[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 861 Engrossed in House (EH)]


H. Res. 861

                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                         June 16, 2006.
Whereas the United States and its allies are engaged in a Global War on Terror, 
        a long and demanding struggle against an adversary that is driven by 
        hatred of American values and that is committed to imposing, by the use 
        of terror, its repressive ideology throughout the world;
Whereas for the past two decades, terrorists have used violence in a futile 
        attempt to intimidate the United States;
Whereas it is essential to the security of the American people and to world 
        security that the United States, together with its allies, take the 
        battle to the terrorists and to those who provide them assistance;
Whereas the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and other terrorists failed to stop free 
        elections in Afghanistan and the first popularly-elected President in 
        that nation's history has taken office;
Whereas the continued determination of Afghanistan, the United States, and the 
        North Atlantic Treaty Organization will be required to sustain a 
        sovereign, free, and secure Afghanistan;
Whereas the steadfast resolve of the United States and its partners since 
        September 11, 2001, helped persuade the government of Libya to surrender 
        its weapons of mass destruction;
Whereas by early 2003 Saddam Hussein and his criminal, Ba'athist regime in Iraq, 
        which had supported terrorists, constituted a threat against global 
        peace and security and was in violation of mandatory United Nations 
        Security Council Resolutions;
Whereas the mission of the United States and its Coalition partners, having 
        removed Saddam Hussein and his regime from power, is to establish a 
        sovereign, free, secure, and united Iraq at peace with its neighbors;
Whereas the terrorists have declared Iraq to be the central front in their war 
        against all who oppose their ideology;
Whereas the Iraqi people, with the help of the United States and other Coalition 
        partners, have formed a permanent, representative government under a 
        newly ratified constitution;
Whereas the terrorists seek to destroy the new unity government because it 
        threatens the terrorists' aspirations for Iraq and the broader Middle 
        East;
Whereas United States Armed Forces, in coordination with Iraqi security forces 
        and Coalition and other friendly forces, have scored impressive 
        victories in Iraq including finding and killing the terrorist leader Abu 
        Musab al-Zarqawi;
Whereas Iraqi security forces are, over time, taking over from United States and 
        Coalition forces a growing proportion of independent operations and 
        increasingly lead the fight to secure Iraq;
Whereas the United States and Coalition servicemembers and civilians and the 
        members of the Iraqi security forces and those assisting them who have 
        made the ultimate sacrifice or been wounded in Iraq have done so nobly, 
        in the cause of freedom; and
Whereas the United States and its Coalition partners will continue to support 
        Iraq as part of the Global War on Terror: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) honors all those Americans who have taken an active part in the 
        Global War on Terror, whether as first responders protecting the 
        homeland, as servicemembers overseas, as diplomats and intelligence 
        officers, or in other roles;
            (2) honors the sacrifices of the United States Armed Forces and of 
        partners in the Coalition, and of the Iraqis and Afghans who fight 
        alongside them, especially those who have fallen or been wounded in the 
        struggle, and honors as well the sacrifices of their families and of 
        others who risk their lives to help defend freedom;
            (3) declares that it is not in the national security interest of the 
        United States to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or 
        redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq;
            (4) declares that the United States is committed to the completion 
        of the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure, and united Iraq;
            (5) congratulates Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and the Iraqi people 
        on the courage they have shown by participating, in increasing millions, 
        in the elections of 2005 and on the formation of the first government 
        under Iraq's new constitution;
            (6) calls upon the nations of the world to promote global peace and 
        security by standing with the United States and other Coalition partners 
        to support the efforts of the Iraqi and Afghan people to live in 
        freedom; and
            (7) declares that the United States will prevail in the Global War 
        on Terror, the noble struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist 
        adversary.



            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.