Good afternoon.
First, let me extend my thanks to the leadership of the AMIA for inviting me to visit here today. I am humbled to stand here before you today, and to mourn the victims of such a vicious act of hate.
Civilized nations cannot easily forget the pain that we share when terrorist attacks occur. Whether 1994 in Argentina, 2001 in the United States, or 2004 in Spain -- these moments bind us together in our grief and in our memories.
American writer Henry James once wrote that "sorrow comes in great waves… but it rolls over us, and though it may almost smother us it leaves us on the spot and we know that if it is strong we are stronger, in as much as it passes and we remain."
We realize…here, today…that we are, in fact, stronger than the sorrow. And we are unquestionably stronger than our enemies who brought that sorrow upon us.
While we will never forget, we will not be afraid -- and we will never give up the fight for justice and the defense of our cherished freedom. For just as we are bound together in our grief and in our memories of terrorist attacks, so too, we must be bound together in our resolve. Argentina has steadfastly pursued the perpetrators of the AMIA attacks. I often speak of the importance of international cooperation in our fight against global terrorism. And there is no more striking reminder of that fact than this memorial. The memory of what happened here, like our September 11th, is a touchstone for us.
It is in the memory of the dead here, as well as for the living, that we fight the terrorists. We must never forget; and we must not give up our fight until the fight is won.
###