Reminder: 9/11 Case Coverage Resumes Tomorrow

Good afternoon. As we meet for these pretrial proceedings in United States v. Mohammad, et al., I pause to honor those whom we lost and those who still bear wounds from the attacks on our nation twelve Septembers ago. Last Wednesday, our nation marked another solemn anniversary of the September 11th attacks. And although many survivors and families of those who were killed remember that day as if it were yesterday, the will they summon to overcome heartbreaking tragedy is a reminder that the pursuit of justice is not done. Their dignity and resilience teach us that the human spirit can endure the test of time. I recall the dignity and resilience of one victim family member in particular who traveled to Guantanamo Bay last month, undaunted by its inhospitable heat and austere accommodations, to witness these proceedings in person. She lost her husband and best friend, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77, when the plane crashed into the Pentagon on September 11th. Fearless and resolute, she told us how she had waited twelve years for the fair administration of justice. And she could wait twelve years more, if necessary. For the survivors who lost their family members or loved ones, justice cannot come quickly enough; but we appreciate your abiding commitment to the pursuit of a sustainable justice under law, however long it takes. It is natural for each of us to reflect upon where we were on that day of “unprecedented shock and suffering in the history of the United States,” as the 9/11 Commission described it. As it so happens, I also had occasion this week to reflect on my field unit’s work in Afghanistan two years ago, near the tenth anniversary of the attacks. We had arranged to meet with some local Afghan leaders—police officers, judges, prosecutors, and district governors—in Kandahar province, and during our travels to the meeting, we passed former al Qaeda facilities that coalition forces had dismantled and destroyed between October and December 2001. These now-demolished facilities, where enemies of peace-loving peoples the world over had once plotted and trained with impunity, were a vivid reminder on a somber day that all lawful instruments of national power and authority—including, when necessary, military forces capable of physically routing such enemies and wrecking their bases—must be available for the defense of our homeland.