[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 106 (Thursday, September 9, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H6984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SMART SECURITY AND THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, when Vice President 
Cheney was talking about terrorism, he told the audience something that 
I consider to be absolutely appalling. He said, ``It is absolutely 
essential on November 2nd that Americans make the right choice, because 
if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit 
again.''
  The White House would like the American people to believe that 
President Bush is the only person capable of confronting terrorism, 
even though his record has proven otherwise. They employ fear as a 
campaign tactic, claiming that a vote for John Kerry and John Edwards 
is a vote for the terrorists. This misleading connection, besides 
insulting the intelligence of the American people, raises a very 
important question: If Presidents are singularly responsible for 
terrorist attacks that happen on their watch, was President Bush 
responsible for the attacks on September 11?
  While I believe that President Bush was not responsible for the 
events of 9/11, he is responsible for the failure to truly secure 
America after 9/11.
  Three years ago, after the worst attacks on American soil in our 
Nation's history, the United States had the support of nearly all other 
countries in our fight against terrorism. With the anniversary of the 
September 11 attacks approaching, now is a good time to consider 
whether we have made progress in the global war on terror over the last 
3 years.
  Last week in Russia, Chechen terrorists shocked the world when they 
took 1,200 hostages at a school and killed over 300 of them, most of 
them children. I ask you, what is humanity becoming? We have to stop 
this. What a terrible tragedy. Surely there must be a better way. There 
must be a smarter way.
  In Sudan, thousands of Sudanese Africans have been subjected to a 
horrific campaign of rape, looting, and ethnic cleansing driven by a 
militia that has the tacit support of the Sudanese Government. More 
than 30,000 people have needlessly been killed as a result of this 
campaign of genocide terror. Much more needs to be done, and despite 
almost unanimous passage of a House resolution calling upon the 
Secretary of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and 
the U.N. to immediately address this issue, it is still not being 
completed.
  There has to be a better way, a smarter way, a smarter course of 
action dictated not by what is politically pragmatic, but by what is 
good and by what is right. And there is such a course of action.
  I have introduced H. Con. Res. 392 to create a SMART security 
platform for the 21st century. SMART stands for Sensible, Multilateral 
American Response to Terrorism.
  SMART security fights terrorism with stronger intelligence and 
multilateral partnerships than the Bush administration, and it does so 
without endangering our alliances around the world. It treats war as an 
absolute last resort.
  SMART security controls the spread of weapons of mass destruction 
with aggressive diplomacy, strong regional security arrangements, and 
vigorous inspection regimes. It invests in the development of 
impoverished nations to prevent the kind of terrorism occurring in 
Sudan and Chechnya from ever taking root in the first place.
  President Bush thinks the best way to fight terrorism is to confront 
it head on by possessing bigger weapons and being stronger than the 
terrorists. But that only addresses the symptoms of the disease and 
certainly does not ensure a 100 percent success rate.
  In order to truly defeat terrorism, we need to confront its root 
causes: poverty, despair, and unfair allocation of resources in so many 
underdeveloped nations around the world. SMART security will protect 
America and the world by addressing not just acts of terrorism, but 
also the reasons why terrorism exists. In the end, SMART security is 
smart, and it will keep America safe.

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