Bush says Americans are ignoring the lessons of September 11
Former US President George Bush said in Dallas that Americans are ignoring the lessons of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks when they support isolationist approaches to foreign policy. He said this during a conversation with former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks, the Jerusalem Post reports, citing CBS.
According to Bush, sentiments periodically grow stronger in the United States in which people believe the country has too many domestic problems to worry about events abroad. In his view, this approach fails to take into account that international events matter for US national security.
Supporting those who fight tyranny
Bush said the United States should support people who fight against tyranny, although this does not necessarily mean sending troops. He mentioned Afghanistan, where the United States began a war that lasted 20 years and became the country’s longest military conflict.
According to the former president, after US troops withdrew in 2021, the Taliban regained control over Afghanistan; the Jerusalem Post describes it as an Islamist terrorist organization. Bush disagreed with the view that Afghanistan’s residents do not understand the difference between freedom and life without it. As an example, he cited girls who attended school for the first time, as well as women who became doctors and professors. In his view, after the Taliban returned to power, these women no longer have the opportunity to fully realize their potential.
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Memories of the attacks
Bush recalled that he was at an elementary school during the attacks when his then chief of staff, Andy Card, informed him about the events. That day, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes; two of them were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York.
Bush and Rice also recalled that after the attacks, every plane was viewed as a potential missile. All aircraft were ordered to land or could have been shot down. They feared that the US military might have shot down Flight 93, but it crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to wrest control from the hijackers.
Bush said that after the attacks, his main task was to help the country return to normal life and not lose the value of freedoms. He also visited a mosque because of concerns over reports of harassment of women of non-white origin in shopping malls, including in Michigan.
