Carper's Corner
September 11, 2006 - Wilmington, DE:
I will never forget the events of September 11, 2001. My morning started just like most others. I was on the train en route to Washington that day and was on a conference call with my staff when they reported to me that a tragic accident apparently had occurred - a commercial airliner had flown into one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Less than 20 minutes later, they called back to say that a second airplane had just flown into the other tower, and we knew at once that this was no accident. When I arrived at Union Station a short while later, I hurried up to the Hart Building where my office is located. As I quickly walked up Delaware Avenue, I could hear the sound of fighter aircraft in the sky above us that apparently had been launched in response to the attack. Off in the distance, I heard an explosion which I later learned was likely the sound of the fuel farm by the Pentagon going up in flames. Anxious staff members were evacuating the three Senate office buildings, as well as the Capitol itself. Before heading off for a briefing for senators by the Capitol police, I sat in disbelief in my office and said a prayer for the men and women who were trapped in the towers and for those trying to save them. Then, along with millions of Americans, I watched in horror as those towers collapsed.
These terrible images will forever be ingrained in our national psyche. But just as I remember those heart-wrenching images, I also remember the ones that filled with me with pride, such as seeing my fellow Americans putting their arms around strangers to comfort those who were overcome with grief. I also will long remember watching police officers and firefighters run toward those fiery infernos that most anyone else would run away from - simply because it was their duty, and they were determined to do it and to save as many lives as they could, even at the cost of their own lives.
Most of the nearly 3,000 people killed in these attacks were civilians going about their daily lives. The buildings that were targeted were not chosen for their strategic value, as their destruction would not prevent or alter America's military response. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon were chosen because their destruction would maximize civilian casualties and increase the fear our attackers hoped to spread throughout America.
Little could our attackers have anticipated how America and a majority of the rest of the world would come together after 9/11. I have never seen our country more united than in the weeks and months after the terrorists attacked. I remember how much of the world - including many Arab nations - came together to express sympathy and anger at these cowardly attacks. Some 50,000 Iranians marched in a candle-light vigil held in Tehran that same week in a remarkable display of remorse for the families of the victims. Iran, whose leadership has openly referred to the United States as the Great Satan, stood in solidarity at that moment with the United States. There was nearly world-wide support for an American effort to drive the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, to put Osama Bin Laden on the run and to establish the first democratically-elected government in that nation's history.
Five years later, it's time to look back, to remember and to grieve for those who lost their lives that day and for those who gave their lives on that day to save others. But it's also time to consider what we've learned, and where we're going -- both in terms of the war on terror and our efforts to better secure our homeland during this turbulent time in which we now live.
One of my deepest regrets is that the United States has lost support in the world community in the years following 9/11. Instead of finishing the job we had begun in Afghanistan and focusing on resolving once and for all the age-old dispute between Israelis and Palestinians, this administration -- relying on bogus intelligence -- decided to invade and occupy an Arab country in the heart of the Middle East. This decision has ended up serving as a wedge between America and many nations, resulting in a foreign policy quagmire that has done little to advance the push for peace in the Middle East.
Despite all of the evidence towards the contrary, the president continues to try and bolster support for the war in Iraq by continually trying to establish a link between Saddam Hussein and those who attacked us on 9/11. Instead of working together, this Republican-controlled Congress has too often held the party line. While we are beginning to see some Republicans break from the president on foreign policy issues, until lately, these types of disagreements have been rare. The mantra of "Stay the Course" remains the dogma for the Administration and for many of our friends in the Republican Party in Congress.
I believe that we need to change course in Iraq and devise policies that are both tough and smart. For example, we should try again to enlist a coalition of the willing' composed of other countries in that region of the world and call on them to draw on their relationships in Iraq in order to work closely with Sunnis and Shiites to begin to reduce the violence there and help make Iraq more secure, as well as to participate meaningfully in the rebuilding efforts within that country. We also must use all of our diplomatic resources to contain North Korea and Iran, and their quest to become nuclear powers. And of course, we can't let the roadmap to peace in the Middle East continue to become a roadmap to war. The Bush administration, along with other nations, must do far more to settle the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians so that the former have security as well as peaceful borders and neighbors, and the latter have a state of their own. Otherwise, we may never see permanent peace in that part of the world.
We also need to do more to keep Americans safe at home. While we have made a lot of progress since 9/11, we still have a long way to go.
Delaware might be a small state, but that doesn't mean that we don't need to be vigilant and take reasonable steps to safeguard our infrastructure from potential terrorist attack.
While we have made significant strides in America in to combat terrorist attacks against airliners and nuclear facilities, including several just across the Delaware River from Delaware, we need to do a better job securing our nation's chemical facilities. Delaware was once known as the chemical capital of America.' There are still a lot of chemicals that are produced and stored in our state and in our region. These chemical facilities need to be protected, especially the most vulnerable and most potentially lethal among them.
We also need to do more to protect and secure our rail and transit systems. In 2004, an estimated 9.5 billion passenger trips occurred on those systems in the United States. Last year's terrorist attacks in London and Madrid have shown that transportation infrastructure is a potential target for terrorist attack. An attack on certain parts of our rail and commuter systems could have horrific consequences, especially along our Eastern Seaboard.
The Port of Wilmington is a full-service deepwater port and marine terminal handling more than 400 vessels per year with an annual import/export cargo tonnage of 5 million tons. Unfortunately, less than 10 percent of all containers passing through Wilmington are checked for dangerous goods. The same is true of most of our other major American ports. With hundreds of thousands of shipping containers passing through our ports each year and continuing their journey across America on our nation's rail system, this neglect could have tragic consequences.
Five years after 9-11, as we pay homage to those who died, we almost must remember that our struggle continues as we strive to rid the world of terrorism and keep America safe. It is a battle that we'll likely be waging for some time. It is also a battle that we cannot afford to lose.
http://carper.senate.gov/acarpercorner.htm