Bill Delahunt: “I am sure that yesterday in New York had to be an experience that was poignant and emotional, but I think it is…”

“I am sure that yesterday in New York had to be an experience that was poignant and emotional, but I think it is important to set the record straight, because 9/11 was a significant historical event in American history, and I think we have to credit the families of the victims of 9/11 for insisting upon the creation of an independent commission, a commission that was bipartisan, that issued a report that I think clearly most Americans would embrace as accurate and factual. And it is really unfortunate that the majority of recommendations made by that distinguished group have not been implemented. That is why when we hear a discussion about the war on terror and what kind of action, or let me rephrase that, how we are doing in terms of defeating terrorism, if one looks at the report card subsequently issued by the 9/11 Commission, we note failures and poor grades. And I think it really is unfortunate in light of the spirit you described when the country was united, when in fact the whole world was united in support of the United States. I am sure you remember the controversies that erupted about a year or 2 afterward between France and the United States. I always note that it was the French paper of record, Le Monde, that had as its headline ``Today We Are All Americans,'' and how that support, that political support has dissipated, has gone.…”