Is 9/11 still shaping America?

**Justin Webb** (0:00)
It's 25 years since an event that in so many ways shaped the modern world.
The events of 9-11 had a massive impact, of course, in a sense on all of us, but particularly on the United States. And it is an effect that continues to this day. So over the course of the 25th anniversary commemorations, people will be thinking, and we're going to think now about what the impact is, the continuing impact on the way that America is. There's also a row about whether the current mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, should himself attend the commemoration ceremonies. And that goes to the wider question of how progressive Americans and many young Americans should regard not only 9-11, but also the nation they live in. Welcome to Americast.

**Marianna Spring** (0:53)
Americast. Americast from BBC News.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:56)
Whatever you want to talk about, Abdul, keep my wife's name the hell out of your mouth because she's way out of your league.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:02)
The tide is coming. And this time, we intend to win it all.

**SPEAKER_6** (1:08)
So he doesn't want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.

**Rudy Giuliani** (1:20)
When I'm not around, you're going to be broke. There's not going to be anybody to report on.

**SPEAKER_8** (1:24)
Nobody gives a damn about anybody else.

**Justin Webb** (1:31)
Hello, it's Justin in the worldwide headquarters of Americast in London, England.

**Marianna Spring** (1:35)
And it is Marianna sitting next to Justin in the worldwide headquarters.

**Sumi Somaskanda** (1:39)
And this is Sumi sitting all by her lonesome in Washington DC.

**Justin Webb** (1:43)
And Sumi, you've been talking, haven't you? And we're going to hear your interview with Peter Bergen later on. And Peter Bergen is just, number one, he is a hugely influential author on all things to do with 9-11, and more widely, I suppose, national security. But number two, I remember back in the day, this is long before 9-11, he's actually met Osama Bin Laden, hasn't he? So someone with real credentials when it comes to studying al-Qaeda and knowing all about not only 9-11 and everything since, but actually everything that led up to it as well.

**Sumi Somaskanda** (2:15)
Yeah, it was a fascinating discussion. We asked him precisely about that interview that he had, as you said, with Osama Bin Laden in 1997 So before 9-11, he was on the tracks of Osama Bin Laden. Then we talked a bit about what happened since 9-11, the 25 years since then, how America has changed and what the lessons are that the country has and hasn't learned. So it was a really interesting conversation.

**Justin Webb** (2:37)
We're going to talk quite a lot now about what 9-11 has and hasn't done to the United States. I suppose we ought to start with the up to the minute stuff, because it is quite a controversy, isn't it? So you've got some family members who lost loved ones in 9-11, trying to get the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, of whom we talk often, not to go to the 25th Remembrance Ceremony. Why? What's going on there?

**Sumi Somaskanda** (3:07)
Yes. Some of the families are upset with the mayor's policies and also some of the people that the mayor has around him, who we're going to talk about. But this petition that you mentioned, Justin, has over 100,000 signatures now. As you said, it's a group of families, some, not all of the families who lost relatives on 9-11.
And they went to City Hall on Tuesday to deliver the petition to Mamdani himself. And this is what they said outside of City Hall.

**SPEAKER_9** (3:32)
We are asking respectfully that he not show up, even though there is going to be other politicians there. These are the politicians that helped us, pushed beneficial laws through, and literally held our hand during that time.

**SPEAKER_10** (3:50)
He wasn't even here. He was 10 He wasn't in this country. And I think he should really respect us as we're his constituents. We're, I'm a native New Yorker, born and bred my whole life. I think if someone says, just give us some 7-11.
Just let us have our piece at our memorial to really understand why we're here. We're honoring our loved ones.

**SPEAKER_11** (4:13)
I want to make clear that our petition is not about Mayor Mamdani's religion or where he came from. It is strictly about the policies that he has today. Yes, he was a nine-year-old boy when 9-11 happened, but it is today that he stands with people like Hassan Piker.