[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 16, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TYRANT FROM THE DESERT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the aftershocks of the Egyptian 
revolution are being felt throughout the Middle East. The hunger for 
freedom has gone viral and reenergized the movement for freedom in the 
country of Iran. No country in that region presents more of a threat to 
the national security of the United States, Israel, and the world than 
the ``tyrant from the desert'' and his regime in Iran, Ahmadinejad.
  Ahmadinejad says that his first nuclear missile will be sent to Tel 
Aviv, Israel. He hates the United States; he hates Israel, and he has 
been determined to destroy the both of us. We must believe his words 
are more than just rhetoric. For decades, the regime has managed to 
quash but not eliminate a vibrant opposition movement.
  In 2009, that frustration erupted for the whole world to see. 
Thousands of people, mainly young people, marched defiantly in the 
streets, protesting the fraudulent election of Ahmadinejad. The 
``little tyrant'' is a rogue President and an illegitimate President, 
and the response from the regime was brutal. Police on motorbikes ran 
over protestors, fired tear gas, beat them with batons, tortured them, 
shot them, and over a hundred protestors were murdered in the 2 weeks 
that followed the election. But to the surprise of the world and the 
little tyrant from the desert, the flame of freedom was not quashed in 
Iran.
  During that fight for self-determination, our administration was 
somewhat passive, believing we could work with that tyrant. But 
Ahmadinejad does not want peace. He's already declared war on his own 
people and wants war with the West. In Iran there's no freedom of 
expression and association, no freedom from arrest, detention or 
torture, and women are denied basic human rights. But there's a 
remarkable thing, Mr. Speaker, about repression: The more a tyrant 
tries to hold on to power by cracking down on the people, the faster he 
loses grip on that society.
  So, inspired by the events in Egypt, tens of thousands of young 
people once again took to the streets in Iran on Monday to protest the 
rogue government. But the dictator is fighting back, and he will 
continue to do so. But the protestors want freedom in their country. 
Communication has been cut. However, we are seeing communication from 
Iran through videos and YouTube and tweets from those Iranian people. 
The judiciary in Iran has already arrested 1,500 people. Two nonviolent 
protestors have been murdered, and the rogue parliament, along with the 
henchman Ahmadinejad has called for the hanging of corrupt opposition 
leaders. But the people of Iran still continue to protest.
  The Iranian people--the Iranian resistance movement--is here to stay, 
whether Ahmadinejad likes it or not, and they deserve the same chance 
as every other freedom-loving people to rule their own country. The 
Iranians are freedom-loving people, and they deserve that basic human 
right that all peoples have of self-determination.
  Today, we support--I support--the Iranians in Iran to take over their 
own country and to remove the dictator that is oppressing them. This 
fight will be difficult, but we hear the cries of the Iranian people. 
And those of us in Congress that support them, we are not going away 
any more than the Iranian people are going away, because they have the 
basic right of self-determination in their country.
  And that's just the way it is.

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