Vice President Mike Pence said that while the nation will remember the fallen, the victims will also be honored “by doing everything in our power as a nation to prevent the evil of radical Islamic terrorism from ever reaching our shores again.” | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo Pence references 'radical Islamic terrorism' twice in 9/11 address

Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday twice referenced “radical Islamic terrorism” during a Pentagon ceremony to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, invoking a favorite phrase of President Donald Trump.

“Seventeen years ago today America fell under attack. Nineteen radical Islamic terrorists seized control of four commercial airlines to strike the centers of our economy our military and our national government,” Pence said.


Pence said that while the nation will remember the fallen, the victims will also be honored “by doing everything in our power as a nation to prevent the evil of radical Islamic terrorism from ever reaching our shores again.”

Trump regularly referenced “radical Islamic terrorism” during his campaign, as he tried to present himself as the tough-on-terror candidate. He continued using it as president, even as some aides, including former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, expressed reservations about the phrase because of its implied vilification of an entire religion.

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On Tuesday, Pence credited the Trump administration and said Americans should be proud that enemies inspired by 9/11 have been driven out, adding that ISIS is on the run and that its caliphate has crumbled.

Pence said he was deeply humbled to attend the national memorial service with second lady Karen Pence on behalf of Trump.

Pence told gatherers who lost loved ones during the attacks that “your nation understands that while we all suffered loss that day, that you suffer a special burden.”

He went on to say that “you do not bear that moment alone; the American people stand with you, and we always will.”

Trump, in remarks Tuesday at the Flight 93 National Memorial service in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, made one reference to “radical Islamic terrorism," saying “nearly 7,000 service members have died facing down the menace of radical islamic terrorism.”

Trump went on to say that “America will never submit to tyranny.”

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva hosted the vice president. Participants in the ceremony read the names of the 184 people who died at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, laid a wreath and had a moment of silence at 9:37 a.m.

During his remarks, Mattis said the ceremonies going on around the nation were for remembering all that is good and beautiful about the loved ones lost.

“We remember that hatred disguised in false religious garb to murder innocents will not prevail. Though evil visited us on a cloudless Tuesday morning, courage and strength answered amid the fire and smoke of New York City, over a Pennsylvania meadow and in this very building as innocent people from 91 countries were murdered on our soil.”

