[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H1684-H1688]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FIGHTING TERRORISM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this 
special order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Kentucky?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, this is an exciting time in the 
history of the United States, in the history of the world, and in the 
advancement of freedom.
  This afternoon a member of minority made a statement that this war 
was not a war of choice. Contrary to that opinion, which certainly one 
has a right to share in this body, I would remind all Members of this 
House and the people that this was in fact a war that was chosen by 
Osama bin Laden and even before that by people like Saddam Hussein, 
those who have subjugated and terrorized their people for decades and 
even generations.
  Osama bin Laden turned his hatred on America after we responded to 
the request of the Saudi and Kuwaiti governments after Saddam Hussein's 
invasion of Kuwait in 1990. His aggression was one of the key sparks in 
the current activities that we find ourselves engaged in right now.
  This is a decisive time. In fact, we face the most serious threat to 
our freedoms and our liberties that we have faced since the end of the 
Second World War. We are fighting an enemy who has proven it will use 
whatever violent means necessary to further its cause. Indeed, we are 
not going to lose because of military strength, but we would lose only 
if the people of the United States have a loss of resolve.
  My encouragement is to stay the course. As we see the development 
over the past several months around the world there are many, many 
things to be hopeful for. We recoil in horror at the report of suicide 
bombers and strolling into crowded markets or onto packed buses and 
detonating themselves. Are they primarily focusing on our soldiers? No. 
The preponderance of causalities are attacks on their own people. In 
fact, this is not an insurgency in the classic sense. It is led by 
frankly a group of thugs, people filled with hatred, bitterness, 
criminals by any measure of merit, killing innocent men, women and 
children.
  We watch in stunned belief when such a terror group announces it has 
taken hostage Americans or others who are innocent, working in Iraq 
peacefully to make it a safe place. A place where people can wake up in 
the morning, go to work, provide for their families, and then come home 
for a peaceful dinner, which so many of us, the vast and overwhelming 
majority of citizens in the United States, enjoy.
  But our hearts swell glancing at pictures of the 8 million Iraqis who 
risked their lives to vote for a better way of life, one that does not 
include violence and brutal dictators. Every person who had the courage 
in his or her hearts to dip his or her finger in the purple ink on 
January 30 to vote in Iraq's first democratically held elections in 
decades, took a courageous stand for freedom and liberty and we applaud 
that.
  I proudly joined my colleagues yesterday to pass the Emergency 
Wartime Supplemental Budget which we approved 388 to 43. The 
supplemental provides for $76.8 billion in defense spending for pay, 
benefits, supplies and equipment for our troops because we will assure 
that our troops have the training, the tools and the equipment that 
they need to carry on to victory in this war.
  We needed to move quickly to secure this money and we could not 
afford to wait for the budget process to wind its way to a finish. The 
military has told us they needed the funds by May 1 and Congress just 
cannot move that quickly on the entire defense appropriations bill.
  The supplemental is money well spent to show our soldiers that we 
fully support them and that we are doing everything we can to provide 
for their safety. It shows our commitment to both our allies and also 
we show our enemies that we mean business, that we will continue to 
fight. We will pursue them in every corridor where they exist and, 
finally, win this war on terror.
  This is not a fight we will lose, again, I reiterate because of 
military strength or lack of it. It is a fight that we can only lose if 
we choose to walk away, and we must not walk away.
  This is a revolutionary time throughout the world. In the entire 
latitude 10-40 window, the doors of freedom are opening for the first 
time in decades, for the first time in history in some cases. We are 
seeing the fruit of the valor of our men and women in uniform in the 
developments in Lebanon, the developments in Egypt, the developments in 
Saudi Arabia. It is an exciting

[[Page H1685]]

time. It is exciting to see the values of the United States being 
carried forward, not being imposed but being embraced. Those are not a 
value of culture but a value of freedom and liberty, the dignity of the 
individual, the rights of every human being to life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness.
  I am proud of what the Iraqi people are doing after the bombings that 
have come on recruiting stations, on stores, on schools, on polling 
places. What we are seeing happening is an exciting thing, and that is 
the next morning the recruits are coming back. The next morning the 
security forces are coming to work. The next morning the police are on 
patrol. They are beginning to stand up and it is imperative that we 
stand with them.

  We will continue to be strong and defend liberty so that other people 
may have the same freedoms that we enjoy.
  I want to thank my distinguished colleagues who are here today with 
me to discuss the supplemental, the impact that it will have on our 
continued war on terror, one that we will see all the way through to 
victory.
  Mr. Speaker, right now I would like to yield to the distinguished 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton), the chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats, and Capabilities.
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
  I would like to make a few remarks to kind of put in perspective at 
least my view of the war on terror. Before I do that let me thank the 
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) for taking out this time to permit 
several of us to makes these remarks.
  Let me just say that the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) has been 
a very energetic Member of the House of Representatives in spite of the 
fact that he has been here a relatively short time as a member of the 
Committee on Armed Services, and we certainly enjoy having him here and 
serving with him.
  We all know that we have many people deployed overseas in a number of 
places. The most often talked about today, of course, are Afghanistan 
and Iraq, and I think it is fitting at this time to thank and pay 
tribute to the members of our Armed Services who are, in fact, a part 
of that deployed force, and to note as others already have today that 
they often times pay a very high price for volunteering to help their 
country in this way.
  In addition to those folks who are members of the military, there are 
civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan as well, members of private 
securities forces that are employed by the Iraqi government and by our 
State Department and other agencies to provide the security that is 
necessary. They put themselves in harm's way as well.
  I am reminded of one of my constituent families who lost a civilian 
son who went to Iraq to carry out his private pursuits. And so there 
are many people who have volunteered, and we thank them all for the 
sacrifice they and their families have made in carrying out the mission 
that the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) has described as trying to 
solve a set of issues, a problem that is perhaps the most serious 
international problem that we have had since World War II.
  The use of terror in carrying out political objectives is certainly 
not new. It goes back well over a century and we can find examples of 
it throughout the world and primarily perhaps in the Middle East as far 
back as 1900. And, of course, in 1928 it bubbled up in Egypt, where 
organizations were formed for the purpose of carrying out various types 
of ill-conceived missions, ill-conceived goals. And, of course, in 
modern history it has become very prevalent, for example, subsequent to 
the establishment of the country of Israel, those who wished the 
Israeli government and the Israeli people ill will and tried to create 
harm and perhaps do away with the state of Israel, began a war of 
terror in the Middle East and has continued, I think it is fair to say, 
continues today. It certainly did very recently.
  I first became interested in these issues in the late eighties when 
on a trip to Israel I happened to pick up a Time Magazine and read a 
story, an article about Hamas. When I got there I began to ask Israeli 
officials about this group and they enlightened me over the period of 
time that I was in Israel on that trip, and I came home convinced that 
the subject of terrorism was something that our country was going to 
have to pay attention to and that, in fact, it could end up in the 
situation where we were going to have a very significant problem. And, 
of course, the rest of that story is history.
  We know that during the nineties we suffered attacks in Saudi Arabia 
on American interests. We suffered attacks in two countries, in Africa 
on our embassies there, and we suffered the attack on the USS Cole in 
Yemen. Of course, in 2001 on September 11 our country was attacked here 
in the homeland.
  We had been fairly passive, I must say, about this subject during the 
decade of 1990s and before. But subsequent to 9/11 and President Bush, 
who stood at this podium and talked about the global war on terror and 
declared the war on terror, our country has had some tremendous 
successes overseas. And through the help of people, some of whom have 
paid the ultimate sacrifice, but all of whom sacrificed in one way or 
another, we have had some great successes.
  For example, in Afghanistan with the use of air power and some folks 
on the grounds, we were able to take down the regime that we know as 
the Taliban, and we were able to disburse the al Qaeda forces that were 
supported by the government known as the Taliban.

                              {time}  1745

  The al Qaeda forces were scattered. We believe that we have captured 
or taken down in one way or another something in the neighborhood of 75 
percent of their leadership and have, in effect, provided an 
opportunity for our country to claim a success with regard to the al 
Qaeda organization.
  Of course, I had the opportunity along with some of my colleagues to 
travel to Afghanistan last February and to see the progress that has 
been made in that country because of our country's policies. Obviously, 
along with routing out the Taliban and taking down much of the al Qaeda 
leadership, the economy of Afghanistan is growing in leaps and bounds. 
It is not the kind of economy that we know, but still, it is an 
indigenous economy that is, in fact, growing at a good pace.
  The Karzai government has been stood up. In talking with President 
Karzai, much progress has been made in the goals of education and 
society generally in that country. Of course, with the coming 
legislative elections, we will have another democratic victory in 
Afghanistan when the parliament is actually elected.
  We had another opportunity in Iraq. We had problems in Iraq and took 
advantage of the opportunity in Iraq to take down one of the most 
despotic, tyrannical governments in the history of the world, the 
government run by Saddam Hussein and his Baathist party. So we move 
forward in the war on terror and we fight against insurgents and 
terrorists in Iraq and rebuild Iraq, bring its economy back up and 
provide opportunities for the Iraqi people, not only to have their 
economy grow but also to have that election that was symbolized by the 
purple finger of over 8 million Iraqi people who stood in line, 
sometimes being shot at, in order to be able to vote for their new 
government.
  These things have all gone forward and they have set an example for 
the rest of the world, and as President Bush said not long ago, any 
country in the world that wants to establish a democracy, we will be 
there to help.
  Today, as we look around the world, in Egypt, there are tendencies 
that are developing for democratic opportunities. The first real 
election perhaps in the history of Egypt will be held this year, and of 
course, in Lebanon, we all see on the news every day that the democracy 
there is progressing as well as in the West Bank and with regard to the 
Palestinians who are also in the process of forming a new government 
and providing for the elections that were recently held.
  This is a problem. Terrorism is a problem, always has been. It has 
become a major issue today, however, primarily I believe because of the 
possibility of terrorists acquiring the possession of weapons of mass 
destruction which, of course, would be a very serious and unthinkable 
kind of a situation.
  Once again, let me commend the gentleman from Kentucky for taking out 
this time to give me and others who will follow me an opportunity to 
express our views of the current situation

[[Page H1686]]

and the successes that are our military men and women and our 
government and the newly elected democratic governments in the Middle 
East are having.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New 
Jersey for his aggressive and energetic leadership in the Subcommittee 
on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities of the Committee 
on Armed Services. In the 20 years that he has served in the House, he 
has seen the end of the Cold War, of one dramatically large threat 
replaced by an even more pernicious threat with the rise of global 
terror and asymmetric threats.
  This is a decisive time in our history, and it is important that we 
stand together as a people. I regret the occasional rhetoric that we 
hear even in this body that tears down the efforts of our leaders, of 
our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to effectively carry out 
their mission.
  But there is also a mission at home that we have. As the dynamics of 
the threats to the United States have changed, it intruded upon our 
lives on September 11, the protection of our homeland, of our 
communities, of our children and our families. It is a critical, 
critical priority.
  It is now a special opportunity to introduce a distinguished member 
of law enforcement who is also now a distinguished Member in this body 
from the State of Washington. I would like to yield to the gentleman 
from Washington (Mr. Reichert), who has established a great record of 
persistence, the ultimate captor with a great team of law enforcement 
people of the Green River Killer, who also brings profound insights 
into law enforcement and port security, homeland security, domestic law 
enforcement and is now adding great value to the entire people of the 
United States here in the House. I yield to the gentleman from 
Washington.
  Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Davis) for allowing me a few minutes to speak tonight.
  I have had experience on the streets of this country and in 
protecting our communities and our families, and it has been an honor 
to serve for 33 years in the King County sheriff's office in Seattle, 
Washington.
  Since September 11, our job has changed a little bit. We have had to 
focus on possible terrorists in our community. This country is at war. 
It is a different war, a war like we have never fought before. We call 
it the War on Terror.
  Some may disagree with how we got into this war, why we are here and 
may want to even end this War on Terror. Some have even called it a war 
of choice. This was not a war of choice. Our country, our Nation was 
attacked. On September 11, we suffered human loss in a tragic attack on 
this Nation.
  Then what happened? Our armed services jumped into action, and the 
men and women of our military came to our aid, came to protect this 
country and went to war.
  Some might ask, well, why would people volunteer for the armed 
services, why would anyone, law enforcement officers or people who 
serve in the military, why would they volunteer to sacrifice their 
life? Why would they volunteer to sacrifice time away from their 
families or put them in need for their care and attention and put their 
lives in danger? Why would men and women do that?
  As I thought about that, it reminded me of a story that happened a 
few years ago. I have a 28-year-old son who now is or he was 10 when 
this happened, but it was a hot summer day in Seattle. It was one of 
the few hot summer days we had, and I was mowing the lawn and he was 
following behind me. As we were mowing the lawn and he was tugging on 
my shirt, he said, Dad, let me mow the lawn, I know I can do this. I 
was a little bit unsure about having my 10-year-old son run the lawn 
mower. My wife came out and said, Dave, the phone was ringing; it is 
for you.
  I went in to answer the phone. My son was still tugging at my 
shirttail, Dad, I can do this, let me mow the lawn. So I said, Dan, if 
you can start that lawn mower, you can mow the lawn.
  So I watched from the window as I was on the telephone, and Dan 
pulled and tugged and pulled and tugged and pulled and tugged on this 
rope to start this lawn mower, and the sweat was just pouring down his 
face, and I thought soon he would give up, but he kept on going.
  Finally, then he came to the point where he was so exhausted he had 
to stop and pause, and he put his head down and he wondered, where do I 
turn now, what do I do. This was a proud moment for me as a father 
because he stopped, he looked up, he put his hands together, and you 
could read his lips. He said, please, Lord, start this lawn mower. Then 
he bent over and pulled on the rope, and the lawn mower started. So I 
thought to myself, you know what, if God wants Dan to mow the lawn, I 
am not going to stop him.

  Here is the moral of the story. Here is a young boy who has faith and 
hope and trust that small children have. If you stop and think about 
the faith and the hope and the trust that our kids have, that our 
children and grandchildren have today in each and every one of us, 
parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, Members of Congress, I do not 
care who you are, those children are looking to us for leadership.
  What has happened here is our military is fighting, sacrificing their 
lives because they know they cannot give in to terrorists because those 
little eyes that you look into, that hold that faith, that hope and 
that trust must never lose that hope, faith and trust.
  This country needs to be free. We must support our men and women in 
uniform to preserve the faith, hope and trust that every one of our 
children in this Nation have, and when we passed the supplemental 
yesterday and supporting our troops for the training, equipment and 
tools that they need to conduct this war and do their job, we sent them 
a clear message: We support you and we love you. We care for you and we 
thank you for keeping our country free and for making sure that our 
children never lose that faith, hope and trust that they have in all of 
us and in this great Nation.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Washington State and also salute all members of law enforcement, our 
fire, EMS and first responders who are working literally around the 
clock to make this Nation safe.
  Indeed, I want to salute our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. 
My former comrades, classmates, former comrades when I was an enlisted 
soldier and those who I went to the military academy with and served on 
active duty with, who are still serving this country today. I applaud 
your efforts. We love you and we thank you for the sacrifices that you 
are making to give us a safer tomorrow, a safer Nation, a safer future 
and hope for the world.
  In our have it now, you deserve a break, have it your way society we 
can easily forget that all true freedom came at a great price. It came 
with persistence. It came with faith. It came with hope and real hope 
is not what we see now. Hope is something that we do not yet have, that 
we are waiting for, that we are pursuing aggressively with great 
hunger, and that freedom ultimately, as all true freedom came, with the 
shedding of blood, the willingness to lay down our lives for our 
friends.
  In the prior generations, that has been done willingly, acceptingly, 
and now we have a great generation that has raised up to defend this 
Nation to prepare and protect this country for our children and 
grandchildren as they come forward.
  There is a liberal intellectual elite in this country that say the 
people of the Arabic world are not capable of embracing freedom. I 
wholeheartedly disagree with that. As one who has learned to love the 
Arabic culture over the last 27 years, I have seen in ordinary men and 
women that spark of desire for freedom, a desire to be free, a desire 
to give their children hope and opportunity and freedom and to grow up 
in a safe community, to be able to pass on the tenets of their faith, 
to live with a future that is secure, a future that has promise.
  Let me share with you another perspective, another view. I want to 
share some excerpts from an e-mail that I received from my neighbor 
down the street. His name is Colonel Charlie Waylon, and he is a 
reservist.
  Working as an emergency room physician, he answered the call after 
September 11 to join a special forces unit first in the liberation of 
Afghanistan.

[[Page H1687]]

Then he came back again in Operation Iraqi Freedom and is now on his 
third tour in theater, willingly serving, making a difference in the 
lives of our soldiers and Marines but also making a difference in the 
lives of the Iraqi people.
  He is a colonel, and his son reports soon to Fort Benning, Georgia, 
for infantry basic training. They, along with the rest of our soldiers, 
are constantly in my prayers and my wife Pat's prayers. It is e-mails 
like this that I receive on a regular basis that convince me that we 
are doing the right thing, and not only that, that we are winning.
  Before my friend went to Iraq, he was asked three questions by one of 
his neighbors: Are we winning? Is it worth the price? Are we 
accomplishing anything?
  Having spent some time now in theater for the third time, he says the 
answers to all three are an unequivocal yes. Let me say that again. It 
is an unequivocal yes.
  What gives him that authority to speak is his experience on the 
ground, having seen that situation develop over time.
  First, let us focus on the big picture. We are not engaged in a war 
in Iraq itself, the main war on the ground. We are engaged in a war of 
world views, one that does not value freedom, one that values hatred 
and closed societies over openness and freedom and true discourse; one 
that does not value the true dignity of the individual, the 
preciousness of all life but discards that for the sake of a theology 
of hatred. It does not represent the center of mass of people in that 
part of the world.
  The fact that the Iraqis would rise up and go to the polls in numbers 
greater than turnout in elections in the United States of America says 
the man and woman on the street cares deeply, deeply about embracing 
this opportunity for freedom. Who are we to walk away from them in 
their time of need right now?

                              {time}  1800

  We are now fighting a counterinsurgency, and it has two goals. One, 
it wants to overthrow the democratically elected government of Iraq 
which has just held its first session, and try to run the United States 
out of the country.
  What needs to be clear is that we are not alone in facing this enemy. 
70 percent of the eligible voters in Iraq turned out for the election. 
Outside the Sunni Triangle that number approached 85 percent. In my 
district in the 2002 election only 38 percent of the registered voters 
turned out to vote. Who are we to criticize those efforts of those 
valiant people?
  We all mourned when we heard that a bomb exploded outside an Iraqi 
police training center and killed 120 recruits. But if we can find one 
positive aspect in that needless tragedy, that atrocity, it is that 120 
Iraqis felt safe enough to even sign up to become police officers; that 
they had courage to invest their lives, to lay their lives down, to put 
them on the line to protect their families, their communities and 
ultimately their nation. And the exciting thing is that the men come 
back the next day. They come back to serve because they understand what 
is at stake.
  Moderate Shiite clerics are not asking us to leave Iraq. The Kurds 
are not asking us to leave, and the overwhelming majority of Iraqis are 
not asking us to leave. They want us to stay, to stand by them while 
they train up, while they become strong and stabilize their own country 
and bring forth their flavor in terms of their culture of the freedoms 
that they are taking hold of.
  Let us look at what has been achieved so far by those detractors of 
the policy of this country who have said that this war was a war of 
choice. It was imposed upon us, I might remind them.
  And I would also state, Mr. Speaker, that since in the last year 
Libya has denounced weapons of mass destruction and opens its doors to 
the United Nations weapons inspectors, it has opened its doors to 
Western trade, a desire to become part of the community of nations, and 
it has renounced terrorism. A former perpetrator of terrorism has 
repented of that and now are beginning to walk in a new direction, 
seeing the inevitability of the rise of freedom in the Middle East.
  In the fall of 2004 Afghanistan held free and open elections. Women 
who under the rule of the Taliban could barely leave their homes walked 
freely to polling places and voted.
  In January Palestine elected a national leader in a United Nations 
supervised election in which women also voted. We are hopeful that the 
situation with the Palestinian people will lead to a free government, a 
peaceful government that can coexist alongside the democracy in Israel.
  Also in January the Iraqis held their unprecedented election, and 
again, women voted in overwhelming numbers.
  One of my West Point classmates shared with me in a confidential e-
mail his perspective on seeing women coming to the polls to vote. He 
saw elderly women, young mothers with their children clinging to them 
standing, ignoring the ordnance flying about them, who had the courage 
to take hold of this once in a lifetime, once in a generation, once in 
a century opportunity to make a difference, to transform what had been 
an oppressive atrocity ridden, closed society in which the individual 
did not matter, but only to feed an appetite of megalomaniacal power of 
a dictator. That has been cast down. These people are seizing that 
opportunity.
  The unfolding events in Lebanon and Syria's declaration that it will 
begin withdrawing from Lebanon is an outstanding indicator that as we 
stay the course and we link arms with freedom loving peoples in that 
part of the world, that we will see peaceful resolution to the 
challenges that we face, and these terrorists will be repudiated for 
the inhumane individuals that they are.
  My friend ends his e-mail by stating that it is not just men and 
women who are helping lead their countries toward a brighter future. 
Women who spent years living under dictatorial regimes that demanded 
their silence are stepping up and playing a major role in the spread of 
democracy.
  He says, and I quote, I want women fully enfranchised throughout this 
part of the world. I want them voting. I want them involved in 
government because in my opinion, he states, if they are, this will be 
a safer, saner and less militant world.
  As we transition to other topics relating to this, I would like to 
introduce a distinguished colleague of mine, a member of my entering 
class in the Congress. He is the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul). He 
brings a very pertinent record of professional achievement into this 
body, and can speak with an authority on a wide variety of issues 
related to the global war on terror.
  Prior to being elected to the United States Congress, Mr. McCaul 
served as an Assistant United States Attorney whose charge was 
counterterrorism investigation and prosecution in the great State of 
Texas.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky 
for his leadership in managing this very important debate here today. 
As the gentleman mentioned, I have a background in counterterrorism in 
the Justice Department. I know this war on terror firsthand. I serve on 
the Homeland Security Committee and the International Relations 
Committee.
  You know, many believe that the war on terror began on September the 
11th, 2001, but the fact of the matter is we have been at war for 
several decades. You do not have to go back very far for evidence of 
that. As recently as 1993 an individual by the name of Ramzi Yousef 
entered the United States claiming political asylum. He was detained 
and given a notice to appear. He failed to appear at that hearing. 
Instead he would join the first al Qaeda cell in downtown Manhattan.
  We recently passed the REAL ID Act to make it more difficult for 
those like Ramzi Yousef to obtain political asylum in this country.
  After joining his fellow classmates from the bin Laden academy, he 
engaged in a conspiracy to blow up the World Trade Center. Fortunately, 
the Towers remained standing that day. But that day would come later. 
And that was Osama bin Laden's dream.
  Then the embassies in Africa were bombed, and the USS Cole. In 1997, 
bin Laden openly and publicly declared war against the United States. 
The only

[[Page H1688]]

thing that troubled him was that the United States would not respond 
back to his declaration of war. It seemed like the United States was a 
sleeping giant, and it would not be until the bloodiest alarm of 9/11 
that the giant would finally awake.
  And now, to the present. There is positive news in this war on 
terror. We have rooted out al Qaeda in its caves in Afghanistan. We 
have killed or captured nearly 75 percent of the leadership. We have 
liberated Afghanistan and held free elections for the first time in the 
country's history, and we have liberated Iraq. We know that Zarqawi in 
Iraq has significant ties to bin Laden. We know that al Qaeda today 
says it has the right to kill 4 million Americans, 2 million of them 
children. It is a threat that we take very serious today, and it is a 
threat that we are responding to.
  We have seen significant and positive developments in terms of the 
Syrians pulling out of Lebanon.
  Rarely in the history of the world has freedom moved so swiftly 
through a region. In places where oppression, tyranny and inhumane 
treatment once flourished, we now find nations waking up to the reality 
of self-ruled governments and the benefits that come with their new 
democracies. In Iraq for the first time in more than a generation, 
people are speaking up for or questioning governments, a new right for 
many of them. And this discourse is occurring not in closed rooms or 
the hidden chambers of a dictator's prison, but in the legislative 
halls of a free Iraq and Afghanistan.
  As recently as this week, we as a Congress passed an emergency 
wartime supplemental bill. We have an opportunity to continue our 
commitment to the brave fighting men and women who are helping ensure 
this birth of democracy by providing the necessary tools to protect 
themselves, by providing the body armor that they need, by providing 
the armed Humvees that they need, and by increasing death benefits from 
$12,000 to $100,000.
  The United States Government and Coalition Forces have trained and 
equipped nearly 82,000 Iraqi police and highway patrol officers, and 
along with soldiers, the United States and its allies are well on the 
way to helping Iraqis defend and protect themselves in their own 
country.
  In all, more than 142,000 Iraqi police officers and soldiers, many of 
whom have already taken over the responsibilities of protecting their 
freedom, have received training. About 130,000 of those troops helped 
ensure the success of the Iraqi elections, some even died to protect 
those vital votes. Add to that of Iraq's 18 provinces, 12 are now being 
patrolled and policed by Iraqis. And on February 21, the 40th Iraqi 
National Guard Brigade officially assumed control of its area of 
operation in and around Baghdad. This is the first Iraqi brigade to 
stand alone and have direct control over an area of operation. While 
the Coalition Partners continue to advise the brigade, the areas will 
be under complete Iraqi control.
  With the $5.7 billion proposed to train Iraqi troops in the 
supplemental budget, we are making a confident investment in a nation 
that will uphold the democracy those in those lands have fought so hard 
for.
  But our need to help spread freedom also includes Afghanistan. We 
voted on a $1.3 billion investment to be made there to stabilize this 
emerging democracy and eventually reduce U.S. forces in the area. We 
have seen American forces quietly making tremendous progress in a land 
which for so long had none. Already, Americans have trained 36,000 
national and local Afghani police officers, 1,000 border security 
agents and 400 highway patrol officers. Coalition Forces have set up 
six training locations to make it efficient to train these troops, and 
we must remember by training these troops we are spreading and securing 
democracy, and therefore making us safer here at home. With each and 
every Iraqi and Afghanistan troop trained, America is one step closer 
to bringing its sons, its daughters, its husbands and wives home for 
good.
  I would like to close with a very powerful story. It is a story of 
Janet and Bill Norwood. It is the story of Sergeant Byron Norwood. As 
many Members recall, at the State of the Union, Mr. and Mrs. Norwood 
sat right over there. The President talked about how their son, Byron, 
lost his life. He lost his life in an incredibly brave story. He 
rescued seven Marines held hostage by insurgents. He saved seven 
Marines' lives from the insurgence in Iraq, and paid the ultimate 
sacrifice in the process. It was a defining moment in the State of the 
Union, the warm embrace between Janet Norwood and Safia from Iraq.
  I would like to close by reading a card that I received from Mrs. 
Norwood. With each parent I have talked to who lost a loved one in 
Iraq, they all said the same thing, ``Finish the job.''
  This is a picture of Sergeant Byron Norwood. And in the card written 
to me, Mrs. Norwood said, ``Dear Representative McCaul.
  ``We want you to know how much we have appreciated your visits to our 
home. It was a pleasure to meet you and Linda and to be able to share 
more about Byron with you. Knowing that you and so many other Americans 
honor and respect his sacrifice helps greatly to ease our sorrow.
  ``Thank you also for the flags. The one that was flown over the 
Capitol on the day that Byron died will always have a special place in 
a beautifully displayed box with other treasures from Byron's Marine 
Corps service. He would be so amazed and so proud.
  ``The whole idea of the Post Office naming is such a stunning honor. 
One of the things we worried about was that people would soon forget 
about Byron. If your bill passes, that will never happen, and that is 
such a great comfort.
  ``If you ever become aware of any way I can be of service in my new 
role as a Gold Star Mother, either to the government or to the Gold 
Star Moms, please let me know. Sincerely, Janet.''
  Mr. Speaker, this is what it is all about. This brings this war on 
terror home to the homes of every family in this Nation, and it is a 
war that we will prevail in.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
profound words. No more powerful words can be spoken than those of a 
mother who has lost a son, whose blood was shed literally to protect 
our freedoms, the lives of his fellow men.
  In the words of our Lord, We share no greater love as a person than 
he who lays down his life for his friends.

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