[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 8 (Tuesday, February 1, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ELECTION DAY IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, 2 days ago, amidst intimidation and threats and 
actual violence, the people of Iraq spoke out against the past 
oppression of Saddam Hussein and his dynasty of tyrants and spoke 
loudly for democracy. And I was there, privileged to be there, to 
witness this birth of a new era in this Nation of Iraq. I saw how the 
Iraqi people boldly, with the courage of a free people, said no to the 
outlaw desperadoes that plague their land almost daily, with the terror 
of abuse, ambush, and assassination. A people yearning to be free 
cannot be deterred by the acts of cowardly villains who harm the 
innocent and the unarmed.
  Even on this day, January 30, Iraq's Election Day, a day of promise, 
there were still 212 reported acts of violence against these people, 44 
of whom died, one being an 8-year-old mentally challenged boy. Yet 60 
percent of these proud Iraqis walked to 30,000 polling stations with 
watchful Iraqi security police on rooftops of schools armed with M-16 
rifles.
  Yet they ventured out with their families. They stood in lines, 
received historic ballots with 111 selections from which to choose. 
They entered a cardboard voting booth, and they made their free choice. 
They all cast a vote for Iraq.
  I talked to these people, the young and the elderly, who were all 
defiant of the violence and proud to be voters in this first free and 
fair election that carries the hope of democracy. I even saw husbands 
taking photographs of their wives while their wives were voting.
  The atmosphere of democracy unfolding was almost carnival in nature. 
After voting, each Iraqi dipped their right forefinger in an inkwell to 
record the fact that they voted. Some even left the polling place 
singing as they held their finger up high, a symbol that has come to be 
termed a badge of courage. They wanted all to know they had 
participated in this day. One young girl told me that she got there 
very early that morning so she could be the first person in her 
community to vote.
  This election was planned and conducted by Iraqis. The security force 
of 100,000 officers were all Iraqis. The votes will be counted by 
Iraqis, and the 275 members of this new parliament will all be Iraqis.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe the United States made a sound decision in 
helping start this democracy. Similar to the events following World War 
II when America launched democracies in the nations of our enemies, 
Japan and Germany, the skeptics and critics said it could not be done, 
and those skeptics and critics are still around today. But today Japan 
and Germany are not only thriving democracies but they are also world 
economic powers and they are our allies.
  So this, too, will be our hope and desire for Iraq and for 
Afghanistan. These two nations will become democracies in spite of the 
hardships and detractors here at home and abroad. Those people who 
utter words of gloom, doom, and despair, history will prove those 
people wrong. History corroborates that freedom can grow in the desert 
of oppression.
  Our efforts have not gone without appreciation by the Iraqi people. 
The individuals I spoke to on that Sunday morning and afternoon said 
they love Americans, especially our military. They are truly grateful.
  As Election Day drew to a close on Sunday afternoon, the gentleman 
from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) and I spoke with the president of Iraq. 
And in an almost emotional tone, he told us that the Iraqi people 
recognize that America has sacrificed their young men and women for 
Iraq, for this day to come.
  We should be happy for the Iraqi people and proud that we have sown 
the seed of freedom in this land far, far away. And we must remember 
the words 40 years ago of a young man from Massachusetts, President 
John Kennedy, when he stated our commitment then and our commitment 
today. He said, ``Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or 
ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, 
support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success 
of liberty.''
  We are doing that in Iraq, Mr. Speaker.

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