Hillary Clinton’s 9/12 Response To 9/11 Attacks
From Senator Clinton’s website:
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Statement On The Floor of The United States Senate In Response to the World Trade Center and Pentagon Attacks
September 12, 2001
Thank you, Mr. President, and I thank my colleagues for their outpouring of support, their concerns and their many offers of additional aid that have come to the rescue of our people as a result of this devastating travesty.
You know, yesterday dawned a beautiful day in New York. My daughter told me that it was one of those days where the skies were totally clear and there was a breeze and people were starting to line up at the polling places to vote because it was primary day, election day — a continuation of the commitment to democracy and self-government that has set us apart from every society that has ever existed because of the longevity of our democracy and the will of our people to constantly renew ourselves. New Yorkers went from standing in line to vote to standing in line to donate blood in just a few hours. I don’t think any of us will get out of our minds the images that we saw on television of the plane going into the first tower, the plane going into the second tower, the plane going into the Pentagon. But there were tens of thousands of our fellow Americans, people that live in New York and New Jersey and Connecticut — people literally from every part of our country and indeed the world for whom this was not an event that they watched in horror on television, but they lived through and in too many instances did not survive.
We are beginning to find out what that was like. Chuck [Schumer] and I have a lot of friends who worked in those towers, worked in the center, worked near by. We are hearing the stories of husbands and wives grabbing cell phones and calling home to say I love you, good-bye. We know and I am sure every person in this body and in the House and many, many of our fellow citizens, when we finally know the names of those killed and injured, will know someone. This was an attack on New York, but it was really an attack on America. I have been very gratified, as I know that Chuck has and all our colleagues in the House by the strong support we have received from the President, and I am very grateful. We have expressed our appreciation. Chuck and I will be going to New York this afternoon with FEMA. We could not have asked for more than we have received in the immediate aftermath of this horrific attack. But we are by no means anywhere near the end of what it will take to continue the search and rescue efforts. We are finding people even as we speak. Yet we know that there is a very grim task ahead to do everything we can to find every person, to account for every single person who went to work. That is all they did: they went to work, on a beautiful September day in New York.
We will also stand united behind our President as he and his advisors plan the necessary actions to demonstrate America’s resolve and commitment. Not only to seek out an exact punishment on the perpetrators, but to make very clear that not only those who harbor terrorists, but those who in any way aid or comfort them whatsoever will now face the wrath of our country. And I hope that that message has gotten through to everywhere it needs to be heard. You are either with America in our time of need or you are not.
We also stand united behind our resolve — as this resolution so clearly states — to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of these tragic acts. You know, New York was not an accidental choice for these madmen, these terrorists, and these instruments of evil. They deliberately chose to strike at a city, which is a global city — it is the city of the Twenty First century, it epitomizes who we are as Americans. And so this in a very real sense was an attack on America, on our values, on our power, and on who we are as a people. And I know — because I know America — that America will stand behind New York. That America will offer whatever resources, aid, comfort, support that New Yorkers and New York require. Because the greatest rebuke we can offer to those who attack our way of life is to demonstrate clearly that we are not cowed in any way whatsoever.
I hope that within a short period, Senator Warner, we will see scaffolding on the sides of the Pentagon after we finish the search and recovery work that is being carried out heroically. I hope we all see a clear signal that we are rebuilding and our defenses are more resolute than ever. I hope similarly that lower Manhattan has the same kind of image of project because the reality will be that we are rebuilding and reconstructing and making clear that just as our military might is unchallenged and un-cowed so is our economics, our social, our political values epitomized by New York.
I have expressed my strong support for the President. Not only as the Senator from New York, but as someone for eight years who has some sense of the burdens and responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of the human being we make our President. It is an awesome and an oftentimes awful responsibility for any person. I know we are up to it. I know we are ready for it. And I know every one in this body represents every American in making clear we are united and stronger than ever. So it is with a heavy heart, really a sense of heartbreak that I rise today in support of this resolution.
But it is also with a great sense of pride. First in the people of New York who responded as New Yorkers always do when times get tough. There was not a sense of panic, there was order, and there was an immediate outpouring of help. And those men and women we sent in to rescue our fellow Americans — there is no way adequately to express our gratitude. To our firefighters, our police officers, our emergency personal, our doctors, and nurses and medical personnel. They responded at a height of a tragic, unexpected attack with the kind of grit and courage we expect from New Yorkers. And to all of those who are missing a loved one, there are no words any of us can express, except to tell you in the clearest possible terms we will — in a united American response — support you, offer assistance to you, stand with you, and pursue those who reached deep into your family homes yesterday and took someone you loved away from you.
There will be a lot of work ahead of us in this body and in the House and we will pursue that and I am grateful for the support we have received.
Thank you very much.
My favorite passage:
We will also stand united behind our President as he and his advisors plan the necessary actions to demonstrate America’s resolve and commitment. Not only to seek out an exact punishment on the perpetrators, but to make very clear that not only those who harbor terrorists, but those who in any way aid or comfort them whatsoever will now face the wrath of our country. And I hope that that message has gotten through to everywhere it needs to be heard. You are either with America in our time of need or you are not.
But those were just words. And for Hillary words are just a means to power.
They have no other meaning.
This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 2:59 pm.
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