SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (Dispatches) – Warning that the nation was falling into division and extremism, former U.S. president George W. Bush has appealed for a return to the spirit of cooperation that emerged — almost instantaneously — after the 9/11 attacks 20 years ago.
Delivering the keynote address at the national memorial to the victims of Flight 93, who forced down their airplane hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists before it could be used as a weapon against the nation’s capital, Bush warned of “violence that gathers within.”
“There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home,” he said. “But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them.”
Bush’s warning came barely eight months after the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-president Donald Trump attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It marked some of Bush’s sharpest criticism of that attack and appeared to be an implicit criticism of Trump’s brand of politics.
Bush lamented that “so much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment.”
The remarks came as five people were shot, one fatally, in a shooting in West Pullman in Chicago, Illinois.
The shooting which happened on Saturday night left a woman, 42, killed and four others, including a 15-year-old girl, injured, Chicago police said.
The group was outside walking towards their vehicles about 9:40 p.m. when someone inside another car opened fire, shooting multiple rounds in their direction.
The woman, who died in the incident, was shot in the arm and armpit, police said. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The teen girl was struck in the arm and transported in fair condition to Comer Children’s Hospital, police said.
Meanwhile, in another shooting on Friday, a man was shot dead in Englewood. The victim was near the sidewalk about 5:30 p.m. in the 7200 block of South Yale Avenue when someone opened fire.
In another shooting on Saturday, a man was shot dead in Petersburg, Virginia, authorities say.
The victim, 18, was shot sometime before 1:25 p.m. Saturday and was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.