Bush Warns America Against Losing Sight of 9/11 Lessons During Library Remembrance

DALLAS — Marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, former President George W. Bush issued a stark warning on Wednesday that the United States risks losing its way by failing to internalize the lessons of that day. Speaking alongside Condoleezza Rice, who served as his national security adviser during the crisis and later as secretary of state, Bush criticized a recurring national tendency toward isolationism.

“Our nation occasionally goes through isolationist periods, where the attitude is, ‘Well, we’ve got too many problems at home. Therefore, who cares about what happens overseas?'” Bush said. “Which really means to me they just don’t pay attention to the lessons of 9/11, because what happens overseas matters to our national security at home.”

Bush, who was nine months into his first term when the attacks occurred, argued that American involvement abroad remains necessary to support those fighting tyranny. He emphasized that engagement does not always require deploying troops. “We ought to at least stand with them and stand beside them because this is what we went through [250 years ago],” he said, referencing the American Revolution.

The former president reflected on the war in Afghanistan, which he initiated in response to 9/11 and aimed to replace the Taliban regime with a democratic government. Although the conflict lasted two decades and ended with the U.S. withdrawal and a return to Taliban control in 2021, Bush pushed back against critics who argue that Afghan citizens do not appreciate liberty. He cited young girls attending school for the first time and women becoming doctors and professors as evidence that the population understands the distinction between freedom and oppression.

During the conversation, Bush and Rice recounted the chaotic hours of September 11, 2001. They described a period when every commercial aircraft was treated as a potential weapon, with orders issued for all planes to land immediately or face being shot down. The pair recalled the terror experienced by Vice President Dick Cheney and then-Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who was attempting to coordinate landings using a legal pad. There was a brief, agonizing 10-minute window where officials feared the military had shot down United Flight 93, which ultimately crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back against hijackers.

“That always to me represented just how hard the decisions that you had to take under a lot of pressure,” Rice said.

Bush also shared personal memories from the aftermath, including his visit to an elementary school on the morning of the attacks when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, delivered the news. “In that moment, I became a wartime president,” Bush recalled. He spoke about his priority to help the country recover while preserving its core values, stating, “I didn’t want us to lose our soul.”

The former president also addressed his efforts to counter anti-Muslim sentiment in the immediate aftermath, recalling a visit to a mosque and concerns about harassment of women of color, particularly in Michigan. He viewed the conflict as an ideological struggle and stressed the importance of protecting the freedom to worship. The discussion concluded with reflections on the shift to a “September 12” mindset, where the imperative became going on the offense to prevent further attacks.