[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 147 (Tuesday, November 8, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12466-S12468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A NEW DAY AND TIME IN IRAQ

  Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, we are now less than a month removed from 
the successful Iraqi referendum that was approved by more than 75 
percent of Iraqis. This vote marked a new dawn in the Arab world, a 
democratically created constitution written by Iraqis and approved by 
the general electorate made up of Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. This is 
quite a change from the decades in which a militant dictator ruled over 
Iraq, with the threat of death hanging over the people for any harsh 
word directed toward their central government. It is truly a new day in 
Iraq and a new time.
  Of course, some would rather ignore the strides that the Iraqi people 
have taken. They would rather focus on grim milestones that neither 
reflect the true sacrifice that has been made nor give a clear 
indication of how far the Iraqis have come to independence. The men and 
women of our Armed Forces have created an environment in Iraq that has 
given Iraqis a chance for democracy.
  This chance is born from the blood, sweat, and tears of our 
servicemen and women. They deserve our gratitude and honor.
  Friday marks Veterans Day and it is fitting that every year we take 
time to pause and reflect on those who have served in the military to 
protect our way of life and advance freedom around the globe. While we 
celebrate this year, we do so with heavy hearts knowing that there are 
many future war veterans who are currently serving in the theater 
abroad. As they have done in the past, our armed forces have taken up 
the challenge yet again to defend our freedoms from violent extremists 
to ensure that future generations of Americans can continue to prosper. 
Many of these war veterans have already served previous tours in Iraq, 
and my thoughts and prayers go out for another safe return home.
  Many thousands of troops who are engaged in Iraq are Coloradoans. For 
example, the 10th Combat Support Hospital that left Fort Carson for 
Iraq in October. This medical unit is being deployed not only to treat 
our injured servicemen and women, but also any civilian that is brought 
in to their trauma unit regardless of affiliation. I want to take a 
minute to pause and reflect on that. Our trained medical doctors and 
technicians will be using their skills to save the lives of not only 
Coalition Forces, but anyone who is brought in--including insurgents. 
They might be saving the very lives of those that would do great harm 
to our soldiers. These are the types of actions that show what kind of 
men and women serve in the armed forces. These are the types of actions 
that show what freedom and democracy can bring to a region long devoid 
of it.
  The individuals in our armed forces continue to shine throughout the 
country with remarkable levels of service. Individuals like Col. James 
West of Palisade, CO. Colonel West recently received a Bronze Star 
after distinguishing himself during two consecutive tours of duty in 
Iraq. He served as a Senior Program Manager in the Project and 
Contracting Office in Baghdad, Iraq from December 2004 to September of 
this year. Because of the critical nature of his position and the need 
to maintain the lines of communication and trust he developed with the 
Iraqi Oil Ministry and the primary Iraqi owned operating companies, 
Colonel West volunteered himself for two consecutive tours of duty.

  During this time, his leadership in the field provided the foundation 
necessary to achieve the goal of rebuilding the Iraqi Oil production 
capacity to pre-war levels. The Department of Defense and the Air Force 
believe that his professionalism and devotion to duty merit special 
recognition. I honor him for his service to our country and 
congratulate him on his well-deserved Bronze Star.
  More than just being engaged in fighting the radical insurgents who 
have polluted the country, our men and women like Colonel West are 
risking their lives to reach out to the Iraqi people to show them the 
heart that is behind the uniform. From the Army engineers throughout 
the country helping to rebuild the infrastructure, to ordinance 
disposal units helping to cleanse farmland from explosives left from 
decades of neglect, our troops continue to make a positive difference 
in the lives of Iraqis.
  It is important to put our military's efforts into the proper 
perspective. The enormous progress that has been made in Iraq is the 
real story.
  It was only 2 \1/2\ years ago that the Hussein regime was in power 
terrorizing large portions of the Iraqi population. And now just 9 
months after they elected their own leaders for the first time, the 
Iraqi people have approved a historical referendum by an overwhelming 
majority. These are the milestones we should be celebrating--the ones 
that could only be achieved through the sacrifices of our soldiers, 
sailors, airmen, and marines.
  This Friday marks Veterans Day. Let us not forget our future war 
veterans who are gallantly serving the cause of freedom abroad. And let 
us remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to help bring 
democracy to Iraq.

[[Page S12467]]

  I yield the floor.
  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the progress America is 
making in the global war on terrorism and in particular on the progress 
being made in Iraq.
  Recently we passed a solemn benchmark. Two thousand of our servicemen 
and women have paid the ultimate price in defense of freedom. A vocal 
minority contend that these casualties were in vain. They claim we are 
in Iraq for all the wrong reasons. Further, they say that since there 
have been no weapons of mass destruction uncovered in Iraq that the 
administration obviously lied to get Americans behind the initial war 
effort. I think it is important that we take a few minutes to recall 
the world in which we lived prior to taking military action against 
Saddam Hussein in 2003.
  The previous administration was quite clear in their belief that Iraq 
possessed weapons of mass destruction. Then-President Clinton said:

       Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose 
     is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by 
     Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program.

  Clinton's National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, said of Hussein:

       He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he 
     has ten times since 1993.

  Even after he left office, Al Gore stated:

       We know that [Hussein] has stored secret supplies of 
     biological and chemical weapons throughout the country.

  Madeline Albright said:

       The risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use 
     nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our 
     allies is the greatest security threat we face.

  Let us all remember, Iraq had been in blatant violation of 17 
separate United Nations resolutions dating back to the first Persian 
Gulf War--resolutions which required Iraq to reveal prohibited WMD and 
missile programs to U.N. inspectors. American and British warplanes 
were continually fired upon while enforcing U.N.-mandated ``no fly 
zones'' in Iraq.
  In 1993, terrorists detonated a bomb in the garage of the World Trade 
Center in an attempt to topple this symbol of capitalism.
  In 1996, the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, housing an Air Force 
Fighter Wing, were attacked by terrorists. Nineteen U.S. servicemembers 
lost their lives. Hundreds were wounded.
  In 1998, the U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were bombed by 
terrorists. Hundreds lost their lives.
  In October of 2000, the USS Cole was attacked by terrorists while 
refueling in Yemen. Seventeen sailors lost their lives. Many more were 
injured. And, of course, we all remember the day the Pentagon was 
attacked and the World Trade Center was leveled by terrorists crashing 
commercial airliners into both structures on 9/11, resulting in more 
than 3,000 of our fellow citizens being killed and America finally 
waking up to the reality that is terrorism.
  The terrorists had no reason to believe that we would respond to 9/11 
because we had not responded in the past. At that time, every country 
in the free world believed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass 
destruction. Saddam Hussein did nothing to dispel those beliefs. He had 
actually used chemical weapons on Iranians and on his own citizens.
  President Bush could not risk America's future on the hope that a 
dictator like Hussein, with a track record that included grotesque 
human rights abuses, aggression against his neighbors, and the 
harboring and funding of terrorists, could be reformed or indefinitely 
contained.
  In fact, the Senate chose not to risk America's future either. This 
body voted 77-23 in favor of the resolution allowing President Bush to 
use force in Iraq. Those voting in the affirmative included the then-
Democratic Leader of the Senate, the ranking member of the Foreign 
Relations Committee, the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee 
and the Democratic nominee for President in the 2004 election.
  I have a few quotes I would like to read.
  Senator Jay Rockefeller, Congressional Record, October 2002:

       There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is 
     working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will 
     likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years . . . 
     We also should remember we have always underestimated the 
     progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass 
     destruction.

  He obviously had access to the intelligence that the President had.
  Senator John Kerry, Congressional Record, October 2002:

       When I vote to give the President of the United States the 
     authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam 
     Hussein [it is] because I believe that a deadly arsenal of 
     weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave 
     threat to our security. . . .

  Senator Hillary Clinton, Congressional Record, October 2002:

       In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence 
     reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his 
     chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery 
     capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, 
     comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al-Qaeda 
     members . . . It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, 
     Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage 
     biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to 
     develop nuclear weapons.

  Senator Carl Levin, Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, 
September 2002:

       We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a 
     tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. 
     He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is 
     building weapons of mass destruction and the means of 
     delivering them.

  I could go on. We have lots of quotes, but let's stop for now.
  On March 19, 2003, 2 days after our President's televised ultimatum, 
a 35-nation coalition launched operations to disarm Iraq.
  In a matter of weeks, Hussein's decades-old regime had been removed, 
liberating 25 million Iraqis from one of the world's most brutal 
tyrannies.
  That was 2\1/2\ years ago. Now, because things aren't quite as 
antiseptic as some would like, there are calls for American troop 
withdrawal. Again, I think it is important for us to review just how 
far we've come over the last 2\1/2\ years.
  As far as security is concerned, the initial 35-nation coalition that 
liberated Iraq has increased to include 72 countries.
  Iraqi Security Forces are continuing to take a more prominent role in 
defending their country. One hundred sixteen Iraqi battalions are 
currently conducting military operations. That's 22 more battalions on 
line than there were just 3 months ago.
  As President Bush has stated numerous times:

       Our task is to make the Iraqi units fully capable and 
     independent. We're building up Iraqi security forces as 
     quickly as possible, so they can assume the lead in defeating 
     the terrorists and insurgents. Our strategy can be summed up 
     this way: As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.

  Our assistance to the people of Iraq is not limited to the military. 
There have been infrastructure improvements as well, including almost 
3,500 schools.
  Also, there were no commercial TV stations in Iraq before the war; 
today there are 44.
  There were no independent newspapers or magazines in Iraq before the 
war. Today there are more than 100.
  In January of this year, 8 million Iraqi citizens, in the face of 
violent threats, voted to establish a parliament. Last month, the 
Iraqis again returned to the polls in large numbers, and almost 10 
million this time--more than 60 percent of the registered voters--voted 
to approve their constitution. This coming December, they will return 
to the polls to elect a fully constitutional government.
  Because of America's leadership, compassion, and sacrifice, the world 
has witnessed the end of Saddam Hussein's regime and the beginnings of 
an energetic democracy in Iraq. This fledgling democracy has the 
ability to transform a region that has been a breeding ground for 
terrorists.
  The world is a safer place because Qadhafi saw the fate of Saddam 
Hussein and decided Libya was better off with its weapons of mass 
destruction program under lock and key.
  We are safer because the AQ Kahn network has been shut down and is no 
longer supplying materiel support to Iran and North Korea's nuclear 
efforts.
  We are safer because terrorists and the countries that harbor them 
know if they threaten the United States, they could be the next ones to 
feel the force of the U.S. military.
  Our word means something now because the President laid a marker down 
in the sand and stood behind that marker when it was time--when Saddam 
Hussein did not come forward and

[[Page S12468]]

agree to the resolutions that the United Nations had passed.
  I believe the more than 2,000 members of our military who have died 
in service for our Nation in Iraq--and others will surely follow them--
have made our country safer.
  I believe history will show in the fullness of time that America was 
involved in a noble effort that transformed a region and indeed the 
world.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. First of all, I want to associate myself entirely with 
the remarks of the Senator from Nevada. I wanted to rise for the same 
purpose--to talk for a minute about our men and women in Iraq, the 
successes that have taken place there, and how proud I am of it.
  But I can't help but, at the outset of my remarks, for a second, 
respond to the remarks of the Senator from Illinois a few minutes ago. 
I had a flashback as I listened to that speech--a flashback to my 
generation's war in the 1960s in Vietnam, a flashback that reminded me 
of what happened when American politicians began to slowly but surely 
question America's intentions in a war while our people were deployed, 
which slowly resulted in the end of withdrawal of a military that never 
quite had the support anymore that it deserved while in harm's way.
  I would like for a moment to talk about what we do know. We have had 
lots of questions raised about what we don't know, what we should have 
done, what somebody may or may not have done. Let us talk for a second 
about what we do know.
  Senator Ensign has done a great job talking about what we knew 
leading up to going into Iraq. I would like to remind us of a few other 
things.
  We know that war was declared on America in the 1990s by Osama bin 
Laden, and we were attacked seven times without responding. It was 
finally with the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that 
this President changed America's policy to one of preemption, committed 
himself to going after terrorism wherever it existed, and doing 
everything we could to liberate the world from the tyranny of 
terrorism.
  We must remember that today we are not in a war like past wars. We 
are in the ultimate war between good and evil. The terrorists don't 
want to beat us, they want us to lose our resolve so they can rule the 
world through intimidation. Terrorists don't want what America has. 
They do not want America to have what it has: the first amendment, 
freedom of speech, the right to worship as we see fit, the right to 
bear arms--all the things that stand in the way of the tyranny they 
would like to employ around the world, and have employed in a couple of 
places very successfully, in Afghanistan that we liberated and now in 
the nation of Iraq.
  There are those who would have you believe, by their speeches, that 
we are fighting the Iraqi people. We are fighting terrorism in Iraq. 
This war is about Iraq, the United States of America, our soldiers, the 
future of our generation, and our way of life as we have known it.
  I commend and respect anyone who would raise a question or a doubt 
and seek an answer. But we must not forget that the truths that we know 
are compelling, that we are fighting the right war in the right place 
at the right time for the right reason.
  For those who say we never found a weapon of mass destruction, I 
would submit to you that Saddam Hussein himself was a weapon of mass 
destruction. In 1990, when he went into Kuwait and we went in and 
liberated, it was Saddam Hussein who rained missiles upon Israel that 
wasn't even in the fight. It is Saddam Hussein who gassed his own 
Kurds. It is Saddam Hussein who systematically ordered the deaths of 
tens of thousands of Iraqi people and buried them in mass graves.
  It is no coincidence that al-Qaida operates today as the head of the 
insurgency that fights our troops in Iraq because this is their war--
their war against what America stands for, and what the future of the 
world can be if we are successful. We have some tough days ahead, but 
we must stay the course.
  In one year, we have caused the Iraqi people to have an interim 
resolution, to draft a constitution, ratified, and to seek a permanent 
election to elect permanent representatives, something that would have 
been unthinkable just 2 or 3 years ago.
  But we did it because of the resolve of these men--the American 
soldiers and the Iraqi soldiers fighting shoulder to shoulder with them 
today in the final stages in Iraq.
  Yes, we have battles to fight. Yes, there will be more terrorist 
attacks. And, yes, there will be tragic losses that all of us grieve. 
But we cannot, as a nation, lose our resolve, or have politicians 
quibble on the edges while our men and women are standing in harm's 
way.
  I commend our troops and our soldiers. I commend our country. I 
commend our citizens to look to the future and appreciate that 
everything we enjoy and have today is because of those who have 
sacrificed in the field of battle, those who have led in this Congress 
and in this Nation's Government in the past to defeat dictators and 
tyranny wherever it existed.
  We are in the ultimate battle between good and evil. Compromise and 
quitting is unacceptable. Seeing it through to its course is essential 
for our men and women in harm's way and for the children of the United 
States of America and the children of the world because, you see, 
unlike history under Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the children of Iraq now 
understand that there is a future, that there is the potential for a 
bright future, and success and good times with no fear. They do so 
because this brave Nation, when attacked by the tyranny and the evil of 
terrorism, decided it would follow it wherever it took us and we would 
preempt it so it could not stand and it could not exist.

  On behalf of our men and women in harm's way, the children they 
protect, the dreams and aspirations of Americans for a bright future, 
as bright as our past, I commend our men and women in harm's way. I 
stay the course as a Member of this Senate to support them in the war 
on terrorism, and I ask all of us to be careful when we raise questions 
that must be raised to never raise them in such a way that would 
compromise this effort or compromise the commitment and dedication of 
these brave men and women.
  I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, what is the pending order?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is in a period of morning business. 
All time held by the majority has expired. The time remaining on the 
minority side is approximately 9 minutes.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent I be allowed to 
present a second-degree amendment to the Harkin amendment number 2438 
for the purpose of debate only.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ensign). Is there objection?
  The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, this is a little bit of a complex 
situation. We are anxious to get started on the bill. We want to honor 
the 9 minutes on the other side of the aisle. I am wondering if the 
Senator from Oklahoma could proceed as in morning business until such 
time as there is recognition sought on the other side to utilize the 
remaining 9 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I would be happy to accommodate that. 
However, our time has expired so it would take unanimous consent. I ask 
unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Oklahoma is recognized as in morning business.
  Mr. INHOFE. Thank you, Mr. President.

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