Max Cleland: “the horrific events of September 11 underscore in red the heroism of the men and women who put their lives on the line…”

“the horrific events of September 11 underscore in red the heroism of the men and women who put their lives on the line every day, the courageous fire fighters and police officers of this Nation, the domestic defenders of America. Each and every day, fire fighters and police officers wake up knowing that they may have to run into burning buildings or respond to chemical or biological attacks. As thousands and thousands of people were running for their lives out of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, police officers and fire fighters were running in the opposite direction, into the danger and toward the people who could not save themselves. Tragically, many of those first responders did not come out. Sixty police officers and 344 fire fighters are missing or have been declared dead in the World Trade Center attacks. The majority of the fire fighters who responded to the first five alarms of the terrorist attacks, including the city's entire search and rescue fleet of five squad companies, were in the Twin Towers when they collapsed. They are, by any definition, heroes.”