Sen. Jack Reed marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks with a statement that paired remembrance with unfinished business, calling on President Donald Trump to declassify records related to who financed the attacks.
“While Al Qaeda was driven from Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden was pursued and taken out years after the attack, those who financed the attacks have not been held accountable,” Reed said. “After twenty-five years, President Trump, who has declassified all manner of national records, should declassify key documents. The American people deserve full transparency.”
Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the anniversary requires acknowledging “missteps that allowed the attacks to occur and the failures of our response over the ensuing years,” including the country’s failure to properly care for those still living with physical and emotional injuries.
“And we must never allow the fight against terrorism to be misused as a cover by politicians to pursue ulterior motives,” he said.
He noted that the attacks prompted the only invocation in NATO’s history of its mutual defense commitment, and said allied solidarity should be remembered alongside the losses.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and aboard United Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought the hijackers.
“The terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 failed,” Reed said. “And it wasn’t because we had the best intelligence or weapons — there are limits to military power and the use of force. But the power of our ideas, ideals, and shared values is central to American greatness.”
