[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 26, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H2388-H2392]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   SUPPORTING OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, before we begin, let me yield to the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt), the distinguished former 
district attorney from Boston, to finish his statement.
  Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I thank my dear friend for yielding. I 
thank the gentleman for his spirit of collegiality.
  Mr. Speaker, what I wanted to conclude with was this observation, and 
I direct it to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle: if we are 
unable to work out in the course of our consideration of the 
supplemental budget full funding for all veterans services, then it is 
time for the veterans in this country to take action. Many of us have 
read in our history books that there was a march on Washington in the 
early 1930s. It is time for the veterans organizations and for the 
American people to march again.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, we want to talk a little bit about the 
situation in Iraq tonight and a number of other subjects.
  Mr. Speaker, I am joined by the distinguished gentleman from Colorado 
(Mr. Beauprez), a businessman and new freshman. The gentleman is on his 
way to take his daughter to dinner, and, as a father of two daughters, 
that takes high priority. So let me yield to the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Beauprez.)
  Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. It is 
a pleasure to be with the gentleman tonight on the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight with my colleagues to commend the 
tremendous progress being made by our troops in Iraq. However, I am 
disgusted with recent media reports proclaiming setbacks and delays of 
our troops in battle.
  Mr. Speaker, such editorializing of the news represents a severe 
disconnect with reality. At this very moment we are within minutes of 
Operation Iraqi Freedom being just 1 week old. One week, Mr. Speaker. 
In one week, we have flown over 7,000 combat sorties, we have delivered 
600 Tomahawk missiles with surgical precision such as never before seen 
in battle, we have moved numerous ground troops to within 50 miles of 
Baghdad, and we have killed or captured thousands of Iraqi soldiers. We 
have adapted, we have overcome, and, Mr. Speaker, we will prevail.
  But in the din of news reports and live briefings, the fog of battle 
for Americans can be information overload. We learn a lot about what is 
happening today. But for the next couple of minutes, Mr. Speaker, I 
would like

[[Page H2389]]

to make sure that we remember what has happened before to lead us to 
this point.
  In 1979, Saddam Hussein took control of the Iraqi Government. The 
next year he launched a costly 8-year war with Iran that was both 
inconclusive and violent.
  In 1988, after his unsuccessful foray into Iran, he took on a less 
formidable enemy, the Kurdish people of Northern Iraq, his own people. 
Using chemical weapons and poison gas, he destroyed 1,000 to 2,000 of 
their villages. The death toll from that holocaust may have been as 
high as 182,000 people.
  In 1990, he once again crossed international boundaries and invaded 
tiny Kuwait. During that exercise his soldiers carried out orders to 
kill any civilian who did so little as violate curfew.
  In 1991, his continued aggression against Kuwait brought about the 
attention of the United States and the United Nations and his swift 
defeat during Operation Desert Storm.
  In the 12 years since Desert Storm, Mr. Speaker, the United Nations 
has passed 17 different resolutions outlining conditions under which 
Saddam can stay in power. He has violated them all.
  We now have further evidence that Saddam and his band of loyalist 
thugs have no respect for human life, common decency, nor even the 
international rules of engagement. The heinous treatment of our 
soldiers and the abuse of even his own citizens once again is 
absolutely despicable.
  Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I hope the world takes note of another 
truth of this conflict. As Hitler was supported by the Nazi loyalists, 
so, too, is Saddam supported by his Baath Party fanatics.

                              {time}  2045

  My colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon), stood on this floor on 
February 25 and outlined the atrocities of the regime in terrible, 
gruesome detail. He described mutilated babies, crippled children, 
adults without limbs, dipped in acid, torture beyond the imagination of 
civilized people, all at the hands of Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath 
party.
  Referring to these and the regime's other crimes against humanity, 
our President, our Commander in Chief said, ``If this is not evil, then 
evil has no meaning.'' Mr. Speaker, I could not agree more. That is why 
Operation Iraqi Freedom is about regime change, not just about Saddam. 
All those that promote terror, manufacture it, and export it must be 
squelched before liberation can come to the Iraqi people and peace to 
the rest of the world.
  Mr. Speaker, the bullets are flying; and our troops are in harm's 
way. As we continue to be briefed on their daily progress, as we see 
the sacrifices being made in the field by our soldiers and back home by 
their families, let us keep this in proper perspective. Let us remember 
why we are there: to end a regime of terror and liberate a people who 
have never known freedom.
  Godspeed to our troops and God bless America.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado; and I 
want to commend him on words well said. I appreciate everything that he 
is doing to help free the people of Iraq as a new Member of Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about a number of things. I want to read 
a letter from an Iraqi woman. I want to read a letter from Charlie 
Daniels. I wanted to talk about a French company that has nearly a $1 
billion catering contract to the U.S. Marine Corps, and I want to talk 
about Iraqi violations of the Geneva Convention.
  First, let me read a rather spirited letter from Charlie Daniels. We 
know Charlie Daniels is the songwriter who wrote The Devil Went Down to 
Georgia, among other things. He is great playing the fiddle, and he is 
a great American. So this is Charlie Daniels' letter, open letter to 
the Hollywood bunch. I am going to read directly from the letter.

       Okay, let's say just for a moment you bunch of pampered, 
     overpaid, unrealistic children had your way and the USA did 
     not go into Iraq.
       Let's say that you really get your way and we destroy all 
     of our nuclear weapons, stick daisies in our gun barrels and 
     sit around with some white wine and cheese and pat ourselves 
     on the back, so proud of what we have done for world peace.
       Let's say that we cut the military budget to just enough to 
     keep the National Guard on hand to help out with floods and 
     fires.
       Let's say that we close down our military bases all over 
     the world and bring our troops home, increase foreign aid, 
     and drop all trade sanctions against everybody.
       I suppose that in your fantasy world, this would create a 
     utopian world where everybody would live in peace. After all, 
     the great monster, the United States of America, the cause of 
     all of the world's trouble, would have disbanded its horrible 
     military and certainly all of the other countries of the 
     world would follow suit.
       After all, they only arm themselves to defend their country 
     from the mean USA.
       Why, you bunch of pitiful, hypocritical, idiotic spoiled 
     mugwumps. Get your head out of the sand and smell the Trade 
     Towers burning.
       Do you think that a trip to Iraq by Sean Penn did anything 
     but encourage a wanton murderer to think that the people of 
     the USA didn't have the nerve or guts to fight him?
       Barbara Streisand's fanatical and hateful rantings about 
     George Bush makes about as much sense as Michael Jackson 
     hanging a baby over a railing.
       You people need to get out of Hollywood once in a while and 
     get into the real world. You'd be surprised at the hostility 
     you would find out here.
       Stop in at a truck stop and tell an overworked long-
     distance trucker that you don't think Saddam Hussein is doing 
     anything wrong.
       Tell a farmer with a couple of sons in the United States 
     military that you think the United States has no right to 
     defend itself.
       Go down to Baxley, Georgia, and hold an antiwar rally and 
     see what the folks down there think about you.
       You people are some of the most disgusting examples of a 
     waste of protoplasm I've ever had the displeasure to hear 
     about.
       Sean Penn, you are a traitor to the United States of 
     America. You gave aid and comfort to the enemy. How many 
     American lives will your little fact-finding trip to Iraq 
     cost? You encourage Saddam Hussein to think that we didn't 
     have the stomach for war.
       You people protect one of the most evil men on the face of 
     this earth and you won't lift a finger to save the life of an 
     unborn baby. Freedom of choice, you say?


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bradley of New Hampshire). The gentleman 
should address his remarks to the Chair.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I am reading a letter from Charlie Daniels 
which I think I am certainly allowed under the rules to do. Not that I 
would ever argue with the distinguished parliamentarian, particularly 
the one on your right, but I believe I can read a letter.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman can read his letter provided 
it is otherwise in order.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the Speaker. I am still in quotes, Mr. Speaker, 
and probably it is very appropriate for the Speaker to point out that I 
am reading a letter, open letter to Hollywood written by Mr. Charlie 
Daniels, one of America's most popular entertainers. I am going to 
continue with that, back to the quoted letter.

       Well, I'm going to exercise some freedom of choice of my 
     own.
       If I see any of your names on a marquee, I'm going to 
     boycott the movie. I will completely stop going to the movies 
     if I have to. In most cases, it certainly wouldn't be much of 
     a loss.
       You scoff at our military whose boots you are not even 
     worthy to shine.
       They go to battle and risk their lives so ingrates like you 
     can live in luxury.
       The day of reckoning is coming when you will be faced with 
     the undeniable truth that the war against Saddam Hussein is 
     the war on terrorism.
       America is in imminent danger.
       You're either for her or against her. There is no middle 
     ground.
       I think we all know where you stand.
       What do you think?
       God bless America.
       Unquote, Charlie Daniels.

  Mr. Speaker, my colleagues can get this off the website. However, due 
to technological ethics, I am unable to give out that website number, 
but if somebody would call my office, I would be glad to give it to 
them.
  Mr. Speaker, here is a guy who is one of the American-dream-type 
success stories, came up the hard way. I believe Charlie Daniels went 
to the University of Chicago, so he is not exactly just this country 
boy from back home on the farm that Hollywood would scoff at. But this 
is a guy who has really made it pretty big in the entertainment world, 
knows the Hollywood bunch because he calls them up front and he writes 
a letter like that to give us an idea of what he thinks.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, I am going to read another letter by a woman named

[[Page H2390]]

Katrin Michael. She is member of Women for a Free Iraq, a Washington-
based advocacy group. She wrote this for Newsday, but I read it in the 
Savannah Morning News. I am going to again quote from this.

       As an Iraqi woman who wages peace and has fought in war, I 
     am compelled to support a U.S.-led action to remove Saddam 
     Hussein. After 26 years of resistance against Saddam, I have 
     come to the conclusion that only forces from outside Iraq can 
     bring an end to the nightmare of his rule.
       The stories of Saddam Hussein's brutality are all true. 
     Ethnic cleansing, summary imprisonment and execution, torture 
     and rape are all part of the nightmare. I know this from 
     personal experience.
       My father founded an Iraqi peace movement, a crime for 
     which he was murdered. At the time I was 14 years old. I was 
     arrested by the regime merely because I joined the Iraqi 
     Women's League. I was not the only young girl arrested for 
     such a trivial offense.
       Later, I joined the Kurdish resistance, even though I was, 
     in their eyes, a mere woman and a Christian. I traveled in 
     disguise to Baghdad and around the country to organize 
     opposition to Saddam. When I was injured in one of his 
     chemical bombardments against hundreds of Kurdish villages in 
     1987 and 1988, I was forced to flee to a refugee camp in 
     southern Turkey where I stayed until I finally reached 
     freedom in the United States in 1997. I continue to suffer to 
     this day from lung, nerve and eye damage caused by these 
     weapons.
       No one in Iraq is immune from Saddam's brutality, not even 
     the closest members of his own family. He even executed two 
     of his own sons-in-law in 1996.
       A commonly used form of torture is to bring a detainee's 
     female relative, preferably his wife, daughter or mother, and 
     gang rape her in front of him.
       Members of the Iraqi opposition in exile receive videotape 
     of tapes of their female relatives in Iraq being raped. Women 
     who criticize or merely offend Saddam are accused of being 
     prostitutes and regularly beheaded in public.
       His son, Uday, often leads these beheadings. They occur in 
     Baghdad as well as in smaller villages throughout Iraq. The 
     heads of the executed women are hung on the doors of their 
     houses for all to see.
       I am saddened when I see people who sincerely care for the 
     fate of the Iraqi people resist the American-led effort to 
     remove Saddam and restore hope for the Iraqis. We cannot do 
     it alone.
       Iraqis had their closest brush with freedom in 1992 during 
     Operation Desert Storm. I regret, as do most Iraqis, that the 
     United States and its allies allowed Saddam to squash this 
     resistance and remain in power. Those who care about peace 
     and justice for the Iraqis should not make the same mistake 
     again.
       Saddam will never leave power willingly. He will never give 
     up his weapons and allow the Iraqi people to live in freedom.

  That is the end of the letter, Mr. Speaker, but I want to restate one 
more time that this was written by an Iraqi woman who was raised in 
Iraq, who was part of the peace movement, who has come to the 
conclusion that only a U.S.-led action will remove Saddam Hussein, and 
that is the only way that the world will be rid of him.
  I think that is so important, Mr. Speaker, because there are a lot of 
well-meaning people who are against the United States action. There are 
a lot who are not so well-meaning. A lot of people just have a gripe 
with George Bush, and they find the war a convenient vehicle to air 
their opinion. There are a lot of people who do not like the United 
States of America and, again, they find the war a convenient excuse to 
air their opinion on that. But then there are a lot of people who are 
absolutely sincere: peace first, peace only, negotiations.
  Yet what this Iraqi woman is saying, who has been there and has been 
injured by Saddam Hussein, is we cannot do it alone, we have to have a 
U.S.-led coalition.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, in Basra, we did find out that there was an 
uprising and at this point it has not continued, but I think that it 
will, and I think in the days and weeks ahead we are going to see more 
and more Iraqi citizens coming out of their hiding places and facing 
Saddam Hussein and joining the resistance against him.
  Now, I have been joined by our friend from Miami, Florida (Mr. Mario 
Diaz-Balart). I want to yield some time to him.
  I have a couple of other topics I want to talk about surrounding 
Iraq. One of them has to do with a French company that has a lucrative 
contract with the Department of Defense feeding 55 garrisons throughout 
America. I also want to talk about the House Resolution that we passed 
today urging Iraq to comply with the Geneva Convention. But the 
gentleman has been a very active freshman Member of Congress and has a 
lot of issues he has been working on, too. So I yield to him to jump in 
on this or switch topics or whatever pleases him.

                              {time}  2100

  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding to me. I was listening to the gentleman's words today, and I 
was moved by the gentleman's statements and by the strength and 
veracity of that letter from that young woman who suffered the intense 
oppression of that brutal, crazy dictator, that dictator that is 
oppressing the people of Iraq.
  What she says is so true: the Iraqi people have been suffering for a 
long, long time. They have suffered through what we really cannot even 
imagine, the most horrendous humiliations, tortures, murders, 
assassinations. That man who has killed about 1.5 million people, has 
gassed his own people, and other nations; who has no concern for life 
or for any basic principles or freedoms, and who the world was 
negotiating with for about 12 years.
  Think about that. We all believe in negotiations. We all believe in 
diplomacy. I believe that we should try to negotiate; and when we have 
a dictator, a crazy, insane man who has committed mass genocide and 
murder, that we should try to negotiate, for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 
4 years, 10 years, 12 years? When is enough failed negotiations enough? 
When is enough failure enough?
  I believe that the United Nations has a role to play. Yes, I believe 
we should get the United Nations resolutions to express the sentiment 
of the world once, twice, three times, ten times. But 17 times? How 
many resolutions must he ignore and continue his oppression, his 
assassination, and more dangerous to us, his trying to obtain nuclear 
and other weapons of mass destruction?
  How many times should we say, or is there a time when we should say, 
enough? What does it take? What does it take for the world to react?
  Thank God, fortunately, we have a President who stated after the 
attacks, those horrendous attacks that occurred on 9-11 against our 
people, our innocent people, he stated very clearly that those that 
harbor terrorism were terrorists, and that there was going to be a 
price to pay.
  Then he tried to warn, and he did warn, Saddam Hussein. He went to 
the United Nations and got one last chance for Saddam Hussein from the 
United Nations. But there is a time, unfortunately, when one must act. 
That time has come. Now our brave men and women are doing what the 
President said he was going to do, what he was going to ask them to do 
if Saddam Hussein did not disarm. He was going to disarm them with our 
brave men and women.
  They are doing an incredible job, an incredible job. This is the time 
to support our troops. This is the time to not vacillate in that 
support for our troops.
  I know there are those who say, well, we support our troops, but we 
wish they were not there. They are there. They are performing a vital 
job. We have to support them wholeheartedly, not with caveats, not with 
reservations. We have to support them. We have to support them, and 
they have to do what it takes to get the job done.
  It is up to us, who are living and enjoying the freedoms that those 
thousands of men and women in uniform for generations have fought to 
give us. We should utilize those freedoms to show appreciation, to show 
respect, to show admiration, and to say, job well done. We are with 
you. We are going to be with you to the end.
  They are going to succeed because the vast majority of the American 
people supports them; because the vast majority of the American people 
supports our President, our Commander in Chief, in his efforts. We are 
so grateful.
  I actually was walking through, and I heard what the gentleman was 
saying on the floor. I had to come by and thank the gentleman, thank 
the gentleman for those words, and thank him for reminding us what is 
at stake. When the gentleman read that letter from that young woman, I 
think it brought it home. It brought it home to roost. What is at stake 
here is so precious. It is liberty, it is life, it is everything that 
we care for, everything that we believe in.

[[Page H2391]]

  Yes, unfortunately, it is expensive. It is expensive. It has been 
expensive for generations. But those who have to protect those lives, 
those freedoms are the American people. Once again, our troops are 
doing it with the honor, with the valor, with the talent that they have 
always done it. I want to thank them for what they are doing.
  I want to thank you, sir, for once again bringing that to light. That 
is why I had to come by here. I saw the gentleman on TV, and I had to 
come by to thank him for these words of solidarity to our troops, to 
the Commander in Chief; and to remind everybody why it is that we are 
in this battle; and that we are going to win this battle because it is 
so important, because so much is at stake. Yes, we are on the right 
side.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I want to thank the gentleman for those words, Mr. 
Speaker.
  It is interesting, today we had a great moment where all Members, 
Democrat and Republican, came together on the issue of Iraq complying 
with the Geneva Convention, which of course they are not doing. Each 
day there is a new revelation.

  There was a very tender moment today as we in Congress saw the 
pictures of the prisoners, the American POWs, that Iraq had filmed. As 
the gentleman knows, it was very gruesome. First, the cameras panned on 
some dead soldiers, soldiers who at least three of them had a shot 
right in their forehead; young men, strong men, men in uniform, men 
with their dog tags around their necks and the blood that was on their 
chests, in some cases. It was a very sobering, very gut-wrenching scene 
to see.
  Then, apparently in the same room, but it was not clear, were the 
live prisoners. Iraqi TV or whoever the reporters were were 
interviewing them and asking them a lot of questions. There seemed to 
be some pushing and shoving in the room. It seemed that there were a 
lot of people. We could tell by the look in these American prisoners' 
eyes that they did not know if they were going to be alive the next 
minute, or make it through the night, or what was going to happen to 
them. It seemed like utter confusion.
  What struck me, among other things, is that even in Somalia, and we 
all have read or seen ``Blackhawk Down,'' which I think was a great 
depiction of that battle. When they had the captive helicopter 
operator, he was still allowed to get the International Red Cross to 
come in. Yet in Iraq they do not even let the Red Cross in to see our 
prisoners.
  Today, on a bipartisan basis, we debated, and we will vote on it 
tomorrow, House Concurrent Resolution 118, which I had, I guess I am 
not going to say the honor, which would be the usual word, but I 
offered it, along with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes).
  I represent the Third Infantry in Hinesville, Georgia, and he 
represents Fort Bliss in Texas, where the members of 507th Maintenance 
Division were from, supporting the Third Infantry.
  Just to see the House come together and say, you know, this is 
absolutely not right, and we are going to put the folks from Iraq on 
notice that they will be tried as war criminals as soon as possible. If 
that means waiting until the war is over, fine; but if we can get them 
out of there before then, they will be tried as war criminals. We made 
that statement to them, number one.
  Number two, we assured our troops that we are watching and we are 
with them in thought and in spirit, and we are going to do everything 
that we can to get them out of there alive.
  Number three, we sent a signal to the international community, the 
French, the Germans, the Chinese, the Russians, those who were so quick 
to denounce the United States of America and this action. Well, there 
are 164 countries that have signed the Geneva Conventions going back to 
1949. Let these countries now step forward and denounce Iraq, who 
incidentally is a signer of the Geneva Conventions; and let the world 
community find something that they can agree on in the form of these 
seven soldiers who are captured as we speak tonight.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, it 
is interesting, the gentleman mentioned some of these countries that 
were so quick to criticize the United States, criticize the United 
States for enforcing the resolutions that they unanimously supported, 
by the way.
  Yet, we now see some of them, and I do not know why they have acted 
the way they have, but I can just throw some facts on the table. We now 
see that the Government of Russia has sold to the Iraqi Government some 
very high-tech military equipment.
  Mr. KINGSTON. That Russian equipment sold to Iraq, Mr. Speaker, that 
is radar-jamming or missile-jamming technology. Is that not the case?
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART. It is highly sophisticated night vision 
equipment, equipment to avoid radar, missiles, and also to confuse GPS 
devices that are obviously a big part of a military arsenal.
  Yet a lot of these things are things that were not permissible under 
the sanctions that those same governments supported. So on one side, 
they are saying, well, Iraq is a violator of all sorts of rights. They 
are trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction. They have supported 
all these resolutions in the past. On the other side of their mouths, 
they are selling them high-tech equipment, military equipment.
  That regime that they have condemned for the human rights abuses, for 
the rape of the women, for the assassinations, they are selling that 
regime high-tech military equipment, much of it banned by the United 
Nations. Those countries voted to ban that equipment to the Iraqi 
regime.
  We saw that the wonderful, talented men and women of the U.S. Air 
Force shot down missiles. Some were destined to land in populated areas 
of Kuwait. Those are missiles that supposedly they do not have, that 
Iraq does not have. What more proof do we need?

  I ask a question, I ask a rhetorical question, How many violations 
does it take for these countries to realize that there is a problem? Of 
course, what we realize now is that it is not that they do not realize 
that they are violations. It is that they have been assisting this 
regime and selling them high-tech equipment that has been banned, that 
is unlawful, according to the United Nations resolutions. They have 
been assisting this regime in their oppression, in their 
assassinations.
  I think we are going to find a lot of that. I am not telling the 
gentleman that is the reason why some of these countries oppose the 
United States' effort to free the people of Iraq, just like the United 
States military freed the people of France twice.
  By the way, the people of France, thank God, they had the right to be 
free. A lot of brave young American GIs died to free the people of 
France. I am glad that France is free. The people of Iraq are no less 
human beings than the people of France. They have the right to be free, 
as well.
  Mr. KINGSTON. It is interesting that the gentleman mentions that, 
because there is a degree of racism, I think, on the part of the peace 
activists of the world. The reason why I say racism is because would 
these people support a Saddam Hussein if he were in Paris? Would they 
do it if he were in Germany? No. They would denounce him quickly. But 
as long as he is in the Middle East, well, they have been fighting for 
years. Or if he is in, say, South Asia or something, well, they have 
been fighting for years; or if he is in Africa.
  How many times have we heard, they have been fighting for years, we 
cannot bring peace in the Middle East, like the people in the Middle 
East do not deserve peace; but the folks in Europe, that is the high 
standard to live by. To me it is just a double standard. I can only 
summarize it with racism.
  The gentleman mentioned Russia selling sophisticated, high-tech 
equipment to Iraq. We already are seeing in Congress that we have the 
supplemental budget coming, and it is going to be to fund the military 
operation as well as the humanitarian operation.
  As a result of the humanitarian operation, I am already seeing a gold 
rush. I am seeing companies actually start lobbying for contracts. That 
bothers me a lot when we have one missing in action today, seven 
captured, and eight casualties American and 18 British. Yet what really 
bothers me is some of these countries are not American countries and 
they are not English countries and they are not Australian; they are 
not coalition countries.

[[Page H2392]]

  I have one example, though, of a company. USAID, which is a foreign 
aid branch, it does a lot of good things, but it is going to let some 
humanitarian contracts go, and French and German companies will be 
eligible to compete for it. That bothers me a lot, that they will be 
able to profit from this war.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART. I could not agree with the gentleman more, if 
the gentleman will yield, Mr. Speaker. This is a two-fold problem. 
There is, first, the opposition to this effort to free the Iraqi people 
and to free the world from this very dangerous dictator, free the world 
from a dictator who is trying to get or obtain nuclear weapons, and who 
already has other weapons of mass destruction.

                              {time}  2115

  We are trying to free the Iraqi people while at the same time free 
the world from this incredible threat.
  So we have to remember these countries that we are objecting to that, 
that even though unanimously, just a few months before, they said, hey, 
look, we are going to give this dictator one last chance, he has to 
disarm, but it is worse than that because not only are they objecting 
to the freeing of the Iraqi people, are they objecting to ridding of 
the world of this dictator who is trying to get nuclear weapons, who 
has ties with terrorist organizations and, by the way, including 
terrorist organizations that have assassinated Americans, but what is 
even more offensive is that at the same time they are selling this 
dictator high-tech equipment that he can use to further exploit, hurt, 
oppress, kill, murder his people and others because of his ties with 
terrorism.
  One would hope that humanity has gone above and beyond that, and yet 
there are those that would like to profit even while selling high-tech 
equipment that they know they should not be selling because they have 
said it repeatedly in U.N. resolutions. So they know it, it is not by 
mistake, and yet they are doing so to earn a buck, to earn a buck?
  Mr. KINGSTON. There is another example. Another company called 
Sedxho, S-E-D-X-H-O, it is a French company. It is a publicly-owned 
French company, but they have $1 billion worth of food service 
contracts with the United States Department of Defense. Recently, they 
signed an $881 million contract to feed the U.S. Marines in 55 
different garrisons. We are working on a letter to the Secretary of 
Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld, to say he needs to renegotiate this, he needs to 
cancel it, he needs to look into it. But can my colleague imagine, here 
is a French company, and France, I do not remember one division in the 
country of France in terms of their stance against America in the last 
3 to 6 months. I do not remember anybody moderating.
  In America we had division. We had a pro-war and an anti-war group, 
and the world knew that. But, in France, it seems like they were all 
united against the United States and against this war.
  Apparently, that is not a problem to Sedxho, because they are a 
French company. And yet here are the Marines, the brave and the 
honorable Marines who are the ones who discovered this hospital today, 
allegedly a hospital, and yet 55 different garrisons in the United 
States of America, when an 18-year-old Marine sits down for lunch, a 
French company is making a profit from that. That is unbelievable, and 
I call on the Department of Defense to cancel that contract.
  Listen, there are reasons sometimes we have to buy from an enemy. 
There are reasons that somebody has something unique, but we are 
talking catering. I am sure there are good companies in Florida and 
Georgia and all over America that can do the catering service for the 
U.S. Marine corps, but a French company, it is unbelievable.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. If the gentleman would yield, I 
think we are going to find a lot of that. I think we are going to find 
a lot of companies that are profiting from selling goods to the United 
States, including to the United States Armed Forces and armed services, 
as the gentleman just pointed out, who, by the way, are probably also 
making a hefty profit selling products to Iraq, even though there are 
sanctions there and probably even some high-tech equipment to the 
tyranny in Iraq.
  I think it kind of explains some of the ferocity of the argument, 
some of the aggressiveness of some of those that were objecting to the 
United States' noble stance to help free an oppressed people and also 
help rid the world of these weapons of mass destruction and the 
possible obtaining of nuclear weapons to this dictator. I think we are 
going to see a lot of that.
  The thing that surprised me, and it does not surprise me anymore 
because we are starting to see why, and my colleague just mentioned it, 
we are starting to see why but, surprisingly, the ferocity of the 
argument and how France, for example, not only do they object to any 
resolution that was not of their liking in the U.N. recently and they 
said so, but, also, they went lobbying. They actually were talking to 
every nation possible to try to stop this movement to free the people 
of Iraq and to free the world from this dictator who has caused so much 
grief.
  I think we are starting to see why, but it is sad, it is sad that it 
looks like one of the main reasons or at least one of the reasons may 
be because they are making a buck off of this dictator.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, also, are they not making a buck or 
profit, things like that, but they have had a lucrative oil contract in 
Iraq they did not want to disturb. That it is clear France is not after 
some noble or high ground about peace, but it simply boils down to 
profit.
  If the gentleman would like to make any closing comments, I need to 
actually make an engagement.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank 
the gentleman from Georgia. Again, I had to come to the floor today 
once I was hearing what he was talking about. I had to come here and 
thank the gentleman, thank him for standing up for our troops, thank 
him for supporting our troops, thank him for supporting the President 
of the United States, Commander in Chief in such a difficult time. Our 
troops are going to prevail because of their honor, their integrity, 
their decency and because they are the best people, best troops and the 
best human beings that this world has ever seen, and they are well led, 
and their cause is just.
  I wanted to thank the gentleman again for his words. They were 
humbling, and they were touching, and I wanted to come here and thank 
him tonight for his words.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate everything the gentleman is 
doing.

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