European Commission President Romano Prodi at Commemoration of September 11

Dear girls and boys,

Dear children,

Exactly one year ago today, many people died in New York City, in the Pentagon and in the woods of southern Pennsylvania because of terrorist attacks.

Today we want to remember them all, especially the 370 firefighters and police officers who perished as they tried to save other peoples' lives. Our hearts go out to their families, loved ones and friends.

Violence is difficult to understand. Even for me, and I have lived for more than sixty years and seen the folly of war and terrorism many times.

It is difficult to get into the minds of the men who planned and executed the attacks. I would like to give you some clear reason and tell you what they were thinking. But I can't.

All I know is that they were wrong.

Using violence to make your point doesn't make sense. Even if you have something to say, how can I listen to you when you kill for it?

Dialogue is the lifeblood of democracy. The first victim of terrorism is dialogue. So terrorism is the death of democracy.

The terrorists who struck at the U.S. last year wanted to strike at something America stands for. They were striking at the values of freedom, peace and democracy that are shared by the whole world.

They were striking at all of us.

But they got it wrong. Why? Because after the attacks, the leaders of the world came together and said: "Now we have to defend freedom; we have to fight for democracy, we have to work for peace".

We must be careful not to cut ourselves off from others. Not to speak differently with our friends who were born elsewhere. Who were forced to leave their own countries because of the misery there.

We have learned from this tragedy. We are closer together. We can make this world a safer and more peaceful place. We owe it to you.