Harper on 9/11

The scourge of terrorism can't be stopped "unless some among us are willing to accept enormous sacrifice and risk to themselves," warned Prime Minister Stephen Harper...Harper said he remembered watching the second tower of New York's World Trade Center collapse on TV with his wife Laureen.

"As the enormity of the events began to sink in, I turned to her and said, 'this will change the course of history'," he said, according to remarks released in advance of his Monday night speech.

Since then, there have been bombings carried out in Bali, Indonesia, Madrid, Spain and London in Great Britain, to name a few, he said.  Many more plots have been foiled by security forces the world over, including Canada, he said.

"The targets and tactics were different in every case, but the objective is always the same: To kill, maim and terrify as many people as possible," Harper said.

"Not in the name of any idealistic cause, but because of an ideology of hatred."

This could also have been put under the heading "Elections matter".  Can you imagine what Paul Martin would have said?  Do you remember what Chretien did right after 9/11?  That's right - not much of anything.