[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 108 (Wednesday, September 6, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H6280-H6284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL SECURITY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. CARTER. Mr. Speaker, we have had a month here in August where we
have gone back home and talked to folks back home and visited with
them, and we are moving forward on issues that are vital to America.
But nothing is more vital to the United States of America than its
national security.
So I rise this evening to discuss with my colleagues and my neighbors
the view that I am a little concerned about and want to talk about on
the issue of national security. National security, the term itself, has
a broad umbrella. It has an umbrella that we have a lot of historical
experience to look at.
I am an old history buff. I like history. I study history. I think we
learn lessons from history. I think when we forget history, we forget
lessons we have learned, sometimes the hard way.
So, tonight, I want to talk a little bit about the national security
of the United States today and compare that national security to a
little bit of our history, and then also to discuss a little bit about
what our response is, how we are now viewing our lives that we live in
this country in light of national security. Now, national security
means, are we secure as a Nation in the scope of our world, which means
we have to think about our own common defense, promoting our own
general welfare, the things that our founders talked about. That is
part of it.
National security is securing our Nation's borders, and this debate
has been ongoing now in this Congress for quite some time concerning
our Nation's borders, and we may talk a little bit about that tonight.
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But I think that anyone who establishes a nation, and of course I
believe with my whole heart our Founders, when they established our
Nation, had in mind securing our lives in the United States of America
by protecting the life, liberty, and property of Americans.
And they had in mind when those who would do us harm would put the
life, liberty, or property of Americans at risk, that we would have the
resources with which to protect those citizens and their holdings.
In our recent memory, and I was actually born 1 month, I am going to
show my age here, 1 month before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on
December 7, so I am a prewar human being by 1 month. Almost 1 month to
a day. I want to look at that event and how our Nation responded to
that event.
On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Navy of Japan attacked the United
States of America basically from the air. They killed 2,402 Americans,
57 of them were civilians and 2,345 were Americans who were in the
service. They attacked our military with their military all in uniform.
It was a dastardly sneak attack. The American citizens were irate.
But what is kind of interesting, that particular day my dad tells the
story, that was the first day under the way doctors looked at babies
that people could visit the new baby. So on December 7, 1941, a group
of friends came to my house to see me as a 1-month-old baby.
When this was announced on the radio, the first question they asked
was, where is Pearl Harbor? When they found out American citizens were
attacked, American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines were attacked,
the American public was irate. The next day we went to war with Japan
by declaration of this Congress. We followed that by going to war with
Germany and Italy, supporters, allies of Japan, people who had the same
agenda.
The American public went wholeheartedly into that war. They suffered
things on the homefront. A whole lot of women had to take men's jobs on
the assembly line so men could go to war. They rationed gasoline and
food. They rationed sugar. They rationed lots of things. The American
public saved scrap iron and they got involved in selling war bonds.
They supported our soldiers as our soldiers went to war.
On the 11th day of September, 9/11 as we call it, 2001, a group of
people attacked the United States of America again. These people didn't
wear uniforms. These people didn't attack a military target. Well, sort
of. Their last attack was on the Pentagon, but their initial attack was
a civilian target, a symbol of international freedom and economy. The
total number of United States citizens killed that day was 3,025, the
vast majority of whom were civilians, not military soldiers, sailors,
airmen and marines; and they were not attacked by someone's army. They
were totally and completely sneak attacked on 9/11 to kill innocent
American civilians who had done absolutely no imaginable harm to the
people who attacked them.
You know, this Congress gathered on the steps of the Capitol in a
very touching moment and sang ``God Bless America,'' Republicans and
Democrats alike. For 48 hours this country was united, and we sit there
and say that is when it all started. Actually, that is not when it all
started.
Actually, if you want to go back a little bit, you can look at this
same ideology, if you will, related groups of people attacked the
embassy in Baghdad in 1983, attacked the Marines barracks in Lebanon in
1983 killing an additional 242 and 120 in those two attacks; hijacked a
TWA airplane, the Pan Am 103 bombing; the first World Trade Center
bombing in 1993; attempted assassination of President George H.W. Bush;
the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996; the embassy bombing in east Africa
in 1998; and the USS Cole bombing in 2000, followed by an attack on our
country for a total of American citizens killed of 4,037. And we were
really upset about it. But who sacrificed? Where are we in the support
of enemies who would bring down our Nation? That is something I find
very curious.
Tonight I heard some of my colleagues, my Democrat colleagues over
here, saying the Iraqi war is wrong. They had nothing to do with 9/11.
Well, the first people we whipped in the Second World War were the
Italians. They had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor. And the second
group of people we whipped in the Second World War was the Germans.
They had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor by their definition, but they
lent allied support to the country that attacked this country. How can
they argue when Saddam Hussein paid $25,000 to every terrorist family
that attacked the United States of America? How can they say they were
not aiding and abetting our enemies?
The President of the United States said something I thought was
right. He said: Folks, you are either with us or you are against us. If
you are helping our enemies, you are our enemies.
Now, sort of like the Monday morning quarterback at a football game,
and I know about that, it is fun to sit in the stands and watch
everybody second-guess your kid, all of a sudden we have people who
knew all along, even though President Clinton thought they had weapons
of mass destruction and said so publicly, those in his administration
said the same thing, all indications were that they did, and the
British intelligence, along with others around the world confirmed that
they thought that they had the potential to get to the hands of
terrorists weapons of mass destruction. But in addition, they aided and
abetted through at least a $25,000 reward to aid the terrorists who
attacked us, our enemies.
The Germans didn't do that and neither did the Italians, and yet we
had to take care of those who would bring down our Nation. This
Congress, the government in 1941, recognized the threat to the United
States and knew that national security required us to
[[Page H6281]]
get rid of the evil that was coming after our Nation.
Mr. Speaker, that evil is still out there in this war we are fighting
right now. You know what, we have been successful, very successful in
taking down an awful lot of evil people. And we have used tools that
are constitutional and legal to maintain our national security.
Our intelligence network had been gutted in the 1980s and in the
1990s. And all of a sudden we are all very critical of our intelligence
network. But if you go back and look at the history of our intelligence
network, we basically took the on-the-ground resources out of the hands
of our intelligence people. We have had to replace those. We have had
to do a lot of hard work communicating. We have the best electronics in
the world, but our human resources were lacking.
But that doesn't excuse the fact that we have an enemy who as
recently as about 3 weeks ago was planning on blowing up, the estimate
is nine or ten, airplanes headed to the United States with American
citizens on board, with us the target, with our airline industry the
target. And thank goodness for good British intelligence and
information-gathering by the Brits that they were able to stop this
from happening.
But it tells us something. I am not trying to scare anybody. It tells
us commitment counts. Here tonight we have heard some of my Democrat
colleagues say we need a new strategy in the Middle East. We need to
pull our troops out of Iraq and do it today. A passionate plea to the
President, Mr. President, pull back the troops.
You know, if you read about the battles, and I use as an example the
Civil War, sometimes those people bashed each other for 3 or 4 days to
a bloody pulp. But when one army left the field, the other side was the
victor. The Battle of Gettysburg, which was probably the turning point
in the war, when the Confederate Army left the field, the Union Army
was the victor. That is the definition.
I would propose, we are talking about a battle in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The war is worldwide, but the battles are in Afghanistan
and Iraq. Hopefully, that is the only place we will have to fight.
Mr. Speaker, if we retire from the field, it is a victory for evil,
evil that wishes to bring down the United States of America. It is the
wrong thing to do.
I hesitate to talk about this, but it is something that concerns me.
We are constantly examining ourselves and looking at our warts, but
whenever evil is defined by our enemies, we say it is just too bad to
talk about. Has anybody thought about the fact that American guys who
were just working for a living trying to help rebuild Iraq got
kidnapped and their heads sawed off with an 8-inch knife? Has anybody
thought about that? Because it was so gruesome we didn't see it on
television, thank God. That horrible incident alone ought to inflame
Americans against our enemies. Don't we care any more about the safety
of American citizens around the world? Aren't we willing to stand up
and say we are not going to tolerate this?
We have some fine people in this country who are willing to do that.
God bless each and every one of them. That is the American soldier,
sailor, airman, marine and Coast Guard. It is unsafe right now. Because
of kidnappings and decapitations and murder and terror around the
world, it is unsafe for Americans. We have a bunch of people walking
around Afghanistan and Iraq flying the American flag on their
shoulders. They are not afraid. They are standing up for what it takes
to win the war on terrorism, the war on Islamic fascism. And even a
better definition, the war on evil. When you do what they did to these
contractors, when you do something like that to a human being, the
whole world, but especially the United States of America, ought to be
fighting mad.
Mr. Speaker, I think that in our hearts we know that we have to
confront evil where it is and we have to do hard jobs. You know,
somebody said in 3 years there has been no progress. Once again I went
back to my thoughts about history. I said, okay, we were bombed in 1941
and we landed on the beaches at Normandy on June 6, 1944. So that very
argument could have been made in this House on the Second World War in
the spring of 1944. We have been fighting 3 years, and we have made
relatively no progress because we haven't gotten after the Germans
where they are. We had to fight the Italians, we had to fight in North
Africa, and we had to fight the Japanese. We were still fighting the
Germans, and we have made no progress against the people who attacked
us.
But that is not how our fathers and grandfathers and great
grandfathers felt about this country. They were in it to get it done.
That is why they are the Greatest Generation. That is why we talk about
them as the Greatest Generation.
You can sit around and make excuses, and you can get in folks' faces
on things, and you can put politics before country.
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But, Mr. Speaker, this is not about politics. This is about the
safety of this country.
I think we have got a lot to be proud of. I think we have done a lot
of good. We have revitalized an intelligence group that is doing the
job, accomplishing the mission, getting us good intelligence. It is
substantially, substantially better than what we inherited and what we
started with. But I think that there are some fuzzy thinking people out
there that have got strange ideas about what entitles our enemy, for
instance, to sue us in court. That is fuzzy thinking.
The American people know what is right and what is wrong. The
American people do not need to be scared because they know whatever the
United States of America sets its mind to it gets done. And I think
that is really the message that we have got.
We have increased funding for our intelligence community. We have got
all of our law enforcement communities talking to each other now and
sharing information. We have poured $30 billion into our first
responders so that we are ready to protect our homeland. This House has
passed a bill to address the border, and hopefully, we will get that
bill passed and written into law, and we will work out all of the
issues that involve immigration and work them out in a way that they
will be manageable and we can do what is right for all the people of
the United States. But we first have got to defend our borders.
Mr. Speaker, this is national security. It is a big picture. And it
is one we have to be concerned about. We have to realize that the only
realistic thing for us to do is to continue to support our soldiers as
they do a very tough job. I have the only two division posts in the
entire world in my district. No one has more compassion for those young
men and women that go to war, on their third rotation now. We are
getting the 4th Infantry Division back early this fall, and we have got
the 1st Cav going back again. And it is hard. But do you know what?
Those soldiers know that they are doing their duty, and they are doing
what they have to do and they are doing what it takes to keep our
Nation secure.
I am confident, Mr. Speaker, that we will examine each and every day
in light of protecting the American citizen wherever he may be, and
that is what national security is all about. I am confident the
American people will give us the resources. I am confident that this
government will do the right thing to protect Americans.
I have got colleagues here that have joined me, and I am going to ask
Mr. Gingrey from Georgia, one of my best friends in this Congress, to
talk to us a little bit about this issue. I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. And,
indeed, it is a pleasure to be here tonight, Mr. Speaker, with my good
friend Judge Carter. We are about the same age, and he was giving us a
little bit of a history lesson, much better than I can, in regard to
some of the things that went on with our Greatest Generation in
defending this country in World War II, and I think that some of these
statistics are so telling, the things that Judge Carter talked about in
regard to, of course, that day that will live in infamy, December 7,
1941. And, of course, I am referencing again, as he did, Pearl Harbor.
I think Judge Carter mentioned that something like 2,400 of our sailors
and airmen and a lot of civilian workers were killed that Sunday
morning, a day of rest, a day of worship. An unprovoked attack. And the
very next day, as John Carter
[[Page H6282]]
pointed out, this Congress declared war against imperial Japan for this
dastardly act, this unprovoked sneak attack on that early Sunday
morning.
Here again we think back now, and next Monday, 5 days from now, will
be the fifth anniversary of an attack that was just as unprovoked and
just as dastardly as Pearl Harbor and resulted actually in the loss of
a greater number of lives. Something above 3,000 innocent men and women
were killed in the Twin Towers attacks of September 11, 2001.
And as I think about the numbers, and we are all very saddened when
we read in the newspaper that another of our brave young soldiers has
either been injured or killed in Iraq, maybe by one of these improvised
explosive devices, and we are getting beyond the 3-year anniversary. We
are more than 3 years engaged in that battle, and the number is
something like 2,470 killed.
Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and
the American people that in the battle of Iwo Jima, we lost 7,000 of
our Greatest Generation in 30 days; 7,000 to secure that strategic
island in the mid-Pacific. That was a tremendous price for our Greatest
Generation to pay. But we didn't hear Members of Congress telling
President Roosevelt, well, that is too high a price, and we need to
bring the troops home. We need to come back and batten down the hatches
and cut our losses. I could say the same thing to my colleagues about
the Battle of the Bulge, as tough as that was. Representative Carter
referenced some Civil War battles, Antietam, Gettysburg. When the going
gets tough, the tough don't leave. The tough fight back. And that was
what happened in the Battle of the Bulge. That was what happened on the
island of Iwo Jima where that famous flag was raised on Mount
Suribachi. We cannot afford to cut and run. I am not saying that my
colleagues on the other side of the aisle are necessarily advocating
that, but certainly some of the rhetoric sounds a lot like that, Mr.
Speaker, and I think the American people are hearing that. But even
worse, our soldiers that are doing the fighting and the dying and the
suffering on our behalf are hearing it.
One of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle a few minutes
ago was talking about what things that President Bush should have known
and how he should have responded even before 9/11. And as I listened,
Mr. Speaker, I heard him talk about the United States embassies in East
Africa; the attack on the USS Cole, where I think 17 of our soldiers
were killed there; the first attack on the World Trade Center in the
early 1990s; the Khobar Towers bombing. Well, I would remind my
colleagues on the other side of the aisle that that was under the
administration of one William Jefferson Clinton, a Democratic
President, where basically the response was the bombing of an aspirin
factory in Sudan, and I think maybe one janitor was injured a little
bit in that bomb attack. That was the kind of response we got from
them.
The bottom line is you cannot continue to dare and double-dog dare
and triple-dog dare and draw lines in the sand that you ignore, and
that was what led us to this situation and that culminated in 9/11.
This President responded. This President had the guts, if you will
pardon my Georgia slang, to stand up and get permission from Congress,
just as President Roosevelt did on December 8, 1941, and declared war
on these people that were responsible for that attack.
And I will just take a couple of minutes more, and then I will turn
it back over to my colleagues and the gentleman from Tennessee for his
remarks. The President was just speaking to the Reserve Officers
Association a couple days ago, and this is what he said and this is, so
telling, Mr. Speaker. And I quote:
``The experience of September 11th made clear, in the long run, the
only way to secure our Nation is to change the course of the Middle
East. So America has committed its influence in the world to advancing
freedom and liberty and democracy as the great alternatives to
repression and radicalism. We're taking the side of democratic leaders
and moderates and reformers across the Middle East. We strongly support
the voices of tolerance and moderation in the Muslim world. We're
standing with Afghanistan's elected government against al Qaeda and the
Taliban remnants that are trying to restore tyranny in that country.
We're also standing with Lebanon's young democracy against the foreign
forces that are seeking to undermine the country's sovereignty and
independence. And we're standing with the leaders of Iraq's unity
government as they work to defeat the enemies of freedom and chart a
more hopeful course for their people. This is why victory is so
important in Iraq. By helping freedom succeed in Iraq, we will help
America, and the Middle East, and the world become more secure.''
I cannot improve on that, Mr. Speaker. I think the President said it
well.
I thank God that we have a President that has the moral character and
the intestinal strength to fight when we need to fight, to lead us, as
President Roosevelt did, in that war that our Greatest Generation
fought.
So I am really proud to be here and share a little time with my
colleagues. I thank Congressman John Carter for leading this hour and
giving me an opportunity to discuss such a vital issue as this with my
colleagues.
Mr. CARTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
At this time I will yield to my colleague from Tennessee, Mr. Zach
Wamp.
Mr. WAMP. Thank you, Judge Carter, for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to, as I begin, stand, as I think virtually
everyone in this Chamber would do, and thank the men and women in
uniform who volunteered to serve because whatever that call is that our
commander-in-chief deems in our national interest and the Congress
supports the actions for, they are the ones standing in harm's way.
They are the ones willing to make the sacrifice.
Over this August district work period, like many of my colleagues, I
spent a lot of time with the men and women in uniform from my home
State. The 196th Field Artillery Brigade just got back from a year in
Afghanistan. I welcomed them home, and then I traveled to Nashville to
spend several hours with them and their families, going through the
slide slows and listening to the success of their mission there. And I
am so very proud that they would volunteer to serve and that they would
be willing to step up.
So I begin today just by honoring them, and I know the House stands
behind them. But where we are seeing some confusion is the messages
that are coming out across the country here in the middle of a very
divisive election year that, frankly, are at best mixed messages to our
troops in the field and, at the very worst, not helpful at all. And I
really hate that because I know that the Greatest Generation who set
the standard for sacrifice and courage in our country would want us to
attempt to work through our sometimes petty division and right now
political division to stand at the waters' edge united against this
threat. And there are people in this country who, frankly, do not want
to acknowledge it. The Wall Street Journal editorialized last week and
called it an ``aversion to conflict,'' meaning that there are people in
this country that just do not want to be bothered. They do not want to
accept the fact that these threats are real.
I also spent all of August reading, and I would encourage people to
read ``Londonistan,'' how the radical Islamists, the jihadists, the
people who are literally waging war and believe that death is the only
end, are spreading like wildfire through Great Britain and Europe,
through the mosque, and radicalization is taking place so fast that we
need to wake up as a Nation.
{time} 2100
I have been here 12 years. But sometimes I feel like Paul Revere.
When you know something in your heart, you better not be quiet about
it. You better speak out about it. The gentleman from Texas and I serve
on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.
For 4 years, we have had the detailed briefings of some of these
threats. And while we cannot speak of some things, we know that
Hezbollah is the A Team in terrorism around the world. Al Qaeda has
been seriously hit by us. We have dismantled a lot of their operations.
We have killed Zarqawi. We have had a lot of success.
[[Page H6283]]
But Hezbollah now has reared its ugly head in a way that threatens
the entire free world. And they want, by their own charter and
definition, the destruction of Israel and Christians. That is the
truth. That is in their charter.
I would encourage you to read ``While Europe Slept,'' about the rest
of Europe and the radicalization that is taking place there, and be
sensitive to what is happening in northern Africa where just this week
we finally established a U.S. command. Why? Because Somalia is at risk.
I was there last summer in eastern Africa. I came back and talked about
the problems that we face with the potential of the terrorist networks
and the jihadists looking for a vacuum in leadership, the Sudan,
Somalia, Algeria, where they can go in and find another sovereign
nation from which to operate like they had in Afghanistan.
That was one of the great successes of removing Saddam Hussein, as we
took Iraq out of the picture of having a sovereign nation from which
the terrorists could operate. But this war has not gone perfectly.
But as Senator McCain said 2 weeks ago on ``Meet the Press,'' no war
we have ever fought went perfectly. We have never entered a war and not
made mistakes. Of course mistakes have been made. That is the essence
of war.
But I am reminded of what John Stuart Mill said about war. This is
where the veterans come in, our troops in the field. He said: ``War is
an ugly thing. But it is not the ugliest of things. The decayed and
degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that
nothing is worth war is much worse.''
He said: ``A person who has nothing for which they are willing to
fight, nothing they care more about than their own personal safety, is
a miserable creature, who has no chance of ever being free unless those
very freedoms are made and kept by better persons than himself.''
And those better persons, men and women of the House, Mr. Speaker,
are our Nation's veterans. Our sons and daughters and friends and
relatives that are in harm's way today looking back asking, often to
each other, does this country stand behind us? Does the elected
leadership of the United States Congress believe in this mission? Will
we be successful or will we go home early?
Those are serious questions of war and peace, of freedom or tyranny,
whether or not there is ever going to be a hope of us instilling some
democratic systems in a part of the world that frankly is breeding hate
and destruction directed right at us.
The chronology that you have heard some of today was articulated well
by a U.S. Navy captain in Pensacola, Florida. I want to read it into
the Record, and then submit it for the Record. It takes a minute, but
this really capsulizes the threats we face that some people are in
denial of, and some people do not want to acknowledge that this is
worse than it was on September 11 in terms of the global proportions of
the terrorist networks, the jihadists working together.
Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, it is growing. But it did not just start.
He writes: ``It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going
through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian
students attacked and seized the American embassy in Tehran.
``The seizure was an outright attack on American soil. It was an
attack that held the world's most powerful country hostage and
paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on the sovereign U.S. embassy set
the stage for events to follow for the next 25 years.
``America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam
experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then
President Carter had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine
raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a
symbol of America's inability to deal with terrorism. America's
military had been decimated and downsized or right-sized since the end
of the Vietnam war.
``A poorly trained, poorly equipped, and poorly organized military
was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the
start. Shortly after the Tehran Experience, Americans began to be
kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do
little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks
against U.S. soil continued.
``In April of 1983, a large vehicle packed with high explosives was
driven into the U.S. embassy compound in Beirut. When it exploded, it
killed 63 people. The alarm went off and America hit the snooze button
once again.
``Then just 6 short months later, in 1983, a large truck heavily
laden down with over 2,500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate
of the U.S. Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut, and 241 U.S.
servicemen were killed.
``America mourned her dead and hit the snooze button once more. Two
months later, in December of 1983, another truck loaded with explosives
was driven into the U.S. embassy in Kuwait, and America continued her
slumber. The following year, in September of 1984, another van was
driven into the gate of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, and America slept.
``Soon the terrorism spread to Europe. In April 1985, a bomb exploded
in a restaurant frequented by U.S. soldiers in Madrid. Then in August
of 1985, a Volkswagen loaded with explosives was driven into the main
gate of the U.S. Air Force base Rhein-Main. Twenty-two were killed and
the snooze alarm was buzzing louder and louder as U.S. interests were
continually attacked.
``Fifty-nine days later, in 1985, a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro,
was hijacked as we watched an American in a wheel chair singled out
from the passenger list and executed.
``The terrorists then shifted their tactics to bombing civilian
airlines when they bombed TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed
four, and the most tragic bombing, Pam Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie,
Scotland, in 1988, killing 259.
``President Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes. In fact,
we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These were acts of
war. The wake-up alarm was getting louder and louder. The terrorists
decided to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents
were shot and killed as they entered CIA headquarters in Langley,
Virginia. The following month, February, 1993, a group of terrorists
were arrested after a rented van, packed with explosives, was driven
into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New
York City. Six people were killed and 1,000 injured.
``Still, this was a crime and not an act of war. The snooze alarm was
depressed again. Then in November, 1995, a car bomb exploded at a U.S.
military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing seven servicemen and
-women. A few months later, in June of 1996, another truck bomb
exploded, only 35 yards from the U.S. military compound in Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia. It destroyed the Khobar Towers, a U.S. Air Force
barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500.
``The terrorists were getting braver and smarter as they saw that
America did not respond decisively. They moved to coordinate their
attacks in a simultaneous attack on two U.S. embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania, where I was. These attacks were planned with precision. They
killed 224 people.
``America responded with cruise missile attacks and went back to
sleep. The USS Cole was docked in a port in Yemen for refueling on
October 12, 2000 when a small craft pulled alongside the ship and
exploded, killing 17 U.S. Navy sailors. Attacking a U.S. warship is an
act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back
to sleep.
``And of course you know the events of September 11, 2001. Most
Americans think this was the first attack against U.S. soil or in
America. How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack
since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go
back to sleep.''
Now, this was written by a U.S. Navy captain currently serving. This
was his speech to a group. I submit it for the Record. You can take
issue with that. But that is a chronology of what has happened. These
threats are real and they are building, they are growing.
Ladies and gentlemen, when Zarqawi wrote a letter to Zawahari before
we killed him, he said, use the infidel's, us, presence in the Middle
East, Iraq, to expand the califate from Morocco to
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Indonesia. Morocco is in northern Africa. It is in northwest Africa.
Indonesia is way over here, east of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.
The califate is frankly jihadist rule, expanding their territory.
This is an aggressive plan, documented by their own words. People can
deny this if they want to, but I got to tell you, our generation has
been called to many, many challenges. And since the Greatest Generation
set the standard for sacrifice and commitment, we have had it really
easy in this country.
But we need to be honest with the American people. It is not going to
be easy in the coming years at all. We are very fortunate we have not
been struck again. We are kidding ourselves if we do not think they are
planning another attack. We are kidding ourselves if we think that this
problem will go away if we pull out of Iraq.
What will happen is it will give them momentum. It will cause them to
recruit more jihadists and more suicide bombers, because they will see
us in retreat. That is the truth. This problem is not going away. This
problem did not just start either. It has been building. We just did
not get serious enough about it until they actually took the Towers
down, which they tried to do 8 years earlier, but their engineering was
flawed and it did not work. That is when they wanted them to come down.
Ladies and gentlemen of the House, Mr. Speaker, we have an obligation
to try our best to meet at the water's edge. I want these volunteer
troops and the Guard and Reserve and active duty to see us united
around this issue.
This is our call. This is so important. Our way of life is worth
defending. Everybody is going to have their role. They say, oh, well,
you are not over there serving. Everybody has got a role to play. The
Greatest Generation, ``Rosie the Riveter'' was the spouse who stayed
and worked in the factories and raised the kids so the men could serve.
And they were people on the floor of this House standing with those
troops. We need to do it again.
I will be glad when the next 62 days are over so this is not as much
about politics as it is about doing what is right for the men and women
in uniform, and for global security because the world is looking to us
for leadership. And I am also grateful that we have had consistent and
decisive hard-nosed Texas-tough leadership in the White House.
Because this is not a time for wimps. This is a time for us to be
consistent and be resolute. The President has got a big heart. I have
been with him when he has talked about the families of these troops and
there were tears rolling down his face. He understands the sacrifice.
He would never, ever put any person in harm's way unless he knew deep
in his soul that it is in our national interest and we have to do this.
Freedom is not free. We hear that so much we think, oh, that is just
what the politicians say.
The sacrifices of the generation before us hang in the balance today.
Are we going to rise to meet this or not? We have got to keep talking
about it too. Even though we are in an election, this is about the free
world and our leadership, whether or not we are going to stand with our
allies, whether or not the people in Europe and across the world look
to us for leadership or put their hope in organizations like the United
Nations that have proved ineffective and today grossly corrupt.
The coalition of the willing are the only people willing to do it
today, us and our allies, and tyranny and terrorism is on the rise.
Let's not bury our head in the sand.
When WWIII Started--1979
It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going
through a religious and political upheaval when a group of
Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in
Tehran. The seizure was an outright attack on American soil;
it was an attack that held the world's most powerful country
hostage and paralyzed a presidency. The attack on this
sovereign U.S. embassy set the stage for events to follow for
the next 25 years.
America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Viet
Nam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union
when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to
conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated
mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America's
inability to deal with terrorism.
America's military has been decimated and down sized/right
sized since the end of the Viet Nam war. A poorly trained,
poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on
to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.
Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be
kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America
could do little to protect her citizens living and working
abroad. The attacks against U.S. soil continued.
In April of 1983, a large vehicle packed with high
explosives was driven into the U.S. Embassy compound in
Beirut. When it exploded, it killed 63 people. The alarm went
off again and America hit the snooze button once more.
Then just six short months later in 1983 a large truck
heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed
through the main gate of the U.S. Marine Corps headquarters
in Beirut and 241 U.S. servicemen were killed. America
mourned her dead and hit the snooze button once more.
Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded
with explosives was driven into the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait,
and America continued her slumber.
The following year, in September 1984, another van was
driven into the gate of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and
America slept.
Soon the terrorism spread to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb
exploded in a restaurant frequented by U.S. soldiers in
Madrid.
Then in August 1985 a Volkswagen loaded with explosives was
driven into the main gate of the U.S. Air Force Base at
Rhein-Main, 22 were killed and the snooze alarm was buzzing
louder and louder as U.S. interests were continually
attacked.
Fifty-nine days later in 1985 a cruise ship, the Achille
Lauro, was hijacked and we watched as an American in a
wheelchair was singled out of the passenger list and
executed.
The terrorists then shifted their tactics to bombing
civilian airlines when they bombed TWA Flight 840 in April of
1986 that killed 4, and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am
Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259.
President Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes;
in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial.
These were acts of war.
The wake up alarm was getting louder and louder.
The terrorists decided to bring the fight to America. In
January 1993, two CIA agents were shot and killed as they
entered CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists
were arrested after a rented van packed with explosives was
driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade
Center in New York City. Six people were killed and over
1,000 injured. Still this was a crime and not an act of war?
The snooze alarm was depressed again.
Then in November 1995 a car bomb exploded at a U.S.
military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven
service men and women.
A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb
exploded only 35 yards from the U.S. military compound in
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroyed the Khobar Towers, a U.S.
Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The
terrorists were getting braver and smarter as they saw that
America did not respond decisively.
They moved to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous
attack on two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These
attacks were planned with precision. They killed 224. America
responded with cruise missile attacks and went back to sleep.
The USS Cole was docked in a port in Yemen for refueling on
12 October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the
ship and exploded killing 17 U.S. Navy sailors. Attacking a
U.S. war ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to
investigate the crime and went back to sleep.
And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001.
Most Americans think this was the first attack against U.S.
soil or in America. How wrong they are. America has been
under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the
snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.
U.S. Navy Captain from Pensacola, Florida.
Mr. CARTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Wamp, and I thank him for
sharing that letter from that Navy captain. I think that was very well
expressed by that captain in the Navy.
Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of rhetoric going on. What we really need
is we need, as Mr. Wamp has so very accurately described, we need to
meet on the water's edge. We are waiting to hear plans for solutions.
Mr. Speaker, if we do not stay the course, as hard as it is, whether it
is hard politically, whether it is hard socially, whatever, if we do
not stay the course, Mr. Speaker, I honestly think, as Mr. Wamp said,
all the investment in freedom that we have made in the past will pale
to the surrender that follows.
I thank you for your time, Mr. Speaker, and I thank you for allowing
us to share this concern and this little bit of history. I yield back.
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