After the yelling, the hearings, the lawsuit, the dismantlement, Richard Serra entered the last decade of the last century with his mind cast toward the classics. He was happy to see the end of the ’80s. The American sculptor, who died Tuesday at 85, got caught up in the Reagan-era culture wars with “Tilted Arc,” […]
Read MoreTag: September 11 (2001)
Toby Keith’s Pre-Partisan Politics
Toby Keith already had a string of country hits before he wrote the 2002 song that cemented his place in the then-burgeoning culture wars: “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).” He later said the song was written in 20 minutes as an emotional response to both his father’s death and the […]
Read MoreToby Keith’s Music and Politics Were More Complicated Than You Might Think
It is important to note right from the beginning that Toby Keith, when presented with the opportunity to become the music industry’s jingoist-in-chief, leaned in. At the turn of the millennium, just after the Sept. 11 attacks, Keith, who died Monday at 62, released a string of songs that were notable for their political stridency, […]
Read MoreA Timeline of Toby Keith’s Biggest Songs and Career Moments
Toby Keith first drew recognition beyond country music as the artist behind the divisive post-9/11 rallying cry “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).” But the singer-songwriter, who died Monday at the age of 62 after a battle with stomach cancer, appeared to view himself as a unifying force. “As far extreme […]
Read MoreBob Beckwith, Firefighter Who Stood With Bush After 9/11, Dies at 91
Bob Beckwith, a retired firefighter from Long Island who aided in the search for survivors after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and who was catapulted to fame after photographs showing him and President George W. Bush standing atop the rubble-strewn remains of a fire truck became symbols of the stunned nation’s grit, died […]
Read MoreFamilies to Testify at Guantánamo Bay About Loved Ones Lost to Terror
Frank Heffernan thought his daughter Megan was in South Korea where she was working as an English teacher when he heard the news of a devastating terrorist attack on the Indonesian island of Bali on Oct. 12, 2002. Then the State Department called. Megan Heffernan, 28, who was born and raised in Alaska and had […]
Read MoreThe U.S. Needs to Return to Afghanistan
It’s striking how much Afghanistan, which has the unfortunate legacy of being the site of America’s longest war, has all but disappeared from public discussion in the United States. But perhaps it’s understandable. After all, there always seems to be another conflict, another war — which, as it happens, is also Afghanistan’s history. Since 1979, […]
Read MoreGaza, Ukraine and the War on Terror
But young people, according to polls, felt uncertain about American involvement in Ukraine. The binary of democracy versus authoritarianism didn’t ring true for a generation that had begun questioning the meaning of democracy at home and abroad. They lived with a sense of doom around climate change and many had embraced Black Lives Matter protests, […]
Read MoreGOP Support Grows for Majewski, a Trump Ally With a Disputed Military Record
J.R. Majewski, a Trump acolyte from Ohio whom House Republicans abandoned the first time he ran for Congress in the 2022 midterm elections after discrepancies in his military record emerged, is back as a candidate — and with some prominent G.O.P. names behind him. Mr. Majewski, an Air Force veteran, picked up endorsements on Monday […]
Read MoreWhere the 9/11 Dead Are Not Forgotten at Guantánamo Bay
Stones and seashells for people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks began appearing at a signpost at Guantánamo Bay a few years ago, not far from the courtroom for war crimes cases. “In memory of all those who died of post-9/11 illness,” says a message inscribed on a chunk of coral. “Yeneneh Betru — Jan. […]
Read MoreU.S. Offers Tapes From Bugged Guantánamo Prison Yard as Evidence in 9/11 Case
The government has declassified a secret intelligence program that clandestinely recorded prison yard conversations of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is accused of being the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, as prosecutors seek to supply evidence that could be used at an eventual trial. The move comes as prosecutors have considered new ways to […]
Read MoreNikki Haley Renews Call for TikTok Ban After Bin Laden Letter Circulates
Nikki Haley ratcheted up her calls this week for the U.S. government to ban TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media platform, after some users, weighing in on the war between Israel and Hamas, promoted “Letter to America,” a text written by Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Ms. Haley, a Republican presidential contender […]
Read MoreNew York’s Financial District Transforms as Offices Are Made Into Housing
For all the talk about converting New York City’s languishing office buildings into housing, just one neighborhood has done it on a large scale: the financial district. In the past few years, luxury apartments have been carved out of a 1907 office tower at 84 William Street and an Art Deco skyscraper at 1 Wall […]
Read MoreVideos About Bin Laden’s Criticism of U.S. Surge in Popularity on TikTok
Videos on TikTok supporting a decades-old letter by Osama bin Laden criticizing the United States and its support of Israel surged in popularity this week, adding to accusations that the company is fueling the spread of antisemitic content. The White House condemned the resurfacing of the letter. The letter, titled “Letter to America,” was published […]
Read MoreUnder Scrutiny Over Gaza, Israel Points to Civilian Toll of U.S. Wars
Israeli officials say they have no choice: Hamas fighters, numbering perhaps 30,000 by Israeli estimates, embed within Gaza’s population of 2.2 million and store weapons in or under civilian sites, daring Israel to launch strikes that fuel outrage. The officials also say Hamas is clearly guilty of intentionally murdering Israeli civilians. President Biden and his […]
Read MoreThe Memories That Feed Distrust in the Middle East
Moshe Lavi, whose relatives have been taken hostage by Hamas, recently talked to a group of New York Times journalists about his family’s agony. His pained voice turned to anger when he recounted encountering disbelief that Hamas committed terrible atrocities when it attacked Israel. Lavi seemed especially bewildered by people “arguing over the semantics” of […]
Read MoreAmerican Muslims Are in a Painful, Familiar Place
When President Biden landed in Tel Aviv days after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,400 people, he told an audience of Israelis that this was not just Israel’s Sept. 11, that “it was like 15 9/11s.” The comparison, which emerged widely and immediately, seemed apt on the surface: a brutal attack that shocked […]
Read MoreThe Jewish Left Is Trying to Hold Two Thoughts at Once
Produced by ‘The Ezra Klein Show’ Grief moves slowly and war moves quickly. After Hamas assailants killed at least 1,400 Israelis and took hundreds more hostage, Israel dropped more than 6,000 bombs on Gaza in the first week of a conflict that is still ongoing. So far, more than 5,000 Palestinians are reported dead and […]
Read MoreIsrael Is Giving Hamas What It Wants
Produced by ‘The Ezra Klein Show’ Oct. 7 was Israel’s Sept. 11. That’s been the refrain. I fear that analogy carries so much more truth than the people making it intend. You can listen to this audio essay by following “The Ezra Klein Show” on the NYT Audio App, Apple, Spotify, Google or wherever you […]
Read MoreHamas Dehumanized Israelis. We Must Not Do the Same to Gazans.
The terror attacks by Hamas against civilians who were in their homes and dancing at a concert are being called Israel’s Sept. 11, and that’s a fair comparison. Let’s hope that Israel responds to this outrage more wisely than we in the United States did to the attack on our country. There’s a lot of […]
Read MoreHow Israel’s 9/11 Tests American Grand Strategy
Twenty-one years ago, in the shadow of the Sept. 11 attacks, George W. Bush warned of an “axis of evil,” encompassing the authoritarian and anti-American regimes of Iraq, Iran and North Korea. He did not claim that they were actually allies or partners in the style of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. What made them […]
Read MoreThe Mystery of What Happened to a 9/11 Suspect’s Sons
The fate of the sons of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the man accused of being the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has long been a source of mystery and controversy. Two of the boys were 8 and 10 when they were captured by Pakistani authorities in 2002. A psychologist who waterboarded Mr. Mohammed during […]
Read MoreAn Arts Center Opens at Ground Zero With Stars, Onstage and Off
Cynthia Erivo sang “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” The ballerina Tiler Peck moonwalked, on pointe shoes, to a rap by Tariq Trotter. The countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo performed both parts of a duet from Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” twirling from stage left to stage right with each character change. After more […]
Read MoreBiden Marks 9/11 Anniversary With a Message of Unity
President Biden marked the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Monday with a message of unity, saying Americans must protect democratic ideals. Mr. Biden delivered remarks from a military base in Alaska, where he stopped on his way home from a diplomatic trip to Asia so that he could commemorate the anniversary […]
Read MoreSanity Question and Plea Talks Shadow Coming Sept. 11 Hearings
Prosecutors have issued a new deadline — Sept. 18 — for four detainees at the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to show their willingness to plead guilty to plotting the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and receive a maximum punishment of life in prison. The fifth defendant in the case has been found […]
Read More9/11 Anniversary: Victims’ Families Gather at Ground Zero
Mourners gathered in grief in Lower Manhattan on Monday, hugging each other and fighting back tears as they remembered their loved ones who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Attendees of the ceremony commemorating the 22nd anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on American soil sat on folding chairs and leaned against trees as flute music […]
Read MoreWhy Kinsale, Ireland, Observes the Sept. 11 Anniversary
Beyond the multicolored shops, red brick streets packed with performers and quays filled with sailboats that draw visitors to the town of Kinsale, County Cork, is a memorial to a tragedy that occurred an ocean away. On a hilltop overlooking the fishing village on Ireland’s southwest coast stands a grove of 343 trees — one […]
Read MoreWe All Have the Right to Mourn on Sept. 11
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, my mother, Michaela Ferrigine — a stock exchange trader only five days back from maternity leave after the birth of my sister Olivia — had been scheduled to go to a meeting on a high floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center. But the night […]
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