[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 66 (Friday, May 13, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H3296-H3297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   THE CONTINUED THREAT OF TERRORISM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Black). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


  Recognizing the Service of Corporal Sean Leahy in the United States 
                              Marine Corps

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, about a week or so ago, a good 
friend of mine from Indiana, Rex Early, who has been very active in not 
only political circles but in civic events for a long, long time, 
brought to my attention some extraordinary things that have been done 
by a young man who is in our military.
  Corporal Sean Leahy graduated from Hamilton Southeastern High School 
in 2006 in Fishers, Indiana, and he is now a 23-year-old marine and 
squad leader with the 1st Platoon, Kilo Company. He recently completed 
his second tour of duty, initially having served with distinction in 
Iraq.
  Sean was preparing to leave the Marine Corps to pursue a college 
degree; and when made aware that his unit would be sent to Afghanistan, 
instead of leaving to pursue college, he again decided to answer the 
call, and he reenlisted instead of going to college. He didn't have to 
risk his life again, but he wanted to be with his unit, and he promptly 
joined his brethren in preparation for their next deployment.
  He was deployed to Sangin in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, an 
area where our troops have sustained heavy losses and heavy wounds in 
recent months. But Leahy and his good friend Matthew Bland served side 
by side with honor, guiding and protecting their platoon.
  When called into duty, Corporal Leahy answered the call to action 
without any hesitation. And I think that's really amazing for a 23-
year-old fellow who has a great college career ahead of him to pass 
that up to go back with his unit into a combat situation. When he was 
presented with the opportunity to pursue a calmer life here in the 
States after completing his tour in Iraq, he instead chose to stand 
shoulder to shoulder with his fellow Marines.
  Madam Speaker, this kind of bravery and love for one's country is too 
often neglected, overshadowed by our chaotic news cycle and conjecture 
regarding the latest Hollywood gossip. The heroic actions of people 
like Corporal Leahy can often go unnoticed. But today I rise to give a 
heartfelt thank you to Corporal Leahy and to the many men and women 
like him in our armed services who have chosen to risk everything day 
after day to ensure our country's safety in the face of terror.

                              {time}  1130

  The words I have just spoken don't express enough the sentiment that 
most of us in America feel toward the people who are defending our 
freedoms.
  Mr. Speaker, I have the distinct privilege of rising in honor of one 
of our fine fighting men who has recently returned from a tour in 
Afghanistan.
  Cpl. Sean Leahy, who graduated from Hamilton Southeastern High School 
in 2006 in Fishers, Indiana, is a 23-year-old Marine and squad leader 
with the 1st Platoon, Kilo Company. He has recently completed his 
second tour of duty, initially having served with distinction in Iraq.
  Sean was preparing to leave the Marine Corps to pursue a college 
degree, when he was made aware that his unit would be sent to 
Afghanistan. Instead of leaving to pursue college, he again decided to 
answer the call, reenlisted, and promptly joined his brethren in 
preparation for their next deployment.
  He was deployed to Sangin in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, an 
area where our troops have sustained heavy losses in recent months. But 
Leahy, and his good friend Matthew Bland, served side-by-side with 
honor, guiding and protecting their platoon. When called into duty, 
Cpl. Leahy answered the call to action without hesitation.
  When he was presented with the opportunity to pursue a calmer life 
here in the States after completing his tour in Iraq, he instead chose 
to stand shoulder to shoulder with with his fellow Marines. Mr. 
Speaker, this kind of bravery and love for one's country is too often 
neglected, overshadowed by our chaotic news cycle and conjecture 
regarding the latest Hollywood gossip.
  The heroic actions of people like Cpl. Leahy can often go unnoticed. 
But today, I rise to give a heartfelt thank you to Corporal Leahy and 
the many men and women like him in our Armed Services who have chosen 
to risk everything, day after day, to ensure our country's safety in 
the face of terror.
  I would now like to proceed with the rest of my Special Order.
  There was an article, Madam Speaker, in a number of our papers around 
the country after Osama bin Laden was killed. These articles kind of 
troubled me, not because we haven't been aggressive in going after 
Osama bin Laden for 10 years but because of the message these articles 
sent possibly to the terrorist leaders around the world. It indicated 
that the President wanted to reach out to the Muslim radicals now that 
Osama bin Laden has been killed, as if to say, ``Let's solve this 
problem and not have any further conflict.''
  Now, that kind of rhetoric may sound good to many people in this 
country, but it troubles me because it may give the impression that 
we're trying to appease the terrorists in order to get them to stop 
their terrible, terrible terrorist activities around the world.
  I would like to put into the Record a few things that were said prior 
to World War II that I would like, if the President were paying 
attention, to listen to, because there's an old saying, ``Those who 
don't profit from history are destined to make the same mistakes.''
  The first quote is from Lord Chamberlain, who was the Prime Minister 
of England prior to World War II:
  ``This morning, I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr 
Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as 
mine. We regard the agreement signed last night, and the Anglo-German 
Naval Agreement, as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to 
go to war with one another again.''
  That was a speech that he made at Heston Airport on the 30th of 
September, 1938. It was part of the ``Peace for Our Time'' approach 
that Lord Chamberlain was taking.
  He said, later on in a letter that he sent to his wife in December of 
1939:
  ``I stick to the view I have always held that Hitler missed the bus 
in September 1938. He could have dealt France and ourselves a terrible, 
perhaps a mortal, blow then. The opportunity will not recur.''
  He was trying to say that the reason he signed that agreement with 
Hitler was because they weren't prepared for war and so he decided to 
give the Sudetenland to Hitler without any kind of a conflict. The 
thing that bothers me about that is what he said to the Czechoslovakian 
people:
  ``When we were convinced, as we became convinced, that nothing any 
longer would keep the Sudetenland within the Czechoslovakian State, we 
urged the Czech Government as strongly as we could to agree to the 
cession of territory, and to agree promptly. The Czech Government,'' 
because of the pressure that was brought upon them, ``through the 
wisdom and courage of President Benes, accepted the advice of the 
French Government and ourselves. It was a hard decision for anyone who 
loved his country to take, but to accuse us of having by that advice 
betrayed the Czechoslovakian State is simply preposterous.''
  But, in fact, it was a terrible decision that was made by Lord 
Chamberlain, because what happened was, because of the appearance of 
weakness by going to Munich and signing a peace agreement on Hitler's 
terms, giving the Sudetenland, which was part of the Czechoslovakian 
Republic, to Hitler, it was the green light, because he suspected and 
felt that the free countries of the world were afraid of him and would 
back down in any case that might arise. As a result, World War II 
started and 50 to 60 million people were killed.
  It is very important that we realize today, as they did after Lord 
Chamberlain made this terrible mistake, that we should not in any way 
give the appearance of appeasing the radical Islamists, because they 
may think because we got rid of Osama bin Laden, we don't have the 
intestinal fortitude to keep after them to destroy them so that they 
can never be a threat to the free world again.
  I think it's important that we remember what Winston Churchill, who 
was an outcast in the British Parliament at the time, what he said for 
years and years and years. Quoting Churchill:

[[Page H3297]]

  ``The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and 
baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we 
are entering a period of consequences.''
  He was predicting that World War II was going to start, and this was 
as far back as 1936.
  He went on to say later on:
  ``People say we ought not to allow ourselves to be drawn into a 
theoretical antagonism between Nazism and democracy; but the antagonism 
is here now. It is this very conflict of spiritual and moral ideas''--
that's what we're facing right now, spiritual and moral ideas of the 
radicals--``which gives the free countries a great part of their 
strength.''
  Winston Churchill, who was vilified, was absolutely correct. They 
should have prepared for war. They should have let Herr Hitler know 
that there was going to be no giving of any quarter to him, and it 
might have prevented World War II and maybe saved 40, 50, 60 million 
lives.
  Winston Churchill went on to say after the war was about to begin in 
the House of Commons in 1938:
  ``Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They 
chose dishonor, and now they will have war.'' And they did have war.
  Churchill also said:
  ``And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning 
of the reckoning.''
  I hope our government realizes that this is not the end of the war 
with the terrorists. This is still going on. Although bin Laden has 
been killed, there's still a lot of terrorists out there that believe 
we're weak and that we're not going to follow through and that they can 
prevail in the long run. We need to send a message like Churchill did 
prior to what Lord Chamberlain did by going to Munich that we're going 
to be tough and we're going to follow through. I think the President 
needs to send that message very loud and clear, instead of reaching 
out, now that bin Laden is gone, and saying to the terrorist world, 
``Now that bin Laden's gone, your leader's gone, we ought to sit down 
and work this thing out.'' That is a sign of weakness. And I hope the 
President when he makes this speech makes absolutely clear to the 
terrorists that we're willing to do whatever it takes to protect 
America and the free world.

  As Churchill went on to say, ``This is only the beginning of the 
reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter 
cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme 
recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again and take our 
stand for freedom as in the olden time.'' That was in October of 1938.
  We're in a war against terrorism. It's something that hasn't been 
seen since the 12th century when the radical Islamists tried to take 
over western Europe. A lot of people don't remember that. But they did. 
And there's always those radicals who want to foist upon the rest of 
the world their religious beliefs and the way they think the world 
should be run. We have to when they rise up again and again and again 
as they will throughout history, I'm sure that there will always be 
radical Islamists who will want to make sure the rest of the world 
believes the way they do as far as their religious beliefs are 
concerned. Whether it's now, or whether it was in the 12th century, or 
whether it's going to be in the future, the free world has to be 
resolute of purpose and make absolutely sure that the message is sent 
loud and clear that we are willing to do whatever it takes to defeat 
the terrorists. That means doing whatever it takes to get information 
from their leaders to make sure that we find the terrorists in whatever 
hole they've dug themselves in to protect themselves.
  I'm very happy we got Osama bin Laden. I think it's a great step 
forward in the quest for peace. But the war is not over. It's going to 
go on for some time, until the terrorists know that there's no 
possibility of winning, and the threat to our homeland from terrorism, 
the threat to the free world from terrorism, goes on.
  I would like to end, if I could, to say to the President--I know I 
can't talk to him because he's not here--but if I were talking to the 
President, I would say: Mr. President, when you make this speech, 
allegedly to reach out to the Arab world, make it absolutely clear that 
we're going to do whatever it takes to defeat the terrorists as long as 
it takes.
  With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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