[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 33 (Wednesday, March 15, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER SILVIO BERLUSCONI

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HENRY J. HYDE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 15, 2006

  Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and congratulate Italian 
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on his recent speech before the joint 
session of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. I am proud to be joined 
in this effort by the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney).
  When terrorists hijacked airplanes, smashing them into the Twin 
Towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it was the worst 
disaster ever perpetrated on American soil. A large part of the world 
reached out in sympathy to our wounded nation. Silvio Berlusconi, the 
Italian Premier, called for a giant rally for the Italian people to 
express their grief and shed their tears for the families of the 
victims, and to show their compassion for a nation that had been 
gravely wounded. It was a heartfelt expression of the pain they felt 
for America by hundreds of thousands of Italians who crowded into 
Rome's Piazza del Popolo, the place of the people.
  Berlusconi's call to action was so successfully answered by the 
Italian people, that certain political parties of the left called for a 
counter rally--an anti-American rally. These parties were two Communist 
parties, and a third party which had been the original Communist party 
but had changed its name to the Democratic Party of the Left. They 
paraded through the streets of Rome, a small phalanx holding red flags 
with the iconic Communist hammer and sickle and placards denouncing 
America for having entered Afghanistan in pursuit of Osama bin Laden 
and to destroy the Al Qaeda terrorists. They shouted anti-American 
slogans, said blood dripped from our hands and that we were assassins. 
They threw the American flag on the ground, trampled it, poured gas on 
it, and set it afire. Nowhere in their speeches or placards was there 
mention of the American tragedy, nowhere mention of grief for the dead 
or compassion for the families. Italy is a democratic country where 
everyone is guaranteed the freedom of speech. They expressed their 
opinions, feelings, and anti-American bias.
  When Silvio Berlusconi appeared, several weeks ago, before the joint 
session of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, which is a signal honor 
paid to a world leader, he was not invited by President Bush, as many 
Italian newspapers stated. He was invited by the House of 
Representatives and the Senate, led by Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the 
House, and Vice President Cheney, as Presiding Officer of the Senate. 
The Constitution imposes a separation of powers between the legislature 
and the executive branch and we, the legislative branch of the U.S. 
Government, are proud of the independence this grants us. We invited 
him.
  When the Italian Prime Minister stood before us and spoke, it was not 
to Democrats and Republicans but to all of the representatives of all 
of the districts of all of the states and for all of the American 
people. This legislative body represents the broad expanse of America 
and all of her people. And when we rose in a standing salute and gave 
thunderous applause to Prime Minister Berlusconi, it was the American 
people who were speaking. The American people who were exercising their 
right to the freedom of speech, a constitutional right in our country 
too. The American people gave their opinion. In standing in ovation to 
Berlusconi's impassioned words of friendship, we rejected the elements 
in Italy who had turned their back to our suffering, deploring their 
conduct and their opinions. We instead showed the warm feeling of 
affection in our hearts for the people of Italy.

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