Location: Washington Source: Pool[SOT/:President Barak Obama/POTUS] "Most of the Americans we lost that day had never considered the possibility that a small band of terrorists halfway around the world could do us such harm. Most had never heard the name Al Qaida. And yet it's because of their sacrifice that we've come together and dealt a crippling blow to the organization that brought evil to our shores. Al Qaida's leadership has been devastated, and Osama bin Laden will never threaten us again. Our country is safer, and our people are resilient."[SOT/:Leon Panetta/Secretary of Defense]"On this day of solemn remembrance let us renew a solemn pledge to those who died on 9/1 and their families. It is a pledge we also make to all of those who put their lives on the line and who've paid a heavy price for the last 11 years of war. Our pledge is to keep fighting for a safer and stronger future. Our pledge is to ensure that America always remains a government of, by and for all people. That pledge, that legacy makes clear that no one, no one who died on that terrible day 11 years ago died in vain. They died for a stronger America."