[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 161 (Thursday, December 15, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H11875]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY IN IRAQ

  Mr. GINGREY. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of 
order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Georgia?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GINGREY. Madam Speaker, I feel honored this evening as we 
approach the midnight hour here in Washington to realize that it is the 
dawn of a new day in Iraq. The sun is coming up almost as we speak, and 
I raise my hand and my index finger in symbolic fashion to salute the 
10.5 million people who went to the polls in that historic election on 
December 15.
  Madam Speaker, listen to what some of the Iraqi people have had to 
say about how they feel about the vote that was cast yesterday. ``This 
day is revenge for Saddam.'' Kurdish voter Chiman Saleh, whose two 
brothers were killed by Saddam's forces. The ink-stained finger after 
he voted.
  ``The time has come to build Iraq with our own hands and to use the 
great wealth that God has granted to Iraq, to rebuild Iraq so that we 
can turn our poverty into wealth and our misery into happiness.'' Prime 
minister al-Jaafari.
  Finally, from the Associated Press, some good news: ``So many Sunni 
Arabs voted that ballots ran out in some places. The strong 
participation by Sunnis,'' the backbone of the insurgency, Madam 
Speaker, ``bolstered United States hopes that the election could 
produce a broad-based government capable of ending the daily suicide 
attacks and other violence.'' From the Associated Press. Good news 
indeed.
  Madam Speaker, listen to what General George Casey, the Multinational 
Force Commanding General in Iraq, said today: ``The Iraqi people have 
had a great day. It is their third national poll this year: January 
30th elections for the Transitional National Assembly, 8.5 million 
people voted; October 15th national referendum on the constitution, 10 
million people voted on. December 15th elections for a permanent 
assembly, 10.5 to 11 million people voted, and many, many Sunnis. Voter 
turnout was high. We expect it to be at or above the October level. 
Turnout in the Anbar Province in western Iraq, the most violent part, 
the Sunni stronghold, is suspected to have increased fairly 
substantially over October. There was low violence across Iraq. We 
expect it to be at or below the October level. The Iraqi Security 
Forces performed wonderfully to maintain security at the polling sites. 
The high sentiment was set this morning when Iraqis swiftly repaired 
damage from an improvised explosive device at a polling place and that 
polling site was still open at 7 o'clock in the morning.''
  Listen to this, Madam Speaker, from General Casey. ``Three years ago, 
Saddam Hussein was still tyrannizing the Iraqi people. The 
accomplishments of the Iraqis and the Coalition since then have been 
unprecedented, even in the face of a ruthless and a resilient 
insurgency. They include the transition to sovereignty, elections for a 
transitional government, a peaceful transition from the interim to the 
transitional government, the drafting and approving of the 
constitution, the building of Iraqi Security Forces to more than 
200,000, and today, the elections for a permanent assembly.''
  Madam Speaker, as we close out, I just want to say that this is also 
a great day for those 2,175 soldiers, men and women, who have given 
their lives, 15,000 others who have been severely injured, and 30,000 
or more innocent Iraqi people, many of them women and children, who 
have given their lives for this cause. This is a great day.
  This gives some peace and comfort, I am sure, to the Brown family of 
Atlanta, who gave their son Tyler, a First Lieutenant, in this battle, 
as he was killed in action; and the Johnson family of Armuchee, 
Georgia, in my district, when Joe and Janet gave their precious son 
Justin.
  At least some comfort will come to these families at this time of 
Christmas when everybody else is celebrating and they have a certain 
sadness in their heart that will never go away. They will know that 
their sons did not die in vain, that this is the success that they were 
fitting and dying for. God bless them, God bless the Commander-in-
Chief, and God bless America.

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