[Oedipus to Creon:]
...When the sphinx...kept her deathwatch here,
why silent then, not a word to set our people free?
Not a word...
There was a riddle, not for some passer-by to solve,
It cried for a prophet! Where were you?
Did you rise to the crisis? Not a word.
You and your birds, your gods---nothing.
No, but I came by, Oedipus the ignorant.
I stopped the sphinx with no help from the birds.
The flight of my own intelligence hit the mark....
....We meet here during a crucial period in the history of our nation, and of the civilized world. Part of that history was written by others; the rest will be written by us. (Applause.)
Oedipus: "Ah woe! ah woe! ah woe! Woe for my misery! Where am I wondering in my utter woe? Where floats my voice in air? Dread power, where leadest Thou?
...On a September morning, threats that had gathered for years, in secret and far away, led to murder in our country on a massive scale. As a result, we must look at security in a new way, because our country is a battlefield in the first war of the 21st century. We learned a lesson..... (Applause.)
....Then among them, the father of gods and men began to
speak..."Lo, you now, How vainly mortal men do blame the gods. For of
us they say comes evil, Whereas they even of themselves
through the blindness of their own hearts, have sorrows
beyond that which is ordained....
...Our coalition of more than 90 countries is pursuing the networks of terror with every tool of law enforcement and with military power. We have arrested, or otherwise dealt with, many key commanders of al Qaeda. (Applause.) Across the world, we are hunting down the killers one by one. We are winning. And we're showing them the definition of American justice. (Applause.)