25 Years After 9/11, Ceremonies Mark Attacks and Enduring Legacy

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the phrase "war on terror" has faded from official White House statements, yet its core logic persists in American and European politics. The language introduced after 2001, experts argue, sanitized state violence and dehumanized targets in ways that reshaped policy and public discourse.

Terms such as "enhanced interrogation" replaced references to torture, while "extraordinary rendition" described the forced transfer of suspects across borders. Detainees at Guantanamo Bay were labeled "enemy combatants," and airstrikes were framed as "surgical" or "targeted." This bureaucratic vocabulary, scholars say, helped justify the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the expansion of domestic surveillance, and the indefinite detention of individuals without trial. Leonie Jackson, a senior lecturer in international relations at Northumbria University, noted that the framework remains embedded in contemporary debates over security and migration.

Newly released CIA presidential daily briefs from 1998 to 2001 reveal a pattern of accumulating warnings about al-Qaeda that preceded the attacks. Documents tracked Osama bin Laden's financing, networks, and plans involving aircraft and radioactive materials. One briefing warned that the group responsible for the East Africa embassy bombings "may fly an explosive-packed airplane into a US city." The releases, described by CIA Director John Ratcliffe as an act of transparency, add detail to the intelligence picture but underscore missed opportunities to disrupt the plot.

The global repercussions extended beyond the Middle East. In Europe, the post-9/11 emphasis on Islam as an existential threat provided mainstream legitimacy to far-right parties that had previously operated on the margins. Groups in France, Austria, and the Netherlands shifted their focus from older antisemitic tropes to anti-Muslim rhetoric, portraying Muslim communities as incompatible with liberal democracy. This narrative gained traction after 2001, accelerating the electoral rise of parties once dismissed as fringe.

Military accounts from the day itself highlight the immediate sense of national mobilization. Gen. Dan Caine, then serving at Andrews Air Force Base, recalled watching the second plane strike the World Trade Center and concluding that the country was under attack. Such responses led to prolonged conflicts whose costs, in lives and resources, continue to be tallied.

The anniversary reflections also note how the initial fear and grief of September 12 gave way to policies that prioritized security over civil liberties. Twenty-five years later, the vocabulary and assumptions of that era still influence discussions on immigration, surveillance, and foreign intervention, leaving a durable imprint on both sides of the Atlantic.