[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 24, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H1469]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         PROTECTING OUR FUTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise for the purpose to speak on Iraq 
and maybe address a couple of myths or omissions that may have been 
missed in this.
  First, many of my constituents are Iraqi-Americans and much of what 
we hear today in some quarters is oddly reminiscent of what we heard in 
this country for about 140 years. There are those people who have 
claimed that the Iraqi people know nothing but an oppressive 
dictatorial government and that they will never take to democracy. They 
will never be able to take control of their lives and form a better 
future.
  In the past, within this country, we heard those same remarks made by 
slave owners trying to justify that African Americans should not be 
free. I think this is doing a horrible disservice to the Iraqi people 
whenever they hear from this country, from whatever corridor, that they 
will not take to democracy.
  The United States is an experiment in democracy based on the thought 
that through our revolution all people would see that liberty is to be 
enjoyed, defended and savored. The Iraqi people will do no less than we 
did at our own inception.
  Secondly, I think that in the fallout over Spain's decision in the 
wake of the terrorist attack to leave the Coalition, many people have 
been led to believe that the terrorists will only attack those whose 
foreign policy is a problem for the terrorists. And yet little noted is 
that the French Government has decided that Muslims cannot wear 
traditional headdresses in their public schools have now become also a 
potential target for terrorist attack.
  Let us be clear here, it is not simply a matter of foreign policy as 
to whether the terrorists attack you or not, whether you are American 
or whether you are European. The whole goal is to affect lives, be it 
the foreign policy decisions or your internal decisions of your own 
government.
  Which I think gets to a third myth, which is that some people believe 
that we through our actions will determine what the terrorists will do 
or not do to us.
  Having seen al Qaeda's motto, for wont of a better word, I do not see 
any exception to their belief that it is a Muslim duty to kill American 
soldiers and civilians. There is no codicil. There is no caveat. And I 
would encourage Americans to do what many in Europe did not do upon 
initially reading Mein Kampf, that you are best to take a lunatic at 
his word, especially when he talks about killing you, killing your 
children and destroying your way of life.
  In the overarching context of the situation in Iraq, the stakes could 
not be higher, and I believe that many people in both parties agree 
with that. If we fail in Iraq, the success we have had in helping to 
eradicate terrorism there and throughout the world will be dealt a 
major blow.
  If we choose to retreat from that commitment, if we choose to pull 
back to our own borders and try to rely upon intelligence and law 
enforcement, as we did prior to September 11, we are going to be faced 
with a terrible situation of prolonging the war on terror. Because if 
we do not take the war to the terrorists, as we have done in Iraq, as 
we have done in Afghanistan, then the terrorists will bring their 
attacks to us and we will prolong the war on terror well into the lives 
of our grandchildren. And I do not think that that is a situation 
anyone in this country, in this Chamber would like to see.

                              {time}  2200

  It is easy sometimes when we look back, we were told after we 
defeated European communism that it was the end of history, that 
liberal democracy would face no external threat capable of destroying 
it. It was tempting to believe it; but as we found out, it turned out 
not to be the case.
  As a revolutionary country, as I stated before, we are always going 
to be a target for terrorists, tyrants and other despots bent on world 
domination. It is unfair to us, we who seek to live in liberty and seek 
to have amity with our neighbors and our international community; but 
liberty is our blessing. It is also our burden, and it is a burden 
generations of Americans before us have shouldered and is a burden our 
brave men and women in Iraq and the military are shouldering now and 
one we cannot turn our back on. For if we do, we will not only be 
inviting more terrorist attacks here, we will be renouncing our birth 
right as Americans to live in freedom and renouncing our duty to defend 
it.

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