2001 National Lawyers Convention

Thank you very much. I appreciate the warm welcome. I realize you've adjusted your schedule to accommodate mine, and I thank you.

Secretary Chao, thank you for the very kind introduction. It's good to see a member of the Cabinet in person. It's good to see anybody in person these days. Lynne and I don't get too many visitors at the cave.

This is the second time I've had the privilege of addressing the Federalist Society. I was here as Secretary of Defense in 1990 — then, as now, filling the role of your token non-lawyer. Not that I have anything against lawyers. Looking around the room, I'd guess that a year ago, about half of you were down in Florida.

A lot has changed since my last appearance here. I've been a corporate CEO, national candidate, vice president — and now a recurring character on Saturday Night Live. I've been watching a tape of the guy who plays me on the show — Darrell Hammond. He's got the voice down. He's pretty good at the mannerisms. But he's not quite there yet, and I doubt he'll ever capture the real me. You just can't fake charisma.

I do have a lot of friends here this evening. It's nice to see all of you, and I bring with me the good wishes of a man we're all very proud of, President George W. Bush.

There are many members of the Federalist Society in our Administration. We know that because they were quizzed about it under oath. We're especially proud to have two of your founders at the Department of Energy — the general counsel, Lee Liberman Otis, and Secretary Spence Abraham.

The Federalist Society was formed to bring balance to the debate in our law schools and in the legal profession. You were founded in the conviction that the state exists to preserve freedom — that the separation of powers is essential to the operation of our government — and that judges are charged with interpreting the law, not inventing it.

In advancing these principles, you have changed the debate, while gaining the respect of people across the ideological spectrum. The Federalist Society has been a model of thoughtful, reasoned dialogue. You've helped bring a spirit of civility to Washington, D.C. Even more remarkably, you've managed to bring it to some of the law schools. Your spirit of honest, fair-minded debate hasn't always prevailed, as Judge Bork can attest. But against great odds, this organization has become one of the most influential in the world of law and public policy. I commend you for it.

Tomorrow at this conference, our Solicitor General will inaugurate an annual lecture series named for his wife. Barbara Olson will always be remembered for her sharp mind, her kindness, and her cheerful presence. It's hard to think of Barbara and not see her smiling. We miss her. And we will always remember the grace and courage of Ted Olson, from that day to this.

America will never forget what happened on September 11, and who is responsible. Nor will we lose sight of what is at stake. We are the target of enemies who rejoice in the murder of innocent, unsuspecting people. We are fighting now, to defend freedom and law against force and tyranny. We are fighting to save ourselves and our children from living in a world of fear. We are fighting — and we are winning — because we will not permit a small group of vicious, violent men to impose their will on America and the world.

The President and I have often said that the war on terrorism will be fought on many fronts. The government of the United States is fully engaged in this battle, and let me tell you how.

We have given intelligence and law enforcement officials the new tools they need to hunt, capture, and punish terrorists. We are tracing terrorist communications and movements as never before, with new statutes that take account of the modern communications that terrorists use. These new laws met with overwhelming, bipartisan agreement in Congress, because they uphold and respect the civil liberties guaranteed in the Constitution.

We are finding the terrorists' financial supporters and stopping them. Already we have blocked millions of dollars in assets of persons and organizations involved in supporting terrorism.

A new federal task force is at work tracking foreign terrorists. We will deny them entry into our country, detain those who are here, prosecute as needed, and deport the rest. Those who plot against our country will not be allowed to abuse our protections or our freedoms.

Furthermore, as the President deems necessary, non-U.S. citizens suspected of terrorist activity — whether captured here or abroad — will face trial by military commission. The mass murder of Americans by terrorists, or the planning thereof, is not just another item on the criminal docket. This is a war against terrorism. Where military justice is called for, military justice will be dispensed.

On the civil defense front, we are taking every measure to improve both our prevention capability and our response capability. Under Governor Tom Ridge, the Office of Homeland Security is leading the effort to detect and frustrate the plans of terrorists.

In everything we do, we have to be realistic. We have to proceed on the expectation that those who have already harmed our country will try again. The terrorists who gave the orders on September 11 have themselves promised it. They have called for the killing of Americans, Christians, and Jews.

Whenever the President has evidence of a credible threat, he will alert state and local authorities, and the American people will know as well. But a terrorism alert is not a signal to lock down your life. It is a sign that we are vigilant. When Americans hear of an alert, they can know that the government is on watch and taking action against the threat.

That is how we are working to protect our citizens. But wars are not won on the defensive. Wars are won by taking the fight to the enemy. America is not waiting for terrorists to strike us. In the places where they hide and plot, we are striking the terrorists.

There is a price for aiding and abetting terrorists, and the Taliban regime is paying it in full. Our military has destroyed training camps. Their communications and air defenses are in ruins. Their defenses are being systematically eliminated. Whole cities are free again. A large portion of the country can now celebrate the Taliban's departure from their lands and from their lives. The rest of the country is counting the hours.

The battle is not over in Afghanistan. There's still a long way to go. But as we speak the Taliban are high-tailing it to safer ground. They will find none. No matter how long it takes, Afghanistan will cease to be a haven for tyranny and terror.

Success in Afghanistan is only the beginning of our efforts in the world. We are going to find the leadership of the Taliban and the al Qaeda network, and we are going to stop them. This is not about one country, and in this struggle there is no neutral ground. As the Bush Doctrine makes clear, those who harbor terrorists share guilt for the acts they commit.

It bears repeating that ours is not a campaign against the Muslim faith — indeed, the innocent victims of these terrorists include many Muslims. This is a struggle against the evil of a few. That is why people in every part of the world, and of all faiths, stand together against this foe.

We cannot know every turn in the battles to come. Yet we know our cause is just. We have seen enemies like this before. We have defeated them before. We
will defeat them again.

This crisis has brought our country together, uniting the political parties and elected branches of government in ways few would have thought possible. There are still honest disagreements on domestic priorities, and the war has not erased those. But this is a moment of real opportunity, with the leadership of both parties sincerely looking for common ground.

We hope Congress will act, and act soon, to pass an economic stimulus package. President Bush's plan gives immediate help to those out of work, reduces income tax rates, and will create new jobs throughout the economy.

We hope Congress will attend to America's energy needs. It is only more urgent now that we find new supplies and make this country less dependent on foreign oil.

And we hope the United States Senate will speed up the confirmation of federal judges. There is a dual responsibility here that we all understand. The President has discharged his duty by nominating well-qualified men and women to the federal district and circuit courts.

Yet there are today more vacancies on the federal bench than there were the day we were inaugurated. The pace of new vacancies is actually faster than the pace of confirmations. Barely one in four of President Bush's nominees have been given a hearing and a vote. This should be unacceptable to anyone concerned about the administration of justice in our country.

Some reply that this is merely the normal state of affairs, regardless of who is President or who controls the Senate. History does not support that claim.

Traditionally, a new President's judicial nominees during his first year are confirmed almost as fast as their nominations reach the Senate. In 1993, for example, 19 judges were confirmed on a single day in November, many just a few weeks after their names had been submitted. In each of the previous three administrations, almost all judicial nominations submitted before the first August recess were confirmed by the end of the year. That has held true regardless of whether the Senate and the White House were controlled by opposing parties. The only exception to the rule is a single Clinton nominee who was confirmed the following year.

In 2001, President Bush submitted 44 nominations prior to the August recess. By all rights, each of these should come to a vote by the end of next month. Yet almost half of them have not even begun the journey to a floor vote.

Overall, President Bush has submitted 64 judicial nominations. That's more in the first year than any other recent president. And this has been done for a reason. There are at present more than 100 vacancies on the federal bench, 38 of which have been classified as judicial emergencies by the nonpartisan U.S. Judicial Conference.

Another vacancy is expected next month on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which serves four states and one in every nine Americans. At that point the Sixth Circuit will have eight judges and eight vacancies — a fifty percent vacancy rate, the highest anyone can remember on a federal circuit court. Here again, the President has fulfilled his responsibility. He has already submitted six nominations for that Court — and all six await hearings.

The deliberate slowing of the confirmation process is unworthy of the United States Senate, and an injustice to the men and women whose names have been presented. These are good people — each and every one of them selected with care by the President himself.

The President announced his initial eleven nominees on May 9 — more than six months ago. Yet of these only three have had hearings. Those still waiting include his choices for the D.C. Circuit. The first is John Roberts, the former deputy solicitor general and a lawyer of the highest reputation. The second is Miguel Estrada, who as a boy came to America from Honduras, graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, and served in the Justice Department under presidents of both parties.

These nominations are not being held up for lack of support. On the contrary, few doubt they would be swiftly confirmed by the full Senate, if only given that chance. By any standard of judicial merit, they are fully qualified to serve. And by any standard of fairness, they deserve a hearing.

In that spirit — simple fairness — and in the interest of the nation, I appeal to the Senate Judiciary Committee to proceed without further delay in filling the vacancies on our federal courts.

I'm confident that this matter will be resolved, and the interests of the nation well served in the months to come. As I said, this is a moment of opportunity. All of us have been given a new perspective on old differences, and perhaps a better sense of the great things we can achieve together.

America is passing through a time of testing. We have every right to be proud of our fellow citizens — proud of the great heroism we've seen — proud of the honorable conduct of our military. In so many ways, adversity has brought out the best in our nation. The attacks brought terrible grief down upon us. But we love our country, only more when she is threatened. And instead of weakening us, our enemies have only made us stronger.

In ways too numerous to mention, President Bush and I have counted on the friendship and good counsel of many in this room tonight. And we have never been disappointed. You have our respect, and our gratitude.

Thank you very much.

As you have been told, the Federalist Society envisions that the Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture each year will address the ideals and principles that the Federalist Society holds dear and that Barbara cherished: limited government, liberty and freedom.

I felt that it would be fitting to inaugurate this series with some words about Barbara, why she died, and how much of her life and death were interwoven with those very principles that will animate the lecture series in her name.

On September 11, 2001, Barbara Olson and thousands of other Americans were murdered.

There were victims from other nations that day as well, but they were accidental casualties. Barbara and her fellow Americans were the targets; selected at random to be slaughtered that day precisely because they were Americans.

And the places of their deaths were carefully chosen for what they meant to America, and to the world about Americans, and because they were unique symbols of America's vitality, prosperity and strength.

The World Trade Center Towers were an emblem of America's largest and most prosperous city and an internationally recognized symbol of America's leadership in commerce, free enterprise and international trade.

The Pentagon was an even more fitting target for the perverted minds that planned this day of terror. Construction on it had begun precisely 60 years earlier, on September 11, 1941, as America was awakening to the nightmare of Adolph Hitler and Nazi terror in Europe. Since its construction, the Pentagon has stood for the power, strength and seeming invincibility of a free people. It has been the place from which America, again and again, sent its men and women to fight and die to save not only our own citizens, but millions of others as well, from tyranny, oppression, brutality and murder.

One additional symbol of America, the Capitol I believe, was spared that day only because the brave Americans on that fourth aircraft did what Americans instinctively do when their lives and their country are threatened. They fought. They died, but they saved the lives of countless others and averted an even greater and barely imaginable tragedy.

Barbara Olson had less time, and maybe not as many resources, as the heroes on United Flight 93 that was brought down in Pennsylvania short of its target. But the moment her flight was hijacked, she began to try to save herself and her fellow passengers. She somehow managed (I think she was the only one on that flight to do so) to use a telephone in the airplane to call, not only for help from the outside, but for guidance for herself and the flight crew in the battle that she was already undertaking in her mind. She learned during those two telephone conversations that two passenger jumbo jets had already that morning been turned into instruments of mass murder at the World Trade Center. So she knew the unspeakable horror that she was facing -- and I know without the slightest doubt that she died fighting -- with her body, her brain and her heart -- and not for a moment entertaining the notion that she would not prevail. Barbara died therefore not only because she was an American, but as one more American who refused to surrender to the monstrous evil into whose eyes she and her fellow countrymen stared during those last hideous moments.

September 11, 2001 was unprecedented in our nation's history. Our country has been attacked before. Our soldiers and innocent citizens have been the victims of terrorism before. But never before in our history have so many civilian citizens, engaged in the routines of their daily lives, who neither individually nor collectively had done anything to provoke the savage attack that they were to experience that day, been brutally murdered for the simple reason that they were Americans, and because they stood, in their countless individual lives, for all the things that America symbolizes.

As President Bush immediately recognized, September 11 was an act of war. But, as he has also explained, it was much more than that. It was also a crime, an act of pure hatred and unmitigated evil. It was a ruthless, brutal, intentionally malignant attack on thousands of innocent persons.

Think of the sick calculation that gave birth to these acts. The victims were persons of all races, backgrounds, religions, ages and qualities. They had one thing in common. They were Americans, Americans who believed in the values that their country stands for: liberty, democracy, freedom and equality. Their lives were cruelly extinguished because they were the living embodiment of the aspirations of most of the world's peoples. The people who killed them, and who planned their death, hate America and Americans for that very reason. They despise America and the beacon that America holds out to people who are impoverished, enslaved, persecuted and subjugated everywhere in the world. The men who planned the savage acts of September 11 cannot prevail, they cannot even long exist, as long as American ideals continue to inspire the very people they hope to tyrannize and enslave. Hence they have declared war, in fact they have declared hatred, on this country and the values that we hold dearest.

It is a cynical lie that the animals that killed our loved ones two months ago were motivated by Islam, or because this nation of ours is anti-Islamic. Among our most cherished values, enshrined in the First Amendment to our Constitution, is freedom of conscience, liberty of expression and the free exercise of religion. This continent was populated by people who surrendered their homes and crossed a terrifying ocean to reach a rugged and inhospitable frontier in order to escape religious persecution and to seek religious freedom.

From its birth, this nation and the American people have offered sanctuary and shelter to persons of all faiths. Our Constitution -- always with the support of our people -- has again and again extended its embrace to the unpopular, the unusual, the unconventional and the unorthodox. We protect not only those who will not salute our flag, but those who would spit upon it or burn it. We regularly pledge our allegiance to a constitution that shelters those who refuse to pledge their allegiance to it.

Far from tyrannizing those who worship a particular God or embrace a particular religion, we protect those who worship any God - or no God. Indeed, Americans have defended with their lives persons whose religious convictions preclude them from taking up arms to defend the same Constitution that gives them the right to refrain from defending it.

It is true, I suppose, that there are many in the Middle East who hate this country for its support of Israel. But how tragic and misguided to despise us for extending comfort and defense to a people who have so long, and so recently, been the victims of indescribable ethnic persecution. Nor has America's support for Israel ever been rooted in or manifested by hostility to the Muslim faith or those who practice it. The terrorists and their apologists have lied about these things, but what is another lie when their goals and tactics are so vastly more evil?

So, while the terrorists of September 11 invoke the name of Islam, that is simply a mask for their hate, envy and despicable ambitions. The terrorists who seek to destroy us do so because America and Americans are everything that their hatred and motives prevent them from being. They are tyrants, and so they hate democracy. They are bigots and religious zealots who persecute Christians and Jews and Hindus and Buddhists and women. So they must hate America because America stands for tolerance and freedom and respect for all races, all religions, and all peoples, regardless of their sex, color, national origin or accent. They are despots who will not permit children to go to school. So they must hate the nation that commits vast resources to the education of its children, and whose Supreme Court has said that free public education cannot even be withheld from those who are in this country illegally.

These terrorists can succeed only through corruption, cruelty and brutality. Thus they hate and must tear down America and its system of laws which shields its people from those malevolent acts. And these terrorists can enslave the people they wish to subjugate only by keeping them poor and destitute, so they must undermine and discredit the one place in all the world that stands the most for the rule of law and individual liberty and that allows its people - and the people who flock here daily by the thousands -- the opportunity to rise above all those conditions.

Abraham Lincoln was paraphrasing our declaration of independence when he characterized our nation as having been "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." That revolutionary document set down our collective belief in unalienable human rights to liberty, freedom and equality, the proposition that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed, the principle that tyrants who would oppress their people are unfit to be rulers of a free people, and the right to the pursuit of happiness. How can these terrorists ever prevail if these American ideals are not only allowed to be expressed, but to succeed so dramatically, and to inspire so many people throughout the world for so many centuries?

The answer is simple, the terrorists of September 11 cannot prevail in a world occupied by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the White House. They cannot co-exist with these ideals, these principles, these institutions and these symbols. So they cannot survive, much less prevail, in the same world as America and its people. So they must try to destroy America, and the principles for which it stands.

We do not claim that America has been or is today without imperfections and shortcomings. Our constitution was undeniably flawed at its origin. Implementation of our lofty ideals has never been without error, and some of our mistakes have been shameful. But the course of our history has been constant, if occasionally erratic, progress from the articulation of those lofty ideals to the extension of their reality to all our people - those who were born here and those, from hundreds of diverse cultures, who flock to the American soil because of those principles and the opportunities they promise.

Reflect on the fact that there is no segment or class of the world's peoples who have exclusive claim on the term "American," and no segment of the world's population to whom that claim has been denied. We welcome 100,000 refugees per year into this country. Over 650,000 people immigrated legally to America in the most recent year for which we have reliable statistics. Over 5,000,000 people are in this country today who were so desperate to come here that they did so illegally.

There are more Jews in New York city than in Israel. More Poles in Chicago then any city in the world except Warsaw. America is home to 39 million Irish-Americans, 58 million German-Americans, 39 million Hispanic-Americans and nearly a million Japanese-Americans. And there are seven million Muslims in America, nearly the population of New York City.

How tragic it is that the agents of the September 11th terrorist acts were people whom we welcomed to this country, and to whom we extended all of our freedoms, the protections of all of our laws, and the opportunities this country affords to everyone to travel, work and live. But, we welcome immigrants because nearly all of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants who came here to enjoy America's freedoms, rights, liberties, and the opportunity, denied elsewhere, to pursue happiness and prosperity. People from all places on the globe give our country its identity, its diversity and its strength.

Ronald Reagan often said that "every once in a while, each of us native born Americans should make it a point to have a conversation with someone who is an American by choice." "A few years back," he said, "a woman who had fled Poland wrote a letter and said: 'I love America because people accept me for what I am. They don't question my ancestry, my faith, my political beliefs . . . . I love America because America trusts me.'"

President Reagan was also fond of quoting from a letter he had received from a man who wrote, "You can go to live in Turkey, but you can't become a Turk. You can't go to live in Japan and become Japanese, [and so on for Germany, France, etc.] But . . . Anyone from any corner of the world can come to America and be an American."

So it is particularly sad and a bitter irony that the 19 savages who took the lives of thousands of Americans on September 11 were able to come here because we welcomed them, and trusted them, and allowed them to learn to fly our airplanes and the freedom to travel. And they took these precious gifts and turned them into instruments of hatred and death. How perverse and twisted. How incredibly sick they must have been - that not one of them had a moment of conscience after all that time in this beautiful and free country. Everywhere they looked they saw Americans and immigrants to America, at work and at play exercising the freedoms and opportunities that this country offers unstintingly to everyone, including them. But their hatred was so intense, their malignancy so advanced, that they never, as far as we know, even for a moment, paused to reconsider the despicable, unconscionable and evil acts they planned to inflict on the people they were walking, working and living amongst.

It has, I suppose, always caused some resentment that we believe so passionately and so unquestioningly that freedom, equality, liberty, democracy and the rule of law are concepts and rights that should belong to all people. But how can that be seen as arrogance, as some have called it? I simply cannot accept that. What can possibly be wrong with the aspiration that moved the founders of this country to believe that people are entitled to self-determination, the right to chose their system of government, the right to freedom within an orderly and secure society, and the maximum liberty to pursue happiness and fulfillment? We know that these are enduring values. We can debate nearly everything else, but we don't need to debate that. We know that these principles lift everyone up. And we know that these principles are only questioned by those who would seek to advance their own twisted agendas by withholding freedom, liberty and prosperity from others.

We have now been reminded, in the most horrible way, that there are those who not only hate our principles, but who would dedicate their lives - and surrender their lives - to banish those ideals and the incentives they provide for tyrannized and impoverished people everywhere to do what Americans did in 1776.

We have tragically learned again, in the most unthinkable fashion, that our values and our principles are neither self-executing nor self-sustaining, and that we must sacrifice and fight to maintain what our forebears sacrificed and fought to bequeath to us.

And now the rest of the world is learning again that Americans will not flinch from that fight or tire of it. Americans will fight, they will sacrifice, and they will not give up or leave the job unfinished. This war is for all living Americans. It is for the parents, grandparents and great grandparents that fought and sacrificed to come here. And it is for our children and generations to come. And it is for those who choose to become Americans in the future.

America will not lose this war because we cannot tolerate, we cannot contemplate, we cannot even consider that we will lose what centuries of Americans fought to create, improve and maintain. We cannot, and we will not, betray the people who gave us this glorious heritage. We cannot and will not, dishonor or wash away the memories of those who somehow clawed their way out of poverty, tyranny and persecution to come to this country because it was America, and because they were willing to risk death to become Americans, and to give their children and grandchildren the opportunity and freedom and inspiration that makes this place America. Americans could no longer call themselves Americans if they could walk away from that legacy.

People who write regularly for newspapers and who offer opinions on television, or who send advice to us from other parts of the world, sometimes say that America is too rich, lazy, complacent, frightened, soft and enervated to fight this fight. That we have no stamina, strength, will, patience, or steel. That we will collapse.

They are so wrong. We will prevail for the very reason that we have been attacked. Because we are Americans. Because the values that made us free, make us strong; because the principles that made us prosperous, make us creative, resourceful, innovative, determined and fiercely protective of our freedoms, our liberties and our rights to be individuals and to aspire to whatever we choose to be. Those values and those characteristics will lift us and will defeat the black forces who have assaulted our ideals, our country and our people.

The very qualities that bring immigrants and refugees to this country in the thousands every day, made us vulnerable to the attack of September 11, but those are also the qualities that will make us victorious and unvanquished in the end. These dreadful, despicable people have hurt us, but they can never conquer us.

So let me return to Barbara Olson. So many people loved and admired Barbara. But whether you loved and admired her values, her spunk, her energy, her passion, her courage, her unconquerable spirit, or her incredible warmth, whether you knew it or not, underneath it all, you admired and were captivated by Barbara because she was pretty darn close to being a quintessential American.

Barbara was a Texan, from a family whose ancestors came to this country from Germany. She went to the all-American University of Texas and also a Catholic college, St. Thomas in Houston. She became a professional ballet dancer in San Francisco and New York because of the beauty of dance, the rigor of its discipline, and because you have to be extraordinarily tough and ambitious to do it. And Barbara was extraordinarily tough and ambitious.

But she always wanted to be a lawyer and to be involved in politics. In order to afford law school, she invented a career out of whole cloth in Hollywood because that, she determined, was the fastest way to earn the money she needed. It did not matter in the slightest to Barbara that when she went to Hollywood she knew absolutely nothing about the motion picture and television industry. And, in fact, it really didn't matter because, as she later explained to the unwitting producer who gave her her first job, she was a fast-learner.

And, of course, she succeeded. She turned down the last job she was offered in Hollywood because she had finally earned enough money to go to law school, and they were offering her so much money she did not want to be so tempted to forego her dream to be a lawyer.

She went to Cardozo Law School at Yeshiva University in New York, not necessarily the obvious choice for a blond Catholic girl from Texas. She was even told that she would never fit in, and that she would be miserable. But the people who told her that really did not know Barbara. She thrived at Cardozo as she had thrived at St. Thomas and in the ballet and in Hollywood. She loved the people, the classes, the professors, and she was a huge success, popping up for one reason or another with embarrassing frequency on the cover of Jewish Weekly.

Barbara created a Federalist Society chapter at Cardozo because she believed in the Society's principles - and it only served to goad her on that almost no one at Cardozo shared her political views.
In her third year of law school, she somehow managed to finesse herself into an internship with the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice in Washington. And, as a very brassy and gusty intern, she managed to be the only employee of the government of the United States willing, feisty and fearless enough to personally serve the papers on the PLO mission to the United Nations in New York announcing that it was being expelled from this country -- because they were terrorists. How Barbara loved to tell that story to her friends at Cardozo!

She turned down jobs with the finest law firms in new York to come to Washington where, it seems, she was always destined ultimately to be. In rapid succession, she succeeded as a lawyer in private practice, as a hot and very successful federal prosecutor, as Deputy General Counsel to the House of Representatives, and as a top Congressional investigator, television personality and lobbyist.

It was typically Barbara that when Al Regnery suggested that she write a book about Hillary Rodham Clinton, she literally jumped at the chance. She told me at the time that she wasn't sure that she was a writer, but a friend of ours told her that she didn't have to be a writer to be an author. So, with her legendary energy and limitless self-confidence, she poured herself into the book, finished it in nine months and, against seemingly insurmountable odds, without any previous experience with serious writing, climbed onto the New York Times best seller list during the heaviest competitive time of the year, and stayed there for nine weeks. Ten days ago, her second book, written in about six months and finished just days before her death, opened at number two on the New York Times bestseller list, ahead of Bill O'Reilly, Jack Welch and Tiger Woods. Not bad.

Barbara was everywhere in Washington. A witness for Clarence Thomas at his confirmation, a co-founder of the Independent Women's Forum, hosting Federalist Society members from all over the country in her home, at the epi-center of the travel office and filegate investigations, and the China campaign contributions investigation, the second-most invited guest on "Larry King Live," appearing on MSNBC, FOX, "Meet the Press," "Cross-Fire," "Geraldo," "Politically Incorrect," you name it. Ready to talk about any subject, ready to face down any adversary. She always had an opinion. And she always had that smile.

I could tell you Barbara stories for hours, and I think that you would be glad to listen. But, in short, Barbara partook of everything life gave her. She saw no limits in the people around her and she accepted no limits on what she could accomplish. She could be charming, tough, indefatigable, ferocious and lovable. And all those things at once.

Barbara was Barbara because America, unlike anyplace in the world, gave her the space, freedom, oxygen, encouragement and inspiration to be whatever she wanted to be. Is there any other place on earth where someone could do all these things in forty-five years?

So, sadly, and ironically, Barbara may have been the perfect victim for these wretched, twisted, hateful people. Because she was so thoroughly and hugely an American. And such a symbol of America's values, ideals, and robust ambition. But she died as she lived. Fighting, believing in herself, and determined to succeed. And, if she was the perfect victim, she is also a perfect symbol of what we are fighting for now and for why we will prevail.

I know, and she knows, that her government and the people of America will win this war, however long it takes, whatever we have to do. We will never, ever forget or flinch. We will prevail for Barbara and all the other Americans we lost on September 11. And for the American spirit for which they stood and their lives embodied. And, most of all, we will defeat these terrorists because Barbara and those other American casualties of September 11, and our forebears, and our children, would never forgive us if we did not.