Bush underscores threats posed by domestic terror in 9/11 memorial speech: ‘It is our duty to confront them’

Former president George W Bush recalled images of chaos and death rejoined by stories of service and kindness in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks during a memorial service in Pennsylvania, surrounded by families of the 40 passengers and crew members who wrestled control of a plane to avoid untold destruction 20 years ago.

“Twenty years ago, we all found – in different ways, in different places, but all at the same moment – that our lives would be changed forever,” said the former president, who was several months into his administration during the attacks on 11 September 2001.

He also appealed to a national unity he claims followed the attacks and the American wars that followed under his administration but is now missing from national discourse.

“When it comes to the unity of America, those days seem distant,” he said. “So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to fear and resentment … I come without explanations or solutions. I can only tell you what I’ve seen.”

He said that the years that followed revealed that “dangers can come not only across borders but from violence that gathers within” from “violent extremists abroad and at home,” whose “disregard for human life” and “determination to destroy national symbols” are “children of the same foul spirit, and it is our duty to confront them.”

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