[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 67 (Thursday, May 6, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H3250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      THE TIMES SQUARE BOMBER: FIGHTING THEM HERE INSTEAD OF THERE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, every American was troubled to learn 
about the attempted terrorist bombing in Times Square last weekend, but 
we should all be heartened and we should all be proud of the swift 
action by law enforcement authorities to apprehend the suspect. By all 
accounts, the system worked seamlessly. New York City Police worked in 
tandem with the FBI, Customs and Border Patrol, the Department of 
Homeland Security, and other agencies, and the man was in custody by 
Monday. He was read his Miranda rights and continues to cooperate. And 
there is reason to believe he can provide valuable intelligence that 
will allow us to detain other terrorists. Everything by the books. No 
extralegal coercion. Rule of law and the Constitution upheld. This is 
the way to combat terrorism, Madam Speaker.
  You'll recall that the notion of counterterrorism as primarily a law 
enforcement operation has often been met by ridicule and by bluster on 
the other side of the aisle. This isn't police work, they've said. This 
is war. Well, we've now had 8\1/2\ years of war, and in addition to 
costing us thousands of American lives and hundreds of billions of 
taxpayer dollars, it has not made terrorism go away. If anything, it 
has animated and emboldened the people who want to harm America. And as 
people have watched their home countries invaded and their communities 
destroyed at the hands of the U.S. military, they've become prime 
recruits for terrorist networks.
  The bottom line is that our current strategy isn't an antiterrorism 
strategy at all. By its very nature, it's spawning more terrorists than 
it's killing or detaining.
  What if we took just a fraction of our war budgets and used it to 
make our domestic counterterrorism infrastructure that much stronger? 
And what if we took another fraction and launched a smart security 
strategy that emphasized peaceful, civilian, humanitarian outreach 
instead of military occupation? Because contrary, Madam Speaker, to the 
assessment of our previous President, it appears that ``fighting them 
here'' is exactly the way to go. ``Fighting them there,'' on the other 
hand, leads to an endless cycle of violence, recrimination, and hatred.
  We all owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who played a role in the 
successful arrest of the Times Square bomber. Now let's give them even 
more tools, resources, and support. Let's bring the troops home and 
make the work of our talented law enforcement personnel the focal point 
of our struggle against terrorism.

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