[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16337-16338]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING COMMANDER MASSOUD

  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, today is the first anniversary of the 
murder of Commander Massoud, a leader of the anti-Taliban forces in 
northern Afghanistan. Two days before the attack on the United States, 
bin Laden's terrorists, posing as journalists, killed Commander 
Massoud. They blew him up. The Taliban and the al Qaeda were free from 
their most effective opponent, and the world lost a champion.
  Those of us who dedicated ourselves to eliminating communism from 
this world know what a great debt that we owe to Commander Massoud. It 
was his courage, his tenacity and skills in battle that played an 
indispensable role in the outcome of that global fight between good and 
evil known as the Cold War.
  I first began communications with Commander Massoud when he sent his 
brother to see me when I worked at the White House in the 1980s under 
Ronald Reagan. At that time Commander Massoud was already a legend. His 
courage and wisdom served his own people well. It also inspired 
freedom-loving people throughout the world, and let me admit to that I 
was one of those who was inspired by Commander Massoud. It was my honor 
to have communicated with him over the years as well as to go and meet 
him in Afghanistan about 5 years ago, meet him in one of his mountain 
retreats, one of his mountain holdouts, and strategize with him on how 
to free Afghanistan from the grip of the Taliban.
  Commander Massoud, along with the other leaders of the resistance 
against Soviet occupation, leaders like Abdul Haq, were heroes in the 
truest sense of the word. Massoud was never defeated by those Soviet 
troops during the long battle for Afghanistan. It is unfortunate that 
after the Soviets were defeated that chaos and a lack of support from 
Afghanistan's Western friends prevented Massoud and others from 
unifying and democratizing their country. Americans can be proud, 
however, that we helped Commander Massoud and the Afghan freedom 
fighters, people like Abdul Haq, as I say, in their fight to thwart 
Soviet aggression, but we should be ashamed that we walked away after 
that great victory and left them with no resources to rebuild their 
country.
  It is also sad that the United States, under President Clinton's 
leadership, never provided Massoud or the other freedom fighters what 
they needed to prevent the tyranny of the Taliban from dominating 
Afghanistan. But as we know, Commander Massoud was able to stand like a 
giant. Like the Soviet troops before them, the Taliban were never able 
to defeat Commander Massoud.
  Today as we try to rebuild a peaceful Afghanistan where people can 
raise their families and live without fear, Commander Massoud is sorely 
missed. Although he made mistakes, and all leaders make mistakes and 
there were some judgments, of course, things that happened that were 
not absolutely all totally correct, this is the real world, but by and 
large Commander Massoud, one can say of his life, he fought for the 
right. He was a major force for good. But as we remember him today on 
the first anniversary of his death, let us commit ourselves to his 
vision of a free, prosperous, and more peaceful Afghanistan. And in 
achieving this we will assure that Commander Massoud will never be 
defeated.
  One year ago, upon hearing of Commander Massoud's death, and as I 
say, it was an assassination that took place 1 year ago today, 2 days 
before September 11, I went into a state of shock. It was like taking 
the breath right out of my lungs. But after regaining my composure, I 
realized, yes, my friend had been assassinated, but I realized that 
those who killed Massoud had a purpose. They meant to attack the United 
States and were eliminating the person that we would turn to to rally 
the people of Afghanistan and lead a counterattack against the Taliban. 
That meant that an attack on the United States was imminent.
  I called the White House and asked for an emergency meeting with 
Condoleeza Rice and the top members of the President's National 
Security Council. I got a call back and was told that the earliest that 
they could meet me, and they were taking my request very seriously, 
would be at 2 o'clock the next day.
  Well, at 8:45 a.m. that next day, the hijackers' planes began to slam 
into the World Trade Center. Yes, that could have been averted had we 
had

[[Page 16338]]

Commander Massoud fighting against the Taliban much earlier. 
Unfortunately, we did not provide him the effort and what he needed to 
defeat the Taliban then.
  Commander Massoud would have been making history all this year and 
would have been doing and helping things for the better, and we will 
avenge his death and all the victims of 9-11 by rebuilding a peaceful 
Afghanistan free of tyrants and fanatics.

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