[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16709-16710]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        SEPTEMBER 11 REMEMBRANCE

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, yesterday we marked the anniversary of one 
of the most horrific events in our Nation's history. On September 11 of 
last year, without provocation or warning, extremists took control of 
four of our planes and used them as weapons of destruction against us 
to cowardly take from our lives our friends and neighbors, our mothers 
and fathers, and our sons and daughters.
  As we watched those events unfold, during the subsequent rescue 
attempts, we saw more of our Nation's brave men and women lose their 
lives in the support and defense of others. It was not only a terrible 
loss of life. It was a loss of our most vital and valuable resource, 
our Nation's people and the potential they carried within them for 
greatness in so many different fields and endeavors of importance to 
them and to us.
  As we watched the images broadcast around the world, we all made a 
decision in our hearts to do everything we could to respond to the 
attack on our nation, our freedom, our liberty and our way of life. For 
each of us it meant something different, but for all of us, it helped 
to know there was something we could all do to help.
  For Congress, that meant expressing our strongest support for the 
President and his ambitious and necessary plan to end the global 
network of terror that has sown the seeds of despair and hatred 
wherever it has found fertile ground. The President's plan is to do 
more than defeat the forces of terror. It is to replace those seeds of 
anger and hatred with seeds of hope and peace.
  For our Nation's Armed Forces, it meant answering the call to duty 
and taking arms against an enemy who placed no value on human life.
  The rules of war are not many, but one unavoidable one is that it 
takes the lives of our young men and women. One of those we lost in the 
early stages of the war was one of Wyoming's own, Jonn Edmunds, an Army 
Ranger from Cheyenne, who gave his life in Afghanistan as he fought and 
died for a cause that he believed in.
  For all Americans, it meant an awakening of our sense of patriotism 
and our love of country, as we put aside our differences and unfurled 
our flags and proudly displayed them on our porches and windows. We 
came together as one, united, in support of our leaders and our 
President.
  We know from past experience that the effort to respond to challenges 
like this is not a quick or easy one. It takes a lengthy and determined 
commitment to principle if we are to succeed.
  I have no doubt our resolve will remain strong and we will be united 
in purpose, as we have done before when called to respond to a threat 
to our way of life.
  A little over fifty years ago, on a day that has been compared to 
this one, those who opposed us were heard to say after their attack 
that they may have done nothing more than awaken a sleeping giant. On 
that day in December and this one in September, we may have been a 
sleeping giant, but when the time came to respond, we did, and by so 
doing, we changed the world.
  We have to respond with strength and determination because those who 
attacked us chose their targets with such clear and evil intent. They 
attacked the World Trade Center, because of its symbolic representation 
of our economic power. They attacked the Pentagon because of its 
symbolic representation of the power of our military. And they sought 
to attack our Nation's capital because it is the heart of our 
government and it represents our democracy and our way of life.
  No one will ever forget where they were or what they were doing as 
they first heard the news of the terrorist attack on our Nation. We all 
sat and watched in stunned silence as events unfolded that are now 
forever etched in our mind.

[[Page 16710]]

  In the days that have passed since then, we have kept alive the 
memory of those we lost, repaired and restored what we could, and made 
plans to recreate what could not be saved. It has been a difficult and 
daunting task.
  Through it all the President has led a united Nation, committed to 
ending the threat of terrorism, not just for us, but for our children, 
and for all the children of the world who deserve to grow up and pursue 
a dream of peace, hope and opportunity.
  When the terrorists struck at the heart of our Nation that day they 
took something more precious than our buildings, and the symbols of 
American pride and ingenuity we all hold dear. When they took our loved 
ones from us, they also took the innocence of our children who had to 
learn quickly, and at a young and tender age, that there are bad people 
in the world who do bad things. And that all too often, bad things 
happen to good people.
  But, when they looked at us with questioning eyes, did any of us have 
a good answer to the question they wanted answered the most, ``Why?''
  Fortunately, the President's leadership has enabled him to put 
together an international coalition dedicated to dismantling the 
network of terror and to bringing those responsible to justice, 
wherever they may try to hide.
  The conspiracy of terrorism can only survive in the darkness of 
hatred. It can not long survive when we bring the light of peace to 
bear on all the Nations of the world. That light is the symbol of 
freedom that our Statue of Liberty holds proudly and with purpose in 
the harbor of New York, not far from where the Twin Towers once stood. 
It is a light that will someday shine for everyone in every country in 
the world, and we will all live in peace and freedom.
  We are, and always will be, a Nation of individuals. We all have our 
own stories, our own goals and ambitions, and our own plans for our 
lives. But, when faced with a crisis, as we were last year, we come 
together as one united in our commitment that no one will ever have to 
endure a tragedy as terrible as the events that unfolded last year.
  Yesterday was a day of remembrance. It will always be so. May it 
serve as a constant reminder that we are one Nation, under God, with 
liberty and justice for all.
  The lives of all those who were lost are like an unfinished symphony 
that has been left to us to continue and complete. We carry their 
dreams, their hopes, their ambitions, their challenges and their plans 
for the future with us. With God's strength and the support of each of 
us we will complete the work they started and ensure the safety and 
security of all people, of all countries, and of all regions of the 
world for generations to come.

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