed that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia a few days earlier. The episode attracted renewed attention about her health, which Trump had questioned for months.

Certainly, family members of victims occasionally send their own political messages at the ceremony, and readers generally make brief remarks after completing the names assigned to them.

Some relatives have used the forum to lament the division of Americansurge Heads of State and Government to give national security the highest priority, to recognise the victims of the war on terror, complain that officials are politicizing September 11 and even criticize individual officials.

But most readers limit themselves to tributes and personal reflections. They increasingly come from children and young adults who born after the attacks killed a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle.

“Even though I never met you in person, it feels like I've known you forever,” Annabella Sanchez said last year of her grandfather, Edward Joseph Papa. “We will always remember you and honor you, every day.”

“We love you, Grandpa Eddie.”