Thomas Daschle: “we are now learning that the terrorists who attacked our Nation this week may have been planning their hideous crimes…”

“we are now learning that the terrorists who attacked our Nation this week may have been planning their hideous crimes for years. In their evil and painstaking calculations, the terrorists clearly tried to anticipate every possible obstacle they might encounter. But there is one obstacle they overlooked; that is, the courage of the American people, and our fierce determination to defend the people and values we cherish. It was that courage and determination that appears to have given the passengers aboard the plane that crashed near Pittsburgh the strength to resist their murderers and prevent an even greater tragedy. It is that same courage and determination that is at the heart of this resolution we pass today. Tuesday, from the window of my office in the Capitol, I watched thick black smoke rise from the Pentagon and fill the sky over Arlington Cemetery. The graves in that hallowed ground remind us that Americans have faced great evil before and defeated it. By passing this resolution, we are saying we are prepared to confront evil again and to defeat it again. We are saying that the Congress of the United States--Democrats and Republicans stand with the President as our Commander in Chief. We are authorizing the President to use force against the terrorists who attacked America on September 11, and any nation, organization, or person that aids or harbors them.”