Page 2 - aruba-today-20240912

A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 12 sepTember 2024
9/11 anniversary brings Biden, Harris and Trump together at ground zero

other officeholders read po-
Continued from Front ems, parts of the Declaration
of Independence and other
Some of those readers took texts.
the occasion Wednesday to But the National Sept. 11 Me-
deliver political messages of morial and Museum decided
their own. in 2012 to limit the ceremony
"We are pleading for your to relatives reading victims'
help, but you ignore us," Al- names.
lison Walsh-DiMarzio said, If politicians "care about
directly challenging Trump what's actually going on,
and Harris to press Saudi Ara- great. Be here," Korryn Bishop
bia about any Saudi official said as she arrived to watch
involvement in the attacks. Wednesday's ceremony.
Most of the 19 hijackers were "If they're just here for politi-
Saudi, but the kingdom de- cal clout, that upsets me,"
nies involvement by senior added Bishop. She lost her
Saudi officials. cousin John F. McDowell Jr.,
"Which one of you will have who worked in finance..
the courage to be our hero? Brandon Jones was glad
We deserve better," Walsh- politicians weren't on the
DiMarzio said. She's a daugh- podium. "This should be a site
ter of 9/11 victim Barbara P. for coming together to find
Walsh, an administrative as- From left, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, feasible solutions and peace.
sistant. Michael Bloomberg, Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and This should not be a place to
Joanne Barbara was one of Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, attend the 9/11 Memorial ceremony score political points to get
on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York.
multiple readers who spoke Associated Press brownie points to round up
out against a now-revoked your base," said Jones. He's a
plea deal that military pros- day afternoonat the Flight reaved relatives and scarred Effects rippled around the cousin of victim Jon Richard
ecutors struck with alleged 93 National Memorial near survivors. The planes took world and through genera- Grabowski, an insurance firm
9/11 mastermind Khalid Shanksville, Pennsylvania. down the World Trade Cent- tions as the U.S. responded technology executive.
Sheikh Mohammed and two Biden and Harris spoke with er's twin towers and carved by leading a " Global War In 2008, then-senators and
fellow defendants. victims' relatives and visited a gash in the Pentagon, the on Terrorism," which included presidential campaign rivals
"It has been 23 years, and the local fire department; U.S. military headquarters. invasions of Afghanistan and John McCain and Barack
the families deserve justice Trump and Vance went to While it may seem that many Iraq. Those operations killed Obama paid their respects
and accountability," said the a New York City firehouse Americans don't observe hundreds of thousands of Af- at ground zero, which was
widow of Assistant Fire Chief earlier in the day. 9/11 anniversaries anymore, ghans and Iraqis and thou- still an open pit.
Gerard A. Barbara. The Flight 93 memorial stands "the men and women of the sands of American troops. The anniversary became
Biden, on his last Sept. 11 in where one of the hijacked Department of Defense re- Communities around the a fraught part of the 2016
office, and Harris were set planes crashed after crew member," Defense Secretary country hold their own 9/11 presidential campaign. The
to pay respects Wednesday members and passengers Lloyd Austin said Wednesday. remembrances. Volunteer Democratic nominee, former
at all three 9/11 attack sites: tried to storm the cockpit. The attacks altered U.S. for- projects also mark the anni- Secretary of State Hillary Clin-
ground zero, the Pentagon Trump described the site as eign policy, domestic security versary, which Congress has ton, abruptly left the trade
and a rural part of Pennsyl- an "incredible place" in brief practices and the mindset of titled both Patriot Day and a center ceremony, stumbled
vania. remarks from afar to report- many Americans who had National Day of Service and while awaiting her motor-
The president, vice president ers. not previously felt vulner- Remembrance. cade and later disclosed that
— and, separately, Trump The attacks killed 2,977 peo- able to attacks by foreign During early anniversaries at she had been diagnosed
— laid wreaths Wednes- ple and left thousands of be- extremists. ground zero, presidents and with pneumonia.q

Tennessee senator and ambassador to

China Jim Sasser has died

N.C., of an apparent heart feated for re-election in 1994 benefits. Sasser, a native of
attack. by Republican Bill Frist, who Memphis, Tenn., was raised
Sasser, a Democrat, rep- at the time was a political in Nashville. He graduated
resented Tennessee in the unknown making his first run from Vanderbilt University in
Senate from 1977 to 1995. for public office. 1958 and from Vanderbilt
President Bill Clinton then ap- After he retired as ambas- Law School in 1961.
pointed him ambassador to sador, Sasser became a He practiced law in Nashville
China, a post he held until consultant. and became a Democratic
2001. Gray Sasser and his sister activist, managing the un-
Sasser was elected to the Elizabeth Sasser said of their successful re-election cam-
Senate by defeating Re- father in a written statement, paign of Sen. Albert Gore Sr.
Jim Sasser, a former U.S. senator and a former ambassador to publican Bill Brock in 1976, "He believed in the nobility in 1970. He was chairman of
China, takes part in a discussion at the National Conference of and worked his way up the of public service and the the Tennessee Democratic
State Legislatures in Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 15, 2006. party leadership, serving as transformational power of Party from 1973 until 1976,
Associated Press
chairman of the budget government." when he got a measure of
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jim China, has died. He was 87. committee from 1989 to He was proudest of his "quiet revenge by winning election
Sasser, who served 18 years Gray Sasser, his son, said his 1992. He had a chance of achievements" for ordinary to the Senate over Brock,
in the U.S. Senate and six father died Tuesday evening becoming Senate majority Tennesseans, like helping who had unseated Gore in
years as ambassador to at his home in Chapel Hill, leader before he was de- with a disability claim or VA 1970. q