[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 53 (Wednesday, April 2, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H2672]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ERECTING AN EDIFICE FOR FUTURE WORLD PEACE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Madam Speaker, this afternoon I want to recognize the 
patriotism of our men and women of the Armed Forces who, halfway around 
the world in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and elsewhere, are in harm's way. 
They are brave, they care deeply about this country, so deeply they 
would lay down their lives for it, and have.
  This is worth our reflection as we gather here in the comfort of this 
Chamber, air-conditioned on a hot day. We should take a moment to think 
about our troops, to stand in their boots, and to give our thanks. Our 
soldiers deserve our unqualified support, and in Congress we must do 
everything we can to make sure they have it, whatever they need to do 
their job, to do it quickly, to do it with a minimum loss of life, and 
to come home safely. Whether they are in Basra, Baghdad, Bagram, or 
Afghanistan, we stand by our troops.
  War is cruel. Innocent lives are lost, families are devastated. We 
cannot but turn on the television to see graphically the horrors of 
war; some of our soldiers dying or dead, the loss of innocent civilian 
lives, some by errant bombs, others by the deliberate murder of 
Saddam's regime as it fired on those in the street.
  What we do not often recognize, because it is not thrust in our 
living rooms or our consciousness, is another terrible truth that 
peace, too, can be cruel. The peace of Rwanda, where millions died as 
the world watched. The peace of Kosovo, where tens of thousands were 
ethnically cleansed before we acted without the approval of the United 
Nations. And the peace of Baghdad, too, was cruel. The peace of torture 
and rape, of starvation and repression, of a failed sanctions regime 
that Hussein used cynically to kill his own people. That, too, is 
cruel. And lastly, the peace of September 10 was cruel, holding the 
promise of a long and precious life for 3,000 Americans who would not 
live out the week.
  Americans who oppose the war have many important points to make but 
must resist the temptation to merely attack the administration 
uncritically or nonconstructively, or to defend in any manner the 
indefensible regime of Saddam Hussein. The failure to disarm Iraq 
peacefully, notwithstanding 17 resolutions of the United Nations, was 
not alone the United States' responsibility. It was a failure of the 
world body, of the United Nations, of the collective security of 
mankind.
  Despite the intoxicating simplicity of the argument, the war in Iraq 
is not about American desire for oil, though our dependence on it is 
far too great. It is not about contracts for the French, although 
contracts they have. And it is not about debt to the Russians, although 
billions they are owed. Rather, it is about the post-Cold War failure 
to erect an edifice upon which the peace of the world can be built. And 
this problem, without our genuine reflection and determined effort, if 
left unattended and ignored, if lost in the dilution of a simpler 
answer, may mean that Iraq is only the second in a long line of future 
conflicts.
  When the war is over, more hard work lies ahead. We must not only 
rebuild the Nation of Iraq for the Iraqi people, but we must rebuild 
the institutions of the world community which have been devastated by 
the last few months of fractious debate at the United Nations. These 
two tasks, to restore Iraq and to restore the collective security 
apparatus of the world, must go hand in hand. Indeed, we need the one 
to help repair the other. The United Nations must play the pivotal role 
in the provision of food and medicine to the Iraqi people and assist in 
the administration of Iraq until that troubled land becomes a self-
governing nation.
  Many have argued that democracy is incompatible with the traditions 
and tribal rivalries of the Iraqi people, or that a nation drawn 
artificially together on a map must tear if not held together by the 
noxious glue of tyranny. We must not have such low aspirations for the 
Iraqi people who have great talents that have not been allowed to 
flourish, and we must never indulge in the prejudice that any people 
are less capable, less suited, or less deserving of democracy. 
Democracy is the institutional reflection of the God-given rights of 
liberty, belief, and expression.
  Democracy must be nurtured beyond Iraq and Afghanistan. We must be 
unstinting in our support for democratic movements in authoritarian 
nations. Democracy must come not only to our adversaries but to our 
allies as well, to the Saudis, to the Egyptians, and to Jordan. We must 
work to open these closed societies and closed economies to free the 
creative tall talents of their peoples, to lift the standard of living 
and expose the germ of terrorism to the cleansing power of opportunity.

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