[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 128 (Saturday, October 9, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H9180-H9183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             REMEMBERING THOSE DEFENDING AMERICA'S FREEDOM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, as we prepare to head back to our 
respective districts and likewise as we prepare to engage in the 
exercise that typifies this constitutional Republic, where our 
government operates only through the consent of the governed, I believe 
it incumbent upon Members of this House and, indeed, Mr. Speaker every 
citizen of these United States, to pause and remember, and, yes, in 
this case to hear from one of those young Americans defending our 
freedom in Iraq.
  Recently on the pages of the Arizona Republic there appeared a letter 
from Captain Scott Moore. Captain Moore, with the United States Army, 
lives in Sholo, Arizona. His civilian job is that of a high school 
history teacher in White River on one of our tribal reservations in 
rural Arizona. How appropriate it is that Captain Moore, through his 
letter, teaches all of us about the nature of the men and women serving 
this country and reminds us of the special gift it is to be an 
American.
  This letter was written February 1. It was composed in a military 
plane headed for Kuwait. Captain Moore writes:
  ``If you were with me, you could tell this plane I am on is heading 
to a combat zone. All the passengers are dressed in desert camouflage 
uniforms and carrying weapons. I have an M-16 and a 9 millimeter 
Beretta, which will be in my possession until I go home in about a year 
from now.
  ``As I sit on this plane taking us to war, I cannot help but think 
about who is with me. No African Americans are going to war, no Asian 
Americans are going to war, no Mexican Americans are going to war, no 
Native Americans are going to war, no Hispanic Americans are going to 
war, no Arab Americans are going to war, no Anglo Americans are going 
to war. Only Americans who happen to have different ethnic backgrounds 
are going to war with me.
  ``I assume Americans from different religions, such as Catholics, 
Protestants, Jews, Muslims, et cetera, are going to war together on 
this plane. We don't really know who practices what religion, and don't 
really care. Only Americans are going to war.
  ``Americans from all over the United States are going to war together 
on this plane. They are from different States, from urban cities to 
rural towns. Once we left the United States, this didn't matter 
anymore. We were from only one place, and that was the United States of 
America.
  ``Americans from all walks of life are going to war together on this 
plane: doctors, custodians, teachers, police officers, store owners, 
engineers, the unemployed, college students, post office employees, 
restaurant workers, retail sales workers, veterinarians and countless 
other people with different civilian jobs are going to war together. 
These citizen soldiers left their civilian jobs and are now all 
American soldiers fulfilling their commitment to the Army Reserves and 
the United States.
  ``Americans going to war on this plane are grandparents, parents, 
daughters, sons, single parents, granddaughters, grandsons, nephews, 
nieces,

[[Page H9181]]

cousins, boyfriends, girlfriends, wives, husbands and fiancees. 
Americans going to war on this plane are ages 18 to 59. Americans going 
to war on this plane are rich and poor. We have soldiers who were 
unemployed before getting activated for military service. We also have 
soldiers who were making six-digit salaries and just took quite a pay 
cut going to war on this plane.
  ``Americans on this plane joined the Army Reserves for different 
reasons. All are volunteers. Some joined primarily for college funds. 
Far many more joined out of a sense of duty and loyalty to their 
country.
  ``Many people in this unit were not originally in the unit when it 
initially got alerted. Only when they knew the unit was going to Iraq 
did they join. Some joined to be with friends in the unit, some to do 
their duty, some out of guilt of not being in Iraq with friends already 
there. Some joined for very specific reasons. One joined the day after 
September 11, 2001. Another was excited to hear news reports that al 
Qaeda is showing up in Iraq. He has special plans for those people.
  ``The very best of America is on this plane heading to war. I feel 
humble and not good enough to be with them.''
  So writes Captain Scott Moore, serving now with the United States 
Army in Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, Captain Moore need not feel unworthy. Indeed, the reader 
of this letter cannot help but be humbled by the quality of those in 
our all-volunteer force willing to step forward. And whether it is in 
Afghanistan or Iraq or elsewhere around the world or here within the 
boundaries and borders of the United States of America, we have been 
blessed by this all-volunteer force.
  Indeed, Mr. Speaker, it was I who felt incredibly humbled in the 
spring of this year visiting with our troops in Iraq and Kuwait. 
Indeed, just about 6 weeks to 2 months after this letter was initially 
written by Captain Moore, I had occasion to travel with a congressional 
delegation led by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg), who 
just managed the conference report for Military Construction. The 
ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), joined us, 
along with others.
  Our travels took us first to Baghdad and then north to Mosul, and 
then to the growing nerve and supply center known as Balad, where the 
Iraqi Olympic team during Saddam's reign of terror trained, and, 
indeed, members of that team had terror and torture perpetrated on them 
by the now departed sons of Saddam, Odai and Qusai.
  So many instances in that trip resonate in this letter. I can recall 
climbing aboard a Blackhawk helicopter flying over Mosul, flying over a 
large hydroelectric dam utilized for power to the northern portion of 
Iraq and viewing the infrastructure there, but climbing into the 
helicopter and having the help of one young soldier. And when I pled 
lack of familiarity with the harnessing and the procedures, the young 
soldier said, ``That's okay, sir. That is what we are here for.''
  ``That is what we're here for.''
  President Bush at our National Cathedral on our Day of National 
Remembrance for those Americans and others who perished on the date we 
now know in that historical shorthand as 
9/11, President Bush said, ``This war was started by others, but it 
will end at a time and a place of our choosing.''
  Perhaps our Commander in Chief did not realize exactly how prophetic 
those words have become, because in a free society we celebrate the 
fact that different Americans can have different points of view. We 
rejoice in that divergence of opinion.
  But it is worth noting the consequences of following certain policies 
that have been advocated as people make their choices as to who should 
serve in public office. I am disturbed that the Democratic nominee for 
the Presidency has yet to express a consistent, clear, concise response 
to carrying out the mission in Iraq and elsewhere in the ongoing war on 
terror.

                              {time}  1530

  Indeed, there have been so many different responses.
  Mr. Speaker, I cannot help but believe that the electorate is 
somewhat confused. We heard the Democratic nominee a few days ago say 
he was committed to staying the course in Iraq, yet even as he called 
it the wrong war at the wrong place and the wrong time.
  Mr. Speaker, it is more accurate to describe the military action in 
Afghanistan and in Iraq not as a singular or specific war, but as 
battle campaigns in an ongoing war against Islamo fascism and the 
terror that has been utilized by Islamo fascists and unleashed on 
liberty-loving peoples throughout this world.
  Accordingly, I celebrate in a bipartisan fashion with my friend, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee); we do not agree on much, but 
as I heard her comments celebrating what transpired today in 
Afghanistan when the citizens of that Nation went to the polls and 
expressed their preference for leaders and for government and for 
governance. When we realize that now, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, young 
children are going to schools, including little girls, many for the 
first time, having the opportunity to learn reading, writing, 
arithmetic, and oh, yes, for the first time to learn without a message 
of hatred for others in the world or an endorsement of the twisted cult 
and political morphing and hijacking of a faith best described as 
Islamo fascism.
  Instead of an endorsement of Islamo fascism, little boys and little 
girls now in Afghanistan and in Iraq are going to schools opened by the 
same soldiers who we have seen perform their duties so valiantly and 
work actually to rebuild two societies even as insurgent conflicts 
continue.
  We are reminded that not only were elections held today in 
Afghanistan where close to 10 million Afghanis, according to the latest 
reports I saw, 10 million Afghanis were willing to come forward and 
vote, despite remnants of the Taliban and other terrorist groups who 
would try to abridge, who would try to terrorize, who would try to tear 
down the elections process. Yet, the Afghanis lined up to vote.
  Mr. Speaker, I am reminded that just a few short days ago, if memory 
serves, just 2 weeks ago, the Prime Minister of Iraq, Prime Minister 
Allawi stood here at the podium behind me and addressed a joint session 
of this Congress and spoke of the challenges confronting his homeland, 
but pledged to this Congress and to the people of the United States 
that the sacrifice in blood and treasure of the American people will 
not be in vain, that there will be a free Iraq, and that there will be 
elections in January of next year.
  Consider the source making this bold, clean assertion. Perhaps my 
colleagues do not know the story of the Iraqi Prime Minister. Perhaps 
you are unfamiliar with the fact that now, at least 2 decades, perhaps 
close to a quarter of a century ago, Saddam's secret police tracked 
then-private-citizen, or perhaps more accurately, political-refugee 
Allawi to London, and Saddam's agents of death, wielding axes, went in 
to kill him. He fought off that attack in the most literal sense. Prime 
Minister Allawi is a survivor.
  So often, because of just the sheer volume of information and news 
that come across anchor desks and through the Internet to your home and 
through so many sources, sometimes we fail to pause to understand the 
unique nature of those who stand with us.
  Mr. Speaker, we should make no mistake, for we also need to 
understand the evil nature of those who fight against us. We have heard 
of the Jordanian al Zarkawi wreaking havoc within the boundaries of 
Iraq, beheading in barbarous, indescribably cruel and evil fashion 
American citizens and others. But the irony seems to be this: As 
horrible as this monster is, in an intercepted communication which 
first appeared in the American press, in The New York Times, of all 
publications, in an intercepted communication to other allies in 
terror, Zarkawi outlined what is exactly at stake. He outlined to other 
evil agents of terror, if Iraq is able to elect a free government, if 
boys and girls are able to go to school and learn without the prejudice 
of Islamo fascism and without the heel of the jackboot upon their 
throat, and without the continued threat of mass graves, that freedom 
in Iraq would be a crushing, mortal blow to the forces of terror and 
Islamo fascism around the world.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, if one of our sworn enemies understands what is at 
stake, I would ask the American people to

[[Page H9182]]

likewise understand that dynamic. Here is the irony: Our sworn enemy, 
in communications not intended for our ears, in intercepted 
correspondence, clearly and succinctly put the stakes of our action and 
the possible consequences for his evil movement out for us to 
understand. It was not his intent, but that is the result.
  Mr. Speaker, while we all rejoice in the fact that we are free to 
agree to disagree, while people of goodwill can disagree, while indeed 
we will make manifest those different opinions through different 
choices at the ballot box on the first Tuesday following the first 
Monday in November, Mr. Speaker, I would simply ask the American 
people, whether Republican or Democrat or Independent or Libertarian or 
vegetarian, whatever your political label, whatever your partisan 
stripe, as Americans who were brutally and viciously attacked on 9/11, 
as Americans who now in this post-9/11 world understand that there are 
those who will harm the most innocent among us, as Americans who just 
read of reports emanating from Iraq where our forces had uncovered 
intelligence, where Islamo Fascists and forces of terror had the layout 
and the architectural plans and the schedules of certain schools in the 
United States, bringing to mind the horror of what transpired in Russia 
and what in that culture and society was a day of great joy, the first 
day of school in that society, that turned to such evil carnage.
  We are confronted by people who are not out to win debating points, 
who are not out to win friends among us, but indeed, Mr. Speaker, if 
there is a new phrase I could coin, I would say that those forces of 
evil are actively engaged in plotting and planning Americide, where our 
only crime is to be Americans in their eyes, and the malignant, 
malingering, accompanying aspect of this wretchedly despicable and evil 
behavior is the fact that these same Islamo Fascists care not if they 
kill fellow Muslims, care not if they kill noncombatants and women and 
children, indeed, care not if their carnage continues unabated, such is 
their twisted, malignant outlook.
  The choice remains for us here at the dawn of the 21st century. The 
choice is a stark one, and it is very simple. Either we take the fight 
to the terrorists where they live, where they grow up, where their 
homes are located; or we sit back, we hope for the best through nuance 
and timidity and the alluring siren song of complacency, if we do not 
bother them, they will not bother us. If we follow that doctrine, I 
fear for my country and for its survival.
  No. It is simple. The reason we are in Iraq, the reason we are in 
Afghanistan, the reason we must be prepared to fight Islamo fascism 
around the world is because it is far better to take on the terrorists 
on the streets of Tikrit, Iraq, than on the streets of Tucson, Arizona. 
It is far better to deal with the terror movements and the insurgency 
on the streets of Baghdad than on the streets of Baltimore. It is far 
better to confront these agents of evil in Sadr City than in Syracuse, 
New York.
  The key to our national security and defense is not found in a 
fantastic fantasy of hope that these agents of evil will ever listen to 
reason. It is instead found in the solemn promise and commitment to 
this Nation, a commitment embodied so valiantly in our all-volunteer 
force, a commitment embodied in the letter of Captain Scott Moore of 
Sholo, Arizona, a high school history teacher in White River, on one of 
our Native American reservations who is, himself, along with his 
colleagues in arms, making history, building a free Iraq. Moving 
forward, he eventually strikes a blow for peace by picking up the 
implements of war.

                              {time}  1545

  Mr. Speaker, our President again made the statements so clearly and 
compellingly, in the days following 
9/11: ``This conflict was started by others but it will end at a time 
and place of our choosing.''
  No one wants war. General MacArthur, our supreme allied commander in 
the Pacific theater in World War II said, ``The soldier least of all 
wants war for it is the soldier who literally has the most to lose.''
  His counterpart in the European theater, the supreme allied 
commander, General Dwight David Eisenhower, who remarked that when he 
came ashore a few days following D-Day on Omaha Beach, it was 
impossible to take a step without treading upon dead and decaying human 
flesh. Eisenhower, even in victory, seared by that experience described 
war as a cross of iron upon which hangs all humanity. But as horrible 
as war is, the constant threat of terror, the scourge of those who in 
barbaric fashion would murder the innocent, cannot be left unchecked 
nor unanswered.
  We must renew our commitment at this time, in this place, and through 
our expressions of conferring power. Again, as I mentioned earlier, the 
unique aspect of governance in our constitutional Republic is that this 
government only operates, only derives its power from the consent of 
the governed. And as the people make their decisions, Mr. Speaker, I 
would appeal to all Americans regardless of partisan label, political 
stripe or philosophy to see this thing through. It will take many 
different forms. It will take many different approaches. It may, in 
fact, Mr. Speaker, take us many years.
  I mentioned earlier the observations of our great wartime military 
leaders, Generals Eisenhower and MacArthur. I am also reminded of our 
British cousin with whom we formed the grand alliance during World War 
II, Prime Minister Churchill, who in the other body addressed the 
American people in 1941 or in early 1942, the date escapes me, but who 
essentially said, as allies we are in for a time of great tribulation 
and sacrifice.
  There is no way to sugar-coat or put aside the sacrifices of war. 
There is no way to explain away the sacrifice of the lives of men and 
women. There is no way to articulate the thanks we owe to so many brave 
wounded with whom I have had the privilege to meet at Walter Reed 
Medical Center and at other locations.
  But we dare not in this new century fail to understand that the 
horror of war cannot obscure the even greater horror of inaction, the 
even greater horror of appeasement, the even greater horror of 
capitulation through inaction, the even greater horror of a lack of 
resolve. For in the final analysis, Mr. Speaker, the most basic 
responsibility of government is to protect the citizens of this Nation, 
as our founders said it, to provide for the common defense. And we best 
provide that defense and that national security with offense, with 
offensive operations, with taking the fight to those who would hope to 
bring the fight to our shores.
  Mr. Speaker, I mentioned earlier my visit to the war theater on the 
anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict. I saw many Arizonans 
there. I was greeted in Baghdad by a former Arizonan, General Steve 
Sergeant, former commander at Luke Air Force Base in the west valley at 
Balad. I saw my old friend Cornell Ronny Cox who I first got to know 
when he was a high school football coach for an opposing team in my 
youth, who at the time I saw him in Balad earned the informal title the 
``Mayor of Balad,'' dealing with civil administration and so many other 
things.
  I have met many other Arizonans along the way, but in Mosul I saw 
another young Arizonan who typified what is best with America. This 
young man calls the Navajo Reservation in northwest Arizona his home. 
This young man happens to be the grandson of former Arizona State 
Senator Jack Jackson. And it was interesting as I sat in the mess hall 
with Munoz of Tempe and Pignato of Tucson, they said to me, Whatever 
you do, Congressman, do not leave until you meet Adahy. Sergeant Adahy, 
the young Navajo was working in the garage, but he was not performing 
the standard maintenance of vehicles that we often associate with the 
grease pits in the garage. No. Adahy was there building what was 
eponymously named the Adahy Special.
  You have heard about the challenges that our forces faced as they 
tried to deal with their different vehicles and initially a lack of 
armor; and this Congress provided supplemental funds not only for 
personal body armor but also for retrofitting armor on vehicles. 
Indeed, one of the companies supplying that armor likewise is located 
in Arizona. But our friend, Adahy, was not waiting, was not waiting for 
that armor to come up the supply line.
  He was doing what so many Americans have done before. He was 
displaying good old fashioned Yankee ingenuity, finding scrap iron, 
taking the

[[Page H9183]]

welding torch, working in his own way to build what they call Adahy 
Specials, putting armor on the vehicles to protect his fellow soldiers.
  What Sergeant Adahy was doing that day we have seen so often in our 
all volunteer force. The unique thing about our men and women in 
uniform, whether they hail from the Navajo Nation in northwest Arizona 
or from the plains of Kansas or from the streets of New York City, our 
fighting forces are composed of seemingly ordinary men and women who 
are capable of extraordinary things. And we give thanks for their 
service. To those who have sacrificed, we will remember that sacrifice, 
and we dare not fail to see this through. Because as we learned on that 
beautiful fall day just 3 years ago, there are those perfectly happy to 
kill Americans just because we are Americans.
  So let us remember the sacrifices of those who serve. Let us remember 
the words of Captain Moore of Arizona. Let us remember the actions of 
Sergeant Adahy and so many others who are taking the fight to the 
insurgents and the agents of terror over there so that we do not 
confront them here.

                          ____________________