Congressional Record, Volume 150 Issue 67 (Thursday, May 13, 2004)

[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 67 (Thursday, May 13, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H3005-H3009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chocola). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce)
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to visit tonight and talk about
Iraq and perceptions about Iraq; but before I start, I would like to
commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.

[[Page H3006]]

Payne) for bringing to the floor this subject of the human rights
violations, the countless deaths in the Sudan and other African
countries.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to draw conclusions that may differ from my
colleagues, but I would explain to this House that his perceptions and
my perceptions about what is going on in Africa are very similar, and I
appreciate his heartfelt contending on behalf of them.
Mr. Speaker, I looked at the photographs that America has been
looking at and saw the expanded group of photos, and they were
startling and disappointing. America and the President have apologized,
but the silence that comes from the rest of the world over the
beheading of Nick Berg parallels the silence that I hear from the rest
of the world about the Sudan and about Rwanda.
Mr. Speaker, it was not the newspapers that first drew my attention
to Rwanda years ago. It was my pastor at a local church speaking up
about the killings of hundreds of thousands in that country.
I was in Vietnam in the 1970s, 1971, 1972, part of 1973 and part of
1974; and we were aware of some of the things that were going on in
Cambodia then and later, but the world was silent; and I share with my
colleagues, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and the gentleman
from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) and the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms.
Jackson-Lee), the concern that no one speaks, that our press holds its
force silent.
Mr. Speaker, weekly I have my secretary print out a Web site called
the Voice of the Martyrs that explains killings daily around the world
unjustly and in the dark of the night simply because someone has the
power to kill and torture and maim without consequence. Mr. Speaker, we
must lend our voices to those injustices because the people who will
suffer the most are going to be the least among us.
The powerful, the rich, no matter what country, they will always have
their way. They will always have the representation, but the last great
hope for humanity is in this country where the rule of law stands and
where our Constitution gives rights because the guaranteeing of those
rights, the guaranteeing of those rights encourages those without
political power and those without family connections, and so I thank
the gentleman for his comments tonight.
The examples of terrorism that exist around the world at this time
and in the past will cause us to blanch in horror. The risks to
humanity are extreme. The financial devastation is great.
In Lebanon, the trading and banking center of the Middle East was
destroyed by the PLO and Hezbollah with Iranian and Syrian funding and
support.
Terrorism has caused difficulties in El Salvador. It has been the
victim of Farabundo Marti National Liberation terrorists for over a
decade and a half. The FMNL and their allies the PLO, Black September,
the Red Brigades and the terrorists worldwide bombed thousands of buses
and bridges, assassinated mayors, elected officials and burned
villages. They placed landmines in coffee plantations so women and
children workers would hopefully not go to work. When they did, their
limbs were blown off.
In Afghanistan, the country was destroyed by the Taliban and al
Qaeda. Killings and tortures were daily, routine tools of governance.
This is what terror brings to us. Mr. Speaker, this is the reason
that I commit myself to a fight against the war on terror because it is
the weak, it is the powerless and the innocent who suffer most from
terror.
There are those who say that it is simply the United States policies
that caused 9/11; and yet to the people who say that it was the United
States policies who caused the extremists to attack our World Trade
Centers, I ask them what is the policy in Sri Lanka that causes the
attack of terrorists? What is the policy in the Philippines and
Indonesia that caused terrorist bombings?
Mr. Speaker, we need to remember at this point exactly why we are in
the war on terror. It is because of the terrorism. It is because of the
output and the effects of terrorism. It is because in this country on
9/11 soccer moms became security moms. Soccer moms began to wonder how
safe their children were at school.
Mr. Speaker, families everywhere, whether it is Iraq, Sudan, Rwanda,
Chad, Cambodia, families everywhere have a similar hope. They hope that
their children will grow up and receive an education, that they will
grow up and receive an education in safety knowing that their security
is assured.
Mr. Speaker, 9/11 for America changed that fact, but terrorism had
taken away the security of much of the world previously. Mr. Speaker,
it is my contention that you cannot have freedom, liberty and security
at the same time as you have tyranny and terrorism. That, Mr. Speaker,
is the reason that we are fighting this war on terror, in my opinion.
For those who wonder exactly what the connection is between Iraq and
the war on terror, we are just now learning from Jordan that al Qaeda
terrorists planned to use chemical weapons to blow up the U.S. embassy.
They were trained in Iraq before we liberated the country last year.
Mr. Speaker, Jay Epstein of The New Republic wrote this week of new
and convincing evidence that Mohammed Atta did, in fact, meet with a
senior Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague in 2001.
We are fighting the war secondly, Mr. Speaker, because of the
consequences of Iraq's continued use of deceit and denial to hide
weapons that risk the entire world, but especially the rhetoric and
intentions were directed at the United States.

{time} 1930

It is not the policy of this country to wait until the first attack
of weapons of mass destruction before we take the necessary steps to
stop their proliferation.
Mr. Speaker, when I was in Iraq last year, Mr. Kay explained to us
that they had found 35 fermenters, fermenters having two types of
activities associated with them: first, the making of biological
weapons; and second, the making of chemical weapons. Mr. Kay stated at
that point that though they did not have the weapons in their hands at
that point, they were within 2 weeks at any point they would want to
start making significant weapons.
Thirdly, our critics should look at root causes to understand why we
are fighting this war on terror. The entire effort to liberate Iraq and
Afghanistan has been to show a different and new future to the Middle
East, a future that contains the promise of at least the beginnings of
democracy rather than the awful choice between living under a
dictatorship or joining the Jihad.
A fourth reason we are fighting the war on terror, Mr. Speaker, is
the recognition that 23 other countries have realized we must fight
terrorism. Our allies in this coalition, 23 nations, have sent over
25,000 soldiers to help stabilize Iraq in order to allow self-
governance to emerge. They have helped us construct schools and
telecommunications. Lives have been given by Polish soldiers defending
and protecting southern Iraq, in charge of multinational forces working
closely with pro-democratic Iraqi forces. British soldiers have
defended and protected Basra and Um Qasr. El Salvador soldiers fought
and repulsed Sadr terrorists in southern Iraq just a few weeks ago. The
Jordanians run the hospitals in Fallujah. Peshmerga Kurds protect and
build in northern Iraq. Our Japanese friends have helped in
telecommunications and in reconstruction.
It seems as though people in this city tend to forget why we are
fighting the war on terror and they tend to believe that this war is
like maybe an intramural conflict, a game of tag. Mr. Speaker, the
stakes are far higher than that. The stakes literally seem at this
moment to be whether the world will remain free or come under the awful
persecutions we find in the Sudan, in Rwanda; that we found in Bosnia
and Kosovo. The future of the world is hanging in the balance, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am joined tonight by my colleague, the gentleman from
South Carolina (Mr. Barrett), and I want to yield the floor to him. I
appreciate his participation.
Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman
from New Mexico for yielding to me and I thank him for all his work.
You know, when he was talking about being in Washington, sometimes,

[[Page H3007]]

coming from South Carolina and being in Washington, it seems like a
millions miles away from home. Things get convoluted, things get
confused, and so many times this town has a different idea about what
is going on in the world or what has happened. This past week, Mr.
Speaker, I got a letter from Brandon Browlee. Now, Brandon is a fourth
grader at Laurens Academy in Laurens, South Carolina, and I want to
share this letter with you. I want you just to take a second and listen
to this.
This is Brandon talking: When I grow up I'm going to be a South
Carolina Law Enforcement Division agent, a SLED agent, and a fighter
pilot. I want to be a SLED agent when I'm not at war. I don't care if I
die fighting for my country. My family will miss me, but at least I
will die with honor and I'm protecting my country. I will send letters
every day and we will stay healthy. I will always keep a picture of my
family in my jet. I promise to take everybody for a ride, if I can. I
will always wear a cross necklace, keep a pocket Bible by my side, and
I will send letters to my wife, and she will read them to all of you.
Out of the mouth of babes, I guess we should say. Crystal clear, if
you ask me. Crystal clear.
The last couple of weeks have been very trying times. We are dealing
with things up here that are taking away our focus, taking away our
guidance. This thing is bigger than any scandal could ever possibly be,
Mr. Speaker. We are talking about 130,000-plus men and women that are
fighting for democracy, fighting for freedom, and fighting for the
security of this Nation every day. They are fighting for a way of life
and they are fighting for everything that we know in South Carolina to
be near and dear to us, and I think about it every day.
I think about my two sons. I have a son that is 14\1/2\ and a son
that is 12. And if my boys Jeb and Ross are like their father and like
their uncle, and like their grandfather and their grandfather's
brothers, and like their grandmother's brothers, they will fight. They
will wear the uniform and they will sacrifice everything they have to
keep this country safe and strong. I think about it every day.
But as sure as I am standing here, as sure as I am in Washington,
D.C. and standing in this room, in this hall tonight, if we do not
defeat this enemy in the streets of Baghdad, in the streets of Mosul,
in the streets of Tikrit, in Afghanistan and wherever, we will fight
this enemy in the streets of Atlanta, Georgia, and Chicago, and San
Francisco, and Columbia, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C.
When I was in the service, I had the honor of presenting one of my
best friend's wives with the flag of this country. Lynn Dial died in a
helicopter accident. And I will never look a husband, a wife, a son, or
a daughter in the face and tell them that I did not do everything I
could possibly do to keep this country safe and strong, to keep their
loved ones safe and strong.
Make no mistake about it, we are going to win this war. And make no
mistake about it, we will do everything within our power to keep our
country safe and strong. That is what this letter that Brandon wrote
did for me. It caused me to refocus. It caused me to understand exactly
what is going on and exactly what the stakes are. They could never be
higher, and the consequences could never be greater.
I want to thank Brandon, and I want to thank the men and women
serving our country today that are giving their all; that are giving in
many cases their lives for everything we know and love.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Mexico for this
opportunity and I thank him for his fight. And I want him to know that
there are a lot of us out there that are by your side and that will
help you every step of the way.
Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Carolina
(Mr. Barrett). He is one of the distinguished colleagues in the
freshman class, and I am always pleased to hear his heartfelt
conviction as he speaks.
My colleague talked about the fact that we will win this fight. And,
Mr. Speaker, there are successes we should be proud of that indicate
that we are doing what we set out to do. The American people will not
always hear these on the evening news or read them in the newspaper. In
fact, Mr. Speaker, when I went to Iraq, when I walked among the young
people, our young men and women soldiers, the most frequent question,
and not just young soldiers from New Mexico, but as I walked through
the assembled dining halls three different days at noon and in the
evening, Mr. Speaker, the continuing question, to which I had no
answer, was why do my parents not hear the good things we are doing in
Iraq on the evening news?
Mr. Speaker, it is the same silence that affects the media that we
were talking about earlier, the refusal to carry the actions of
astonishing bravery, courage, compassion, valor, and sometimes just the
plain steel nerve to be in that foreign land, fighting for a foreign
people, and shedding American blood so that Iraqis can be free. Mr.
Speaker, that is noble and we are doing an honorable task.
One of the signs of success that I look at, Mr. Speaker, is that we
have not been struck since our original attack on 9/11. The second
component of success is that the Taliban has been uprooted and moved
out of Afghanistan. The al Qaeda is on the move and has stopped
training the thousands of terrorists in the training camp that they had
set up in Afghanistan. The funding mechanism for the war on terror that
existed in Saudi Arabia has been dismantled, Mr. Speaker. Saddam
Hussein sits in a jail cell, as do over 40 of his top regime leaders.
But, Mr. Speaker, one of the successes that I count great is that our
friends in Pakistan have picked up the sword against terrorists. They
were fighting on one side of the Pakistani border and U.S. troops were
on the Afghanistan side of the border and were pinching rebels and
terrorists in between us. Mr. Speaker, it is that willingness of other
nations in that region that represents some of the most amazing
turnarounds in this war on terror.
There are many countries who would expel the terrorists, but they
just could not do it by themselves. They did not have the funds or the
military strength or the military might, and our participation has
given them the will and the way to fight their own war on terror.
Worldwide we are seeing more terror cells interrupted by
international law enforcement. Our human information is getting better
in this war on terror. Because of an election years ago, we made the
decision to take our spying operatives out of the cells and simply rely
on eavesdropping and electronic methods of information gathering. But
those information-gathering techniques that were stopped under a
previous administration led to our blindness, so that we could not know
that were going to be hit on 9/11.
Mr. Speaker, that reemergence of human intelligence is one of the
most significant things in our finding different weapons in Iraq. Mr.
Kay said that many of the scientists said, you will not find weapons of
mass destruction until we, until we the Iraqis, are ready for you to
find them. It was through their efforts that we did find the 35
fermenters that we have found.
Mr. Speaker, another great success is the fact that Libya simply
walked to the table and said we want to give up our weapons of mass
destruction; we have them and we want to give them up. Since then,
Libya has been removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Members of this House visited Libya, led by my friend, the gentleman
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon), a senior member of the House Committee
on Armed Services. They listened to Qadhafi himself detail Lybia's long
and ugly support for international terrorism, and now that has ended.

{time} 1945

Mr. Speaker, some claim that Libya was already prepared to do this,
but I say nonsense. Just days prior to the beginning of the war to
liberate Iraq, Mr. Qaddafi initiated negotiations; but only after those
pictures of the capture of Saddam Hussein were shown worldwide did Mr.
Qaddafi agree to the deal, all of his weapons gone, lock, stock and
barrel. As supporters of terrorism, Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq are no
more. As developers of weapons of mass destruction, they are no more.
Mr. Speaker, we have positive effects inside Iraq that affect the
social systems, for providing medical care and rebuilding schools;
children are kicking soccer balls, and kids are spending time with
organs. Our troops are building new and better societies in Iraq and

[[Page H3008]]

Afghanistan. The immediate and long-term benefits for a more peaceful
region and a more peaceful world are immeasurable.
More than 250 Iraqi students and teachers welcomed soldiers at the
grand opening of the Al-Walid Elementary School in Baghdad recently.
The opening is the result of several months of work by soldiers from
the 4th Battalion, the 1st Field Artillery Regiment, the 3rd Brigade
Combat Team, the 1st Armored Division, and the 409th Civil Affairs
Battalion, an Army Reserve unit from Abilene, Texas. Repairing the
schools is a big part of our responsibility because these children will
become the future of Iraq. Their attitudes control the future.
Mr. Speaker, our troops have not stopped here. The soldiers
understand that you can see the future of Iraq through the eyes of its
children. The most recent project for the 105th Forward Support
Battalion, headquartered in Germany, was giving away 150 soccer balls
to local kids in Baghdad. Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division have
been working to not only make Iraq secure, but have been putting time
and effort into helping towns and villages with their Operation Helping
Hands program. With the Operation Helping Hands, soldiers donate their
own money, and many of them are financially strapped providing for
their needs in Iraq as well as the needs back home for their family,
but they have been donating their own money to help provide families
with food and health care necessities. Brigades Commander Ben Hodges
came up with the idea of helping the poor families in the area. They
have collected several thousand dollars which goes a long way toward
helping many Iraqi families.
These compassionate troops are helping Iraqi families in a way that
they have never been helped before. Soldiers are often out in Iraqi
communities providing medical care and humanitarian assistance. A
small, impoverished village about 10 miles from Baghdad was recently
paid a visit from the Medical Civic Action Program. The program sends
doctors and medics to provide free medical care on a regular basis.
Because of conditions under Saddam Hussein, soldiers are treating
diseases we rarely see here at home: tuberculosis, hepatitis, and
polio.
Mr. Speaker, we should be proud of our troops for fighting for
women's rights. For the first time in history, women in Mosul, Iraq,
were able to join the rest of the world in celebrating International
Women's Day. That day recognizes coordinated efforts of women
everywhere for equal rights and political and economic equality. The
state of the woman in Iraq was in horrible condition prior to our
arrival. Eighty-eight percent of women could not read. Today, 77
percent of all school-age girls are in school. The People's Assembly
Building was rededicated as a center for Iraqi women. The center will
serve as a meeting place for all women of Iraq where they can share
ideas, offer training, coordinate communication, and build a safer
homeland.
In Mosul, Iraqi police say they are grateful to soldiers from the
U.S. Army's 503rd Military Police Battalion for their assistance in
rebuilding police stations. Coalition forces helped to renovate several
police stations which enable the Iraqi police officers to protect their
fellow citizens. In the past year, 4,570 police, correction
specialists, and firefighters from the Ninevah Province have completed
this training. They are better prepared to maintain security for the
people of Iraq because of the training the coalition forces have
provided.
Iraqi security forces continue to take huge steps along with the
political process. Less than a year ago, the Department of Border
Enforcement was created consisting of the border police, immigration
inspections, and civil customs inspection stations. Today there are
more than 82,000 border policemen and nearly 9,000 border enforcement
agents operating along a 3,600 kilometer border. Coalition forces are
actively involved in border security operations. In addition to
conducting joint patrols with the Iraqi border police, coalition forces
routinely visit border posts and continue to train and mentor the Iraqi
border patrol officers.
More than 11,000 experienced policemen who have completed the
transition integration program have learned democratic principles and
values, basic fundamentals of policing, policies and standards for
conduct, law and order, and their responsibilities to their
communities. There are more than 1,600 policemen who have trained from
scratch in an 8-week training program. In early March, 450 additional
policemen graduated from the first class of the 8-week Baghdad Public
Safety Academy. Another 1,500 new policemen will graduate in April. Two
academies are expected to have more 2,100 new professional policemen by
the end of 2004.
The new Iraqi Army is growing. In early March, more than 1,000
recruits of the 4th Battalion graduated from the 9-week basic training
program.
These are amazing stories. These are the stories of the Americans
that I know. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands more.
I am proud of our soldiers and want to say thank you. These are not
the stories that you will hear on the news or in the newspapers, nor
will you hear them many times during this election year; but I would
like at this moment to say thank you to the young men and women in Iraq
who are fighting for the freedom of a foreign land.
One story that is told from Iraq, a U.S. soldier recently evaluated
an Iraqi woman, Farha Abed Saad, for medical treatment after she had
been harmed by Iraqi thugs who wished to rob Iraqis of their right to
freedom. Her comments say it well, ``Thank God you have come here to
Iraq to make us free,'' said Mrs. Saad, kissing a soldier's hand.
``When I see you, I see my own sons. Thank you, thank you.''
Mr. Speaker, compassion is a common language. Compassion is what we
are showing to the people in Iraq when we fight side by side with them.
Mr. Speaker, we have other advances in this war on terror and in the
social setup in Iraq. Already the transition to Iraqis is beginning.
People are talking about the end of June, but this week the transition
began with the transition of the Ministry of Agriculture and the
Ministry of Culture, both responsibilities being moved across to Iraqi
civilians.
Mr. Speaker, the oil in Iraq has begun to flow again. It is moving
through pipelines that we have found damaged and we as coalition forces
have repaired. Because of that flow of oil and because of U.S.
reconstruction of oil facilities, over $8 billion, almost $9 billion is
in the bank now in trust for the Iraqis. It is being used to fund the
operation of their government.
Mr. Speaker, you will not hear that story either as we read the
evening news because it seems that the news does not want to report the
positive and the progress that we have seen in Iraq.
Mr. Speaker, we heard eloquent points from a gentleman on the floor
earlier this evening. The gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) spoke
about the fact that in any contest some people will win and some will
lose. Then he gave the four points that create the winners, that help
determine the winners. Mr. Speaker, when the gentleman from Nebraska
(Mr. Osborne) speaks about winning, I listen. The gentleman from
Nebraska coached the 1994 national champions and came back the next
year in 1995 and coached the same Nebraska Cornhuskers to another
national championship. And then he took a year off and came back in
1997 to win his third national championship.
Mr. Speaker, when this gentleman speaks about winning, I believe he
knows what he is talking about; and he says for us to win in Iraq will
require the same elements as to win in any other situation. It will
require a unity of purpose. Secondly, it will require sacrifice; the
willingness to pay a greater price than the competition often
determines the winner.
Third, we must have confidence in a successful outcome.
Fourth, there must be a bond among the team, a caring, a respect, a
love among the group.
Mr. Speaker, when we begin to talk so violently in this Nation and to
politicize the war, we begin to undermine the unity of purpose, the
willingness to pay a greater price, we undermine the confidence and the
successful outcome, and we begin to damage that bond that needs to
exist among the group members if an effort is to be a winning effort.
Mr. Speaker, as I listened to the many complaints and to the calls
for

[[Page H3009]]

resignations, my mind goes back to World War II. I just cannot imagine
what it would have been like in World War II after Pearl Harbor if we
had gone through the same sort of questions from the press and from the
political parties. Can Members imagine Mr. Roosevelt taking time off
from the war to come in and speak about why Pearl Harbor was allowed to
be attacked? There are many in this Nation who felt that the attack was
known to be coming, and yet both sides for the good of the moment said
we will let those questions go because we have got a greater enemy
here.
I cannot imagine the consequences if we had chosen at that moment to
pull the President in front of a commission and ask him to explain and
justify every action. I cannot imagine, Mr. Speaker, asking the
President at that point in the conflict in the first year or even 2
years, what is your exit strategy? Our exit strategy then is like our
exit strategy now: it is to defeat the enemy.
Mr. Speaker, if we are going to win this war on terror, it is going
to take valor, valor like that of Pat Tillman who gave up a lucrative
career in pro football to serve his country, and he paid the ultimate
price.

{time} 2000

It is going to take sacrifice like a young woman helicopter pilot
from my district who died in a night helicopter crash in Afghanistan,
or like the young man from Lovington, New Mexico, just 18 miles from my
hometown, who paid the ultimate sacrifice and was just recently laid to
rest.
Mr. Speaker, as I talked to his mother, she explained that he never
liked school much, he did not like to read, he did not like to study,
but when he got involved as a gunner in the military, he found an
understanding of what he thought he was about and he began to read
constantly, read his operational manuals, to work to improve his
capabilities.
Mr. Speaker, it will take those kinds of sacrifices. Freedom is not
free. It takes tremendous sacrifice. It will take courage to win this
war on terror. It is going to be a long fight and it will take
commitment. It will take commitment from the young men and women who
are required to go. It will take commitment from their families. It
will take commitment from political leaders who are required to vote to
fund the efforts.
If we are going to cut and run now, Mr. Speaker, we can be sure that
we will not win this war on terror. We can also be sure that the
security moms will have been concerned justly. It is our obligation to
see that we fight the war on terror outside this country's borders,
that we take the fight to them and we take the desire away from them,
take the desire away from them that makes them want to strike us.
We have had losses and they cannot be minimized. The loss of a single
life is too many. But far more of the enemy have paid the full price
than of our young men and women. We owe it to the people of this
country and to the free people of the entire world to stand our ground
and to fight and to have the resolute intent to see that this war on
terror is won.
Mr. Speaker, I cast my lot on the side of the people who will fight
this war and who will see that liberty triumphs over tyranny and over
terrorism.

____________________