[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 85 (Thursday, May 22, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1042]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CELEBRATING THE VISIT TO WASHINGTON OF HIS EXCELLENCY NECHIRVAN 
  BARZANI, PRIME MINISTER OF THE KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT OF IRAQ

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. LINCOLN DAVIS

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 21, 2008

  Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
welcome to Washington and to the U.S. Congress a close friend of the 
United States, Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdistan 
Regional Government of Iraq.
  On the occasion of this important visit, I am also pleased that 
Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina has joined me to serve as co-
chair and co-founder of the Kurdish-American Caucus.
  America has no better friend in Iraq than Prime Minister Barzani and 
the country's Kurdish population. The Kurds have been among America's 
best allies in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime and in 
supporting the transition to a democratic Iraq. Kurdish forces fight 
and die alongside U.S. troops in support of our mission in Iraq and are 
unambiguously grateful for America's many sacrifices in Iraq. They 
welcome a continued military presence in the Kurdistan Region as part 
of any redeployment of U.S. forces in the future, and offer their 
sincere friendship in the peace process. The Kurds are a model of 
stability and moderation in Iraq and have set themselves apart from the 
bloody sectarianism and factionalism that bedevils the political 
establishment in Baghdad today.
  For those of my colleagues who have not visited the Kurdistan Region 
of Iraq, I would urge you to do so. My visit to Erbil earlier this year 
was an extraordinary lesson in how democracy can flourish in the Middle 
East. It is economically vibrant, peaceful and secure, and pro-
American. The Kurdistan Regional Government has seized the opportunity 
of liberation from Saddam Hussein to establish a government that is 
both a model for Iraq and a gateway to the rest of the country. This is 
not to say that there are no challenges ahead. However, with the 
inspired leadership of Prime Minister Barzani and his colleagues in the 
region, and his excellent representative in Washington, I am confident 
of a bright future. I invite my colleagues to join me in the Kurdish-
American Caucus and to visit the Kurdistan Region of Iraq so they, too, 
can see how the ideals of a free and peaceful people can succeed even 
in war-torn nations of the Middle East.

                          ____________________