[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 19, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H2123-H2129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE CENTRAL ISSUE OF IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bonner). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleague this evening, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady). He and I for some time have wanted to 
get together and have a discussion on the House floor with our 
colleagues and discuss the central issue of Iraq.
  As Members know, this evening is a very important point in time in 
our history. Tonight at 8 o'clock the what I would consider generous 
offer for Saddam Hussein to take his regime and liberate the country of 
Iraq expired. I would expect that at any hour from here on forward that 
the United States and its willing coalition, and I will present to my 
colleagues that this willing coalition actually today exceeds, exceeds 
the size of the coalition of the first Persian Gulf War.
  This is not the United States acting alone, in contrary to some of 
the previous speakers that we have heard up here. Contrary to what they 
are saying, this is not the United States taking on the world; this is 
the United States and a large part of the free world taking on the 
horrible regimes of people like Saddam Hussein.
  Contrary to what some of the previous speakers said about standing 
silent, it is the United States of America, it is the United Kingdom, 
it is the Spanish, it is the Italians, it is the Turks, it is the 
Netherlands, it is the Polish, it is the Hungarians, it is the 
Netherlands. I could go on through 45 of those names. These people are 
not standing silent. They are willing to stand up to a horrible 
monster, and they are willing to make sure that that horrible monster 
does not stand down the people of his own country, nor stand down the 
people of the world. For that, the United States and all of its allies 
deserve a great deal of credit.

[[Page H2124]]

  Last night when I addressed this House, I talked about what I felt 
was patriotic action by citizens of this country and unpatriotic 
action. It is my feeling that it is certainly within the rights of our 
Constitution, it is something that people have fought and died for, the 
freedom of speech. While I disagreed with the likes of people like 
Martin Sheen, and George Clooney, and the Dixie Chicks, and Cheryl Crow 
and some of the people like that, although I disagreed with the brash, 
unjustified, unstudied, uneducated statements that they made, in my 
opinion, I am exercising my freedom of speech, and I did not take away 
from them the right to express those feelings.

                              {time}  2100

  I do not take away, although I find very hard to swallow, I do not 
take away from the right of anybody that wants to march in a peace 
protest or have a sign of protest. I do, however, find it somewhat 
ironic and somewhat sad that many of these people, including some of my 
colleagues on this very House floor, spend more time bashing our 
President who I think has done a remarkable job in the leadership 
understand a tremendous challenge, spend more time bashing the 
leadership of the country which has given them all of their privileges 
than they spend bashing the monster, the man who has killed more 
Muslims than anyone in the history of the world. That is ironic.
  But then again these people, I think there are people that truly 
believe in this protest. And I think that they are within their rights, 
and I do not think they are unpatriotic because they march out there. 
But where they cross the line, where that line is crossed is when our 
troops engage and it is upon that moment of engagement that every 
person in this country that protested this, the George Clooneys, the 
Hollywood superstars, the Sheryl Crows, the Dixie Chicks, ought to drop 
those signs and ought to be in complete and unanimous support of our 
troops. And if you are not willing to support the troops of the United 
States of America, and I will state this again 50 times as I stated 
this last night and I will say it again now and I will say it till the 
day I die, if you are not willing to stand for the troops of the 
American forces, for those young men and women throughout the world 
that are standing on behalf of the security of this country and our 
allies, then you are unpatriotic and you have crossed that line. And 
there is a line between patriotism and being unpatriotic, and that line 
will be crossed within the next few hours if people like Martin Sheen 
or Sheryl Crow or George Clooney decide in their own manner, I will not 
support the troops of the United States of America.
  How interesting I see the Oscars, the Academy Awards that are coming 
up. And by the way for people like Julia Roberts, some of these people 
that have taken positions, let me tell you, I think they are 
outstanding actors but, you know, you cannot be a master of all trades. 
And they certainly are not masters of foreign knowledge or foreign 
affairs. They ought to stick with acting. And I hear that some of these 
actors who are amongst the very privileged few of this country, take a 
look at Hollywood, these are amongst the very privileged few. They get 
money. They get limousines. They are welcomed at the Academy Awards 
with red carpet. They are treated. They are spoiled. Anything you want 
to take a look at. It is not to say they did not earn it. I am not 
saying they did not earn it. I am just saying they are a very 
privileged few; and, frankly, those privileges that are then bestowed 
upon them have been bestowed because they live in the greatest country 
in the history of the world.
  Do you think in Iraq these people, George Clooney, could stand up and 
criticize the government? Do you think Martin Sheen, Martin Sheen would 
have been executed by Saddam Hussein a long time ago. Do you see any 
pictures in the Iraq paper of anybody protesting the policies of Saddam 
Hussein? Of course you do not.
  How interesting that Saddam Hussein says he has free elections in 
Iraq and in the last election he did not have one ``no'' vote. Out of 
the millions of people in Iraq not one ``no'' vote. Now that ought to 
tell Martin Sheen something about a democracy. And those people that 
are going to stand up at the Academy Awards and think it is their God-
given duty, not right, not right under the Constitution, but their God-
given duty to stand up and not support the troops of the United States 
and criticize the country that has allowed them to have the privileges 
that very few in our society ever dream of having, and that is to go to 
the Academy Awards and get an award and they are going to criticize 
this country. I find that appalling. I find that so, so disappointing.
  But on the other hand, there are a lot of people who do support the 
troops of the United States of America. I want to show you a 
commercial. It is titled ``Freedom,'' and I think it is very 
appropriate. I think it is very appropriate for what I am talking about 
right now, and that is appreciation of the history of this country, 
appreciation that the United States of America has done more good for 
more countries than any other country in the history of the world. This 
country gives by far more aid dollars than any other country in the 
world. This country has given more lives of its servicemen and 
servicepeople than any other country in the world in defense of other 
countries.
  This country is not a conquering country. When the rest of the world 
gets in trouble, they come to the United States of America. They come 
to Great Britain. They come to the British and the Spanish. This 
alliance that we have put together to go in and cut the head off the 
snake is a coalition that has built respect, that has put the best 
example forward for the rest of the world. This country is a great 
country.

  I had the privilege today of talking to some college students. What a 
great generation coming up. And I want to first have my colleague speak 
for a few moments, but after he speaks I want to go through some of the 
questions they asked me. They have got so much promise, and they were 
so proud of this country. And they were not necessarily prowar to be 
proud of this country. You do not have to be prowar.
  I heard the preceding speaker up here talk about war. We should not 
have war. War is the last resort. Of course war is the last resort. Of 
course it is. But what recommendation do you have that is going to 
change things right now? You do not have it. You like to blah, blah, 
talk, talk, negotiate, negotiate, negotiate some of you people, but the 
fact is at some point in time somebody has got to have the courage to 
stand up and attack the cancer. You cannot play around with cancer. You 
cannot talk it to death. You need to get in. You need to diagnose it. 
You need to figure out what alternatives you have, but if the facts 
show up that you have no alternatives left, you better attack cancer. 
And it is the same thing with people like Saddam Hussein.
  Imagine what this world would look like, just for a moment, even if 
you disagree with what I am saying this evening, tell me what this 
world would look like in 5 years if the United States stood down from 
Saddam Hussein. Tell me what the world would look like. Tell me what 
the world looks like today in Iraq. Tell me about the women in Iraq 
today. Tell me what privileges they have in that society. Compare it to 
the privileges given to the Hollywood celebrities at our Academy 
Awards, for example. Tell me about the health care in Iraq. Tell me 
about the criminal justice system where they put men through shredders, 
well, maybe women too. Tell me about the abuses in that. Tell me about 
the starvation in Iraq. There are a lot of comparisons we can make. And 
you can be very proud, very proud that we are all lucky enough by sake 
of birth, we are lucky enough to be citizens of the United States of 
America, but it comes with a price. We have got to be willing to stand 
up and defend this flag that stands behind us.
  I want to refer over here to my poster to the right of what I said 
earlier. Freedom. Is it not funny, this is from the former Senator, 
U.S. Senator Fred Thompson. Freedom. ``It is the soldier, not the 
campus organizer who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.'' Look at 
that line. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer who has given us 
the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier not the reporter, not the 
reporter, it is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the 
freedom of press. It is the soldier, not the poet who has given us the 
freedom of

[[Page H2125]]

speech. It is the soldier, not the poet who has given us the freedom of 
speech. It is the soldier who serves under the flag who defends the 
protesters' right to burn the flag. It is the soldier who stands under 
the flag and defends the flag that gives those protesters that right to 
burn the flag. Is it not time now to demonstrate that we support our 
troops? Were it not for the brave, there would be no land of the free. 
Were it not for the brave, there would be no land of the free.
  The Martin Sheens of this world, the George Clooneys, the Julia 
Robertses, the Dixie Chicks, the people that have come out, the Howard 
Deans of Vermont, people like that, it is time for you to put down 
those signs of protest. It is time for you to support the troops of the 
United States of America. And if you fail to support those troops, I 
mean now, I mean today, this time limit is gone. At any given moment 
this Nation will engage in a military conflict. And let me repeat it 
once before I yield to my good friend from the State of Texas. Failure 
to support the troops of the United States of America by a United 
States citizen is representative and by definition unpatriotic.

  Now, you can call my office all you want. You can be as mad as you 
want at me; but the fact is I believe in my heart that patriotism is 
defined right here, allows the campus organizers because of the soldier 
to have the freedom to demonstrate. Allows the poet the right to 
freedom of speech. Allows the defenders of the protesters' rights. But 
once we cross this line, once we ask these 18-, 19-, 20-year-old young 
men and women to take a weapon and risk the loss of their life, and, 
mind you, these are voluntary forces over there. This is not the draft. 
These are voluntary forces, the best fighting force the world has ever 
known. Once we ask them to stand on our behalf and to put their lives 
in the line of fire, then, by God, in my opinion you are unpatriotic if 
you do not support those troops.
  Now, I am very pleased this evening that I have a colleague of mine 
who wished to join me and we wanted to do this as a joint statement. So 
I am very happy to yield to the gentleman from the State of Texas (Mr. 
Brady).
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the leadership of the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis) on this issue and many other 
issues. He is a colleague of mine on the House Committee on Ways and 
Means. He plays a crucial role on a number of issues from tax reform to 
preserving Social Security and Medicare to trying and open up new 
markets around the world. But it is his, I think, vision on national 
security and this war on terrorism that prompted me to be here tonight. 
I appreciate him allowing me to be part of this program on an evening 
that I think history will mark as a very important next step in the war 
on terrorism.
  Recently, I had the privilege of attending two rallies for America 
back in Texas, in my home region. The first one a couple of weeks ago 
was coordinated by KPRC radio in Houston. Two of the on-air 
commentators, Chris Baker and Pat Gray, put together a rally just on a 
week's notice, a mere week's notice, just basically invited the 
community to come together and support our troops and support this 
country. It was a remarkable rally. It was a cold and dreary day, not 
one that attracts a lot of people naturally; but yet in this plaza in 
downtown Houston there were between 8 and 10,000 Americans there to 
show their support for this President and support our troops or 
military men and women. And then last weekend in Woodland, Texas, where 
I live, not three blocks from where Cathy and I live with our two young 
boys, we had a rally for America as well. This one was organized by Dr. 
K.P. Reddy, who is an immigrant from India, a legal immigrant who came 
here with very little money in his pocket but a desire to live the 
American dream.
  He organized this rally basically to remind America what a remarkable 
Nation we live in and what remarkable freedoms and blessings we 
possess. And both of these rallies were to me remarkable because they 
were just a grass roots outpouring of people who understand the 
importance of our security to our families and to our Nation.
  I had a chance to talk to the groups at both of these rallies and 
here are the thoughts I shared with them: back home 1,200 miles from 
here in Washington, D.C., back home in College Station, Texas, is the 
George Bush Presidential Library Museum. Captured in these magnificent 
engraved letters high on the granite walls on the museum where each 
afternoon if you drive past, the beautiful Brazos Valley sun captures 
these words, and I think they are very appropriate to our time in our 
Nation. And the words say, ``Let every generation understand the 
blessings and burdens of freedom. Let them say we stood where duty 
required us to stand.''
  As we stand today on the eve of liberating Iraq and striking another 
blow against international terrorism, thousands of our young men and 
women stand watch on foreign soil. Our soldiers are on patrol in 
Bosnia-Hersgovenia, Kosovo and Macedonia. They are hunting al Qaeda 
terrorists in Afghanistan and the Philippines. They are on patrols in 
the skies of Iraq and on the seas throughout the world. They are 
unloading the equipment near Turkey and training in the deserts of 
Kuwait. These patriots and their families are suffering hardships and 
making great sacrifices at this Nation's behest.

                              {time}  2115

  There is a good chance in the next few hours that we will ask even 
more of them. Another generation of Americans is standing where duty 
requires them to stand, and we are standing with them. For all our 
faults, America remains a good, good country. We did not deserve the 
attacks of September 11, nor the celebrations that followed in some 
parts of the world. And as happens in times of crisis, 9/11 brought out 
the best in America. We sensed a Nation turning back toward what is 
truly important, our faith, our families and our precious freedom. We 
saw it in the thousand flags flying, in overflowing hearts and in 
overflowing churches.
  You may recall in his September 20 speech to the Nation, to the joint 
session of Congress, President Bush spoke for all of us then when he 
vowed that America would not rest until we had rooted out terrorism 
around the world. He said that countries harboring terrorists would be 
treated as terrorist nations themselves; that if you financed 
terrorists, if you trained terrorists, if you provided them safe harbor 
in your country, that you would be treated as a terrorist nation 
yourself. He cautioned wisely that the coming war would be a long one, 
to be measured in years rather than months.
  As we have been reminded repeatedly by the recent al Qaeda attacks in 
Bali and Kenya, by the audiotape of bin Laden and his second in command 
predicting more terrorist attacks in America, as we have been reminded 
in the announcement that American intelligence have quietly thwarted 
more than 100 separate terrorist efforts, the question is not if 
America will be attacked again at home, but when and by whom. Instead 
of crashing airplanes into our downtown buildings, the terrorists of 
the future may well turn to dangerous chemical and biological weapons, 
suicide bombers, attempts to poison our air and water, disrupt our 
energy supply, our electronic commerce, and destroy our economy and the 
jobs that we and our neighbors rely upon. They will direct these 
weapons of terrible destruction toward America, because standing as the 
world's lone superpower also means standing as the world's biggest 
target. Despite what Hollywood and others are trying so desperately to 
sell to you, our homeland, our communities, our schools, our 
neighborhoods and millions of American lives remain at risk as we speak 
tonight.
  We are going to fight this war on terrorism one way or another, 
either overseas at its source or here at home when it lands right on 
top of our neighborhoods. We choose overseas, at terrorism's source.
  Personally I can tell you that casting a vote for war is the most 
difficult vote you ever cast. I have a younger brother Matt, who is a 
medic in the Army. He was deployed to Desert Storm a decade ago. Since 
then, he and his wife have added two young children to their family, 
Mattie and Caitland. He recently got word he is headed back to Turkey. 
Any time you cast a vote that will send your family to war, any time 
you cast a vote to send anyone's family, anyone's son or daughter, to a 
war they may not return from, you think hard

[[Page H2126]]

and you pray hard over it. Yet I know it was the right vote to cast, 
and Matt feels even more strongly than me.
  I am certain because the first responsibility of our government is to 
defend American citizens. It is not the United Nations' responsibility, 
it is not France's nor Germany's. It is ours. The Afghanistan campaign 
was certainly the first step in the war on terrorism, but does anyone 
believe all terrorism begins and ends in Afghanistan? Does anyone 
believe there is only one terrorist, Osama bin Laden? Does anyone 
seriously believe Saddam Hussein has disarmed? Of course not.
  By any measure, Saddam Hussein presents a grave threat to the safety, 
the security and the well-being of Americans here at home. Disarming 
Iraq and its support for state-sponsored terrorism is the next logical 
step to secure peace for our families and the world.
  I served as a member of the House International Relations Committee 
for a number of years. Serving on that committee, it became clear to me 
that terrorism expands according to our willingness to tolerate it. 
Terrorism expands according to our willingness to accept it. For too 
long the world has turned a blind eye to terrorism. We have been afraid 
to confront it. Terrorism has grown strong because the actions of our 
world leaders never really matched their tough words.
  That is over now. That all changed September 11. That all changed 
with President Bush as our Commander in Chief, and that all changed 
with a Nation that supports him. For the sake of our community and our 
security, we have to mean what we say. And for the sake of our 
children's future, we must follow through on our vow to end terrorism.
  We know from experience that America's security at home depends upon 
our strength in the world. The value of our military to deter attacks 
and maintain peace depends in great measure on the value of our word. 
If the United Nations fails, and unfortunately they have as of tonight, 
although President Bush has bent over backwards to reach a diplomatic 
solution, the bottom line is you cannot give someone a backbone. They 
have to have one themselves. I think the exercise with the United 
Nations in which we tried so hard proves what global security experts 
have long suspected. Many nations in the world want terrorism to end, 
but few want the responsibility of actually doing it. If Saddam Hussein 
chooses to continue to arm himself and harbor terrorists, then America 
must act. Words alone are not enough. And when we send U.S. troops 
overseas, it must be to win and to return home as planned.

  President George Washington said, there is nothing so likely to 
produce peace as to be well prepared to meet an enemy. We know the 
enemy. We know the difficulty. We know the duty, and we know the 
strength of America's military men and women, and we will not undermine 
them here at home. Despite what some believe, as Americans our rush is 
not for war, it is for peace, a secure peace, so that back in Texas 
where I live and in communities across America, when our families leave 
home each morning, they return home safely to us that night. That is 
not too much to ask. As the United States has shown in every world war, 
we are fighting not just for our Nation, but for a world free of fear, 
free from the horrors that fill our television screens too often, free 
from the threat of weapons of mass destruction which grow and grow each 
day, free from all that terrorism spawns.
  If you think war is expensive, try living in terror. How much would 
we pay, how much would we give to have prevented the attacks of 9/11? 
To those who protest the war, I respectfully ask, was September 11 not 
enough? Was not September 11 enough to convince you this is not a game? 
This is not politics as usual. This is not Vietnam. This is like no 
other war. This is the prospect of a holocaust on our shores, on 
America's shores, among our communities, killing our families, injuring 
our neighbors, destroying our way of life for generations to come. And 
all the made-for-media protests, all the petitions and the slick TV ads 
in the world will not stop the next terrorists from attacking innocent 
Americans here on our shores again.
  By standing tall, by standing firm, I believe President Bush has 
demonstrated what we all know in our hearts. Leadership is never easy, 
nor is it always popular, which is why we are so grateful for the 
nations and the leaders who stand with us, more than 30 of them, the 
third largest coalition in a century, people who are willing to say to 
international terrorism, enough. Enough. I am convinced, looking back, 
if more had stood with us, if France and Germany had put world security 
ahead of their shortsighted political ambitions, that we may well have 
disarmed Iraq and exiled Saddam Hussein without a shot being fired. 
Sadly, we will never know.
  In some ways, I do not really worry about those in the free world who 
question the war. I worry about those in the world of terrorism who 
question the resolve of the American people. As you may recall, within 
days after the attacks of September 11, many around the world predicted 
that America would not have the heart nor the attention span nor the 
fortitude to mean what we say. They will soon learn they are wrong. No 
one knows better than Americans that if a nation values anything more 
than freedom, it will lose its freedom. The irony of it is that if it 
is comfort or it is money that it values more, it will lose that, too.
  I have great faith in the American people. We will stand with 
President Bush. We will stand with our American military. We will stand 
where duty requires us to stand.
  On the issue of defending America and disarming Saddam Hussein, 
people often ask, why Iraq and why now? To that, let me yield back to 
my colleague from Colorado, who speaks so eloquently about the need to 
defend our America and to secure peace throughout the world.

  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I hope the gentleman can stay around here 
for a while. I think this is a very good discussion. I want to point 
out something. I was moved by his remarks. On Sunday, there is going to 
be a special event in this country. On Sunday, we are going to have 
some of the privileged few of this country attend a ceremony called the 
Academy Awards. Today throughout the news, I read about how different 
people that were going to attend or perhaps even receive an Oscar at 
the Academy Awards were preparing these antiwar, anti-U.S., anti-
American troop statements to present.
  I want the people that are watching me and my colleagues this 
evening, on this floor, I want you to keep in mind that on Sunday as 
these movie actors such as George Clooney or Sean Penn or Julia Roberts 
or some of these other people, Martin Sheen is probably at the very 
head of that, as they pull up to the Academy Awards in their white 
limousines and walk on their red carpet and toast amongst the finest 
wine in this country, as they are in there on that stage being 
televised across this country on the Academy Awards, I want you to know 
that young American men and women could very likely be dying in the 
battlefield, dying to defend a country, dying to liberate another 
country, standing up for everything that this Nation believes in, a 
Nation that with its allies is willing to stand up and meet the 
challenge, to meet the cancer as it comes.
  I will be very, very disappointed, and I hope the rest of America 
joins me in their disappointment if on Sunday during the Academy Awards 
that these people, the sponsors of the Academy Awards, the Motion 
Picture Association, the industry as a whole, if they stand there and 
allow these very privileged individuals, very privileged few amongst 
our population, condemn this Nation, condemn this administration, and 
in essence condemn the forces of the United States while, in fact, we 
have young men and women dying on those battlefields, and that could 
commence almost immediately.
  Thank goodness there are nations like the United States of America 
and the British and the Spanish and the Italians and a number of other 
countries that are willing to stand up when good should rule over evil. 
They are willing to stand up and take on evil even though it is at the 
risk of their own life, at the risk of the safety of their own Nation, 
and how unfortunate that some people in the background who are safe in 
the foxhole take it upon themselves to come up with theories about how 
wrong the people that got out of foxhole are.

[[Page H2127]]

  Again let me go back to the ad that Fred Thompson is running on TV. 
Freedom. It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who's given us the 
freedom to demonstrate. It's the soldier, not the poet, who has given 
us the freedom of speech. It's the soldier, not the reporter, who's 
given us the freedom of press. It's the soldier who serves under the 
flag who defends the protester's right to burn the flag. Isn't it time 
now to demonstrate that we support our troops? Were it not for the 
brave, there would be no land of the free.
  Again, for those of you, and I hope that some of you have some 
correspondence with Hollywood, I hope when you have the Academy Awards 
and the Oscar things on Sunday, that you can keep in mind, is it not 
time now to demonstrate that we support our forces of the Americans and 
our forces of our allies?

                              {time}  2130

  The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady) brought up some stuff about the 
willing coalition, the coalition of the willing. I have heard a lot of 
propaganda, a lot of propaganda, including the preceding speakers, not 
my colleague from Texas, but before we got our hour some of the 
preceding speakers talked about how the United States is doing it 
alone, how the United States as a super power is going forward and 
going after poor little old Saddam. Let me say that that is nothing but 
pure propaganda. The coalition that is willing to stand up to the 
vicious regime of Iraq and liberate the people of Iraq, that coalition 
is larger than the coalition we had in the first Persian Gulf war. We 
do not have 10 other countries joining us. We do not have 15 other 
countries joining us. We do not even have 20 other countries joining 
us. We do not have 25. We have 45 other nations, 45 other nations that 
are willing to stand up and stand up to this threat and put their 
national defense in line to stop this cancer.
  Let me just give an example of a few of them. To my right take a look 
at this. I will just jump around. Afghanistan, Denmark, Hungary, Japan, 
Lithuania, Nicaragua, Rumania, Turkey, United Kingdom. The British, 
they have been tremendous. Tony Blair, a profile in courage. Slovakia, 
the Philippines, Macedonia, South Korea, Iceland, Ethiopia, El 
Salvador, Colombia, Albania, Australia, Italy, Georgia, the 
Netherlands, Poland, Spain. Take a look at these. And I saw an 
interesting article today by Andrew Sullivan. Let me read this. There 
are three categories, countries that explicitly support the United 
States' position; countries that support it but wanted a second 
resolution, that is the second category; and the third category are the 
countries that oppose the war against Saddam. In the first camp, we 
have the United Kingdom, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, 
Hungary, Rumania, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. In the first camp 
those who support the United States and its willing coalition number 45 
as of this hour, 45 as of this hour.
  In the second camp, supportive, we have the Netherlands, the Czech 
Republic, Slovenia, and Slovakia. I put those five in a broadly 
positive column. That makes the total, if we add to the 45, somewhere 
pushing 50. Then we have the neutral countries, the neutral countries 
out there in Europe: Ireland, Austria, Finland, Serbia, Switzerland, 
and Norway. Australia, by the way, has dedicated troops to this. 
Australia has come strongly into the coalition of the willing.
  Then we have the opponents. Let me stress the opponents that we have 
here, and let us count them on a finger. France, Germany, Belgium, 
Luxemburg, Sweden, and Greece. By my count we have about six countries 
that are neutral, six countries that are opposed; and over 45 nations, 
over 45 nations, have joined with the United States one way or the 
other to cut the snake off this horrible regime that has in fact 
enslaved the people of Iraq.
  And let me give some examples. Afghanistan, they have pledged their 
support for the U.S. efforts, may open air space to U.S. military 
flights, U.S. and all of the allies. Albania, little Albania, offered 
to send troops, approved the U.S. use of their air space and their 
bases. Australia sent 2,000 of their elite SAS troops. These SAS troops 
are amongst the best in the world, 2,000 of them. They have sent 
fighter jets and they have sent warships to the Gulf. That is 
Australia. Bahrain, the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet; Bulgaria 
offered the use of air space, base and refueling for U.S. war planes, 
sent 150 troops specializing in chemical and biological warfare 
decontamination. Croatia, air space and airports open to civilian 
transport planes from the coalition. The Czech Republic sent noncombat 
troops specializing in chemical warfare decontamination in response to 
the U.S. request.
  This list goes on and on and on. There are a lot of people out there 
that realize what we are facing. They understand what the world will 
look like in 5 years from now if we do not do something about this.
  My good friend from the State of Texas mentioned that he regretted 
the fact that the French and the Germans did not come on board early on 
in this game, that had they come on board and had they let Iraq know 
that they meant business, we probably would have been able to resolve 
this diplomatically. When should they have come on board? They should 
have come on board 11 years ago. They should have come on board at any 
time during those 17 separate resolutions.
  The French adopted one policy. First of all, they let Iraq know that 
under no circumstances, no matter what they do, neither the French nor 
the Germans nor the Belgians will ever attack them with a war. So do 
not worry about leverage; do not worry about a threat. In the meantime 
let us negotiate and negotiate and negotiate. It was the French that 
took the lead in crafting the resolution called 1441 4\1/2\ months ago. 
It was the French that persuaded the Germans and the Belgians for a 
unanimous vote with the rest of their colleagues at the United Nations, 
for a unanimous vote, no ``no'' votes on 1441, and it was the French 
that were the first ones to back out. It was the French that were the 
first ones to stand down on enforcement of 1441. Had they stuck to 
their guns, had Saddam Hussein known that the entire international 
community including the limited few that are now are not part of the 
coalition, the French, the Germans, and the Belgians, had they known 
that we were unified, they probably would have resolved this 
diplomatically. Saddam Hussein really would have disarmed, probably. 
What kind of message does it send to the rest of the world, to a North 
Korea or to other countries like Iran or Libya or countries like that 
when they know that all they have got to do is get a little 
disagreement going between long-time allies and get one of the sides of 
that disagreement to say right at the very beginning we will never 
under any conditions go to war? What kind of leverage does that give to 
them?

  I had a very interesting discussion today with the students, and they 
asked a number of questions, and I think they should be addressed. I 
want to just very quickly, briefly talk about them before I turn the 
floor over to my colleague again. First of all, we had a little 
discussion on the Hollywood type. I have talked about enough on 
Hollywood, although I would note that over the weekend the Dixie Chicks 
who made that very derogatory political cheap shot at our President, 
who I think has done a tremendous job with Condoleezza Rice, with Colin 
Powell, with Dick Cheney, with Don Rumsfeld; but the Dixie Chicks 
brought it upon themselves on foreign territory to announce that they 
are disgraced that the President is from the State of Texas.
  Let me say what America feels about that. Sales dropped so 
dramatically after their comment. They had the number one song in the 
country. It dropped off. Do the Members know what the number two song 
is after I think a week or 3 days of being out on the charts? A song 
entitled ``Have You Forgotten.'' As my good friend from the State of 
Texas's comments were throughout his speech, have you forgotten 
September 11? Have you forgotten what this country stands for? Have you 
forgotten what these soldiers have done, the soldiers that have allowed 
the reporters the freedom of the press, the soldiers that have allowed 
the poets the freedom of speech, the soldiers that have allowed the 
protestors in this country the right to protest, protests where they 
would be immediately executed if they tried to pull that off in Iraq?

[[Page H2128]]

  And I say to these people, have they forgotten what America is about? 
Have they forgotten about the greatness of this country, that this 
country has gone to war more often than any other country for other 
nations? How many thousands and thousands and thousands of Americans 
lay in their graves on foreign soils having fought for those other 
countries? The United States is not a cocky country. The United States 
does not try to bully people around, but the United States is willing 
to stand up when it counts. Have we forgotten?
  And I venture to say this evening that the majority of Americans have 
not forgotten, that the majority of Americans understand that the good 
and the might of this country will in the end prevail for all good and 
that good will prevail over evil, and I venture to say that most 
Americans will not take with a grain of salt these movie Hollywood 
actors on Sunday when they appear at the Academy Awards condemning the 
United States, condemning the administration, condemning the very 
privileges that made them the privileged few. I venture to say that the 
American citizens are eminently proud of those soldiers and sailors and 
Marines and Coast Guard and the people in this country that are 
supporting logistically those troops.
  The students asked me, What about the human shields? Should we avoid 
the human shields? My position is this: if the human shields took 
direction from Saddam Hussein of where to go to provide themselves as 
human shields, they have crossed that line from being noncombatants to 
combatants, and, frankly, they are a fair target.
  Let me talk very briefly about the question that came up, What if we 
make the terrorists mad? If we attack Iraq and disarm Saddam Hussein 
and liberate that country, won't we make other countries mad at us, 
other terrorists? I said, as a comparison, imagine if we said to the 
police officers of this country, Before you make an arrest, make sure 
that you do not make the family of the defendant, the person you are 
arresting, make sure their families are not mad about the fact that you 
are arresting them.
  What about the preemptive strike? they asked. Do we have a right that 
this Nation preemptively strike? On September 11 things changed 
dramatically. First of all, when it comes to terrorism, we can no 
longer defend this country from terrorism. We cannot put a police 
officer in every theater. We cannot put a police officer in every 
restaurant. We cannot guard everything. We have got to reach out and 
strike at the terrorists that are out there. We have got to go after 
them. We cannot wait for them to come after us. We cannot play a 
defensive game. We have to be offensive in our nature when we talk 
about terrorism. We have to be willing to stand up and take a 
preemptive strike when we have somebody like Saddam Hussein, who, by 
the way, took the first preemptive strike when he invaded Iran, took 
another preemptive strike when he invaded Kuwait, took a preemptive 
strike when he gassed 60,000 of his own people. His own people, he 
gassed them, mustard gas, ricin, nerve gas, and I have got a chart of 
examples. We do not have time this evening, but I have a chart of 
examples of time after time that he used these weapons of mass 
destruction against the Iranians, against his own people.

  So of course we have the right to go out there, and I said, As a 
comparison, think of your local police officers. We do not say to our 
police officers they do not have the right of a preemptive strike. In 
fact we specifically give them the right to preemptively strike. If 
they roll up at a bank and there is somebody with a gun or there is 
somebody anywhere, a domestic dispute, and there is somebody with a 
gun, we do not ask the police officer to be shot at first before he can 
under certain conditions. Fire first.
  This country has met the highest of standards, and along with its 
allies do my colleagues think we can put together a coalition of 45 
different nations in this world, opposed by only six? That is what we 
have right now. The governments of six people that have officially 
cited their opposition. Do my colleagues think we can put that together 
if we did not meet some pretty high standards, and if the snake and if 
the regime we are going after was not worthy of these people, sometimes 
not politically correct in their countries? Take a look at Tony Blair, 
still having enough guts to stand up and put a stop to the regime of 
Saddam Hussein.
  Let me move on and kind of wrap up because I want to have my 
colleague, who made what I thought was a very accurate statement, 
conclude. But I want to just say a couple of things. I really was 
excited to talk to these students today, and I told these students, our 
newspapers just by the nature of the business they are in, they print 
the bad stuff. Young people, my son and daughters are now grown, but 
they are in their early 20s, and it is very easy for them to be 
discouraged about what does the future of this country look like, what 
is my future, the opportunities, myself and my colleagues we have for 
our family, we have for jobs, for opportunities? We read the papers. It 
is pretty easy to be discouraged.
  But I say to them if they take a look at their generation, first of 
all, their generation has more opportunities than any other generation 
in the history of the world and certainly in the history of our 
country. Their generation is brighter than any generation in the 
history of this country, and I say to these young people, what is going 
wrong in our society? What is going right would go through the ceiling 
of this dome. In other words, what is going right way exceeds what is 
going wrong. And because of the military strength of this country, 
because of the strength of the character of the people of this country, 
because of the dedication and the willingness to sacrifice for freedom, 
for democracy, for freedom of speech, for the freedoms that we have 
enjoyed and many, many times taken for granted, because this Nation has 
met those standards, that is why we are the finest country in the 
history of the world.

                              {time}  2145

  It is not because we have the biggest military machine, but it is 
because we have that machine that we avoid many fights. It is because 
people cannot wait to get into this country. I say to people, I say, 
what other country in the world has immigration problems like this 
country? You know what? In the United States, you do not see people 
falling over each other or swimming the Rio Grande to get out of this 
country. You see people coming into this country any way they can, 
because of the American dream, because of the American standards of 
democracy, because of the character of the American people. And at this 
very hour we are being tested.
  We have a regime that believes in murder. We have the worst murderer 
of Muslim people in the history of the world, who dares the United 
States to take him on, who dares the United States to tell him he 
cannot have weapons of mass destruction.
  Well, he has called the bluff on the wrong coalition of the willing. 
Not only has the United States accepted his challenge, in fact the 
United Nations did not accept the challenge, but the United States did 
accept the challenge, the British accepted the challenge, the Spanish 
accepted the challenge, the Italians accepted the challenge. Forty-five 
countries accepted the challenge to stand up for the character of 
freedom and democracy and to stand against the terrible regime of a 
dictatorship which has stolen from the people of Iraq, has stolen from 
the people of Iraq the basic bill of rights, the basic freedoms they 
ought to be guaranteed.
  I am so proud, and I will conclude with this, I am so, so proud of 
our forces out there, that voluntarily have entered there; the 
families, by the way, not just the men and women in the field, but 
those wonderful wives and husbands who are home managing families, 
without their spouse, worried about whether their spouse will survive. 
I am proud of all of you.
  We are Americans. We will always be Americans, and America will 
always stand proud. I would like to yield to my friend from Texas. I 
thought his comments were most appropriate.
  If the gentleman might yield for one moment, I have just been advised 
that the President of the United States will address the country at 
10:15 this evening. I would urge, I am asking everybody, the gentleman 
from Texas will wrap these comments up in 5 or 10 minutes, I ask that 
you immediately

[[Page H2129]]

after the conclusion of these comments, go to your national TV network 
at 10:15. The President, the leader of our country will address this 
Nation. This speech is historical. It is imminently important. It is 
imminently important for all of us to watch that.
  I am sorry to interrupt the gentleman.
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. I appreciate your leadership, and I think you 
have really concluded on the right note at the right time.
  We are facing history in a war that is so unique. It is unlike any 
other. I think what some people do not understand is that the 
international community has ranked those nations around the world who 
are the champions of state-sponsored terrorism, and have for many 
years. Of those countries, Iraq has topped that list for many, many 
years. Their ability and willingness to allow training of terrorists to 
occur, to allow financing of terrorists to occur, to allow safe haven 
and transit and medical treatment to those terrorists around the world 
all place them in a unique situation.
  I will tell you that this past weekend we remembered the victims of 
Saddam Hussein's terrible chemical weapons attack on the people of 
Halabja, a city in northern Iraq, and other village attacks in the Al-
Anfal campaign.
  On March 6, 1988, 15 years ago, the Iraqi Air Force dropped a 
devastating mix of mustard and nerve gas on citizens in this city. Five 
thousand of Hussein's own people were killed immediately at his hand, 
several thousand died later, and an estimated 10,000 people were maimed 
and still are suffering the effects of this attack. If you wonder if 
this gentleman is capable of launching an attack, if not today, in the 
future as he grows stronger, all we need to do is look at his attack on 
his own people.
  With this, I will conclude. I understand that the President's 
spokesman, Ari Fleischer, has just announced the disarmament of Iraq 
has begun. The President will address the Nation at 10:15.
  I believe we are at this moment in time reflecting on, in the words 
on the wall of the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, 
``Let every generation understand the blessings and burdens of freedom. 
Let them say we stood where duty required us to stand.''
  Tonight, under the President's leadership, yet again we will stand 
where duty requires us to stand.

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