[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17456]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING IRAN'S YOUNG HEROES

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM DeLAY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 9, 2003

  Mr. DeLAY Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the young democrats of Iran, 
who stand today in non-violent defiance of the terrorist regime holding 
their nation hostage.
  These college demonstrators, Iran's peaceful warriors of freedom, are 
allies in America's War on Terror, and allies in humanity's fight for 
justice among men.
  Their names are foreign, but we know them just the same, by the names 
of their fathers: Solzhenitsyn, Mandela, Walesa and Havel.
  Their faces may not be familiar, but their cause is.
  And by that cause, the mullahs of Tehran will soon be taught the 
lesson all oppressors learn: that no cage or whip or secret police can 
extinguish the torch of freedom.
  Today in Iran, protests were squelched by oppression, intimidation, 
and terror. But freedom still burns in the hearts of its citizens.
  If it is true that on the Fourth of July, all who live in freedom are 
Americans, then it is doubly so that on the Ninth of July, all who 
dream of freedom are Iranians.
  Today, on the fourth anniversary of the original student 
demonstrations, in the wake of the heroic June protests, thousands of 
Iranians in their teens and twenties have been arrested or killed, and 
many more are hunted by the mullah's dying regime.
  Some call them prisoners of conscience. Some call them prisoners of 
war.
  I call them giants.
  Courageous beyond reason. Strong beyond endurance. And righteous in 
the eyes of God and men.
  Today, their passion inspires demonstrations of solidarity. One day 
soon, it will liberate their nation and change the world.

                          ____________________