Twenty-Second Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks

Today is the twenty-second anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks against America that targeted the World Trade Center in New York City and the heqadquarters of the United States Department of Defense (the Pentagon) in the Virginia suburbs of the District of Columbia with three hijacked civlian aircraft that were crashed into them, and another liner that crashed in western Pennsylvania after the passengers rose up agains their Islamist terrorist hijackers. The attacks were the deadliest in world history, killing nearly 3,000 people. The al-Qaeda terrorist organization, based in Afghanistan, was responsible for the attacks. The U.S. led an international coalition to overthrow the Afghan Taliban militia in 2002 that had harbored al-Qaeda and also targeted the terrorist organization directly, as the first campaign of a global War on Terrorism that continues. But after the disastrous Trump-Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have taken over the whole of Afghanistan. Although al-Qaeda and its offshoot, the Islamic State, have suffered severe blows in the War on Terrorism, I have posted on the ongoing threat from Islamist militancy that requires continued sacrifice and vigilance. But today, in addition remembered those who died on September 11 and those who have given their lives in the War on Terrorism and who have been killed in many subsequent terrorist attacks, I also acknowledge those rescuers at the World Trade Center who have experienced deadly respiratory health problems every since they arrived on the scene in the days and weeks after the attacks thinking not of themselves, but of trying to save others. They are surely indirect victims of the terrorist attrocity. May we remember all the victims who died and those who still suffer, and may we remain ever-vigilant and willing to defend our security and freedom from the threat from Islamist militants around the world.