George W. Bush Warns US Threatened by 'Violence That Gathers Within' in 9/11 Anniversary Speech

Bush claimed that both "violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home" are "children of the same foul spirit".

Speaking on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, former US President George W. Bush, the man who presided over the beginning of the so-called "War on Terror", has issued a warning about the danger the United States faces.

While attending a ceremony at the 9/11 memorial site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed two decades ago, Bush spoke about the "growing evidence" that dangers to the US "can come, not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within".

"There is little cultural overlaps between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. 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", he said as quoted by Axios. "And it is our continuing duty to confront them".

The media outlet suggested that, in his speech, Bush alluded to the "determination to defile national symbols" exhibited by the participants of the Capitol riots that transpired in January.

The ex-president also remarked that, "when it comes to [the] unity of America, those days seem distant from our own".

"Malign force seems at work in our common life ... so much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear, and resentment", he added, according to Reuters.

Earlier, a former US Navy SEAL "credited" with killing the terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, also voiced his concerns about "the division" in the United States, and urged people in the United States to find common ground.