*EPF519 09/14/01
Transcript: Levin Voices Rage, Determination to Pursue Attackers
(Pledges unity in order to persevere and prevail) (430)

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, expressing rage and fury at the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, calls for tracking down, rooting out and relentlessly pursuing the terrorists and those who shelter them.

Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said September 12 that he went to the Pentagon on the evening of September 11, where he witnessed the determination of people to keep functioning even as recovery efforts were under way. He noted that this was a time to set aside differences and join forces "to defeat a common enemy of the civilized world."

Following is the transcript of Senator Levin's remarks:

(begin transcript)

September 12, 2001

Senator Carl Levin gave the following speech on the Senate floor this afternoon:

Through our rage at the terrorist attacks on our people and our free institutions shines a focused determination to recover our loved ones and friends who are still lost and to assist their loved ones to cope with the devastating void into which they have been plunged. Our fury at those who attack innocents is matched by our united determination to protect our citizens from more terror, and by our resolve to track down, to root out and to relentlessly pursue terrorists and those who would shelter or harbor them.

Last night at the Pentagon, I joined Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Senator Warner in sharing our determination with the American people. That resolve is reflected by the fact that the Pentagon is functioning and the men and women who work there are assisting the recovery efforts, although a few feet away loved ones and friends are still missing or presumed to have been killed, while the smoke of the savagery was still permeating the Pentagon.

The President last night spoke for all Americans and all civilized people everywhere about his commitment to recover, to deter and then to root out and destroy the terrorists. Debate is an inherent part of democracy. And while our democratic institutions are stronger than any terrorist effort to shake them, in one regard we operate differently in times of national emergency. We set aside our differences to join forces together, and with decent people everywhere to seek out and defeat a common enemy of the civilized world. Our unity is unshakeable, and God willing, we will persevere and prevail.

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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