[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 24, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        EXTRAORDINARY AMBASSADOR

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 24, 2015

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, during the President's Day 
break, I was grateful to chair a House Armed Services Committee 
delegation to the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Jordan, 
and Iraq.
  With Congressmen Brad Ashford, Seth Moulton, and Elise Stefanik, we 
met world leaders in the midst of forcefully protecting their citizens 
in the Global War on Terrorism.
  Coordinating the itinerary were House professional staffers Pete 
Villano and Lindsay Kavanaugh, with military input by Major Brad Grane, 
U.S. Army, Colonel Dan Greenwood, U.S. Marine Corps, and Major Tony 
Garofano, U.S. Marine Corps.
  At each step we were greeted and briefed by experienced, dedicated, 
and enthusiastic U.S. Ambassadors, including Barbara Leaf at Abu Dhabi 
in the UAE, Michael McKinley in Afghanistan, Alice Wells in Jordan, 
Douglas Silliman in Kuwait, and Stuart Jones in Iraq. Each has 
recruited talented foreign-service officers to promote warm relations 
with our allies in the Middle East and Central Asia.
  A key way to protect American citizens at home from terrorists is to 
promote stable, prosperous, and unified allies abroad. Radical 
Islamists have declared war on Americans and plan to exterminate Jews. 
Moreover, in the last ten days, they have slaughtered their fellow 
Muslims from Peshawar, Pakistan, in a mosque, to burning alive over 30 
innocent civilians in al-Baghdadi, Iraq, while beheading 21 Egyptian 
Coptic Christians in Libya, and murdering Jews in Copenhagen.
  In conclusion, God Bless our Troops, and may the President by his 
actions never forget September 11th in the Global War on Terrorism.

                          ____________________