The 23rd Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America

Today, we commemorate those who were killed or injured 23 years ago today in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on America, which were the deadliest acts of terrorism in world history. Islamist al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked civilian airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon (the U.S. Defense Department) in Virginia while another jet that crashed into Pennsylvania after the passengers attempted to take back control from the hijackers. Nearly 3,000 people were massacred in the attacks. Al-Qaeda was based in Afghanistan, where they had been provided safe haven by the Islamist Taliban regime that ruled most of the Central Asian State at the time until they were overthrown by the U.S., its Afghan and other allies in 2002 for refusing to turn over the terrorist organization to justice in what became the first battle in the ongoing War on Terrorism. The U.S. captured the mastermind of the attacks and others responsible for its planning. The Secretary of Defense rejected a plea deal this summer by the September 11 mastermind of the and two fellow al-Qaeda Islamist terrorists who were subject to a United States military tribunal at the American base at Guantanamo, Cuba. They offered to plead guilty, in exchange for life imprisonment and not the death penalty, after the Biden Administration had rejected the terrorists’ preconditions. But although some surviving family members wanted the closure that the plea would have brought after 23 years, the deal was not popular, as it precluded the death penalty. A trial would be difficult because of evidentiary rules and a reluctance by the Government to reveal intelligence sources and methods. Nonetheless, the plea offer provides a degree of proof of the responsibility of al-Qaeda for the attacks. Al-Qaeda’s leaders have been killed, as have many members and many othered captured, but the Sunni terrorist organization and their offshoot, the Islamic State, remain a global threat and continue to engage in violent jihad, as they had before September 11, but they have not been able to commit any attack close to its scale. After the disastrous premature Trump-Biden withdrawal of a relatively small force of American troops in an advisory role from Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have returned to power and again provide a haven to the terrorists who remain loyal to the Taliban mullah. The U.S. and allies continue to fight against Islamist terrorists in certain parts of the Islamic world, while improved intelligence sharing, law enforcement and financial control methods have continued to be used effectively against the enemy. But vigilance against all terrorists and hostile militants remains essential.