Flowers are placed to mourn the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York, the United States, September 11, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Twenty years ago, on September 11, 19 terrorists hijacked and turned four commercial airplanes into missiles, sending them crashing into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, causing the death of almost 3,000 people and triggering major US initiatives to combat terrorism.

Today there are still too many unanswered questions about the deadliest attack on American soil in US history. And on the other side of the world, the last US C-17 transport plane took off from Kabul International Airport, under the watchful eye of the Taliban armed forces that the US had vowed to destroy when it invaded Afghanistan, bringing a scribbled end to the US' longest war.

As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks approaches, countless Americans, especially those who lived through the disaster, are confused, disillusioned and angry that their country has spent so much to end up with this ironic result and an increasingly murky future.

An expensive show

Despite efforts by US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to defend the massive withdrawal from Kabul as a victory, US veteran Adrian Bonenberger, who did two tours in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2011, has spent recent weeks in shock and embarrassment.

According to a report released on September 1 by Brown University's Costs of War Project, the wars in the last 20 years after 9/11 have cost the US an estimated $8 trillion and killed more than 900,000 people.

"If a country in the future wants to test whether the US will invade it to catch terrorists — whether the US is stupid enough to waste 20 years just to catch and kill one man for vengeance, we are in fact that stupid," Bonenberger told the Global Times.

He also said he felt disappointed that at the moment, almost everyone involved in this mess is doing everything they can to shift the blame rather than confront the delusion under which the US has been living for 20 years.

"The collapse of Afghanistan demonstrated that the country I imagined when I was deployed there was also a lie, just another storyline," Bonenberger remarked. "On American TV, the war is just one storyline among many in what was the Bush show, and then the Obama show, and then the Trump show, and now the Biden show."

Bonenberger believes that the chaos is exhausting for most Americans who are ignorant about Afghanistan and uninterested in the country's history during the American occupation. However, the ripple effect of this sudden and epic debacle does not stop there. It has again reawakened terror in those who lived through the 9/11 attacks. 

Truth remains unsolved



Brett Eagleson, along with nearly 1,800 families of 9/11 victims, has recently signed a petition to ban Biden from attending any memorial events.

Brett's father, Bruce Eagleson, was on the 17th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center (WTC) at the time when attacks took place. He was lucky to have survived after the building was hit by two planes. But instead of fleeing the building, he chose to stay and assist more people to evacuate. Bruce Eagleson was last seen going upstairs to retrieve a walkie-talkie to assist in communication between firefighters and the police but the building soon collapsed leaving his family unable to recover his remains. 

Brett Eagleson said he is proud of his father. Many people wrote to him after the 9/11 attacks to express their gratitude, saying they are alive today because of what his father did.

But sorrow and bitterness have engulfed the better part of the last two decades of Eagleson's life, and it is mostly anger that stands out. The investigation from the US government into the 9/11 attacks has been shrouded in secrecy and detailed reports on one of the most shocking terrorist attacks have never been disclosed.

"We have been fighting for 20 years about the information that our government has always been keeping from us." Brett Eagleson told the Global Times, adding that "the 20th anniversary is very important to us, so we are saying that if the president wants to help us, then he should help us. And if he does not want to help us, then he should not be allowed to come to the commemoration on that day. We have been fighting for so long and every family is tired and frustrated."

Eagleson said those 20 years have changed his perception of the US government. "We have seen our government block its own citizens from truth and justice for its own selfish interests, and as time goes on, we get further and further away from the truth," He said.

Eagleson pointed out that they have been fooled by the government. The previous governments of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump all refused to declassify relevant investigation reports citing national security concerns. "As a matter of fact, President Trump met with us and promised that he would give us the information. But the next day, he invoked what's known as the state secrets principle. Once again, we missed the truth," he sighed.

On September 3, Biden ordered the Justice Department and other federal agencies to review and unseal documents related to the FBI's investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. 

Eagleson said that according to current plans, the families of the victims will witness the declassification of the first document on September 11 and he is waiting for Biden to deliver his promise.

Situation back to 'ground zero'

"War is always intertwined with particular interests, and 20 years later, the truth about the attacks remains unanswered and the American people have not been given the answer for 'why do they hate us,' but our government has created more conflict and hate in America and all around the world," a Chinese-American living in New York surnamed Tsou, told the Global Times.

Tsou, 50 this year, was a software engineer who worked in the north Tower of the WTC. The fact that she was on vacations that September 11 two decades ago saved her life, but more than 30 of her colleagues were wounded or killed in the attack.

"Unlike 10 years ago when Osama bin Laden was killed and people celebrated in the streets, US troops' spectacular retreat was too quiet at home now. But now, just like 20 years ago, the overwhelming coverage about '9/11' is giving me anxiety," Tsou said.

Tsou quit her work after the 9/11 attacks and has been doing odd jobs at home to this day. Rarely has she left the house or had any contact with her former colleagues. 

"They are already the most miserable people and I cannot bear to bother them," Tsou said, adding that "the terrorist attack destroyed the peace of the US. It changed the focus of the government and also changed the way of life or even the life trajectory of countless Americans." 

Tsou has been thinking about what kind of hatred could possibly compel anyone to commit cruel and heinous acts like the 9/11 attacks but she has also struggled to understand the reasoning behind the launching of two costly wars in quick succession by the US, to no avail and with poor to no justification. On September 6, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 20th anniversary, Tsou gathered up the courage to visit Ground Zero, in Lower Manhattan, to witness the changes at the WTC site that have taken place in the past 20 years. 

The new, towering One World Trade Center did not give Tsou too much inner turmoil, but when she saw the smiling Muslim girls with headscarves painted on the fence not far from the square,she later lamented that for 20 years, the American people have not seen much of the US counter-terrorism measures in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in addition, the fear of and discrimination against Muslims and people of color has grown within the US. 

Tsou said she still remembers the time when former President George W. Bush vowed to declare a new "crusade" after the attacks.

"I thought he was crazy at the time. How could he say something so rude? But immediately following the war there were increasing policies enacted that explicitly targeted Muslims, and then the 'Muslim ban' under the Trump administration. I saw the light go out in the eyes of many of Muslim Americans in my block."

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued the latest National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin in August, warning that the US Homeland continues to face a diverse and challenging threat environment during the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 attacks as well religious holidays.

The DHS did not identify any specific threats in the bulletin but referred to a "heightened threat environment" in the US exacerbated by violent extremists driven by racial and ethnic hatred and frustrated with quarantine restrictions.

Tsou noted that currently, many Americans have lost their faith, their sense of security, and ultimately their hope for equality and this has been increasingly aggravated by the government.

"Ultimately, it was Americans themselves, under the influence of a mixture of xenophobia, white supremacy and even Christian nationalism, who stormed their own country's Capitol last year. How are they different from the terrorists of 20 years ago? I do not know the exact answer," she said.