United States prepares 9/11 commemorations

Audio 19:30

Ground Zero.

© RFI / Ariane Gaffuri

By: Marion Cazanove

21 mins

In two days, the United States will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Claimed by Al-Qaeda, these attacks killed nearly 3,000 people.

A few days later, US President George W. Bush decided to send his troops to Afghanistan and Iraq to fight the Islamist group.

The beginning of 20 years of presence and a mixed record.

Advertising

The war against Islamist terrorism allowed two important victories: Al-Qaeda never again attacked American national territory and Osama bin Laden was killed, a decade after the attacks. But the American presence in Afghanistan has cost the United States dearly: hundreds of billions of dollars but also human losses, not to mention the trauma brought back by veterans. “ 

I came back with shattered bones, shattered eardrums, post-traumatic stress disorder, severe head trauma…

 ” Brian Escobedo told our correspondent Thomas Harms in Houston. He enlisted after 9/11 and was deployed to Iraq. In The Atlantic, a columnist believes that “ 

the day of September 11, 2001, which initially created an unprecedented sense of unity, became the backdrop for endless political polarization

 ”.

Haiti: presentation of the constitutional reform project

A little more than two months after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Haiti remains in doubt as to the circumstances and the sponsors of this murder. The government is trying to move forward, especially in the political projects that Jovenel Moïse had initiated. Yesterday, the constitutional reform text was presented. In particular, it plans to give more power to the president, at the expense of parliamentarians. Lawyer Mona Jean is part of the committee that drafted the project. She underlines, at the microphone of our correspondent Amélie Baron, the writing of a new provision, which provides for an increased fight against corruption "

Immunity is not synonymous with impunity: we cannot have committed offenses and seek political coverage.

 " 

But for the time being, nothing has been specified regarding the adoption of this new constitution.

The late President Jovenel Moïse wanted to have it adopted by referendum on November 7, but the current Haitian Constitution prohibits such a procedure.  

Newsletter

Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • September 11, 2001

  • United States

  • Haiti

On the same subject

Maintenance

Attacks of September 11: "There will never be a fair trial"

September 11: Biden moves towards declassification of investigation documents

Reporting

Haiti: how to distribute humanitarian aid equitably?