[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 21849-21850]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE REAL STORY ON IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I recently returned from a trip to Iraq. I 
was privileged to go with the Committee on Government Reform and one 
can imagine my surprise turning on the evening news the day I got back 
and watching the national news anchor describe a situation that, quite 
honestly, I did not recognize and we had just left the country.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people are not getting the real story on 
what is happening with our troops in Iraq.
  General Conway of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Babylon 
described to us what he said was a vivid success story. He told us that 
Iraqis are not concerned that we would stay too long but rather that we 
would leave too soon.
  Mr. Speaker, I was impressed by the return to normal life that is 
present through all areas of Iraq that I visited. The markets are full. 
In fact, there were traffic jams on the streets of Baghdad. Satellite 
dishes have sprouted on the roof tops of houses and apartment 
buildings, probably 25 to 30 percent, and Mr. Speaker, just four or 
five months ago, possession of a satellite dish was punishable by a 
year in prison.
  The schools finished their school year. They completed the wheat 
harvest in the area around Tikrit in northern Iraq.
  From the standpoint of our military, the combat phase of Operation 
Iraqi Freedom was prosecuted brilliantly. Mr. Speaker, there is no 
remaining strategic threat. To be sure, there are still dangers and 
there are still terrorists, but there is no operational threat in Iraq. 
Stabilization is now the key goal of our offensive operation. Our 
troops are charged with finding, containing and killing those who would 
harm our troops and Iraqi citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, I would just like to draw attention to a photograph from 
the 4th Infantry Division. That is a division from Fort Hood, Texas. 
This is a picture that I took in one of Saddam's old palaces. Forty-two 
of the 54 individuals identified as the most wanted of the previous 
regime have been crossed off this list. The top caption reads, 
``Saddam's regime is gone and will not be back.'' At the bottom someone 
penned, ``Can you hear me now?''
  Health care was particularly important to me, bearing in mind that no 
health care infrastructure improvements have occurred for over 30 years 
in Iraq. A member of the Civil Affairs Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel 
Michael Keller reported to me that within one of the medical libraries 
at the medical school he visited no text had copyright later than 1984. 
Pharmaceuticals that were manufactured in Iraq were useless. They 
relied upon donations from Kuwait after the combat phase to avert a 
humanitarian disaster.
  Mr. Speaker, in 90 days, schools completed their academic year and 
conducted testing. Ninety percent of the major cities and towns across 
Iraq have functioning town councils and city councils, over 500,000 
Iraqis are contributing to their own security. Prisons are on the verge 
of reopening. The judicial system is up and functioning. Food 
distribution is not a problem. No humanitarian crisis grew as a result 
of

[[Page 21850]]

the combat operations, and although they have a long way to go, the 
hospitals remain open and functional, and very important to me as a 
physician, 4.2 million children have been immunized since the first of 
May.
  Mr. Speaker, I would point out that this progress within 90 days of 
the end of the major combat phase, none of these things were in place 
after 1 year of the conclusion of combat in Kosovo.
  Mr. Speaker, I think there is a good story to be told to the American 
people about what has happened in Iraq, and I intend to make that part 
of my mission.

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