[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 22814-22815]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 22814]]

                              THANKSGIVING

  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, the Senate is in its final moments 
before the Thanksgiving recess. I am mindful


that most Senators have left to be with their families and return to 
their States. All of us having now lived through one of the most 
extraordinary periods in the long and proud history of our country, I 
wanted, if only for my own purposes, to take a moment to reflect on the 
day, its meaning, and some things we all take to our homes that 
distinguish this year and this Thanksgiving from others.
  I trust that we are all mindful as we travel to be with our families 
for Thanksgiving, traveling to each of the 50 States of the Union, that 
there are thousands of soldiers and sailors and airmen gathered in the 
hulls of ships, flying in aircraft, some huddled in trenches on the 
ground--all brave, all strong, but they would not be human if some were 
not afraid.
  They are far from home at a time when all Americans want to be at 
home. They are in a strange land, often with people they do not know, 
at a time when Americans want to be with family and people they love.
  I know all Americans will remember them in our prayers this 
Thanksgiving and be grateful not just to them but to the great good 
fortune of providence which with every generation, every time our 
Nation has been threatened for more than two centuries, has produced 
men and women of such extraordinary courage, so willing to sacrifice 
for our Nation and its freedom.
  I do not know how America has been so fortunate through each 
succeeding generation to have produced such men and women, but I, as 
with all of my colleagues, have a gratitude that cannot be fully 
expressed.
  I am reminded that President Lincoln, during another troubling period 
of our history, reminded us that as great armies were on the field of 
battle against each other, they prayed to the same God. Each invoked 
his name against the other. The prayers of each could not be answered.
  Indeed, as our soldiers have prayed for their lives and their country 
and victory, so, too, have our adversaries. It is of no small comfort 
to know that the prayers of our soldiers and our citizens have to date 
been so fully answered.
  Victory is not yet assured, but we have moved more swiftly, more 
certainly, and more skillfully than we most probably had a right to 
dream. In the most remote corner of this Earth, thousands of American 
soldiers, and sailors, and airmen descended within weeks of the tragedy 
of New York and Virginia. No place could have been more distant, no 
area of the globe more hostile, no cities, no towns, no country more 
remote than Afghanistan. Our own forces not only found their way but 
established themselves and with extraordinary ability, with skill and 
courage, mounted an offensive to hold those accountable who would 
strike our country and our Government and kill our citizens with wanton 
abandon, without any sense of decency.
  I know the terrorists who struck America on September 11 intended to 
teach us a lesson. We have learned many lessons. They may not be what 
was intended, but the lessons are real and I hope they are lasting. We 
learned again the extraordinary strength of our Nation, measured not 
only in our military power or economic resilience but our faith, our 
belief in each other, our willingness to overcome obstacles and 
divisions for common purpose. It is this which has sustained us for 200 
years.
  There are moments of comfort and without challenge when we have 
probably wondered whether they were still alive with us. We don't need 
to be concerned anymore. Those qualities still live in America. We 
taught not only ourselves but the world a good deal about the goodness 
and kindness in America. Indeed, what other people in all of history 
would drop bombs on our adversaries by day and distribute food to their 
children and widows by night? What other country in all the annals of 
history would conquer an army but not conquer the land, meet our 
military objectives but state from the outset and commit our resources 
fully to leaving the people of that land in peace, with more prosperity 
and a greater freedom than they knew before?
  These things we learned about ourselves and, perhaps, we reminded the 
world about the United States of America. We all hope they are lessons 
that, having been taught before, will never be forgotten. We have given 
up believing that there are any final wars. We are no longer naive 
enough to believe there are wars to end all wars. Every generation has 
its own challenges.
  It was said by Jefferson that ``eternal vigilance is the price of 
freedom.'' We have always known that freedom is not free. So now this 
generation, in this decade, has paid the price again, knowing it will 
be paid again in the future. But we have a hope that finally the world 
will remember, even if sometimes we forget, those essential elements 
about our country that seem to lead to our vulnerability; that because 
we are kind, people perceive us as sometimes being weak; because we are 
generous, people sometimes believe we lack resolve; because we have 
been prosperous, some believe we have lost the will or the ability to 
fight to defend ourselves.
  History is littered with people who have made those miscalculations 
before. Now the Taliban and al-Qaeda are about to share their fate. The 
battle is not yet fully won, though victory, at least in this first 
battle of this new war against terrorism, has taken sufficient form 
that we can see the outlines of success.
  Before this war on terrorism targets new adversaries, there will be 
the matter of how to bring to justice those who created these crimes, 
murdered our people, and attacked our Nation. President Bush has 
suggested a military tribunal that would hear the evidence and render 
justice. It is an important decision for our country. We have always, 
in dealing with criminal cases in our country, taken enormous pride in 
that the accused is afforded every right and assumed to have every 
innocence until convicted in full accord with our Constitution.
  After declarations of war and military campaigns, in those instances 
when people have committed either atrocities against humanity or 
engaged in military hostilities outside of the conduct of the rules of 
war, they have been brought to justice; they have been tried by 
military justice.
  Now we are engaged in a new kind of war. Our adversaries wear no 
uniforms. They may not belong to the army of any recognized state. Our 
country received no declaration of war, according to the articles of 
war of civilized nations. So the actions of President Bush in bringing 
the leaders of al-Qaeda, or the Taliban, to justice are precedent. But 
they need not be controversial. The Taliban and al-Qaeda may not have 
been in the family of nations, but the law is not blind. By their 
actions and their words, Bin Laden and the Taliban leadership declared 
war on the United States of America. The destruction of American 
civilian aircraft into our greatest cities and the offices of the U.S. 
Government and the taking of thousands of lives was an act of war, not 
a civilian crime.
  It would have been no different had an aircraft with a foreign flag 
dropped a bomb on New York or Washington. The orders given would have 
been the same, the consequences identical, and should stand before the 
law on an equal basis. The leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda are 
entitled to military justice, to be heard before a military tribunal of 
either the U.S. military or the assembled military leadership of the 
allies in this endeavor. But they are not entitled to sit in a civilian 
court provided for American citizens under the Constitution of this 
country for the rights of our people and those who enter our shores.
  The level of justice may not be the same in a military tribunal as in 
a civilian court, but it is justice. They can be heard as any other 
military adversary.
  Before leaving on this Thanksgiving holiday, I wish to say how proud 
I have been of this Congress, my country, and our Armed Forces. This is 
not what any of us wanted for the 21st century. We all believed that 
somehow only months ago as the 20th century came to a close, our time 
was going to be different.
  Through all the ravages of the 20th century, the disappointment, the 
destruction, the genocide, finally men

[[Page 22815]]

and women had come of age. We understood the foolishness of combat, the 
recklessness of armed struggle, the uselessness of combat. We had built 
institutions to resolve our international differences. While cultures, 
faiths, and languages might differ, there at least was emerging some 
common understanding of the principles of governance, justice, and 
self-respect.
  It would appear that our enthusiasm for a new time was either 
misplaced or poorly timed. Not only do these opening years of the 21st 
century not appear to be an improvement on all we experienced in the 
20th century, but they look remarkably similar to the 18th or 19th 
centuries.
  All human progress is not forward. All nations do not advance at the 
same speed. All cultures have not learned history the same. Yet we are 
patient and hopeful. If anything characterizes the people of the United 
States, it is our boundless optimism. From this terrible experience, 
perhaps we can at least take this to salvage those many years still 
remaining in the 21st century to make our time different. In the 
destruction of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, a message will at least be 
received by those who would harbor terrorists or those who would 
collaborate in these actions: Our kindness is not weakness; our laws do 
not provide you opportunities to take advantage of our justice; we are 
strong, we are resolved, and we are determined to defend ourselves, our 
children, and our future, as every generation before us. We are a good 
and a great people, but we are a strong and determined people. We have 
our place in the future, our role in the world, and it will not be 
compromised. It will not be taken from us.
  Much of this planet has decided upon some common norms of justice and 
conduct, to conduct ourselves in peace within institutions. All nations 
are welcome to join in them according to their own traditions, their 
own laws, and their own faiths, but the age when nations or 
organizations would be permitted to operate against all human 
experience and all rules of decency are over.
  We have only perhaps begun to defeat one terrorist organization in 
one country, but surely the lessons from this experience are 
unmistakable and are heard on every corner of the globe.
  That is my hope and my prayer for this Thanksgiving. Godspeed to 
every American soldier wherever he or she may be on this holiday. May 
you be home for Christmas; may we not have to call upon you again. But 
if we do, may you serve with the same distinction, courage, and valor 
that every American has seen in your actions in these last few weeks.

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