[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 136 (Tuesday, September 30, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H9011-H9014]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE REAL STORY OF IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Chocola) has 
19 minutes remaining in his Special Order.
  Mr. CHOCOLA. Madam Speaker, so far we have heard from three Members

[[Page H9012]]

including me that have been to Iraq. We shared some of our stories. But 
we got back about 3 weeks ago; and in Iraq's history as a free nation, 
that is a very long period of time since they have only been free of 
the Saddam Hussein regime for about 5 or 6 months.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger), a Member of 
Congress who just returned last night.
  Ms. GRANGER. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding.
  The night is long; so I will be brief. But I was a part of a 17-
member bipartisan delegation that left last Thursday after the last 
vote and then returned late last night. And as we left and as we 
arrived many hours later, we knew that there were people that were 
debating whether we should be in Iraq and how we got there. We spent 
the next days looking into the faces of men and women who fought there 
and assuring them that we were not going to cut and run, that we were 
going to make their sacrifices worth it and we were there to assure 
them that we would let them finish the job. As was mentioned earlier, 
General Rick Sanchez, he talked to us about what had occurred there and 
what needed to occur there, and he also told us the same thing, that 
winning this war would be winning over the hearts and the minds of the 
people of Iraq, and I certainly could not agree more.
  What we saw in Iraq, first of all, were palaces, over a hundred of 
them, with beautiful crystal chandeliers and painted ceilings and 
gilded doors and a gilded thrown. Outside we saw statues and monuments 
built by Saddam Hussein and built there to glorify Saddam Hussein.
  What else did we see? We visited a hospital in Baghdad, and not in my 
lifetime have I seen a hospital like that except in old movies, World 
War I and World War II, because we do not have hospitals with equipment 
that is that old. We saw a predelivery room with women waiting to 
deliver their babies in a room with a roof that leaked and air 
conditioners that did not work and faucets with rusted handles. We went 
to a power plant that was supposed to supply the power to Iraq, and it 
was held together with hope and rope and rust and baling wire. We were 
escorted there by a wonderful Marine lieutenant colonel who said as he 
went through that country he wondered if he would ever see a child with 
shoes on because none of them had shoes.
  Is this a country without natural resources and assets? Is this a 
country that had no other choices? No, it certainly is not that 
country. It is a country with oil reserves second only to Saudi Arabia, 
that had land that was fertile and good for agriculture, had 
intelligent, caring people who wanted something better than that. 
Remember, this is a country that helped start the World Bank and at one 
time had an economy equal to Australia. But what had happened in this 
country, or what we understood what happened in that country, is Saddam 
Hussein.
  We also visited a mass grave, much as what the gentleman had 
described; and we stood there and heard the story about that mass grave 
of 3,000 people identified because they had to put their identification 
in a plastic bag that was hung around their neck. So when that was 
discovered along with they think are over 100 graves like that, some as 
large as what the gentleman said, 10,000 remains, and as they tried to 
identify those people and go to those families and say to the people 
that they thought all these years were alive and in prison were in this 
mass grave, shot in the back of the head and then dumped into a grave 
and then sometimes, either because they ran out of ammunition or just 
got tired, they were not shot. They were just dumped into graves. What 
we saw and what we understood there in Iraq were businesses that were 
not started and educations that were not finished and babies who did 
not live. This is a country that has an infant mortality that is equal 
to India, one of the highest in the world. We saw children whose 
fathers just disappeared and lives that were lived in utter terror. We 
saw justice that was not delivered and protection that was not given.
  So we came back, I say, as a bipartisan congressional delegation. We 
came back united in our resolve, regardless of where we were on the 
resolution before, but united in finishing the job that had been 
started; and I have thought ever since I got back and all day today, 
which I cannot get out of my mind, and I know as well as those who have 
spoken tonight, we have an opportunity to prove who we are and what we 
stand for. Sure, there are challenges. There are challenges. We could 
talk about the cost. Is it enough? Is it too little? Where do we get 
it? But we have an opportunity to help the people experience what we 
take for granted often, and that is our freedom, our protection, our 
system of justice, having a future, having a future for our children 
and grandchildren and say they can be what I am or better, they have 
that opportunity.

                              {time}  2130

  We have the opportunity to help the people of Iraq have that and 
then, of course, leave them in charge and leave, and leave them with a 
future that is full of hope. I left with the wonderfully uplifting 
feeling of being able to do what is right, both what is right for the 
people of Iraq but also what is right for the people, our people who 
are serving in uniform there, and just what is right as men and women 
of principle in this House, the opportunity that we have been given by 
the people.
  So I would say I wish every Member of this House could do what we 
have done, to be there and to see that and talk to the people of Iraq 
and talk to our men and women who serve. I am glad the American people 
have the opportunity for us to tell about this, because it was 
something that I will never forget as long as I serve in this House, or 
be able to walk away and say what I am proud of. I appreciate the time 
to be able to relate that.
  Mr. CHOCOLA. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much for 
joining us tonight and staying up late after a very long trip. But 
certainly I think that tells how impressed we all were after we had the 
opportunity to visit Iraq.
  One of the things that I think struck us all was the quality of the 
men and women in uniform and their sense of mission. I get asked often, 
what is the morale? Three weeks ago when we were there, the morale was 
very strong. They knew why they were there, and they knew what they 
were doing. I am curious as to how the gentlewoman found the morale.
  Ms. GRANGER. Absolutely. The highlight of any trip like that is to 
sit and break bread with the people who serve; and we always sit with 
people who are in our districts, but in my particular case the people 
of Texas overall. But amongst the men and women the morale was high. 
They knew why they were there. They were proud of what they were doing, 
and they could not wait to tell us. The experience and the expertise, 
the determination of those men and women is always something that is 
just astounding to me. Yes, the morale is very high. They know why they 
are there. They are anxious to get home to their families and get back 
to their jobs but very proud of what they are doing.
  As one of the officers related, he said he went to the hospital to 
visit someone who had been injured badly, and he said he experienced 
what he always experiences when he says, what can I do for you. They 
always say, take me back to where I was; I want to finish the job.
  Mr. CHOCOLA. Again, I thank the gentlewoman very much for joining us 
tonight, and welcome home, and I thank her for sharing her stories.
  I see the gentleman from Texas is still here, and I think he may have 
another story he would like to share with us.
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I 
certainly thank my colleague from Texas for taking the time to come 
here tonight. I know what that jet lag is like.
  I feel obligated just to make another mention about the situation 
with the mass graves. I was a private citizen in 1999, but I remember 
the administration and I remember the news media talking about the 
necessity for going into Kosovo and how desperate that necessity was, 
because there were mass graves in Kosovo. Well, we went into Kosovo and 
we won that conflict, but the mass graves somehow never materialized 
and somehow that was unimportant. But, Madam Speaker, we found those 
mass graves. Those mass

[[Page H9013]]

graves were in Iraq. When we were busy in Kosovo, we probably should 
have been concentrating on the regime of Saddam Hussein.
  A lot has been made about the weapons of mass destruction and the 
fact that we have not yet found them. I will tell my colleagues I am 
impressed, because of the size of the country, with the enormity of 
that job. But one weapon of mass destruction we have found, and that 
weapon was the person of Saddam Hussein, and that is attested to by all 
of the silent voices buried in those mass graves around his country.
  I thank my friend from Indiana for yielding me the additional time, 
and I happily yield back.
  Mr. CHOCOLA. Madam Speaker, I think there are a lot of misconceptions 
about Iraq, that it is a barren desert country, when in fact it is a 
fertile crescent, truly, and also about the mass graves. When I am at 
home I ask people, how many mass graves do you think we found in Iraq? 
And they say, oh, five, six. If I recall when we were there, they found 
something like 151 already; and they thought that there were maybe as 
many as 500, maybe over 1 million people had been murdered in these 
mass grave sites.
  The magnitude of the horror of the regime of Saddam Hussein can only 
be understood by the people who lived under it. I think that is why, 
when we were in the area of Babylon traveling in a bus along the 
roadside, people would run up to the bus and give us the thumbs up. Can 
my colleagues imagine the situation of living under that burden of 
knowing that your relatives were killed in a field near your village, 
but you could never go there because you might find the same fate if 
you tried to go find out what really happened?
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, he will 
remember one of the estimates that we were given about the number of 
casualties in that mass grave in Al Hilla was based upon the testimony 
of a physician in that town. I was a physician in my former life. 
Imagine this doctor whose life was dedicated to saving lives, to 
healing, to giving life, watching in his village while a bus or a truck 
was loaded up three times a day and driven out to that site and 
returned empty, and this continued for a full month. And that was where 
they got the estimates of the numbers of perhaps in excess of 30,000 
people being within that one single mass grave; and then, of course, as 
the gentleman knows, there are many more like that throughout the 
country.
  Mr. CHOCOLA. Again, I thank the gentleman. As with all things, it is 
not important what we say or think or observe but what we do. 
Certainly, our action on supporting the men and women in uniform and 
the citizens of Iraq rebuild their country, which I think will 
pay dividends for generations to come, is very important.

  I think the gentleman from Pennsylvania has another measure to 
discuss on what we should do.
  Mr. SHUSTER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Our efforts are on track in Iraq. We do have a plan. But something 
that is very disappointing to me and, actually, I am angry about is 
that is in regard to the participation or lack of participation of the 
world's largest peacekeeping organization.
  The United Nations is an organization that was founded on 
international cooperation and collective security, but it has failed to 
assist in efforts to remove a growing threat. The failure of this 
organization to support our efforts against a murderous and extreme 
dictator is unfortunate and, at times, unforgivable.
  What I have done is I have drafted a piece of legislation that I am 
going to introduce tonight that will take $200 million of our annual 
dues, which is about $330 million every year, and it directs the 
administration to take that money and put it towards the humanitarian 
situation and our troops in Iraq, to improve their environment, whether 
it is food or shelter or whatever the case may be. But I am to the 
point that I have watched for years the United Nations talk and not 
act. In this situation it is quite evident, the situation that occurred 
in Iraq, and it is quite evident that they need to be there helping us 
and, to this date, they have done nothing.
  So my legislation, as I said, would direct the administration to take 
$200 million of the $330 million, I believe it is, that we pay to the 
U.N. annually and send it over for our troops. So I would encourage my 
colleagues to sign on to this bill and support it as it moves forward. 
Just to let my colleagues know, there is a provision that if the United 
Nations decides to stand up and do what is right and support this 
effort, to go over and take their role in Iraq the way that they should 
participate, then there is a provision there that will let this 
legislation lapse. So I plan on introducing that tonight. Again, I 
would urge all of my colleagues to support this, to say to the U.N., 
stand up and be counted in this situation.
  Finally, I just want to thank my colleague from Indiana for setting 
up this hour this evening. I think it is important that we not only 
here on the floor of Congress in the House of Representatives tell the 
whole story, but that as we travel through our districts, making sure 
that the people that we represent hear firsthand and unfiltered what is 
happening there, and that there is a positive plan in place, and that 
we have young men and women who are committed to doing what is right 
against sometimes terrible situations, but they are doing what is right 
and they are doing an absolutely fabulous job. The American people need 
to support them and need to support this effort. So I thank the 
gentleman for putting this together tonight.
  Mr. CHOCOLA. Again, I thank the gentleman, and I certainly appreciate 
his efforts. Our men and women in uniform are essentially performing 
many of the duties of the United Nations by liberating oppressed people 
and helping them rebuild their nation and really giving them the 
opportunity of freedom for the first time in their lives, something 
that I think is contagious and benefits all of us.
  Mr. Speaker, let me conclude by pointing out that the bottom line is 
that Iraq is the frontline of the war on terror, and it is a war we can 
and must win. As the young woman in Tikrit, the young soldier that I 
had dinner with, pointed out, this issue is much larger than Iraq 
itself. It is about the future stability of the Middle East and really 
about the future stability of our entire world.
  If Iraq can become a secular, free, democratic nation, it will give 
hope and optimism to a region of the world that really has very little 
today. They are well-equipped to win that war, they are well-equipped 
to help the Iraqi people build a much better future, because they have 
every ingredient of success. They have water. They have rich oil 
reserves, which was pointed out tonight. They have tremendous 
agriculture capabilities. They can help feed not only themselves but 
many of their neighbors.
  So I think all of us, as Members of Congress, have an obligation to 
base our decisions on facts, not on rhetoric, not on politics. But with 
an issue as important as this that has ramifications for generations to 
come, it is so important that we seek the truth and seek the facts.
  What I have observed from every Member who has been there, that they 
came back with exactly the same story. They come back with hope, they 
come back with optimism, they come back with support for doing what is 
necessary to help our men and women in uniform and the men and women, 
the citizens of Iraq, to help rebuild their country. They do not try to 
separate out what we spend money on for just guns and bullets and what 
we spend on infrastructure, because they are really inseparable. 
Because our success is not really based on firepower, although that is 
important. It is about winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people 
and showing them American ideals and generosity that has really changed 
the globe and history over the last 200 plus years.

  Madam Speaker, I am sorry to say that since returning home from Iraq 
I have been criticized by some people for being optimistic. I have been 
scolded for not sharing the pessimism that we see on TV at night and 
read about in the paper in the morning.
  As I mentioned earlier, I left home with great concern, but I came 
back with immeasurable hope. If having faith in the power of democracy 
and the power of freedom and the capabilities of our men and women in 
uniform

[[Page H9014]]

is a sin, I am guilty as charged. I only wish that every American had 
the same opportunity that we had that went to Iraq. Because I know for 
a fact, if they went there and they could see the real and the whole 
story of Iraq, they would share our hope and our optimism, and they 
would support a very wise investment in the future of not only the 
Iraqi people, but of this entire world.
  I would certainly encourage all of my colleagues as Members of 
Congress to support the supplemental, because it is a very wise 
investment.

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