[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 157 (Wednesday, October 17, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H11642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                      A TRAGEDY OF OUR OWN MAKING

  (Mr. AKIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. AKIN. I rise to call attention to a tragedy of our own making. In 
May of this year, a U.S. soldier, Alex Jimenez, along with several of 
his friends, were captured by al Qaeda. As our intelligence officers 
wanted to tap into wires to try to find his whereabouts, they were 
hobbled and had to wait 10 hours for lawyers to get through the FISA 
Court to allow them to get the critical information they needed. That 
information lost, this soldier and his compatriots have never been 
found, although the bodies of one or two have been found.
  The Democrats want to expand this FISA process now to our warfighting 
capabilities and hobble our soldiers to have to wait for hours and 
hours for lawyers to approve gathering information.
  Back when I was in the State of Missouri, we had jokes between 
farmers and lawyers. They were kind of funny. But this is not a funny 
joke. How many lawyers does it take to rescue a hostage? The answer 
should be zero.
  Now, the Democrats want to undermine our relationship with Turkey 
which will cripple our military's efforts.
  If the Democrats want to pull our troops out of Iraq then have the 
courage to defund the war.
  Otherwise, stop handicapping our military with bureaucratic red tape 
that will undermine their mission. The lives of our military personnel 
are on the line.

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