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| REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS
August 13, 1998The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript |
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The remains of the American victims of the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya returned to the U.S. on Thursday. President and Mrs. Clinton, members of the cabinet, families of the victims, and hundreds of State Department employees attended an emotional memorial service in a hangar at the base. Here are some excerpts.
NEWSHOUR LINKS:
August 10, 1998
A discussion on the explosions at the U.S. embassies.
August 7, 1998
Bombs explode at two U.S. embassies, killing hundreds.
January 5, 1998
Daniel Arap Moi is sworn in as Kenya's president.
September 16, 1996
The Pentagon releases a report on a terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia.
July 17, 1996
Defense Secretary William Perry discusses how to minimize terrorist attacks abroad.
April 19, 1996
Oklahoma mourns the first anniversary of the bombing of the city federal building.
Browse the NewsHour's coverage of Africa and military.
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, Secretary of State: We are deeply saddened by this tragedy. We pray for all those who were murdered and for the speedy restoration to health of those who were injured. We pray that the burdens of grief will be tempered by the affection of so many who knew and worked with those who have been lost. At the same time, we must act to prevent such outrages in the future. The plague of terror has claimed victims on every continent. The people of every continent must unite in defeating terror, and the world must understand what terror can and cannot do. Terror can turn life to death, laughter to tears, and shared hopes to sorrowful memory. It can turn a building to rubble. But it cannot change America's determination to lead or to strive with others to build a world where there is more hope and prosperity, freedom and peace.
Make no mistake, terror is the tool of cowards. It is not a form of political expression, and certainly not a manifestation of religious faith. It is murder--plain and simple. And those who perpetrate it, finance it or otherwise support it, must be opposed by all decent people. This has been a mission of pride and sorrow. I am honored to bring them home to America. It is beyond our power to turn the clock back to before last Friday. We cannot alter the past; we cannot bring back the ones we love. But we can choose what they chose, to be animated not by fear, but by hope; to define ourselves not by what we are against, but by what we are for; to acknowledge the presence of evil in this world, but never lose sight of the good; to endure terrible blows, but never give in to those who would have us give up or turn away from our responsibilities, or abandon or principles, or surrender our faith.
PRESIDENT CLINTON: Every person here today would pray not to be here. But we could not be anywhere else, for we come to honor 12 proud sons and daughters who perished half a world away, but never left America behind; who carried with them the love of their families, the respect of their countrymen, and above all, the ideals for which America stands. They perished in the service of the country for which they gave so much in life. These 12 Americans came from diverse backgrounds. If you see their pictures, you know they are a portrait of America today and of America's tomorrow. But as different as they were, each of them had an adventurous spirit, a generous soul. Each relished the chance to see the world and to make it better. They were a senior diplomat I had the honor to meet twice, and his son, who proudly worked alongside him this summer; a budget officer; a wife and mother who had just spent her vacation caring for her aged parents; a State Department worker who looked forward to being back home with her new grandson; a Foreign Service officer born in India, who became an American citizen and traveled the world with her family for her new country; a Marine Sergeant, the son of very proud parents; an Air Force Sergeant who followed in her own father's footsteps; an epidemiologist, who loved her own children and worked to save Africa's children from disease and death; an embassy administrator, who married a Kenyan and stayed in close touch with her children back in America; a Foreign Service officer and mother of three children, including a baby girl; a Foreign Service member who was an extraordinarily accomplished jazz musician and devoted husband; an Army Sergeant, a veteran of the Gulf War, a husband, a father, who told is own father that if anything ever happened to him, he wanted his ashes scattered in the Pacific off Big Sur because that was where he had met his beloved wife. What one classmate said to me of his friend today we can say of all of them: They were what America is all about.
No matter what it takes, we must find those responsible for these evil acts and see that justice is done. There may be more hard road ahead, for terrorists target America because we act and stand for peace and democracy; because the spirit of our country is the very spirit of freedom. It is the burden of our history and the bright hope of the world's future. We must honor the memory of those we mourn today by pressing the cause of freedom and justice for which they lived. We must continue to stand strong for freedom on every continent. America will not retreat from the world and all its promise, nor shrink from our responsibility to stand against terror and with the friends of freedom everywhere. We owe it to those we honor today. As it is written: "Their righteous deeds have not been forgotten. Their glory will not be blotted out. Their bodies were buried in peace, but their names shall live forever."
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