[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 118 (Wednesday, September 20, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H6738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          WHERE IS LAFAYETTE?

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, ``Let them eat cake'' is what Marie Antoinette 
said to the starving French people, showing her ignorance of the world 
around her. Today it can be used to describe France's position on 
handling terror threats.
  France's current Prime Minister said last week: ``Against terrorism, 
what we need is not a war. It is, as France has done for many years, a 
determined fight based on vigilance at all times and effective 
cooperation with our partners.'' In other words, more talk, no action.
  What France fails to consider is we tried that. Madrid's trains have 
been attacked. London's buses and subways have blown up. American 
embassies were bombed. The USS Cole was attacked, and, of course, there 
was September 11.
  This war started years ago. The terrorists struck first across the 
globe. They declared war on us. They don't want to talk. It is now our 
duty to win this war, not wave France's new national white flag of 
surrender. What France and free people need is the spirit of Lafayette 
in this war on terror, not the current ignorance of Marie Antoinette, 
who was talking all the way to the guillotine and lost her head because 
she failed to see the real world around her.
  And that's just the way it is.

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