President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, hailed 9/11 victims, survivors and first responders in a poignant Pentagon ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks that hit America but also invoked the tragedy to defend his action in the Iran war. Trump, who skipped the main memorial at Ground Zero, eloquently paid tribute to a long and varied list of those who perished in the worst terror attack ever on United States soil at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on board a hijacked plane that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. “When future generations come here in 25, 100 or 250 years, they will stand in a nation that is free and unyielding in the face of evil,” the US-based Daily News quoted Trump to have said.
“They will still honour the
heroes of 9/11, 2001, who no
age will erase from the memory
of time. It will never ever be
forgotten,” he added.
Trump went on to recall the sad memories of September 11 and even recount a sad moment when a young family who was heading for California whose journey ended in tragedy when the American Airlines jet they were travelling on was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon.
The weight of the moment deepened as Trump remembered FDNY Captain Timothy Stackpole, who gave his life in a desperate attempt to save others at the World Trade Center. He then called Stackpole’s family to their feet, inviting them to receive the applause of the crowd—a poignant tribute to a firefighter whose final act was one of courage and sacrifice.
The president struck what some might consider a discordant note when he used the attacks to bolster his rationale for attacking Iran earlier this year, even though Tehran had no known links to 9/11.
“Today we renew the sacred
oath that we first swore in their
names a quarter of a century
ago, we will never, ever forget.”
Trump said. “That’s why we
fight today,”
“We salute the service members working right now to ensure that the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never, ever have a nuclear weapon,” he declared.
Trump was joined on stage by First Lady Melania Trump, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, as the solemn ceremony carried both a message of remembrance and a renewed warning about the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
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