[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22399]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                                FREEDOM

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, today in Kabul and other cities in northern 
Afghanistan, men are shaving off their beards. Women are going outside 
unescorted by male relatives, and without wearing burqas to cover 
themselves head to toe. Children are playing music on their tape 
recorders. These may seem like minor things, but they are minor things 
that the Afghan people have been denied for too long.
  We need to remind ourselves that our freedoms are not free. They were 
won by patriots who sometimes gave their lives. I am talking about the 
freedom to worship according to your beliefs. If you do that in 
Afghanistan, you are put to death. I am talking about the freedom of 
the press. If you try to publish a newspaper in Iraq, you are thrown in 
jail, never to return. I am talking about the freedom of assembly. If 
you try to organize a political rally in North Korea, you will wake up 
in a concentration camp.
  We are truly blessed in this country and those freedoms are worth 
defending. That is why we are at war, for freedom.

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