[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 25, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H4057-H4063]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege this evening to be 
joined by some of my colleagues. We went to Iraq a few weeks ago. We 
find a lot of conversation on the House floor about what should and 
should not be done, and so we would like to take this opportunity to 
discuss what we saw.
  I guess one of the main objectives tonight is to inform the public 
that this is not always a highly partisan issue. The Members that went 
to Iraq were both Republicans and Democrats. We got along very well. We 
continue to get along very well. Sometimes the general impression that 
is conveyed by conversation on the House floor is that we are always at 
each other's throats and that this is what politics is all about. I 
think this is very misleading in many cases; and as a result, we hope 
to have a bipartisan discussion tonight of those events that we 
encountered as we traveled overseas.
  Those who went with us were the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. 
Bradley), the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Beauprez), who is here now, 
the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Neugebauer), and the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Udall).
  As we talked to the soldiers over there, we often heard this comment: 
there seem to be really two wars. There is the war that ofttimes is 
seen on television; and certainly the bombings, the beheadings and all 
the really violent things we see are very true, they are part of this 
conflict; but also the soldiers would continually mention the fact that 
there is another war that they are seeing, another war they are 
fighting that ofttimes is not conveyed over the airwaves. So we would 
like to really discuss these issues.
  I have made three trips to Iraq. I have been to Afghanistan, Kuwait, 
and Jordan twice, Landstuhl Air Base in Germany a couple of times, and 
Walter Reed many times. So I have had many chances to talk to the 
soldiers. And I guess the thing that continues to impress me and the 
overwhelming impression that I get is the efficiency of our Army, the 
sense of mission, the sense of accomplishment, and a generally upbeat 
attitude.
  Now, certainly being in Iraq or Kuwait or Afghanistan, or in a 
hospital, cannot be an entirely uplifting experience; and there is some 
hardship and there is some difficulty. But, still, it seems the 
soldiers are amazingly intact and amazingly upbeat when you consider 
their circumstances.
  I will just mention two things on this trip and then turn it over to 
some of my other colleagues here for discussion. The first stop that we 
had in Iraq was at al Asad. Al Asad is a base out in the desert. It is 
in al Anbar Province, which is the largest province in Iraq. It is a 
desert area. It is becoming a fairly dangerous area because many of the 
insurgents have been driven out of the cities and are now in the 
desert. So it is a fairly wild situation.
  In my previous trips, again I had always had a fairly positive 
reception from the troops. But as we landed in al Anbar, I thought, 
well, this is the place where I am going to start hearing the 
complaints. Because there was not a blade of grass, there was not a 
tree, obviously very little to do socially, and quite a large number of 
troops out there. There are two groups from Nebraska, one was a medical 
troop and one was a transportation group. So I spent quite a bit of 
time talking to those soldiers, probably met about 100 of them 
personally, and there were about another 80 who were out on patrol. 
Again, the same attitude that we had encountered other places was very 
prevalent. They were proud of what they were doing, they had a sense of 
mission, and generally were very positive about what was going on.
  So that trip, the first part, was, again, somewhat of a surprise in 
view of the surroundings. The second area that I want to mention was 
towards the end of our trip. We went to an Iraqi women's caucus, and 
this caucus was held in Jordan on the banks of the Dead Sea. And the 
reason we went over there was that we had formed an Iraqi Women's 
Caucus for Women's Issues here in Washington.
  The genesis of that caucus was simply a conversation between Paul 
Wolfowitz, Jennifer Dunn, and myself, where we began to speculate on 
the role of women in the new Iraqi government as the war progressed. 
And we began to talk about the fact that women would certainly play an 
important role; that women ofttimes are the peacemakers; and possibly 
to have a positive resolution to this whole conflict would have to 
involve the women of Iraq.
  So we began to move forward on this. Iraqi women were brought to the 
United States. And part of this movement was to bring Iraqi women over 
to the Dead Sea, out of Iraq, where they could learn a little more 
about democracy and strategies in terms of running for office and so 
on.
  So there were 1,000 women who applied for 250 spots at this seminar. 
And so we met with those 250 women. They came by auto, and they came 
from all

[[Page H4058]]

points in Iraq. And they were stopped for about 12 hours, most of them, 
at the Jordan border. They could not get in the country. So that was 
difficult. Three carloads of them were fired upon as they went across 
al Anbar Province. And of course there was a great deal of danger and a 
great deal of risk. Two of the women we had had over here in the United 
States as part of the caucus had been killed during the elections, when 
they ran for office. So it was a very dangerous business.
  As we interacted with those women, we had some interesting 
conversation and we picked up some general themes, and those themes 
were reinforced by three women who were from Iraq who were in my office 
yesterday. Essentially, what these women were saying yesterday and also 
several weeks ago was very similar. They said, first of all, we now 
have a sense of hope. We have a sense that the future is going to be 
reasonably bright. We appreciate freedom.
  They pointed out that there is now a great deal of marriage going on 
in Iraq, where under Saddam, for many years, very few people got 
married because of the situation. They have noticed a resurgence of 
entrepreneurial activity. They are pleased with the number of women in 
government. There were roughly 80 out of 275 spots in the 
constitutional convention that belonged to women. Schools have been 
renovated. Attendance, particularly by women, has gone up in the 
schools. And, of course, a great many of the children, about 97 percent 
of the children, have been vaccinated.

  Now, we do not mean to paint an entirely rosy picture. The women I 
saw yesterday, the women we saw in Iraq said that security is a major 
problem. They live with some sense of fear almost all the time. They 
mentioned problems with the infrastructure. Electricity still is a 
problem. In many cases, it is on only about half the time. The thing 
about it now, though, is different than under Saddam. Under Saddam, 
there were certain areas, where his people were, that had very good 
electrical service and the rest of the country had no service at all. 
Now there is service all over the country, but many times people have 
only intermittent service.
  Sewage disposal is still a problem, water problems still persist; and 
the job market is not what we would like to see it, but it is better 
than it was before. And of course the other issue is there has been a 
resurgence, particularly as it relates to women to fundamentalism. 
Sharia, the rather fundamental interpretation of Islamic law, sometimes 
is regaining a hold in terms of how women are perceived and how they 
feel they should be treated or are treated.
  So it is a mixed picture. But still, overall, they say they would not 
trade their present situation with the insecurity that they are now 
experiencing for what they had under Saddam and feel they are generally 
much better off.
  So with those prefatory comments, I would like to yield to my 
colleague from Colorado (Mr. Beauprez), who we really enjoyed being 
with and spending time with. And so I will let each Member have a shot 
at it, say a few words, and then we will all have a dialogue as time 
goes on.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
Beauprez).
  Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and commend him for 
leading a wonderful delegation to Iraq. It was my second visit. I know 
it was your third, but it was my second visit. The first one was in 
November of 2003. And I was taken by several things, of course, but one 
that really sticks out in my mind.
  As the gentleman will recall, the day we were in Baghdad, Camp 
Victory, and took the helicopter rides, the Blackhawks, and flew over 
the city, I think you, myself, all of our colleagues were struck by how 
much normalcy, and we have to put that in the appropriate context of 
course, because it is still Baghdad and it is obviously still very much 
a zone of much conflict, but how normal it looked by comparison to when 
I was there last in November of 2003. Then, it was obviously in 
considerable turmoil, and that is probably an understatement.
  But as we flew over the city that day, I remember seeing cars going 
up and down the streets in the residential areas. We saw people walking 
in and out of their homes. We saw the market areas that looked fairly 
busy and life going on, much as you would think to see in many other 
cities.
  What really caught me even more later on that day was that when we 
got back to our rooms that night and turned on the TV, we realized that 
was the day there were these demonstrations in Baghdad. And watching TV 
that night, I thought, goodness, the entire city was somehow under 
siege and we missed it.
  As you will recall, that was the day we sat with the generals, 
Petraeus, Casey, Vines, and we were also with the new Prime Minister 
Jafari, and I thought what did we miss? Because we did not see anything 
really of significance and nobody brought it to our attention.
  The next day we were with the Iraqi women, as the gentleman from 
Nebraska pointed out, at their conference, and I recall bringing that 
up to a group that I was talking to, and some that were actually from 
Baghdad, and they were remarkably dismissive.
  Now, Baghdad is a city, as I recall, roughly the population of 
Chicago. It is a big city. And when we mentioned what about the 
demonstration yesterday, it was kind of an, oh, that was Muqtada al-
Sadr's bunch. They do not amount to much. It was almost like there was 
a demonstration in a Safeway parking lot back home. It was kind of, oh, 
well.
  I mention that not to make light of the struggles they have, because 
the gentleman from Nebraska put it in an appropriate context, it is 
still very much a dicey place. It is very troubled.

                              {time}  2145

  Security is their number one issue, and will remain their number one 
issue for quite awhile.
  I think what we struggle with back here at home is watching the 6 
p.m. news or reading the morning paper and trying to put in the 
appropriate context what the rest of Iraq is dealing with on a daily 
basis. And I saw evidence in relative terms, they are starting to 
experience some degree of normalcy. Life is coming back. Choices are 
becoming theirs. They have some opportunity. They have that wonderful 
four-letter word, hope. I do not think we can underestimate how 
powerful that is.
  We have all wondered at our own moment in time, are we on the right 
course, maybe even the right mission. But I at least came home feeling, 
because we heard it again, that this is worth it, that we do have a 
plan now.
  The security mission has changed, or is in the process of changing 
rather dramatically from us doing it for them and them looking over our 
shoulder, to them now taking, day by day, an increasingly larger role 
in their own security, taking care of their own neighborhoods and their 
own security, and us being more the observer and the counselor.
  That is a dramatic shift in the paradigm and that is critical to our 
exit strategy. If we are going to get out of there, they need to take 
care of their own security operations.
  A couple of other observations. When we sat by coincidence with their 
new prime minister, Ibrahim Jaafari, he was in his second day of 
office. I was so taken by him sitting there and invoking the beginnings 
of a nation.
  Remember, this is the Fertile Crescent. This is where civilization 
began. This is humanity's beginnings, and we are the upstarts by 
comparison. Here he is talking to us about how he would like to be the 
kind of nation, Iraq would like to be the kind of nation that Thomas 
Jefferson wrote about that honored life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness. That was a humbling moment for me.
  He spoke with great eloquence in his native language through an 
interpreter. He spoke with tremendous courage and inspiring vision, and 
asked us all to bring back a message to the American people. He told 
us, We realize you did not have to send your daughters and sons over 
here to do as they have done, spill their blood for us to give us a 
chance at liberty, but they did. And he told us again, That is the kind 
of nation we would like to be. He said, Please take home a message to 
the American people from me. He said, It is a message of love, a 
message of love to the American people.

  That is a powerful thing, Mr. Speaker. It is a powerful thing.

[[Page H4059]]

  I remember I asked him, Mr. Prime Minister, it seems we are at a 
point where the history of the world might actually change. And he 
said, We realize in Iraq that we are a bit of a candle in the darkness, 
and as goes Iraq, very well may go the entire Middle East.
  We do not know for sure. There is a great deal of uncertainty ahead 
of us. But I submit tonight as we approach Memorial Day weekend, and 
last week I was home and helped celebrate Armed Forces Day at one of 
our cemeteries where Civil War veterans are buried, especially tonight 
as we think about our troops still there in harm's way, as we think 
about this weekend thanking those who put on the uniform, both current 
as well as in the past, as we think about how different even our 
opportunity is simply because they answered the call, they put on the 
uniform, they went into harm's way, they took the risk, and they are 
making a difference. I hold in my heart of hope that it is a dramatic 
difference.
  I would say to the gentleman, I remember as well our last stop on the 
way home was in Germany at Landstuhl, the military hospital. We stopped 
in that room with those two soldiers that the very day before had 
encountered an IED, an improvised explosive device. It went off under 
their Humvee and literally lifted that armed Humvee up in the air and 
turned it upside down and dropped it on its top. They were lying in 
their hospital beds. And I said, in my naivete, Boy, I bet you are 
looking forward to when you heal up enough and get sent back home to 
the United States.
  They looked at me like I must be the dumbest person in the world. 
Finally one of them spoke and said, No, sir, we want to get released 
from this hospital so we can go back and be with our buddies and finish 
the job we were sent here to do.
  It is very inspiring to go over there and witness not only the 
progress that is being made, but especially the patriotism of our young 
men and women.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Nebraska especially because I 
recall the first trip I took over there, and I asked a colonel from 
Grand Junction, Colorado, what I could possibly do for him. He said, I 
am committed to this mission and I can sleep at night. I know we are in 
control, but please go home and tell the truth because, he said, My 
wife has trouble sleeping.
  So I think it is important while we recognize the challenges in front 
of us and the tough days still ahead of us, we also recognize the good 
that is being done and the progress that is very much being made.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for this opportunity to share 
tonight and thank the gentleman for leading a wonderful trip to Iraq.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
Beauprez) for those observations. Many people do not realize that life 
does go on in Baghdad. There is a degree of normalcy. It has been 
almost universal, my experience with the troops, who have indicated 
that their number one desire is to get back to their units, some who 
have even lost limbs.
  Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to a very unusual Member. He 
spends a lot of his time in the House gym. He has been up on Everest 
several times. I do not know if he has ever made it to the top. He has 
climbed a lot of the highest mountains in the world, and has become a 
great friend.
  We have actually been to Iraq twice, and he even wore a Nebraska 
football hat as we flew over Baghdad, so Members can tell he is an 
unusual person. I am referring to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
Udall), and I would appreciate any recollections the gentleman has of 
the trip.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) for organizing this important hour tonight. I 
concur with the remarks of the gentleman from Colorado and we enjoyed 
your leadership. I would duly note that it took two Coloradans to take 
care of one Nebraskan, but that is usually the situation we face out 
West.
  This, too, was my second trip to Iraq. We were there last September 
as well. I have to say as we left Iraq, we had a feeling that although 
the armed services personnel and the great civilians and the State 
Department are always optimistic, there was a greater sense of 
optimism, particularly on the heels of the election that was held at 
the end of January.
  I would also say, this is kind of unusual to have both Democrats and 
Republicans in a special order. I am here to listen as much to my 
colleagues' perspectives on our very fascinating time spent in Iraq and 
Jordan, and I am eager to hear all of my colleagues' impressions.
  I have a couple of things to add. The gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. 
Osborne) covered many of the important interactions we had in Iraq, and 
particularly when we were on the shores of the Dead Sea with the 150 
Iraqi women who had traveled 2 and 3 days across Iraq. A number had 
been robbed and detained along the way, but they were there because 
they wanted to have a say in the future of their country.

  We were also joined by the gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. Jo Ann 
Davis) and the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger), and they added a 
very important perspective to the conference itself. But you cannot 
come home and not feel a connection to those brave women, very brave 
women who were risking their lives every day.
  The gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Beauprez) mentioned our trip through 
Ramstein Air Base on our way home, and what a facility that is, along 
with the world-class Landstuhl Hospital. We had an opportunity to see 
the jointness that we hear so much about within DOD. It was seamless. 
You could not tell whether the personnel in a particular setting was a 
Marine, sailor, airman, or soldier. For that, the DOD is to be 
commended because we are creating this synergy that in the end 
continues to put us on the cutting edge.
  I think it is notable also to acknowledge the important role the 
Jordanians are playing in the Middle East. We were staged out of 
Jordan. We spent time in Amman. We received important briefings from 
our embassy staff. And King Abdullah and his government and the people 
of Jordan are a key part of the efforts in the Middle East.
  On the flight over and then on the flight back, as you peer out the 
windows of the jet, we looked down over Israel for that short time 
frame that it takes to fly over Israel, and you understand the 
importance of the geography and the strategic and special relationship 
we have with Israel. They are, of course, a key player in this effort 
that we are all involved to stabilize and create free and democratic 
systems in the Middle East.
  If I could just at this point conclude, I think it is important to 
acknowledge that there were different points of view in our delegation. 
You have to number me as one who had misgivings about the war in Iraq 
and the approach that we took. But now that we are there, my attitude 
is that we have to find a way clear to stabilize the situation and make 
good on our promises to the Iraqi people. In that undertaking, I think 
we are neither Democrats nor Republicans nor members of other political 
parties; we are Americans with a commitment to that part of the world.
  The strategy to all of us is clear. It has three sections. As we have 
done, we have to hold the elections and support the standing up of this 
new government and it still has a ways to travel. That is well under 
way.
  The second, and we heard a great deal about this from General Casey, 
General Petraeus and other military leaders, is to support the Iraqi 
security forces, the police and the military.
  The third part of the strategy is to create a more stable environment 
in Iraq, which means providing jobs and electricity and clean water.
  These three parts are all interactive. We have to stay committed and 
support our men and women in uniform.
  I would just conclude by sharing, the men and women there are 
performing magnificently. Their commitment to each other, the mission, 
and to the United States of America and to the world at large is 
exemplary. I think we all came back the better for those interactions 
with the men and women in uniform in Iraq. For that, I am deeply 
grateful.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Nebraska for convening all of 
us, and I look forward to hearing what my colleagues have to say.

                              {time}  2200

  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado for his

[[Page H4060]]

insights. He has been a great guy to travel with, a great person to get 
to know, and certainly someone whom I admire a great deal. You 
mentioned being at Landstuhl. All of you remember the young guy whose 
name was Chris Ruehl. He had been shot and been in an ambush. This guy 
was interesting because I thought, if I was coaching a football team, I 
would like to have a whole bunch of Chris Ruehls, because he had this 
hole in his shoulder, but he got up and he was explaining what 
happened. Then he gets out his camera, and he is showing us pictures 
that he took while he was getting shot at. I thought, you know, this is 
one brave guy. I tracked him down, I got his cell phone, after he got 
back to the United States. He was all geared up, ready to go back. He 
wanted to get back in the fight.
  An interesting guy, an interesting time. The gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Neugebauer) is next. He and I made a couple of trips. We were in 
Afghanistan and Iraq together and Kuwait, and then this last trip. I am 
interested in hearing his insights into what he saw and what he 
remembers. Even though it has been 6 weeks ago, I am sure he remembers 
a lot.
  Mr. NEUGEBAUER. I thank the gentleman for yielding. It was a 
remarkable trip. My second trip, also. As I was going over there, I was 
wondering what was going to be different or if things were going to be 
different from the first time I was there and kind of two historic 
events took place.
  As the gentleman from Nebraska will remember, we were on our way to 
Iraq the first time and Afghanistan. We were eating in Ramstein Air 
Force Base in Germany and it was the day that they caught Saddam 
Hussein. Then, of course, the second time we were sitting in Baghdad 
and got to have, I guess, one of the first delegations to meet with the 
new Prime Minister Jafari. What a historic event that was. I, too, was 
struck, as the gentleman from Colorado was, by his enthusiasm and his 
passion for his new responsibility. I thought about the weight that is 
on his shoulders as he begins to lead the Iraqi people into uncharted 
territory for them.
  Someone said the other day, and one of the things I wanted to talk 
about was General Patraeus was briefing us. I think the first thing he 
started off with was a little video or slide show that he had prepared 
for us to kick off the meeting. It was about the election. He talked 
about the great impact that that election had not only on our young men 
and women that are over there providing this opportunity for a free 
Iraq and a democracy but the impact that it had on the Iraqi people.
  They were a little bit skeptical as to how many of the people would 
brave to come out with all of the threats that the terrorists, the 
insurgents, were going to be out on the streets and there would be a 
lot of people killed. As we were watching that video, I remembered 
seeing the thousands and thousands of Iraqi people that were standing 
in lines for what they said were hours and hours for that first 
opportunity to experience what our young men and women had gone over 
and provided for them. Of course, the famous holding up their index 
finger to signify that they had voted, that they had gotten to exercise 
that wonderful freedom.
  I also was thinking about what General Patraeus was saying about how 
they are now teaching the Iraqi people how to defend their own country 
and how that is an integral part of bringing our young men and women 
home and how now, though, in many areas, Iraqi soldiers are primarily 
providing security forces in parts of that country and we in some cases 
take a secondary role but in many cases we are working alongside the 
Iraqi people and how important that is.
  One of the things that I tell the people back home about 
understanding what is going on in Iraq, I use the analogy that if you 
can imagine if you were blind and deaf at birth, you had never been 
able to hear, you had never been able to see, but on your 30th 
birthday, you woke up and you could hear and you could see. Imagine all 
of the adjustments that you would have to go through in your life. You 
would have to really learn how to live your life in a new way. That is 
very much similar to what the Iraqi people are learning how to do. They 
have been oppressed for most all of their lives and all of a sudden one 
day they are a free people, beginning a journey of becoming a 
democracy, much like this country did over 200 years ago.
  I think also, as the gentleman mentioned, about that historic meeting 
of these Iraqi women that had come from all over Iraq and many of them, 
we sat at various tables and had lunch. They wanted to interface with 
us, we wanted to hear from them, but them telling their stories of the 
peril, the risks that they took coming to that meeting, that meeting to 
learn how to begin to be a part of this process. I think about a third 
of the people in the parliament are women. They wanted to come and 
learn how do we participate. And watching them go through those 
exercises of how to go to a city council or how to deal with the media 
or how to introduce legislation, how to run for office, all of the 
things that make this democracy great.
  I think one of the things that I did go back home and say to the 
people in my district as I was sitting at lunch on that day, I had 
probably nine, 10 women at that table with me. And so the big question 
I finally got around to, and I think it is a question that probably 
some of your constituents back home ask, So do the Iraqi people really 
appreciate what the Americans are doing for them? A smile came on the 
faces of many, but I looked over and I will never forget this one lady, 
I believe she was a Kurdish lady, and tears were rolling down her eyes. 
She said, Oh, yes, Congressman, we appreciate that very much. Because, 
you see, we are mothers, we are sisters, we are wives, we are aunts, 
and we know there are mothers and wives and sisters and aunts in 
America that have paid the ultimate price for freeing our people. She 
looked me right square in the eye and said, And we will never forget. 
That made a huge impression on me, because I needed to hear that and I 
wanted to convey that to the American people. When I told that story 
back home, they said, You know, we didn't get to hear that on the 
evening news.
  One of the things I think is so important as we have Military 
Appreciation Month, I think the thing that as I come back and I look at 
the big picture and I think the gentlemen that are in the Chamber with 
us tonight that traveled, is that we understand a couple of concepts 
about our military today. Number one, it is an all-volunteer force. 
Everyone that we ran into in that theater was there because they chose 
to be. I am overwhelmed at the dedication, the commitment, the quality 
of young men and women that we have defending our country, our Nation 
and helping liberate Iraq and Afghanistan.
  I think one of the real treats for many of us was that we tried to 
eat about every meal with the troops that we could while we were there. 
Sometimes we were eating meals on the go, but many times we had an 
opportunity to meet with the troops and we tried to eat with people 
from our State or from our area. Of course, you know for sure that the 
people from Nebraska certainly recognize the former head coach of the 
Nebraska Cornhuskers. It was like traveling around with a rock star 
actually, because everybody wanted his autograph and wanted his 
picture. The rest of us kind of felt like we were part of the groupies 
that were following him along.
  One of the things that I thought was so significant, we let those 
young men and women talk nonattribution, tell us kind of what is going 
on, how do you feel about what you are doing, your job. I never heard 
one soldier say, Congressman, we shouldn't be here. Congressman, get me 
home as quick as you can. What they wanted to talk about is how they 
are helping the Iraqi people and how they were proud that those Iraqi 
people got to exercise that right to vote and when they saw them with 
those index fingers stained, that they say, hey, you know, I was a part 
of that. I helped make that happen for the Iraqi people.
  One of the things, it was an idea I think I got from the gentleman 
from Colorado (Mr. Beauprez), was that many of us, I think, got names 
of loved ones back home. I know that I got about 30 or 40 names of 
young men and women that gave me their loved ones back home, and so 
they gave me those numbers. It was so fun to call back and say, I was 
with your son, I was with your husband and talked and tell them how 
proud that we are of them.

[[Page H4061]]

  But what it did remind me, and I think it reminds everyone, is that 
when these young men and women are serving our Nation, their families 
are serving right alongside them. I had been over to thank their 
husband or their wife or their brother or their sister or their son or 
their daughter, but it also gave us an opportunity to thank the parents 
and the wives and the husbands of those young men and women serving. It 
was a great trip. I enjoyed it so much. I thank the gentleman from 
Nebraska for including me. I look forward to going back with him soon.

  Mr. OSBORNE. The gentleman from Texas has been a great guy to travel 
with. I have had some good experiences.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to call on the gentleman from New Hampshire 
(Mr. Bradley). He and I had not traveled before, so I got to know him a 
lot better. He is really a very astute individual, a lot of insightful 
questions.
  Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, it is certainly a tribute 
to the leadership of the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) that we 
would be joined tonight with Members of the other side of the aisle. We 
went to Iraq not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans who 
are interested in our troops and interested in the fate of that 
country. It is certainly a tribute to both the gentleman from Tennessee 
(Mr. Davis) and the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Udall) that they are 
joining us tonight. There is precious little of this type of bipartisan 
cooperation and certainly it is a pleasure for me to participate in it 
tonight. It is important that when we think about the ongoing 
hostilities in Iraq, that we see both sides of the picture. I think we 
had the opportunity 6 weeks ago to see an awful lot of positive 
developments in Iraq.
  Since then, I think we all have seen the news on the television and 
the spate of bombings and the threat that the insurgents are trying to 
bring down a newly elected government. That is horrifying, especially 
after the reaction that I think all six of us got in Iraq, which was 
positive, which is that we are starting to see light at the end of the 
tunnel, that the Iraqi security forces are doing much better in their 
ability to operate. Yes, they have a ways to go. We need more of them. 
There are about 152,000. We need about 300,000. But they are doing 
better. They still have to be able to operate independently, with a 
command and control structure, but General Patraeus explained to us how 
that is on its way, that it cannot happen overnight.
  The Iraqi women that we met, and perhaps this was the most telling 
thing when they talked about the Iraqi security forces, said that the 
Iraqi people are beginning to be able to trust the Iraqi security 
forces much more. That was so important to me, to be able to hear it 
straight from the horse's mouth, the Iraqi women. These are women that 
had endured so much, not only to be there but they had endured 30 years 
of horrifying events. I will touch on that in a moment.
  As the others who have spoken tonight have said, we also had the 
chance to talk to the new leadership, Dr. Ibrahim Jafari, the newly 
elected Shiite prime minister. One of the most important things he 
stressed to us is the need for a permanent constitution. The Shiites 
are a majority in Iraq, but Dr. Jafari recognized that in order for 
this experiment in Iraqi democracy to be successful, they will have to 
reach out to the Sunnis and to the Kurds. He promised us that they 
would do that. That is occurring now as we speak. Unfortunately, we are 
also seeing the resistance coming from some disaffected Sunnis that are 
trying to bring down the government. That is unfortunate.
  But most Sunnis, working with the majority party, the Shiites in 
Iraq, I believe will be able to bridge these differences working with 
the Kurdish people and the new president who is also a Kurd, Jalal 
Talabani. It was a good experience in meeting with Dr. Jafari.
  One thing that needs to be stressed, and I think we have all touched 
upon this, is the morale of our forces. We all had the opportunity. The 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) met people from Texas, the 
Colorado contingent, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis), 
certainly from Nebraska, I from New Hampshire, we all had an 
opportunity to meet troops from our home State. I was struck by their 
commitment to their mission, by the fact that they said their living 
accommodations were getting better, not just the food and the housing 
but that they felt as American soldiers, men and women, that they were 
making progress, and they saw the progress, they saw the fact that the 
vote had gone off successfully, that a government had been formed, and 
they felt part of this historic change in Iraq, and they reflected that 
to all of us.
  One thing that as we approach Memorial Day that I think is critically 
important for all Americans to realize regardless of how we may feel 
about the policy of the Iraq war, it was highlighted by a wall that was 
at the base in al Ansar that we saw. That wall, as I recall, had about 
40 letters from a second grade class in Texas.

                              {time}  2215

  These were letters from American school children thanking, thanking, 
our troops for their sacrifice. And I asked the captain, What does this 
mean to the men and women that are here in Iraq? And he said, It 
inspires us every day to get out and do our job; every day we know that 
the American people are behind us.
  So whether it is school children throughout our country, whether it 
is supporting the families who are still here, the spouses, the 
children, the parents of our soldiers, we can never forget the 
sacrifice that our families are making; and certainly this second grade 
class from Texas and millions of other classes from around the country 
that have sent letters to our troops, not just in Iraq, but Afghanistan 
and all of the countries where our troops are fighting and winning the 
war on terrorism, how important our show of support is for their 
efforts.
  And, lastly, let me, like others, touch on the experience that we all 
had in meeting with the Iraqi women leaders, members of parliament, the 
new ambassador to Egypt, the acting health minister, and many others. 
They were Shiites, they were Kurds, they were Sunnis. But they were 
Iraqi women who had endured so much, unspeakable horrors.
  At one point in the lunch we were having, we were asking questions of 
each other. And finally they asked me to introduce myself after about 
45 minutes. And I talked a little bit about my family and my situation 
in New Hampshire, and I said that I was from the ``Live Free or Die'' 
State, and I think my colleagues all remember that every time I 
repeated my State motto, this really resonated with the Iraqi people 
because ``Live free or die'' means something in New Hampshire, it means 
something in America, and it means something in Iraq.
  So then I went on to tell them about my first experience in Iraq 
where I had gone to the Abu Ghraib prison. We have all heard about the 
abuses there, and we are dealing with those abuses as a country, as 
well we should. But what I saw, and perhaps some of my colleagues have 
seen, was what happened to 80,000 Iraqis who were executed in that 
prison.
  And I was describing this to the Iraqi women, and I realized that 
they were all starting to cry. I did not really know what to do because 
it had been such a horrifying experience to me. And then one of them 
said, My husband was executed in that prison. And another one said to 
me, My brother was executed in that prison. And I knew at that point 
how much they had endured on a personal level of the suffering, of the 
depravity, of the barbaric nature of that regime.
  The most important thing, I think, for Americans to realize and the 
whole world to realize is the tenacity and the singleness of their 
purpose, that they will rebuild a country if the world will support 
them in that effort. And that is important for us to remember as we 
approach Memorial Day, that they have the will to succeed if we have 
the will to persevere with them.
  I thank the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) for yielding to me.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman 
for his insights. We were at Abu Ghraib also last September, and at one 
time Saddam Hussein had been told he had too many people in the prison 
and to get rid of 2,000. The ones that he did not like a whole lot, but 
did not hate, he hung. And the rest of them, he put

[[Page H4062]]

in the wood shredder. It is unbelievable that one human being could do 
that to another, but in one day he got rid of 2,000 to get the numbers 
down to where he felt it was more comfortable.
  The last person I would like to yield to is a great friend of mine, 
and we cochair the Congressional Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning. 
So tomorrow morning we will be together. And that is the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Davis). We sat across from each other for about 14 hours 
going over, and I learned how to speak Tennessee during that period of 
time. The first 3 hours I did not understand him, but as time went on, 
I got to understand him really well.
  We really had a great time with the gentleman. We put him in the Dead 
Sea, and we could not even sink him in the Dead Sea.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.
  Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, it was certainly a blessing to 
have traveled with the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) and with 
the entire delegation to Iraq, the time that we spent in Jordan, the 
times that we spent with the ladies from Iraq as we tried to relate to 
them how wonderful a democracy is and how wonderfully it works in our 
country.
  I had an opportunity on more than one occasion, once before, in 
February, to go to Iraq. And when I was there it was just before the 
insurgency really started. It was February of 2004. And we spent time 
in Basra, as well as in Baghdad in the Sunni triangle. The troops I met 
there were upbeat, they were excited. We had, very quickly with the 
military that we had, won a war from what many of us in this country 
felt would be more difficult. But I think the enthusiasm of our troops, 
the training of our troops, the commitment of our troops to be sure 
that Iraq was liberated from a tyrant called Saddam Hussein was the 
driving force in those who serve in our military services. I think that 
all of us who have been to Iraq or Afghanistan have renewed energy for 
support of our troops that are there.
  If one goes to Iraq or Afghanistan, they also have this deep, abiding 
feeling that if they only knew how it was in America, if every person 
only knew in this country how it is in America how wonderful it would 
be, because the insurgencies and the occurrences that are happening 
there today would cease to exist, because even they would realize what 
a greater life they could have, a better life they could have if they 
would just look at this country as an example.
  Can that happen? I hope it can. I think it can. We must believe that 
it can, and we must be sure that we support the newly elected officials 
of Iraq to be sure that that happens.
  I was asked a question in late 2003 by a sixth grader in one of the 
schools in Manchester, Tennessee. And sixth graders will ask, How much 
do we make as a Congressman? Have we met the President? What kind of 
person is he? Do we like him? Do we have a family? Do we have children? 
Do we have grandchildren? Obviously they look at me, and they think he 
has grandchildren, which I do. So we get a lot of questions.
  But this one little girl, with almost a certainty and it seems like 
she had just a mission, she said, ``Congressman, do you think we can 
establish a democracy in Iraq?'' And generally what I would tell 
someone at the general store, where I go on Saturdays when I have time, 
or on Sundays after church, generally what I would tell them is that we 
have to try, we have to try, because it is important that people living 
throughout the world have an opportunity to enjoy the freedom that we 
enjoy in this country.
  But I felt that sixth grader, who may not have watched TV, needed a 
more concise answer; and my comment to her was that virtually all the 
democracies today, Israel, started from within, as a result of a 
holocaust and as a result of many of those individuals removed from 
other countries, in many cases arrested for being expelled from those 
countries.
  This great country we live in with the assistance of other nations, 
obviously our army that was put together, the Continental Army, fought 
to achieve our liberty and our freedom and we established, as a result 
of that, a democracy where we are governed by our Constitution. So most 
of the democracies today started from within.
  And I was looking at Iraq and saying, I am not sure this is possible, 
until I made the visit to Iraq. I realized democracies can be 
established without an uprising from within, because I believe when our 
troops went to Iraq and we deposed the tyrant who was imposing on the 
people of Iraq, the ill will that he was imposing, the horrible 
circumstances, the deaths of so many that he took, I realized that 
those individuals in Iraq have suffered and suffered greatly.
  So I truly believe that in Iraq we can see a democracy established. 
And what I told the young lady was that if we can work in the Middle 
East to establish a democracy in Iraq and perhaps in Afghanistan, in my 
opinion, it will be the crowning accomplishment of this century. 
Democracies do not go to war with each other.
  So I am extremely impressed with our troops that I met there. I am 
impressed and pleased with what I think is a great opportunity for a 
country in the Middle East to reach out and be governed by laws rather 
than a man. When we are governed by laws instead of men, then we do 
have a democracy. And I truly believe that will happen.
  I watched the women, the Iraqi Women's Democracy Initiative Training 
Conference, and I sat with them, like all of us did. We talked to them. 
And I was sitting in this breakout group where there were eight or ten 
individuals, and we were talking about whether or not a shelter should 
be built for women who may have been abused, or whether there should be 
a safe haven for them; and that was just part of a schedule problem 
they had to solve. It did not matter whether they supported or did not 
support it; they had to find a solution to it.
  And this one lady sitting to my right continued to get very fretful. 
She was extremely irritated because she was in this group that was in 
the process of putting together a reason why there needed to be 
shelters in Iraq for women who had been abused.
  There was another group that was put together, problem solving, that 
would say, We do not need a shelter for women. She finally left that 
group. And when one of the ladies who was helping to put the program 
together came to me, I said, I do not think I have ever seen as much 
fear in anyone's eyes as I saw in that woman's, and I do not understand 
why she would be so fearful of even putting together a plan which is 
like problem solving in math skills, why she would be so frightened.
  She came back to me a little bit later and she said, The lady has had 
an attempt on her life because she was advocating this in Iraq and she 
was fearful that somehow it would get back to her neighbors that she 
was participating in just problem solving.
  So when I realized that these ladies who came to Jordan to be a 
participant in this initiative, talking about democracy, and all of 
those who were traveling were actually fired upon with small arms fire, 
it opened up my eyes about the challenges that lie ahead for the nation 
of Iraq. But with the heart of the women that I met and with others 
that in Iraq that are Iraqi citizens, the men there, I truly believe 
that we have made the right decision, and I believe we will see a 
democracy established in the Middle East in Iraq.
  One of the things that impressed me was the troops, all of them, 
wanted me to be sure to tell folks back home, We are safe. We are okay. 
Let our families know that we are okay. Great morale, totally 
committed.
  The district I represent is in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. 
We have a volunteer spirit in Tennessee. The 278th Cavalry is one of 
two of the cavalries in our Nation's Army. The regular cavalry was 
brought back from Iraq. The 278th was activated; 2,200 members of that 
278th, of 3,000, are from Tennessee's Fourth Congressional District 
that I represent.
  I met some of them in Iraq, and I can assure the folks back home, we 
can all be proud of our soldiers that are serving us in Iraq and other 
parts of the world. The ones I met with, if one is a father or a mother 
or a husband or a wife or a son or a daughter or a grandparent of one 
of these troops, they can rest assured they are making us proud, and I 
know they are making them proud.

[[Page H4063]]

  I thank the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) for the opportunity 
to go on the visit. It was a wonderful trip. I got to know a lot about 
the gentleman. As a matter of fact, a young fellow named Chris Ruehl 
was telling us about the 278th, if the gentleman from Nebraska 
remembers, and he got emotional and showed pictures, and he even found 
out some of the trials that we had had in Tennessee, which I will not 
express here on the House floor, but he even gave us a history of part 
of Tennessee that he learned from some of our 278th. So our folks of 
the 278th are serving us well in Iraq, and when they come back home, we 
will welcome them with open arms.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman 
for his comments. And we will not even get into that elephant that was 
hung in his district. That is for another special order.
  I just want to mention the bravery of Iraqi officials. We kind of 
stick our necks out here a little bit, but over there when they run for 
office, they are literally putting their life on the line and their 
families. And that jumped out at us.
  The other thing I might mention is that General Casey mentioned to us 
that he thought things were going better since the elections, but he 
said the wild card here is the issue of the Sunnis, are the Sunnis 
going to be incorporated?

                              {time}  2230

  That is still up for grabs. So we do not want to leave the American 
people with an impression that everything is perfect. There are still 
problems. But I think anyone who goes there and spends time there, 
spends time with the soldiers, from either party, we may disagree on 
how we got there, whether we should have gone there, but you have to be 
impressed with the soldiers in this situation.
  If anyone has a closing comment for the good of the order, we would 
be glad to hear it from any of you.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I 
thank the gentleman.
  I wanted to also acknowledge that the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. 
Biggert) joined us there, along with the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. 
Granger) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis).
  The other insight I had, and we shared this with General Casey and 
Dr. Jafari, local governments are going to be crucial to success in 
Iraq. After I returned, we had Baghdad city council members visit 
Denver, and I know the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Beauprez) met with 
them. They are the people who are in charge of making sure the lights 
are on, the garbage is collected and the potholes are filled and that 
local services are delivered. If we do that and they do that, then the 
local Iraqi people will see the benefits of self-government.
  We pay a lot of attention to the national government, and it is 
important, because they will be charged with the defense of the Nation 
and they will present the face of Iraq to the world, but those local 
governments are crucial. The civil affairs officers in our military and 
the civilian non-government organizations that are there, we need to 
remember that we have to support them in every way possible.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, it makes it all work.
  Mr. Speaker, I have enjoyed this. We enjoyed the trip and thank all 
of you for participating tonight. Again, we tried to show that a lot of 
us do get along pretty well. Some of the best hours here are in the gym 
and places like that, where we do not really have an identity as 
Republicans or Democrats, and we simply come together and try to solve 
problems in the country.
  I was honored to have time with these gentleman. I thought I learned 
a lot. I learned a lot from the Iraqis, but I learned a lot from you, 
and thank I you for participating tonight.

                          ____________________