LIEBERMAN STATEMENT ON EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11
09.11.09
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (ID-CT) today issued the following statement on the eighth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks:
“Today, we remember the almost 3,000 innocent people who were murdered in the worst terrorist attack in history. Hadassah’s and my thoughts and prayers are with the families across Connecticut, across the nation, and around the world whose loved ones were taken from them on that terrible day eight years ago.
“But this anniversary must be about more than just mourning our losses. It is also a day on which we must remember the catastrophic threat that the al Qaeda terrorist network and its Islamist extremist allies continue to pose to us and all of humanity, and rededicate ourselves to the vital task of defeating them, wherever they operate, and the ideology that sustains and drives them. From Madrid in 2004 to Mumbai last November, Al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates are still at war around the world, working to murder Americans and our friends. If given the chance, they will strike our homeland again. We forget this reality at our nation’s peril.
“Over the past eight years, we have made important gains in the global struggle against the enemy that struck us on 9/11. In the wake of the invasion of Iraq, al Qaeda rushed in, determined to establish a new terrorist safe haven in the center of the Arab world. Instead, Osama bin Laden’s vision has been dealt a humiliating setback in the heart of the Middle East, as millions of Iraqis have risked their lives—both at the ballot box and on the battlefield—to drive al Qaeda from their country. We must continue to stand with them in this struggle.
“Now the central front of the war on terrorism is Afghanistan, where the 9/11 attacks were plotted and where today a resurgent Taliban, still allied with al Qaeda, is seeking to restore the terrorist sanctuary that existed there eight years ago. It is a clear, vital national interest of the United States to prevent this from happening.
“The war in Afghanistan has now reached a critical phase. To turn the tide there will require an increased and sustained commitment on the part of our country. It is a war that we can win, and that we absolutely must win.
“We also must continue to strengthen our defenses here at home. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has worked steadily since the attacks to close our nation’s many vulnerabilities. This week Senator Collins and I introduced the latest legislative chapter in this effort: the Weapons of Mass Destruction Prevention and Preparedness Act, which will provide a comprehensive framework for protecting America from weapons of mass destruction and biological attacks, in particular.
“The 9/11 attacks were a reminder both of humanity’s capacity for extraordinary evil, but also of our capacity in the face of evil—as individuals and as a country—to summon the extraordinary courage, wisdom, and strength necessary to resist and defeat it. Eight years on, our enemies are no less committed and determined to inflict harm upon us than they were that terrible day—and so, too, must we remain equally committed and determined to defeat them. I am confident we will.”
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