THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. A long year has passed since enemies
attacked our country. We've seen the images so many times they are
seared on our souls, and remembering the horror, reliving the anguish,
re-imagining the terror, is hard -- and painful.
For those who lost loved ones, it's been a year of sorrow, of empty
places, of newborn children who will never know their fathers here on
earth. For members of our military, it's been a year of sacrifice and
service far from home. For all Americans, it has been a year of
adjustment, of coming to terms with the difficult knowledge that our
nation has determined enemies, and that we are not invulnerable to
their attacks.
Yet, in the events that have challenged us, we have also seen the
character that will deliver us. We have seen the greatness of America
in airline passengers who defied their hijackers and ran a plane into
the ground to spare the lives of others. We've seen the greatness of
America in rescuers who rushed up flights of stairs toward peril. And
we continue to see the greatness of America in the care and compassion
our citizens show to each other.
September 11, 2001 will always be a fixed point in the life of
America. The loss of so many lives left us to examine our own. Each
of us was reminded that we are here only for a time, and these counted
days should be filled with things that last and matter: love for our
families, love for our neighbors, and for our country; gratitude for
life and to the Giver of life.
We resolved a year ago to honor every last person lost. We owe
them remembrance and we owe them more. We owe them, and their
children, and our own, the most enduring monument we can build: a
world of liberty and security made possible by the way America leads,
and by the way Americans lead our lives.
The attack on our nation was also attack on the ideals that make us
a nation. Our deepest national conviction is that every life is
precious, because every life is the gift of a Creator who intended us
to live in liberty and equality. More than anything else, this
separates us from the enemy we fight. We value every life; our enemies
value none -- not even the innocent, not even their own. And we seek
the freedom and opportunity that give meaning and value to life.
There is a line in our time, and in every time, between those who
believe all men are created equal, and those who believe that some men
and women and children are expendable in the pursuit of power. There
is a line in our time, and in every time, between the defenders of
human liberty and those who seek to master the minds and souls of
others. Our generation has now heard history's call, and we will
answer it.
America has entered a great struggle that tests our strength, and
even more our resolve. Our nation is patient and steadfast. We
continue to pursue the terrorists in cities and camps and caves across
the earth. We are joined by a great coalition of nations to rid the
world of terror. And we will not allow any terrorist or tyrant to
threaten civilization with weapons of mass murder. Now and in the
future, Americans will live as free people, not in fear, and never at
the mercy of any foreign plot or power.
This nation has defeated tyrants and liberated death camps, raised
this lamp of liberty to every captive land. We have no intention of
ignoring or appeasing history's latest gang of fanatics trying to
murder their way to power. They are discovering, as others before
them, the resolve of a great country and a great democracy. In the
ruins of two towers, under a flag unfurled at the Pentagon, at the
funerals of the lost, we have made a sacred promise to ourselves and to
the world: we will not relent until justice is done and our nation is
secure. What our enemies have begun, we will finish.
I believe there is a reason that history has matched this nation
with this time. America strives to be tolerant and just. We respect
the faith of Islam, even as we fight those whose actions defile that
faith. We fight, not to impose our will, but to defend ourselves and
extend the blessings of freedom.
We cannot know all that lies ahead. Yet, we do know that God had
placed us together in this moment, to grieve together, to stand
together, to serve each other and our country. And the duty we have
been given -- defending America and our freedom -- is also a privilege
we share.
We're prepared for this journey. And our prayer tonight is that
God will see us through, and keep us worthy.
Tomorrow is September the 12th. A milestone is passed, and a
mission goes on. Be confident. Our country is strong. And our cause
is even larger than our country. Ours is the cause of human dignity;
freedom guided by conscience and guarded by peace. This ideal of
America is the hope of all mankind. That hope drew millions to this
harbor. That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the
darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it.