Leader of the Democrats in the House, Nancy Pelosi, has drawn criticism after she called the 11 Sept 2001 terror attacks as an “incident,” despite the fact that 9/11 was the deadliest terror attack in the history of the United States and caused the largest loss of life by a foreign attack on American soil.
The 9/11 terror attacks occurred 17 years ago, when four US-operated passenger airlines were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists who crashed two planes into the World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York and 1 plane into the Pentagon.
The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. Additional people died of 9/11-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the months and years following the attacks. 9/11 was also the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed, respectively.
In trying to criticize President Trump for his focus on securing the US-Mexico border and attempting to make the point that Democrats have also been pushing for border control, 78-year-old Pelosi told reporters in a weekly press conference:
“We have a responsibility to protect our borders. All of our borders. Let’s make no mistake about that. Democrats have been strong on that point. All of our borders.
“In fact, I said to some of you before, when we had the 9/11 incident and the commission was formed — and they made their recommendations — they made recommendations to protect America, but the Republicans would never take them up. And some of it was about our borders. The Republicans would never take them up.”
Netizens quickly excoriated Pelosi for calling the 9/11 terror attacks an “incident”:
@RealSaavedra I’m sure the families of those who perished on 9/11 do not consider it an “incident”. The woman has clearly taken leave of her senses!! Her family needs to have an intervention and commit her now!!
— diane chapman (@gramsee) July 26, 2018
An incident, It was more than a tragedy, it was something we that were here will never never forget
— Deborah Zacha (@zacha_deborah) July 27, 2018
Incident? Sad. She should retire.
— Beth (@flst820beth) July 26, 2018