Biden Shamed for Where He's Choosing to Spend 9/11 Anniversary
President Joe Biden promised last year that he would “never forget” the thousands of deaths from radical Islamic terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, but he’s being accused of doing just that this year.
“Twenty-one years, and still we kept our promise: never forget. We’ll keep the memory of all those precious lives stolen from us: 2,977 — at Ground Zero in New York; in Shanksville… in Pennsylvania; 184 of them here at the Pentagon,” Biden, 80, said last year, according to Spectrum News’ NY1.
“It’s good to remember,” he added. “These memories help us heal, but they can also open up the hurt and take us back to that moment when the grief was so raw.”
His official account on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, reiterated those thoughts in a post Monday morning.
Today, we remember the 2,977 precious lives stolen from us on 9/11 and reflect on all that was lost in the fire and ash that September morning.
The American story itself changed on this day 22 years ago. But what could not — and will not — change is the character of this nation. pic.twitter.com/qYRfyquQxV
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 11, 2023
This year, however, the president is not visiting any of the 9/11 memorials usually honored with presidential visits on the anniversary of the attacks, as he is returning from a trip to Asia.
He will instead attend a ceremony at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska — roughly 3,385 miles from the site of the World Trade Center attacks.
Much of the response to that decision has been critical.
“He is now just saying that flippantly that he doesn’t have to come to any of the sites and commemorate the loss with the families,” Terry Strada, who lost her husband at the World Trade Center and now chairs a family and survivor organization called 9/11 Families United, told Fox News. “That’s terrible.”
Strada called the president’s actions “the opposite of what we’ve all pledged to never forget.”
“It’s no surprise to me that he’s not coming to Ground Zero or any of the 9/11 sites. And quite frankly, I prefer he stay away anyway,” retired Air Force Lt. Col. Donald Arias, who lost his brother in the 2001 attacks, told “Fox & Friends First” on Monday.
“We will be spared one of his stories of how he can relate, like he did with the people of Lahaina, how he can relate because of a kitchen fire,” Arias explained. “We can do without that.”
A number of people shared similarly critical thoughts about the president’s 9/11 itinerary in replies to his X post.
Biden attending the 9/11 memorial in Alaska is like going to the beach to commemorate the Titanic sinking. It’s a little off, to say the least
— Gianni (@giannipov) September 11, 2023
“Today we remember”………from Vietnam, at John McCains memorial and nowhere near the 9/11 memorial in the United States
— Rondiments (@JoeG727) September 11, 2023
Today, President Biden chose not to participate in any of the 9/11 memorials and instead visited Alaska, where he has implemented restrictions on oil drilling. Giving Americans the double fingers salute!
— Gianni (@giannipov) September 11, 2023
“Today we remember”………from Vietnam, at John McCains memorial and nowhere near the 9/11 memorial in the United States
— Rondiments (@JoeG727) September 11, 2023
Now I want to hear something from the actual president, not his social media person
— Nick Jenkins (@Casper70000) September 11, 2023
The 9/11 attacks killed 2,977 people, not all of whose remains have yet been identified, and launched the U.S. into the “Global War on Terror” that involved U.S. servicemen and women in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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