[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 88 (Tuesday, June 28, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H5357-H5358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR PEACE IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McHenry). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting, my colleague was just 
talking about the President's speech tonight and I happen to disagree 
with her. I thought it was a strong, resolute speech that we heard from 
the President. America needs to hear from him and America needs to know 
that this President will not cut and run. The world needs to know that 
the Americans are not going to cut and run.
  I think that for the past few months Americans, and probably a lot of 
folks around the world, have heard far too much from the cut-and-run 
caucus on this Hill. It is time that we make certain that they know we 
are committed to freedom. We have a President that is not going to give 
in to the terrorists, and that is exactly as it should be.
  Some say that by being aggressive, that by taking this War on 
Terrorism to the Middle East, that we are helping the terrorists and 
helping the insurgent recruitment efforts. These nay-sayers count every 
single person who goes out and joins and becomes a part of the 
insurgency but, somehow, they forget something, and they forget this: 
that as we are over there fighting and working to bring democracy and 
freedom to Afghanistan and to Iraq, that there are hundreds of 
thousands and millions of people that are joining us in working toward 
freedom, working to build a democratic ally for our children there in 
the Middle East, and that they are going to see a different life than 
the hundreds of thousands that have found themselves in mass graves in 
Afghanistan and in Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, it is also interesting that many times, those on the 
left come in and they want to talk about a time line, give us a time 
line. Tell us exactly when we are going to get out of there. I always 
find that interesting, because many times I think that the liberals 
want a time line because they want to control it. They want to know 
exactly what is going to happen when, so they can micromanage it. Our 
military leaders need the ability to make those decisions that need to 
be made right there on the front lines. They do not need Congress 
micromanaging this war.
  Also, we do not need to tell the terrorists, this is what we are 
going to do and this is when we are going to do it. We need to trust 
that leadership of our military and we need to believe in those men and 
women in uniform that are fighting.
  My colleague also mentioned a trip that was made to Guantanamo Bay 
this weekend. I was also on that trip, and I will tell my colleagues, 
it is one of those things that kind of gets under my skin when I hear 
them say progress is being made at Guantanamo Bay. That insinuates that 
our men and women in uniform have done something wrong, and they have 
not, Mr. Speaker. I think it is important that the Members of this 
body, and also that the American people, know what Guantanamo Bay is 
about.
  Guantanamo Bay is a detention center, and in that detention center 
are

[[Page H5358]]

held 520 enemy combatants. Now, an enemy combatant is not somebody that 
got picked up for shoplifting or for running a traffic signal. An enemy 
combatant is a person that has ties to known terrorist groups: the 
Taliban, al Qaeda. They are people that have participated in trying to 
tear us down. They are people that have participated in the September 
11 attacks, the Khobar Towers, the first World Trade Center bombing. 
That is what we have at Guantanamo Bay.
  We hear that we should send them back to their country. There is a 
reason we do not, and that is because an enemy combatant is not a 
uniformed soldier in an Army fighting for a country. An enemy combatant 
is a terrorist and, many times, we do not know what country they are 
from. The reason we do not send them back is because there is not a 
country that we are going to be sending them back to. It is an 
important distinction that we need to make.
  Mr. Speaker, as we go through this week, as we talk about the 
President's remarks tonight, as we talk about the time at Guantanamo 
Bay, it is important to remember that it is our men and women that we 
need to thank for our freedom. It is their families we need to thank 
for their support.

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