JS-1905: Statement of U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow <script type="text/javascript"> var wmNotice = "UNT Web Archive - External links, forms, and search boxes may not function within this collection. Url: http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/js1905.htm time: 19:57:03 Jan 18, 2009"; var wmHideNotice = "hide"; var contextRoot = "https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/"; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/js/disclaim.js"></script> <br>New York City 9/11 Commemoration<br>World Trade Center Site<br>New York, NY<br>September 11, 2004



	FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS September 11, 2004 JS-1905 Statement of U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow New York City 9/11 Commemoration World Trade Center Site New York, NY September 11, 2004 I come to this hallowed ground today bearing the devotion and the condolences of President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush for the families gathered here today. The words and actions of our President and First Lady have comforted all of us many times since that day three years ago when the acts of madmen shocked the conscience of America. The President and First Lady's hearts are with you and your family today during these poignant hours of remembrance. Henry James wrote that "sorrow comes in great waves… but it rolls over us, and though it may almost smother us it leaves us on the spot and we know that if it is strong we are stronger, in as much as it passes and we remain." We realize today that we are, in fact, stronger than the sorrow, and we are unquestionably stronger than our enemies who brought that sorrow upon us. While we will never forget, we will not be afraid. Just one month ago we were made aware of a terrorist threat to buildings here in this city, some of the symbols of our nation's financial strength. The response of New Yorkers was a beautiful thing to behold. More employees came to work at the New York Stock Exchange that Monday in August than any other Monday in August in the history of the Exchange. A real New Yorker may put it more bluntly, but I interpreted the message as thus: "Take that, Al Qaida. You won't win, and you can't win." As Treasury Secretary I take special pride in the response of the financial community, and of our incredibly resilient economy, in the way both have responded to the terrorists every day for the past three years. Together, we have regained financial and economic strength… and we're making sure that the terrorists are cut off from theirs. Working together, we in the government and the private financial sectors have dedicated ourselves to cutting the flow of blood money off from the killers. Because while hatred fuels the terrorist agenda, money makes it possible. The President reminded us on the first anniversary of that terrible day that we, as a country, owe the families of September 11th "the most enduring monument we can build: a world of liberty and security made possible by the way America leads, and by the way Americans lead our lives." Today we are leading the global war on terror, and the universal quest for freedom. We do it so that "these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Thank you.