[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H10944-H10945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE U.S. NAVY TO OUR VICTORY IN AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) is recognized for 5 minutes.

[[Page H10945]]

  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I requested this time to highlight the 
contribution of the United States Navy to our victory in Afghanistan.
  After the September 11 attacks, the investigation quickly turned to 
Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. At 
first glance, a war in Afghanistan offered few options for the United 
States. Afghanistan has no coast line and is situated hundreds of miles 
from any shoreline. None of the nations bordering Afghanistan would 
permit U.S. strikes against Afghanistan from their own soil.
  With few options, President Bush turned to the one asset in our 
military that can strike anywhere at any time, without needing 
permission from anyone, the United States Navy, which moved into 
action. In fact, September 11 fits the classic model of any crisis in 
our recent past. One of the first questions any President asks in time 
of national peril is this: Where are the carriers?
  In this case, the USS Enterprise was in the Indian Ocean, heading 
home after a long deployment in the Gulf. Her crew saw the aircraft hit 
the World Trade Center and Pentagon on CNN; and without direction from 
Washington, the skipper ordered his battle group to come about and head 
for harm's way. Within minutes of this crisis beginning, the United 
States Navy, our Navy, was moving into position to strike back at our 
enemies in the heart of Central Asia.
  The war against terrorism is unlike any war we have fought before. Of 
the approximately 60,000 U.S. military members currently deployed as 
part of Operation Enduring Freedom, more than half are sailors or 
Marines. The Navy and Marine Corps has served as the backbone of 
Operation Enduring Freedom.
  From the very beginning, the Navy has been involved in power 
projection and combat operations against Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda 
network, and the Taliban. Two weeks prior to the first shots of the 
war, the USS Enterprise was on station in the Arabian Sea, ready to 
launch strike aircraft against Taliban air defenses at a moment's 
notice. At the same time, Navy submarines were positioned near 
Afghanistan, gathering intelligence on the movements of Taliban and al 
Qaeda leadership and preparing to insert Navy Special Operation forces, 
namely, the legendary SEALs. These missions performed by the ``silent 
service'' are frequently cloaked in secrecy, but are vital to our 
efforts in Afghanistan.
  More than 50 U.S. Navy ships have participated in Operation Enduring 
Freedom, including five aircraft carriers and two Amphibious Ready 
Groups, carrying the 15th and 16th Marine Expeditionary Units. U.S. 
Navy and coalition surface combatants continue to play an important 
role in ongoing interdiction missions in the Arabian Sea.
  Navy ships operating in the Arabian Sea have demonstrated the 
adaptability and flexibility of the modern Navy that is unprecedented. 
The USS Kitty Hawk is operated as a Mobile Offshore Logistics Base, 
serving as a launch platform and supply base for Special Operations 
forces operating inside Afghanistan. This large carrier did not launch 
strike aircraft, but adapted to the unconventional needs of the war 
ahead.
  The Navy and Marine Corps tactical air assets have also remained 
flexible, agile, and adaptable. The ability to rapidly retask aircraft 
and Tomahawk missiles provides the combatant commander with the 
flexibility he needs to engage the enemy. For example, Navy F-14 
fighters have been engaged in air-to-ground strike missions, missions 
the aircraft was not originally intended to perform. The ability to 
position aircraft carriers just offshore has allowed the coalition to 
strike targets for special operations in Afghanistan. The nearest base 
from which the Air Force has been able to launch strike aircraft in the 
region is Kuwait, leaving the bulk of close air support to the Navy. On 
any given day, naval aircraft have been flying 60 to 80 strike sorties 
as part of the campaign against al Qaeda. Naval strike aircraft have 
flown more than 4,000 strike sorties and dropped nearly 5,000 weapons 
against Afghanistan. While the Air Force has performed most of the 
long-range strategic bombing, the Navy and Marine Corps have provided 
all of the close air support and precision strike capabilities required 
by forces on the ground.
  For many of us unfamiliar with the geography of Central Asia, the 
scale and scope of the task before the Navy is hard to understand. If 
you were to superimpose a map of Afghanistan on the eastern United 
States, our carriers would be based off the coast of Pensacola, 
Florida, and the aircraft would be striking targets near Milwaukee. 
That capability, providing global reach to our Commander in Chief, 
gives the United States options and influence far in excess of any 
other nation.
  The capability to strike hard and deep requires a complicated ballet 
of personnel and equipment that is daunting, at best, from the many 
ships supplying and protecting the battle groups to teams maintaining 
the aircraft to the air crews of airborne control, tankers, electronic 
warfare support, fighter caps, and close air support. We have won 
another war from the air.
  I want to note the contribution of the sister services, especially 
the Air Force's heavy bombers, that dropped most of the strategic 
ordnance in this campaign. They made a vital contribution to this 
effort. But the key support was provided by tactical aircraft, close 
air support for our troops, provided overwhelmingly by the Navy.
  The tactical aircraft from the U.S. Air Force were very limited 
because, from Kuwait, 13 hours' flight from Afghanistan, gave 
permission for U.S. strikes from their soil. They had little 
flexibility arriving over their targets. This diplomatic limitation 
meant that naval aviation had to carry the vast load of the work in 
Afghanistan.
  I want to make special note of the Navy's electronic warfare aircraft 
and what they did.
  With that, let me just close by saying that we want to take this 
opportunity to thank the men and women of the following battle groups: 
the Enterprise, the Roosevelt, the Vinson, Kitty Hawk, Bataan, the 
Bonhomme, Richard, and the many men and women of the 15th and 26th 
MEUs. To the men and women of Enduring Freedom, we wish you a happy 
holiday and the thanks of a grateful Nation; and in the words of the 
Navy, we would say ``Bravo Zulu.''

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