Twenty-one years after the 9/11 attacks, is America safer?

　　China News Service, Beijing, September 11 (Chen Caixia is sweet) Twenty-one years after the terrorist attack, the "9.11" Memorial Hall in Manhattan, the United States, was closed a few days ago because it could not make ends meet.

　　And this is just a small microcosm of that violent shock that was gradually ignored and forgotten.

The largest terrorist attack on the American soil has profoundly changed every aspect of it.

How many Americans are still commemorating today?

After the US government spends huge sums of money on global "anti-terrorism", does the American people really feel safer?

Data map: The FBI released photos taken in the hours after terrorists attacked the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

The collapsed World Trade Center has become a symbol of the disappearance of the "world police"?

　　Twenty-one years ago today, terrorists hijacked four civilian airliners and rushed towards the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in New York, killing 2,977 people.

The then President George W. Bush immediately declared a "war" against terrorism and led the NATO coalition forces into Afghanistan.

　　In the following years, the United States started the global "anti-terrorism" war.

Billions of dollars have been invested, and intelligence services and the military have been upgraded.

The rhetoric that the United States must take steps to address external threats once and for all is accepted.

　　However, over time, the image of the building collapsing is gradually "forgotten", and the willingness to sacrifice more lives and spend huge sums of money for the war with no end in sight also decreases.

In the end, the United States hastily withdrawn its troops from Kabul, but what left Afghanistan is a mess of endless wars, rampant violence and terrorism, and poor people's livelihood.

　　According to statistics, the 20-year war in Afghanistan has killed 174,000 people and displaced more than 10 million people.

The war has also shrunk the economy of Afghanistan, which has long been in the ranks of the least developed countries, and more than half of the country's population is below the poverty line.

　　German media commented that years after the terrorist attack, the collapsed World Trade Center has become a symbol of the disappearance of the "world police" America.

Another analysis pointed out that from Afghanistan to Syria, Iraq, etc., tens of thousands of deaths and destruction can be said to be the product of the United States' "neocolonialism, violence, and brutal actions."

U.S. Central Command released a night-vision goggle image taken on August 30, 2021: At Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, commander of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division and 18th Airborne Regiment Chris R. Major General Donahue boarded a C-17 transport aircraft.

He was the last American service member to leave Afghanistan.

"Robbery of the poorest country in the world in the name of justice"

　　While the United States is throwing money into wars around the world, some people who have experienced the "9.11" incident are faced with the dilemma that they may not be able to see a doctor in the future.

　　Among the medical staff, firefighters, construction workers, volunteers, and nearby residents who participated in the rescue that year, as many as 100,000 people are still suffering from inhalation of toxic dust and other reasons.

Thousands of disaster relief workers have been diagnosed with cancer.

　　However, US media recently broke the news that the "World Trade Center Health Plan", which provides free medical services for these patients, may face a huge funding gap of 3 billion US dollars.

"The 20 years after '9/11' destroyed the lives of a lot of first responders. The next 20 years will probably destroy them completely."

　　Has the shock of life and death been gradually forgotten?

How much has the U.S. government accomplished in its commitment to safeguarding the health and safety of the people at home?

　　The U.S. government's answer is to divide the frozen assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan of about $7 billion in the U.S. equally, half of which will be used as a source of funds to compensate the victims of the "9.11" incident.

　　When the news that President Biden signed the executive order in February was announced, there was an uproar in public opinion.

"Washington Post" commented, "Biden's decision to use the frozen funds in Afghanistan to compensate the '9.11' victims of the United States is contrary to conscience."

　　American researcher Barnett Rubin also said, "This is the richest country in the world, and it has decided to rob the poorest country in the world in the name of justice."

At least 12 people have been shot in multiple shootings in Washington, DC, in recent days.

U.S. media say violent crime is continuing to "shock" the U.S. capital.

Image source: Visual China

After 21 years, are Americans safer?

　　For many years, although there has been no large-scale terrorist attack similar to the "9.11" incident in the United States, this has not stopped Americans from worrying.

　　The US "Newsweek" reported on September 2 that the US Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center issued an announcement saying that foreign terrorist organizations may take advantage of the 21st anniversary of the "9.11" incident and the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. And the news that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of the "Al Qaeda" organization, was killed by the US military, inciting extreme violence in the United States.

　　At the same time, the United States is facing increasingly severe security pressures, and various violent incidents have occurred frequently.

　　The US media survey said that under the influence of the surge in shooting incidents, Americans' fear and anxiety are increasing day by day.

Between 2016 and 2020, more than 110 Americans were shot dead and more than 200 wounded every day, according to an assessment by the U.S. nonprofit Bringing Gun Safety to Every Town.

　　There is also analysis that in the past few years, whether it is the violent rally in Charlottesville in 2017 or the congressional riots in 2021, it shows that the political differences in the United States have a trend of escalating violence, and the phenomenon of extreme partisan standing is tearing apart. , harm the United States and the people.

　　The United States, under the banner of "anti-terrorism", has paid high war costs, but it is difficult to protect the health and safety of its own people, and it has achieved little in curbing extremist ideology.

Perhaps, this is the biggest irony of its use of military force and hegemony.

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