[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 24, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H1467-H1468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              APPEASEMENT DOES NOT WORK AGAINST TERRORISTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, the images of 9-11 are very vivid in my 
mind. That unsolicited, unprovoked attack on the American population is 
one of the most heinous things that this generation will see.
  Mr. Speaker, we are given two choices when we are struck like that. 
We can choose appeasement. That was the policy of the preceding 10 
years.

                              {time}  2145

  Appeasement where we do not respond or we can respond to try to stop 
the threat. Under President Bush we have responded. President Clinton 
chose appeasement. If you watch the graduation of the attacks under the 
appeasement policy of President Clinton, you will see that the attacks 
began to escalate. The severity of the attacks began to take a greater 
toll.
  The terrorists have one thing in mind when they attack innocent 
civilians and countries that have not provoked them. They desire to 
create instability, understanding that if they create economic 
instability, they will create political instability.
  That was the mode of operation for the terrorists as they graduated 
through the 1990s. We recall that the World Trade Center was struck 
previous to 9/11. It was struck 10 years previous. On 9/11 we lost over 
2,000 lives and it cost our economy $2 trillion, and it is still 
costing today as businesses face increased insurance premiums to cover 
the losses of that 1 day.
  When I hear critics talk about the war and the cost on the war, and 
it is an expensive war, make no doubt about it, the costs are up around 
$200 billion now. $200 billion though is not yet 10 percent of the cost 
of that 1-day strike.

[[Page H1468]]

  The President has boldly fought back. Dramatic things have been done 
since 9/11. The President has caused Saudi Arabia to dismantle the 
funding mechanism for the terrorists, the funding network that was 
established in Saudi Arabia, a worldwide network marketing nuclear 
components for nuclear weapons that was created by A.Q. Khan, a 
Pakistani. That network in a marketed nuclear armament has been 
dismantled. We are now in the process of collecting back the things, 
Mr. Speaker, that he sold to nations.
  In Afghanistan the Taliban has been uprooted. They are out. Al Qaeda 
is on the run. That training camp where they trained 20,000 terrorists 
during the 1990s no longer exists, Mr. Speaker. And it is because of 
the bold action under this President. Libya has admitted to their 
participation in the weapons of mass destruction and they voluntarily 
have given up their weapons after the President took his bold action in 
Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, Iran is acknowledging their problems and their 
willingness to create weapons of mass destruction. Pakistan now is 
helping us fight the war on terror and just days ago was involved in a 
tremendous fire fight along the Afghanistan-Pakistani border.
  Mr. Speaker, those are the responses of strength. And I will tell you 
that we are going to fight the war on terror; 9/11 declared it to be 
that way. If we are going to fight the war on terror, I choose to fight 
it in their country rather than in this country.
  I traveled to Iraq at the end of October and the first of November. I 
visited our troops there, wanting to express my appreciation for what 
they were doing. As a soldier in Vietnam, I never received one 
communication from my Congressman, but I did want to communicate to 
these young men and women how much I valued what they do because they 
are changing the tide of world history.
  If we were to sit and always choose appeasement, if we were to sit 
and not respond, I would guarantee you that our economy would not 
survive another 9/11. On 9/11 I was in Paris, France, on a vacation. We 
were delayed 10 days in getting home. When we arrived, we arrived at 
Dallas-Ft. Worth Regional Airport, an airport that today when I travel 
through it has thousands of people every day. That airport was 
essentially shut down. There were no taxis. The hotels were empty.
  We will see our economy completely collapse if we continue to let 
strikes like 9/11 happen without response.
  The President has given bold response. Our soldiers are acting 
responsibly. They understand the value of what they are doing. They 
tell me they have pride in their accomplishments. I see the 
reconstruction is having dramatic effects. The Iraqis themselves 
believe they can create liberty.
  Mr. Speaker, the President's responses of strength are a tribute to 
the great leadership that he is bringing to this time of great stress; 
and I would like to support him in that.

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