US marks 25th anniversary of 9/11

‘NO JUSTICE’: ‘For 25 years, administration after administration — including leaders in front of us here today — chose to protect the Saudis,’ a bereaved family member said

The US on Friday commemorated the 25th anniversary of the devastating Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with a poignant ceremony in New York marked by US President Donald Trump’s absence and searing criticism from victims’ relatives.

In an unusual move, Trump paid his respects at the Pentagon, not the event in New York, where hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center and most of the 2,977 victims were killed, upending the global status quo.

The Republican billionaire sought to link the “war on terror” that followed 9/11, which sparked years of US involvement in Middle East wars, with his current conflict in Iran.

A US Army warrant officer stands by a reflecting pool during a memorial on the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York on Friday.

Photo: Reuters

“Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago. We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today,” Trump said. “We don’t have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win.”

US Vice President J.D. Vance and Trump’s four living predecessors — Republican George W. Bush, who was in office during the attacks, and Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — attended the event at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. There, a huge crowd gathered for the somber annual ceremony, which retraced the events of 9/11 minute by minute, concluding shortly before 1pm.

As usual, the names of the victims were read out, and a bell was rung to mark major moments in the attack.

The event is generally apolitical with no speeches.

However, several bereaved family members who read out the names of those killed criticized Saudi Arabia and US leaders’ closeness to the kingdom.

Terry Strada, whose husband, Tom Strada, died in the Twin Towers, unleashed a stinging attack on Riyadh, accusing it of complicity in the attacks, and denouncing former presidents who were in attendance.

“You are missed more with each year that passes, but how can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?” she asked.

The attacks were carried out by mostly Saudi hijackers and orchestrated by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi.

“For 25 years, administration after administration — including leaders in front of us here today — chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with a 9/11 family,” Strada said, calling for action from the absent Trump.

In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim leader, attended the Ground Zero event despite a campaign urging him to stay away.

That effort was spearheaded by the right-wing New York Post newspaper and former New York mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, who led the city through the crisis and was also present on Friday.

The petition gathered more than 100,000 signatures.

A small anti-Islam protest gathered at City Hall and marched towards Ground Zero, flanked by a heavy police presence and counter-protesters.

Mamdani won plaudits for revealing thousands of documents showing what city officials knew about toxicity levels of the air in Lower Manhattan following the attacks.

After the initial dust cloud that followed the collapse of the World Trade Center, months of pollution and lingering dust ensued, causing cancers from which thousands of New Yorkers still suffer today.

The CIA also declassified and published dozens of 9/11-related presidential intelligence briefs to coincide with the 25th anniversary.

Nineteen al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four airliners on the nearly cloudless autumn day in 2001. Two of the jets slammed into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, causing the iconic skyscrapers to collapse.

A third plane struck the Pentagon, while a fourth — believed to have been aiming for Congress or the White House — crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back.

About 100 million Americans have been born since or are too young to remember the traumatic day.

Sophia Rotunno, 58, said she remembered watching the first tower fall with colleagues back in 2001, and also remembered helping those affected in the aftermath.

“All we could do is support them, and be there for when they went to memorials, or be there for when they came home, and hug them, and pray for them,” she said. “It was a hard time for everybody afterward — and New York did recover.”