‘We Are Going to War’: H.R. McMaster Remembers 9/11

Read the original at The Free Press ↗
Cite

MacLean, A. (2026, September 11). ‘We Are Going to War’: H.R. McMaster Remembers 9/11. The Free Press. https://www.thefp.com/p/hr-mcmaster-911-war-on-terror

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Free Press · collected 2026-09-11 · by Aaron MacLean

Quick Summary

H.R. McMaster recalls that on September 11, 2001, when a plane struck the Pentagon, he immediately thought "we are going to war". Twenty-five years after the event, McMaster joins an interview with Aaron MacLean to discuss the wars that followed. As a former national security adviser and wartime commander, McMaster examines how military gains became strategic self-defeat in American conflict. The article marks 25 years since the 9/11 attacks.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-11, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, New York City's first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, faces controversy over his decision to attend memorial events despite calls from some victims' families and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for him to stay away. Mamdani, who lost an older brother in the attacks, insists on honoring those affected by reading out names at Ground Zero. Meanwhile, nearly 110,000 signatures have been collected through a petition urging Mamdani not to attend, citing concerns over his past associations and appointments that some see as conflicting with the solemnity of the event. Despite this opposition, Mamdani is moving forward with plans to release more than 170,000 pages of documents related to air quality around Ground Zero in the months following 9/11, aiming to provide transparency on what the city knew about toxic conditions and how they handled it.

Written for “9/11 Memorial Controversies” on 2026-10-27, grounded in this article and the 169 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 9/11 Memorial Controversies
Politics · 170 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Remembering 9/11: Where tragedy left its marks same event · 100%
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 3% hedged 2 of 72 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles are discussing the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and mention a specific personal account from individuals who were present during the incident.”
Remembering 9/11: Andrew Card on the moment everything changed same event · 100%
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 3 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles report on the same terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, as recalled by different individuals involved”
25 Years Since 9/11: 13 Numbers That Tell the Story same event · 100%
Zeteo
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 7
“Both articles mention the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks and include a personal account from H.R. McMaster”
25 years on, America seeks to keep 9/11 memories alive same event · 100%
The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 11% hedged 3 of 27 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles refer to the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and describe events that occurred on that day, including the Pentagon attack and the impact on Americans.”
How the ‘War on Terror’ Went Global - and Backfired on the United States same event · 100%
Zeteo
⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 14
“Both articles describe the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and its impact 25 years later”
Spies, strategies and missed opportunities: How the lessons of 9/11 are still being learnt same event · 100%
BBC News
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 6% hedged 5 of 82 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles describe the exact same occurrence: the 9/11 attacks on the US on September 11, 2001.”
‘Never Forget’: How Americans remember Sept. 11 same event · 100%
NBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 11% hedged 8 of 71 📰 publisher trust 95
“Both articles are describing the same event, September 11, 2001, attacks, from different perspectives.”
9/11 Changed Our Politics same event · 100%
Persuasion
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 7% hedged 7 of 98
“Both articles refer to the exact same date (9/11) and describe memories and reflections on the 2001 terrorist attacks”
The Burning Towers Foreshadowed a Burning World – Viet Thanh Nguyen on the 25 Years After 9/11 same event · 100%
Zeteo
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 15% hedged 2 of 13
“Both articles describe the 9/11 attacks on September 11, 2001 from different perspectives”
Do you remember where you were on 9/11? Share your memories 25 years on same event · 100%
The Independent
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 9 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe the exact same event from a different perspective: the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
7
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 7 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
96/100
The Free Press's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
170
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-11 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Free Press · 370 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Aaron MacLean
20 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 The immediate goals of this alignment certainly look like they are to lower prices by allowing the purchase of Russian fuel (or at least look like every effort to reduce prices is being made before the midterms) and to pressure the Ukrainians into a peace deal—on terms that Kyiv would consider a surrender.
2026-10-20 · assertive framing · Is Trump Getting Ready to Trade Ukraine for Iran?
🔮 At times, the president has shown leadership and political resolve in the face of these increases, making the case that they are a price worth paying if it means Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. And then there are moments like the present.
2026-10-14 · assertive framing · Trump’s Disastrous Diesel Deal
🔮 Putin could take Lithuania’s capital if he achieved surprise, the nation’s army commander told Aaron MacLean.
2026-10-13 · mixed framing · When, Not If: The Baltics Prepare for War
🔮 After a mysterious plague death in Siberia, former arms control envoy Marshall Billingslea explains what Russia could be building, how it might use it, and why China is following suit.
2026-10-08 · assertive framing · What Happened Inside Russia’s Plague Lab?
🔮 Today, Oren joins School of War to discuss Israel’s “80 perce… Preview Michael Oren: October 7 and the Cost of Defending Israel The former Israeli ambassador on Israel’s deepening domestic divide, and why no Israeli government will bring the troops home from Gaza, Lebanon, or Syria. Continue Reading The Free Press To support our journalism, and unlock all of our investigative stories and provocative commentary about the world as it actually is, subscribe below.
2026-10-06 · assertive framing · Michael Oren: October 7 and the Cost of Defending Israel
🔮 While much could still happen to disrupt America’s progress in the war, the Iran strategy being pursued by the Donald Trump administration has given it the upper hand over Tehran.
2026-09-30 · assertive framing · The Strait of Hormuz Is Open
🔮 VILNIUS, Lithuania—I’m sitting on a park bench with the commander of the Lithuanian army, Nerijus Stankevičius, talking about the day Russia will attack his country.
2026-09-23 · assertive framing · Drones, Sensors, and Satellite Imagery: The Baltics Prepare for War with Russia
🔮 Could Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey form a “Muslim NATO?”
2026-09-22 · assertive framing · The Middle East After America?
🔮 A Chinese hypersonic missile targeting either U.S. coast would leave room for “about 10 minutes of warning time.”
2026-09-08 · assertive framing · Ten-Minute Warning: The Hypersonic Threat
🔮 From “a whole civilization will die tonight” in April to “economic D-Day” this week, strategic climaxes are promised, but ever deferred.
2026-08-26 · mixed framing · The Tantric War
Also by Aaron MacLean
Is Trump Getting Ready to Trade Ukraine for Iran?
2026-10-20 · The Free Press
Trump’s Disastrous Diesel Deal
2026-10-14 · The Free Press
When, Not If: The Baltics Prepare for War
2026-10-13 · The Free Press
Rebuilding America’s War Machine
2026-10-09 · The Free Press
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 20 articles by Aaron MacLean →

Topics

9/11 American Generate Iraq Pentagon

Subjects

H.R. McMaster PERSON · 2× Aaron MacLean PERSON · 1× American NORP · 1× Generate ORG · 1× Iraq GPE · 1× McMaster PERSON · 1× Pentagon ORG · 1× The Free Press ORG · 1×

Narrative

From the battlefield in Iraq to the White House Situation Room, the former national security adviser examines 25 years of American war, and how military gains became strategic self-defeat.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-11
2026-09-11 · The Free Press
‘We Are Going to War’: H.R. McMaster Remembers 9/11 · assertive framing

Claims (7 extracted, 0 hedged)

Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster was on the phone with the Pentagon when the plane struck the building on September 11, 2001. asserted
plane → strike → September
“I thought, Okay, we are going to war,” he recalls. asserted
he → think → war
Twenty-five years after 9/11, McMaster joins Aaron MacLean to discuss the wars that followed. asserted
that → join → wars
Drawing on his experience as a wartime commander and national security adviser, McM… Generate transcript A transcript unlocks clips, previews, and editing. asserted
transcript → draw → clips
Preview ‘We Are Going to War’: H.R. McMaster Remembers 9/11 asserted
McMaster → go → 9/11
From the battlefield in Iraq to the White House Situation Room, the former national security adviser examines 25 years of American war, and how military gains became strategic self-defeat. asserted
gains → examine → war
To support our journalism, and unlock all of our investigative stories and provocative commentary about the world as it actually is, subscribe below. asserted
it → support → world
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support
Terms · Privacy · beta v2.0.0
Articles to 27 Oct 2026