Washington, D.C. - U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady (R-The Woodlands) issued the following statement on the third anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States of America. 

 

"Today, Americans will pause for a moment to remember the innocent lives so cruelly lost on September 11, 2001. Together, and in our own way, we will honor the sacrifices thousands of men and women are making, far from home and their loved ones, to defend our security and fight terrorism at its source.

 

“Like others who have powerful images seared into their memory, I will never forget the evening of the long day now known simply as 9-11. First joining my congressional colleagues on the steps of the Capitol to sing an emotional God Bless America together, then walking around with a few friends to the west side of the Capitol, gazing down the eerily empty national mall lit only by pink security flares at each street corner, silently watching the black smoke of the smoldering Pentagon rise into an inappropriately beautiful sunset and realizing that this threat, terrorism, was the new face of America's enemy. 

 

“Looking back, with the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, September 11th forever changed the way our nation views freedom, liberty, and security. 

 

“Three years have passed. We have done much to secure an impossibly large and open nation. And there is much more to be done yet.

 

“We are fully engaged in a pivotal struggle against an adversary whose only goal is to kill innocent civilians and disrupt our American way of life with fear.  Recently, it was said that the war on terror is not a choice between war and peace, but a choice between war and something much worse.

 

“Americans, through the smoldering remains of ground zero, have come to understand the evil of "much worse".  Terrorism is a global epidemic crossing all lines and reaching across all boundaries.  Attacks in Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Iraq, the murder of innocent Russian school children, and embassy bombings in Indonesia demonstrate that no country or people are immune from terrorism.  

 

“Terrorists have proven they don't discriminate between solider and civilian, adult and child.  Their attacks remind us of the vigilance we must continue to take in rooting out terrorism where it lives and breeds.  The freedom of the United States and the world are at stake -- retreat and failure are not options.  Because of the determination of the brave men and women in our armed forces and their Commander-In-Chief President George W. Bush, we will succeed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and on every front that we engage terrorists. And we will bring our soldiers home, to the safety of their families.

 

“As we remember September 11, 2001, we reaffirm our promise to lost heroes and loved ones that this will not happen again, on our watch, on our soil.  This September 11, as a nation we must unite and stand firm in our resolve to fight terrorism at every moment and every where, to see this War on Terror through to victory."