[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 135 (Wednesday, October 10, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H6462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM

  (Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, like many Americans, on 
Sunday, October 7, I left church to find that Operation Enduring 
Freedom was underway; that is, America's war on terrorism. The Taliban 
had their chance to cooperate. Instead, they chose to protect 
terrorists.
  The United States had no choice but to serve justice for the nearly 
7,000 lives lost on September 11. But this is not just about Osama bin 
Laden, this is about any regime that harbors terrorists, and they will 
suffer the same fate as the Taliban.
  Mr. Speaker, as a veteran of two wars, no one knows better than I 
that on Sunday America started a different kind of war with a different 
kind of enemy. This war is going to take a long time, perhaps years. We 
must, we will, be patient.
  This is not a war against Islam. That is why more than 40 countries 
in the Middle East, Africa and across Asia have offered to help the 
United States. They, too, are disgusted with the horrific images of 
September 11.
  We are fortunate to call our great Nation the land of the free and 
the home of the brave, but freedom is not free. This is a war, a war 
against terrorism. That is why we will fight. That is why we will win. 
God bless our America.

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