[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 137 (Thursday, October 17, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S10642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            EXPRESSING SYMPATHY FOR THE PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the people of the United States were shocked 
and saddened to learn of the cold blooded and cowardly attack on 
hundreds of Australian tourists vacationing on the island of Bali, on 
October 12. In a few shocking seconds our friends lost more of their 
fellow Australians than at any time since the darkest days of World War 
II.
  Although Australia is at the farthest corner of the earth, America 
has no greater friend or ally. Just this year Prime Minister John 
Howard addressed a joint session of the United States Congress to 
celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the signing ANZUS Treaty, the 
document that has formally tied our strategic destinies together for 
the Food of the entire Asian Pacific Rim.
  But our relationship with Australia did not begin with the 
ratification of one treaty. American and Australian soldiers have 
fought together on every battlefield of the world from the Meuse 
Argonne in 1918 to the Mekong Delta and Desert Storm. In all of our 
major wars there has been one constant, Americans and Australians have 
been the vanguard of freedom. In fact when American troops launched 
their first combined assault on German lines in World War I, it was 
under the guidance of the legendary Australian fighter General John 
Monash. We share a common historic and cultural heritage. We are 
immigrant peoples forged from the British Empire. We conquered our 
continents and became a beacon of hope for people struggling to be 
free.
  For over 100 years, the United States and Australia have been the 
foundation for stability in the South Pacific. When America suffered 
its worse loss of life since December 7, 1941, the first nation to 
offer a helping hand was Australia. The day after the attacks on 
Washington and New York, Australia invoked the mutual defense clause of 
the ANZUS Treaty. They were the first to offer military support. 
Australian special forces are in Afghanistan and after Great Britain 
have made the largest per capita contribution to our efforts there. In 
the fight to break the back of al-Quaeda and the Taliban, Australian 
troops scaled the mountains around Tora Bora.
  Mr. President, we received another wake-up call on October 12. We can 
no longer let the nay sayers and the hand wringers counsel timidity 
have their way. The free world is clearly in the sights of fanatics who 
want to plunge us into a new dark age. Whether it be Saddam Hussein, 
Osama bin Laden, or the coward who attacked men, women, and children on 
holiday in Bali, they are part of the same threat to free peoples.
  We send our heartfelt condolences to the people of Australia and 
pledge to stand with them in their fight for peace and freedom.

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