In the words of the poet Stanley Kunitz, "to whom can one pledge one's
allegiance except to the victims?"

On September 11th, 2001, my brother became a victim of international terrorism. And in the days that followed, it became clear that his death would be used as an excuse to wage war on the world. As one of my friends, Rita Lasar, wrote only a few days after the death of HER brother at the World Trade Center, "it is in my brother's name and mine that I pray that we, this country that has been so deeply hurt, not do something that will unleash forces we will not have the power to call back."

Today, three and a half years later, we see clearly the forces that we unleashed after September 11th. And we see clearly the consequences of unleashing those forces—the consequences to our families, to military families, to Iraqi and Afghan families, to our Constitution, to our reputation, and to the security of our nation and of the entire world.

As we commemorate the second anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, I ask you to remember September 11th. Because it is in the name of those killed on September 11th that we today occupy a country which had nothing to do with September 11th. A country which posed no threat to our country. A country which had no connection with Al Qaeda before the war, but has one now, because of the war.

Today I ask you to remember September 11th, because it was a day when we had an historic choice: a choice to join the rest of the world, or to condemn the world to an endless series of wars, and an endless series of victims. Today, on the second anniversary of the Iraq war, we see clearly the consequences of making the wrong choice after September 11th. Today, it is time to return to that historic moment when we had an opportunity to join the rest of the world in pursuing real solutions to terrorism, instead of terrorizing the rest of the world with pre-emptive war.

Today, let us remember the suffering of our families on September 11th—which was well documented—but let us also remember the families who have suffered in the name of September 11th: Afghan families, Iraqi families, Spanish families, Japanese families, South Korean families, Canadian families, British families, Italian families, and all of the other military families and civilians whose suffering has NOT been well documented.

Let us remember those who return to Dover Air Force base in coffins in the middle of the night so we can’t see them. Those who sit forgotten in veterans hospitals. Those who will be victimized for the rest of their lives by images of terrorism, and violence, and war as a result of our wrong choices after September 11th.

It is to this larger human family of victims that I pledge my allegiance, and declare that I will not support the killing of children who are just like my children, the killing of parents who are just like my parents, and the killing of brothers who are just like the brother I lost at the World Trade Center. I will not respond to terrorism by becoming a terrorist. And I will not support a war, fought in my name, that terrorizes the people of Iraq, terrorizes our troops, and terrorizes the world. Today, I pledge my allegiance to the victims, and join my friends on this stage and in this audience and around the world who say stop this war, bring the troops home now.