The Pew Center in 2021 gave this summary of US reactions to the attacks:
The enduring power of the Sept. 11 attacks is clear: An overwhelming share of Americans who are old enough to recall the day remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Yet an ever-growing number of Americans have no personal memory of that day, either because they were too young or not yet born.
A review of U.S. public opinion in the two decades since 9/11 reveals how a badly shaken nation came together, briefly, in a spirit of sadness and patriotism; how the public initially rallied behind the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, though support waned over time; and how Americans viewed the threat of terrorism at home and the steps the government took to combat it.
As the country comes to grips with the tumultuous exit of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan, the departure has raised long-term questions about U.S. foreign policy and America’s place in the world. Yet the public’s initial judgments on that mission are clear: A majority endorses the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, even as it criticizes the Biden administration’s handling of the situation. And after a war that cost thousands of lives – including more than 2,000 American service members – and trillions of dollars in military spending, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that 69% of U.S. adults say the United States has mostly failed to achieve its goals in Afghanistan. (1)
The Cheney-Bush Administration used the occasion to launch two disastrous wars.
The process that led to the authoritarian Trump 2.0 Administration was greatly influenced by the Cheney-Bush Administration’s reactions to the 9/11 attacks.
The legacy of the programs of torture and illegal detention set up by the Cheney-Bush Administration continued long after they were gone. Karen Greenberg wrote in 2023, during the Biden Administration:
Thirty men remain in custody at that infamous American prison at GuantánamoBay. Sixteen of those detainees have finally been cleared for release; they are, that is, no longer subject to criminal charges or considered a potential danger to the United States, and yet they still remain behind bars. Three other prisoners have never either been charged with a crime or cleared for release. Ten more are still facing trial, while one has been convicted and remains in custody there. For the APPG, the release of those sixteen cleared detainees is a paramount goal. (2)
In fairness to the facts, Greenberg notes that the Biden Administration, not the look-forward-not-backward Obama Administration and certainly not Trump 1.0, did at least allow access to a UN special representative to investigate directly the Guantanamo concentration camp:
A notable distinction between this report and those that preceded it is the access the special rapporteur was granted by the Biden administration. It was, in fact, the first visit ever to Guantánamo by an independent UN investigator. Aft er two decades in which administration aft er administration placed severe restrictions on journalists as well as nongovernmental and international organizations when it came to covering that prison, the Biden administration granted [Special Rapporeur] Ní Aoláin remarkably full access “to former and current detention facilities and to detainees, including ‘high value’ and ‘non-high value’ detainees.”
Winning de facto acceptance by Congress, by the Republican Party, and by subsequent administrations for this and other forms of lawlessness and authoritarian conduct were essential elements on the road to today’s scenes of masked ICE goons rounding up Latinos and Trump militarizing law-enforcement in Democratic cities.
This is important for thinking how to restore the rule of law after the Trump Administration. Those administration officials that have committed crimes must be investigated and, when appropriate, prosecuted by a justice system with its independence and professionality restored. The Obama Administration failed at this. The Biden Administration failed at this. The next pro-Constitution and pro-rule-of-law Administration can’t afford to make that same mistake.
Notes:
(1) Two Decades Later, the Enduring Legacy of 9/11. Pew Research Center 09/02/2021. <https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/09/02/two-decades-later-the-enduring-legacy-of-9-11/> (Accessed: 2025-23-08).
(2) Greenberg, Karen (2023): Two Decades After 9/11, the Horrors at Guantánamo Bay Continue. Jacobin 08/01/2023. <https://jacobin.com/2023/08/guantanamo-bay-prisoners-torture-abuses-war-on-terror-fionnuala-ni-aolain-report> (Accessed: 2023-02-08).
