[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24721]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I want to make just a few comments on the 
progress that has been made--and it has been real progress over the 
last 2\1/2\ weeks--on the emergency request for Iraq and Afghanistan.
  While we will have much more debate over the course of the day and 
likely tomorrow morning, and discussion on the amendments, I predict 
this bill will pass with very strong bipartisan support either late 
tonight or tomorrow. There has been a general understanding in this 
body that, indeed, we are at war against terrorists in Afghanistan and 
Iraq and the assistance we are debating--the urgent supplemental 
request--is absolutely vital and integral to victory and to the safe 
return of our soldiers.
  Replacing the defeated regime of Saddam Hussein with a democratic 
Iraq is an essential turning point in bringing freedom to a part of the 
world that has been governed by extremism and by terrorism now for 
decades.
  As General John Abizaid said before the Armed Services Committee, our 
service men and women are very clear when asked about their commitment 
to victory in Iraq. He said: ``We can fight them there or we can fight 
them here.''
  What we are doing now very directly affects the security of the 
American people.
  Iraq is a country, as we all know, that is deeply in debt because of 
Saddam Hussein's many excesses in over more than 20 years. In order to 
help Iraq, we must absolutely bring a basic level of stability to that 
country. Although we will discuss it over the course of the day, I 
believe strongly that loans will not do it. Loans do not accomplish 
that. Piling more debt on top of a crushing burden that is already in 
place will simply compound Iraq's problems, and I believe undermine 
that goal of stability there.
  Our allies clearly must be generous with their assistance as well, 
and they must be prepared to write off debts from bad loans to Saddam 
Hussein in the past. We are working very hard as a country on this, and 
I am confident that by our example we will encourage that kind of 
international cooperation.
  We have a strategy for success in Iraq. In recent months, we have 
made steady progress toward our objectives. We just began over the last 
several days and weeks to hear about those successes. Essential 
services are being restored, security is improving, and political 
transformation is underway. Importantly, as we will see in the United 
Nations in the next several hours, we are reaching out to expand 
international participation in the rebuilding of Iraq.
  America must continue to build on this progress. We simply cannot 
afford to fail, and indeed we will not fail. If freedom and progress 
falter in Iraq, terrorists will be emboldened around the world, in the 
Middle East and elsewhere, threatening innocent lives around the world 
and America. With success, a free Iraq will send a clear message to the 
people of the Middle East and beyond that freedom and democracy--not 
violence, not terrorism--are the best paths for the future.
  I yield the floor.

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