[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 114 (Tuesday, September 21, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H7313-H7318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McCotter). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter)
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to talk about the rotation of troops
in Iraq that has occurred over the last year or so and the rotation
that is being scheduled for the next year.
There has been a statement by the Kerry campaign, by Senator Kerry,
to the effect that there is a secret plan to call up a lot more troops
and to do some wild thing after the election. That is not the case, Mr.
Speaker. And, in fact, we held a hearing in July in which the
Department of Defense walked through their plan for the next phase or
the next rotation of troops into Iraq. And let me for the record just
go over what has taken place.
The first half of this chart showing Iraq shows the present
configuration of major ground forces in Iraq; and what we had before
this, of course, was the 101st Airborne up north in the northern area.
We had the 4th Infantry Division in the Tikrit area. That is over here.
We had the 1st Armored Division in the heart of Baghdad, and we had out
to the western area, all the way to the Syrian border, the 82nd
Airborne Division. That rotation took place in which those forces were
replaced by the forces that are there right now.
And as a result of that, we have got a striker brigade up north that
took
[[Page H7314]]
the place of the 101st Airborne. We have got the 1st Marine Division,
in fact, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force consisting mainly of the
1st Marine Division and supporting elements in this western area of
operation. That is this big AO that goes all the way to the Syrian
border. Elements of the 1st Armored Division remain in Iraq, did not
move out, while some of them did move back to Germany. And to
supplement that force, the 1st Cavalry Division moved into the Baghdad
area. And, of course, we have the 1st Infantry Division that took over
for the 4th Infantry Division in the Tikrit area.
That is the present state of forces. And the complement of Reserve
forces that mainly supports these active major units is roughly 40
percent of the total force of the 138,000-or-so Americans who serve in
Iraq right now.
We will have what we call OIF-3. That is the next phase of
deployments to Iraq, and that was briefed by the Department of Defense.
It was not a secret, for Senator Kerry's edification. In fact, they
came in and had a hearing with the Committee on Armed Services, with
our committee, and laid out their blueprint; and we had nationally
televised hearings on this rotation. And this rotation reflected this:
that we will be going in the western area of operation, that is this
area that goes west of Baghdad to the Syrian border. The 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force will be replaced by another Marine Expeditionary
Force. To the north we will have another striker brigade. That is the
Mosul area. The 1st Infantry Division will be replaced in the Tikrit
area up north of Baghdad by the 42nd Infantry Division. The 3rd
Infantry Division will move into the Baghdad area, and portions of the
10th Mountain Division will move into the Baghdad area also, displacing
the 1st Cav, which is presently in the Baghdad area, and the 1st
Armored Division.
After Senator Kerry made those remarks, I contacted the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs, General Myers, and he sent a letter, which I am going
to place in the Record, Mr. Speaker, saying this: ``With regard to the
recent comments concerning our Reserve and National Guard alert
notification process, I can assure you there has never been any
guidance to defer notification until after the Presidential election.''
The clear message in Senator Kerry's remarks was that somehow there
was a secret plan to have a big rotation of troops that would be
announced shortly after the election. Well, every 180 days there is an
announcement of the next rotation of troops, and the reason we do that
is so that the troops will have notification and will be able to tell
their loved ones and get their affairs in order so that they can, in
fact, embark on that particular rotation.
So in the spring, the Department of Defense came and told us about
this next rotation that is called OIF-3 that will take place starting
this fall and moving through the spring. Then in November or December,
they will come in, and they will give notification just like they did
in April and May about the next rotation of forces that will displace
OIF-3 and rotate into Iraq on a regularly scheduled basis.
The Reserve component of this 135,000 to 138,000 troops that is
presently in Iraq will continue to be between 35 and 40 percent of the
total force. So it will remain constant. There is not going to be any
huge spike in the proportion or number of troops from the Reserves that
make this particular force mix.
Let me read the last statement by General Myers when he talked about
this. This is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after having
said ``I can assure you there has never been any guidance,'' never been
any guidance, ``to defer notification until after the Presidential
election''; so every 6 months they make an announcement, and they lay
down a blueprint like the blueprint that is front of us here. He says,
``Alert notification is an established and consistent process based on
meeting the needs of the combatant commander while ensuring, to the
maximum extent possible, earliest notification of those units affected.
As in the past, our goal is to alert as early as possible and mobilize
in order to conduct necessary training before deployment.
``Our target for Reserve combat units is 6 months prior to their
deployment given the time required to achieve proficiency at the
company, battalion, and brigade levels of competence. Our target for
our Reserve logistics units is less, currently at 4 months prior to
deployment, since their tasks are typically smaller and less complex
than their combat counterparts.
``The notification date is a balance between early notification and
ensuring units are notified in as complete a package as possible and
not so early that changes in the operational situation may alter the
combatant commander's needs and ultimately the composition of the
deploying force. In the case of the current rotation, we announced our
plan in the spring of 2004, testified before your committee in July,
2004, and deployed the first unit in the fall of 2004. For the next
rotation, we will announce our plan in November, 2004, with the first
unit deploying in May, 2005.''
He goes on: ``As of September 15, 2004, 800 individual ready Reserve
members have been activated. The intent is to fill 5,600 slots by
December, 2004, with the potential to go higher if required. The skill
sets that are in the highest demand are transportation, logisticians,
mechanics, military police, and engineers.'' And that figure is
consistent with what DOD told us several months ago, referring to the
5,600 people.
So, Mr. Speaker, this is a blueprint of the deployment that has taken
place and a blueprint of the deployment that is to come; and every 6
months, without regard to politics, without regard to elections, and
simply with regard to the men and women who wear the uniform of the
United States and their families, the Department of Defense will
continue to give advance notice on about a 180-day basis. So, Mr.
Speaker, I wanted to lay that out.
A letter from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff follows:
Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Washington, DC, September 20, 2004.
Hon. Duncan Hunter,
Chairman, Committee on Armed Services, House of
Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: With regard to the recent comments
concerning our Reserve and National Guard alert notification
process, I can assure you there has never been any guidance
to defer notification until after the Presidential election.
Alert notification is an established and consistent process
based on meeting the needs of the Combatant Commander while
ensuring, to the maximum extent possible, earliest
notification of those units affected. As in the past, our
goal is to alert as early as possible and mobilize in order
to conduct necessary training before deployment. Our target
for reserve combat units is six months prior to their
deployment, given the time required to achieve proficiency at
the company, battalion and brigade levels of competence. Our
target for our reserve logistics units is less, currently at
four months prior to deployment, since their tasks are
typically smaller and less complex than their combat
counterparts. The notification date is a balance between
early notification and ensuring units are notified in as
complete a package as possible, and not so early that changes
in the operational situation may alter the Combatant
Commander's needs and ultimately the composition of the
deploying force. In the case of the current rotation, we
announced our plan in the spring of 2004, testified before
your committee in July 2004, and deployed the first unit in
the fall of 2004. For the next rotation, we will announce our
plan in November 2004, with the first unit deploying in May
2005.
As of September 25, 2004, 800 Individual Ready Reserve
members have been activated. The intent is to fill 5,600
slots by December 2004, with a potential to go higher, if
required. The skill sets that are in the highest demand are
transportation, logisticians, mechanics, military police and
engineers.
To reiterate, and consistent with our notification process,
we will notify the next package of combat troops in support
of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM and OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM in
late November 2004 to meet a May 2005 deployment date or the
lead unit of the rotation.
Sincerely,
Richard B. Myers,
Chairman.
I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) and allow him to
make a few remarks on the subject of Iraq.
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California, my
chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services, for yielding to me.
Mr. Speaker, in recent days many of my colleagues from the other side
of the aisle have come to the floor of the House to criticize the
President's policies on Afghanistan and Iraq. The rhetoric of the
minority side of the aisle is
[[Page H7315]]
paltry at best, and tonight I would like to try to set the record
straight.
The two chief arguments of the Democratic Party that I believe are
based on faulty logic are these: first, America has lost its focus on
the war on terrorism in Afghanistan; and, second, President Bush has
failed to build a true international coalition to fight this war.
Let us point to the administration's Afghan focus. First and
foremost, we in the Congress must make the distinction between less
cable news coverage and less administrative attention to the situation
in Afghanistan. Despite what many would have us believe, the success
stories coming out of Afghanistan are not only remarkable, but they far
outnumber the negative ones. Negative stories make the news, but the
positive ones are there as well. And native Afghans are returning to
their homeland in droves now that the country has been liberated from
the oppression of the Taliban. Just this year 200,000 Afghans have
returned home from Pakistan, bringing the total number to 2.2 million
from Pakistan since 2002. Also, recently the 1 millionth Afghan refugee
returned home from Iran. Many of these refugees are highly educated
teachers, health care providers, and community leaders that were thrown
out of the country by the Taliban.
I do not believe that this extraordinary number of Afghan citizens
would pick up and return home if they believed that Afghanistan was not
a safer place. To the contrary, they are returning home because their
country has been liberated from an oppressive regime and they are once
again free. The Afghan economy continues to power ahead; and previously
unheard-of opportunities are opening up, particularly, Mr. Speaker, for
Afghan women.
Let us talk about democratic development. Perhaps the most notable
development in Afghanistan is the progress of democracy. The country's
first post-war presidential election is scheduled for October of this
year. Voter registration efforts have exceeded, far exceeded,
expectations. Several months ago, officials predicted up to 5 million
registered voters, but according to the Joint Election Commission, more
than 9 million people, out of 10 million eligible voters, have
registered to vote, and 41.6 percent of them are women.
{time} 2200
Furthermore, despite serious efforts to disrupt it, voter
registration continues at a pace of up to 125,000 people per day.
Afghan citizens are optimistic and excited by democracy, I think their
country is headed in the right direction, and I commend our President
for his efforts in this regard.
President Bush's efforts to build a true international coalition, let
us just talk about that for a little while. Few positive and accurate
statements have been made regarding the 32-nation United States-British
led coalition in Iraq or the 35-country security force in Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, this has reinforced the falsehood that America is
isolated and hated on the world stage.
Well, to the contrary, in fighting the War on Terror, the United
States has assembled one of the greatest international coalitions this
world has ever seen. The coalition in Iraq includes 21 nations from
Europe and nine from Asia and Australia. Twelve of the 25 members of
the European Union are represented. Sixteen of the 26 NATO member
States are represented as well.
Let us recall that the decision to go to war in Iraq was undertaken
only after years, years, of negotiations with the UN Security Council
and no less than 17 failed resolutions.
There is broad political support internationally for United States
aims and objectives in Iraq, as confirmed by the unanimously-passed UN
Security Council Resolution 1546 which endorses the return of full
sovereignty to Iraq and its interim government; sets out the role of
the United Nations; and outlines the relationship between the new Iraqi
government and the multinational force in the country after the end of
the occupation by the CPA, the Coalition Provisional Authority, on May
28.
Furthermore, the United States has spearheaded a huge international
effort to reconstruct Iraq and to negotiate forgiveness of the
country's massive debts.
I am concerned that a failure to properly account for the reality of
international coalition efforts strengthens all of this anti-American
sentiment abroad and diminishes the sacrifices and the contributions
that our allies are making in the war on terror.
Mr. Speaker, with the aid of the international coalition, millions of
people have been liberated, 170 newspapers are now being published, new
modern power plants are being built, 64,000 secondary school teachers
have been trained and some 5,000 school principals and administrators.
More than 8.7 million textbooks have been printed and distributed
throughout Iraq. Coalition forces have rehabilitated almost 2,500
schools, 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are
open today. All 240 hospitals and more than 1,200 health clinics are
open for business.
Healthcare spending in Iraq has actually increased 30 times over its
pre-war levels and children, listen to this, are receiving crucial
vaccinations for the first time ever. Over 5 million children have been
immunized for measles, mumps and rubella.
Mr. Speaker, this is just a handful of the good that this coalition
has brought to the people of Iraq. It is a coalition that was forged
and preserved by our President, and I believe that it is fundamentally
wrong to diminish the achievements of this coalition.
Furthermore, I hope that the rhetoric of the minority party would not
dishearten brave citizens of the 32 other nations that are giving of
their talent, their time, and, yes, their treasure to do what they
think is right in defending the freedom and interests of the people of
Iraq and Afghanistan.
I yield back to the chairman of the Committee on Armed Services, and
I thank him for giving me a little time to talk about all the good that
is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. We need to continue to bring that
to the attention of our colleagues and the American people.
Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would like to just
follow my colleague's comments for a second and then yield to the fine
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop), also a member of the committee.
I am reminded that the gentleman has a military base in his area that
is close to his hometown, Fort Benning, Georgia, the home of the United
States Infantry.
Just thinking about Fort Benning, I am reminded of the great troops
who are produced by Fort Benning over the many, many years, of people
who fought in very difficult wars and who acquitted themselves in such
an admirable fashion.
I am reminded of the attempts in recent years, especially in Vietnam,
by members of the media and some Members of Congress, including Senator
Kerry, to demean those people.
I remember Senator Kerry's statements when he came back in April of
1971 and appeared before a Senate committee and stated that America
``had murdered 200,000 Vietnamese.'' He said at one point that 60 to 80
percent of our GI's were stoned 24 hours a day. He made outrageous
statements.
It was that type of stereotyping and characterization that led to a
mindset among some in this country that Vietnam veterans, that the GIs,
the great products of the Infantry School at Fort Benning and many
other GIs, were somehow misfits.
I can remember when we had a mass murder that happened at a
McDonald's restaurant in San Diego during the '70's and one of the
anchor persons asking, was it a Vietnam veteran that did it, as if
``Vietnam veteran'' and ``misfit'' went hand-in-hand.
That image was, to some degree, perpetrated by Senator Kerry and
those like him who came back telling these outrageous lies about the
people who carried the flag for the United States. He did not just
speak against the war, which was fine; he demeaned his fellow troops.
I am reminded of another movie that was made about those great
infantrymen who came from Fort Benning, and that is the movie that
chronicled Hal Moore, who was a major who took on a huge number of
North Vietnamese forces in the battle for LZ X-Ray early the war when
he commanded the First Cavalry unit, the unit of the same First Cav in
Iraq today.
This movie for the first time, in which Mel Gibson starred and I
think
[[Page H7316]]
did a great job, characterized the true spirit of the American fighting
man. It was the first movie that had been done for 20 years that was
not shot through the eyes of a drug-crazed hippie in Hollywood, but was
in fact directed and produced through the eyes of an infantryman, in
this case Hal Moore.
I thought one of the most moving parts of that movie was not only the
fact that here was an Infantry leader that prayed with his troops,
which Hal Moore did, but it also reflected the greatness of these
military wives who were waiting back at Fort Benning as the battle for
LZ X-Ray took place and casualty counts were coming in.
They dreaded that knock on the door by a Western Union telegram man
saying that your husband was KIA in this battle for LZ X-Ray, which was
an intense battle with a lot of casualties on the U.S. side and
enormous casualties on the side of the North Vietnamese.
The wife of Hal Moore, having the telegram man come to her door and
she thought this is it, Hal has been shot, he came in and said he was
actually looking for another address up the street and she realized her
good friend was going to get the bad news in a few minutes. She said,
``Wait a minute, I will deliver that telegram,'' and Hal Moore's wife
then went door-to-door delivering these telegrams and consoling the
women whose husbands had been lost.
That movie, for the first time in 20 years, overcame the image, the
wrongful image, that people like Senator Kerry had produced, that was
largely consumed by the American public. When he appeared before that
Senate committee and said that American GIs were cutting off limbs and
raping and robbing, I think he used the term in a manner like Genghis
Khan, he said Genghis Kahn instead of Genghis Khan, that put together
an image, a false image, that was not shaken for almost 20 years in
this country.
So I just want to thank the gentleman for representing that great
piece of America that is truly the home of the Infantry.
Mr. GINGREY. If the gentleman will yield further, I thank the
chairman.
Mr. Speaker, what the chairman was just saying is just so true. It
came home to me in a big and tragic way in this past week. I am a
graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. The
president of the student body just a couple of years ago at Georgia
Tech, my alma mater, a young first lieutenant, Tyler Brown, was killed
leading his troops in a firefight in Iraq.
He was an outstanding young man. Everybody said that one day Tyler
would surely become President. I do not know about that, but I know
that his mom and dad and his older brother Brent are suffering deeply
now, as much as a person could possibly suffer, over the tragic loss of
their son and brother.
As the chairman says, Mr. Speaker, you cannot support the troops out
of one side of your mouth and criticize them out of the other. This is
the one thing that this family, this Brown family, has to hold on to
for the rest of their lives, to know that Tyler, their son, who had
such great potential, who gave his life for this country, killed in
action, was not killed in vain.
I really appreciate the chairman, Mr. Speaker, bringing that out
tonight, because you cannot be for the troops and against them. You
cannot have it both ways.
I just felt like I needed to make that statement. I appreciate the
chairman giving me the additional time to do that.
Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman and I appreciate
the fact that he represents that great home of the Infantry.
I would like to yield at this time to the gentleman from Utah (Mr.
Bishop), also a very articulate member of the Committee on Armed
Services.
Mr. BISHOP of Utah. I agree, Mr. Chairman, with that concept that we
have a great many men and women who are serving nobly and have in the
history of this great country.
Mr. Speaker, in the words of that great philosopher, Dan Quisenberry
of the Kansas City Royals, he once said, ``I have seen the future. It
is just like the past, only longer.''
Well, Mr. Speaker, I am just an old history teacher who believes that
if we do not view our past, we fail to clearly view our future, and
that history illustrates there are several principles which have made
this a great country.
I would like to talk about two of those principles in relationship to
Iraq that I think are characteristics that have built this great
country. One is patience in the face of adversity, and the second is a
feeling of charity that Americans have always displayed to other
people.
Sometimes I think we live in a society that venerates speed.
Everything has to be done quickly. Our dialogue, our actions, sometimes
illustrate that impatience that we have.
I would like at times to go back to the days of Williams Jennings
Bryan when he would go along the Chautauqua circuit, and he could speak
for 2 or 2\1/2\ hours to an audience, totally mesmerizing them.
I realize that some of the speeches that are given on this floor feel
as if they are going 2 or 2\1/2\ hours and we are not always that hot
in the mesmerizing category, but, nonetheless, it does have a
precedent.
In Berlin in 1948, when the Soviet Union decided it was going to push
us out of that city, we made a commitment that lasted over 15 months
that every day, every 3 minutes, another plane landed to defend that
particular city. It was our commitment, our patience and persistence in
the face of adversity.
Even in the 1960s, if you were a politician, the average sound bite,
the average response someone had on the media, was about 45 seconds,
which does not sound like much, but it is a long time if you think of
what you can explain in 45 seconds.
Today, in contrast, we live in a world where kids watching children's
programs will find that the visual will change every 10 seconds so they
do not lose interest; that we have a sit-com mentality that thinks that
all problems in the world have to be solved in 22 minutes plus
commercials; and we are frustrated when we do not quickly have results.
Instead of 45 seconds for a response, today in the media if you cannot
give a response in 8 seconds or less, which is the average, it just
does not happen.
All this contributes to a rush of judgment where we consider the
situations we are in today unique, and we fail to learn what I think is
important lessons from the past, and it is critical, in light of what
is happening in Iraq.
We have people that believe since we are trying to reform a country
and create a democracy in an area that has no tradition of that, that
is a task that is too daunting, and if we cannot transform that society
overnight, then it is a task that is too frustrating. And an enemy that
is comprised mostly of non-Iraqis are there to try and test our
patience in the face of adversity.
Now, what I would like to say is if you look at history, this
situation is not unique or unusual. After World War II, we went into
Japan, a country that had absolutely no tradition of democracy, and yet
by 1952 we had created or helped to create and establish a stable
democracy that is one of the major forces of the world today. But we
fail to remember that that took 7 years of effort to reach that point.
In Germany, at the same time, we created a new constitution that is
still in use, the ``Basic Law,'' the Federal Republic, which is a
strong republic, but we fail to remember that took us 4 years to reach
that particular point.
In the Philippines after the Spanish-American War, it was 6 years of
bloody violence before peace was brought and you could even start the
reconstruction of that island nation.
{time} 2215
In Iraq, which we have been in about the same time as the Berlin
airlift used to break the Soviet determination to destroy that
beautiful city, we have established a constitution, a new government,
planned for elections, have a police force and an armed forces that are
increasing every day. That is a phenomenal success in a short period of
time. I guess we are doing things quickly today, but it is very
positive. And that success will only come if we still maintain that
value we have always had of patience in the face of adversity.
History says it is possible. History says that this country is best
suited to be successful, and I believe that we can, in part because of
the quality of our people.
[[Page H7317]]
If I could just very quickly talk about that other characteristic,
which is the charity that we have always had to other people, by
mentioning two people who have characteristics in common. One is they
have great hearts; the other is they happen to be Utahans. If I could
mention the name of Jared Kimber from Tremonton, a chief warrant
officer, who emulated a former Utahan, a neighbor of his, Gail
Halverson, known as the candy bomber in that Berlin airlift area of
time.
But Jared, who flies a Black Hawk for the 82nd medical company,
flying over the area, noticed that there were kids who just simply had
nothing with which they could play. One day he noticed a bunch of kids
trying to play soccer with a ball that deflated. So that day, he went
to the PX. He bought candy. He bought soccer balls. He bought Frisbees,
and as he was flying over, he distributed that from his helicopter.
Every day he did that.
So, by June, he was getting packages from home weighing 60 pounds of
stuff. A lady donated all of her stuffed bears for the kids of Iraq.
The 9-year-olds in his community organized, and they got 300 balls of
very different kinds so that the kids in Iraq could play with them, and
those became Jared's kids for whom he sacrificed out of the goodness
and the charity of his heart.
Another Utahan by the name of Paul Holton, a chief warrant officer in
the Utah National Guard, a man that was mentioned by the President in
his February National Prayer Breakfast is known now as Chief Wiggles
over there, taking on something called Operation Shoe Fly where
soldiers got shoes for needy families in Afghanistan. He recognized a
problem in Iraq and gave it a new name called Operation Give in which
clothing, dental supplies, toys and books are used for needy people.
In talking to students in Utah, Mr. Holton said, ``War is
challenging, sometimes a kill-or-be-killed kind of thing, and you are
in a strange place, and it is dangerous. But what is missing? Well, it
is the people.'' Holton said he was sick of hearing about all the bad
stuff when there are so many good things that are also happening in
Iraq.
He said the media makes it look like all Iraqis are hostile and want
U.S. troops out. He realized it was important not only to help them
establish freedom in their country but to reach out to them and address
them on a personal level. He showed students pictures of friendly Iraqi
children who benefited from this project as well as the families who
welcomed the soldiers with open arms.
They are just like us in many ways, but they have lots of needs.
Project Give or Operation Give helps let them know that we are not your
enemy, we are here to help you and to give you freedom.
With that, he established a warehouse in Baghdad in an effort to try
and help those who are from the poorest schools in the poorest segment.
In the spring of last year, he went to the high schools in Utah and
said, as you are cleaning out your lockers, instead of throwing away
all of your notebooks and supplies and pencils and crayons and
everything, put them in a box. He gathered them together to make part
of his trip to take them back to the poorest schools who, even though
they have schools, do not have the supplies they need.
This is Operation Give, and this is the quality of people that we
have working and leading and fighting and leading in Iraq.
Mr. Speaker, I do not know if it is against the rules if I mention
that people can find out about Operation Give if they look up
operationgive.org or www.chiefwiggles.com, because I certainly would
not want to break the rules in letting people know about
operationgive.org or chiefwiggles.com, so I hope if I say that, it is
in the rules.
But I also recognize that we have within Iraq a situation that is
going to be fraught with challenges, but we can meet those challenges
because of the quality of people that we have and the history of
success we have if we only keep our charity and our patience in the
face of adversity.
As Patrick Henry once said, ``I have but one lamp by which my feet
are guided, and that lamp is experience. I know of no way of judging
the future but by the past.'' We have a great past to guide us.
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity of being here and sharing
this time.
Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much. I am
reminded, when the gentleman talks about the goodness of American GIs,
that our country is good, and those GIs are good because they come from
families where giving and helping other people is part of their
character and part of their values.
I myself have a chief of staff who, with another member of the staff,
have formed a group called Rescue Task Force, and even shortly after we
had taken Iraq, this chief of staff Wendall Cutting, who himself had
cancer for a long period of time, moved into Iraq with the help of
other international organizations and built medical facilities for the
people of Iraq. And when we were operating in Kosovo, and Albania was
an area in which we had many refugee camps, Mr. Cutting and another
staff member, Gary Becks, were the first people into those refugee
camps with 40,000 of what they call ``love boxes'' from the people of
the United States. And those were little shoe boxes that would hold
scissors, combs, some medical things. It would help people, maybe a
pair of socks, things that people who had to leave their house
immediately, as a lot of the people who were forced out of Kosovo had
to do, would need.
And along with those boxes containing immediate convenience items,
they brought in ultimately millions of dollars worth of medical
equipment and food to those refugee camps. And the first camp they went
into, they mentioned that every child in the camp was ill because they
did not have a good water supply.
I am reminded that, when I talked about helping them to raise money
for this organization, my chief of staff Wendall Cutting, who himself
has cancer, said, that will be great, because we have about $1 million
worth of supplies ready to go in to the people who suffered from the
hurricanes in the southeast. And even as we talk, they are moving to
take those supplies to those very needy people.
So, Mr. Speaker, Americans are good, and the American people are
good. And they have infused and embedded those values and that virtue
in their sons and daughters who right now are serving in Iraq. And that
is a message that I think is not lost on the world.
Mr. Speaker, a lot of the noise that we hear in the world is
something that is manufactured. It is not genuine. A lot of the
criticism of the United States is not genuine. I am reminded of the
time that my mother and father were in the Philippines, visiting the
Philippines. And they were near the embassy in Manila, and there was a
long line of people waiting to get visas at that embassy, as there are
every day I might add. And they had at the same time an anti-American
demonstration in the town square there next to the embassy in Manila.
And the demonstrators had big, well-made signs that said: ``America out
of the Philippines''; ``Uncle Sam, go home''; ``America, get lost.''
And interestingly, the organizers of the demonstration against America
were going over to the visa line where Filipinos were waiting to get
visas to come into the United States, and they were hiring people out
of the visa line to come hold these demonstration placards that said,
``We hate America.'' So it is very clear that many of the anti-American
demonstrations around the world are not genuine.
The people in almost every country know the goodness of Americans. It
is interesting, a friend of mine remarked today that with all of the
talk about what we can do to make the Muslim world understand the
goodness of America, I was reminded that the last several wars that we
have fought have been on behalf of Muslim nations. That is, we freed
Kuwait from the occupation of Saddam Hussein, and we saved Saudi
Arabia, because Saddam Hussein's tanks were in third gear at the moment
that we stopped his armored divisions dead still with the insertion of
American combat troops. And we saved people in Bosnia who were being
brutalized. And we have helped Muslim people around the world.
The message of America is that goodness prevails, and our people are
good. Our GIs are great ambassadors of that goodwill, and all of the
projects that the gentleman from Georgia and the gentleman from Utah
talked about
[[Page H7318]]
that are being undertaken in Iraq are real projects. They really help
people. Those inoculations really do save babies, and it is something
that we can be very proud of.
I would like to yield to the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. McCotter.
Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished chairman of the
Committee on Armed Services for recognizing a lowly member of the
Committee on International Relations.
Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I would just tell the gentleman that he is a
very articulate member of the Committee on International Relations. We
would not think of not recognizing him.
Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Speaker, hopefully, we do a better job of talking
so my colleagues have to do less cleaning up of our messes.
I just wanted to take a moment to talk about the President's speech
in front of the United Nations, especially in relation to the horrific
events that we have seen in Iraq. I think it is very important that we
see that we have two messages, deeply distinct, that are being aimed at
the hearts of the world and our fellow Americans. On the one hand, we
have the President of the United States standing in front of the United
Nations General Assembly and reaffirming this Nation's commitment to
democracy, to liberty and to hope throughout the world. On the other
hand, we have terrorists who, despite whatever political rationale they
put forward, are nothing short of murderers who offer a perpetuation of
evil and horror for their fellow human beings.
It would seem to me today that nothing could more show the stakes in
Iraq, because, despite the panaceas that are proffered by many
politicians, Iraq has two futures. Iraq will be a democracy, or Iraq
will belong to Zarqawi. No amount of international support that is
promised will materialize. It is up to the Iraqi people and America's
coalition partners to ensure that Iraq remains free from any tyrant,
especially the tyrants of terror that are currently exerting their will
in some pockets of the country.
I bring this up because it is important for us here at home to
realize that the gravest threat to the United States of America in the
battle for Iraq is our resolve, as the President has rightly said. For,
as it has been noted often, the war on terror is fought as much on a
map as it is on your mind as a civilian. The images that we see, the
actions that are put forward are designed to terrorize us. And they are
designed to terrorize us so that we can no longer think clearly or
rationally about the situation in Iraq. It is designed so that a
handful of evil people can try to obscure the fact that tens of
millions of Iraqi people are living daily lives and are trying to build
a country and a better future for themselves.
Mr. Speaker, a terrorist attack by one suicide bomber that blows up
47 people standing in line to join in the defense of their country and
the promotion of their future, the story there is not the terrorists,
the suicide, the foreign terrorists destroying innocent life; it is
over 47 people in Iraq were killed to stand in line to defend their
freedom, to fight for a better future for themselves and their
children. And they will keep standing in line, and they will keep
coming. That is the story. It is the resiliency of the Iraqi people,
not the evil of the terrorists who wish to subjugate them once again
and turn Iraq back into a haven for terrorists.
It is the terror that will preclude us from seeing that stark
reality, the reality that we need to see, the reality that the
gentleman from Georgia talked about, the historical examples that have
been put forward by the gentleman from Utah, the rational thought that
is required of us as policymakers and as people of this Nation to
understand not only the stakes but the situation.
As we go forward and as the world looks and has a chance to reflect
upon the message of the terrorists or the message of our President at
the U.N., I think it is also necessary at this time for me to point out
that, at the United Nations, many of those people in that General
Assembly would not be sitting in those seats if their countries were
free and democratic. So to all of those nations, be they free or
democratic in the United Nations, regarding Iraq, I would just like
them to ponder one thing. History may commend them for a reluctance to
wage a war, but history will condemn them for their refusal to win the
peace. And right now, those are the stakes.
I appreciate the opportunity to talk on this issue.
Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his very eloquent
remarks.
Mr. Speaker, before I wrap up here, I would like to go over the
rotation of U.S. forces in Iraq because, once again, the presidential
candidate Senator Kerry has alleged that there is some secret plan to
bring up a lot more people after the November elections, and I have a
letter from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Myers, that says
that there is no secret plan.
{time} 2230
He states that there has been no deferences of any notices of the
rotations in Iraq as a function of pressure from anybody. Once more,
let me go over the units that have moved in on the last rotation and
the units that will move in on the next rotation.
We had the First Airborne Division or the 101st Airborne Division in
Northern Iraq, that has been replaced now by the First Striker Brigade
up in the Mosul area. We had the Fourth Infantry Division in eastern
Iraq centered in the Tikrit area. And that Fourth Infantry Division has
been replaced by the First Infantry Division.
We had the 82nd Airborne in the western area of operations that goes
all the way to the Syrian border. That has been replaced by the First
Marine Expeditionary Force, made up primarily of the First Marine
Division.
We had the First Armored Division in Baghdad. Part of its elements
have been replaced by the First Cavalry Division. And we are going to
be going to a new rotation that was briefed to us in July with plenty
of time, plenty of advance notice and plenty of publicity to the world.
I do not know if Senator Kerry saw it, but it certainly was not secret.
It was on national television, and that rotation is manifested in the
second chart.
That shows the Striker Brigade that is in northern Iraq presently
being replaced by another Striker brigade. It shows the First Infantry
Division in the eastern sector being replaced by the 42nd Infantry
Division. It shows the First Cav and the First Armored Division being
replaced by the Third Infantry Division, and the Tenth Mountain
Brigade, and it shows the First Armored Division moving out and the
First Cavalry Division moving out.
So that is the rotation with respect to Reserves. The ratio of
Reserves to active forces will remain in the 35 to 40 percent range,
and there are 5,600 members of the individual ready reserve. That
number has already been laid out by the Pentagon and those people are
in particular specialties, 800 of them have been called up. More will
be called up as time goes on. And in November or December there will be
another blue print because there is a blueprint laid down every 180
days, and it will maintain approximately the same number of people,
135,000 to 140,000 personnel in Iraq. And it will maintain
approximately the same Reserve to active duty proportion.
So that is the game plan that has been laid out in front of the
entire Nation by DOD. There has not been any attempt to hide it, to
delay it, to wait for the election before they laid it out. And in
another 4 or 5 months they will lay out the next 180-day plan, and 180
days from then they will lay out the next plan.
That is the means of notifying the country so that units and
individual families and personnel in the armed services can have plenty
of notice.
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