[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16107]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  IRAQI HANDOVER: GIFT OF INDEPENDENCE

  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, while we were in our districts late June 
and early July, celebrating the anniversary of our independence day, we 
handed over to the citizens of Iraq the gift of their independence, 2 
days early no less.
  Barely on anyone's radar screen, sovereignty passed from the 
Coalition Provisional Authority to the new Iraqi provisional 
government. By most barometers, except for the naysayers of this 
administration, this was a big success. In the United States, we kept 
our word of giving the Iraqi people back their country. On Wall Street, 
in Asia and in Europe, the stock markets rallied. Gas prices continued 
their slide down: Average gasoline prices tumbled 7 cents a gallon from 
mid June to mid July, according to the new report from AAA. But to whom 
was this triumph most important? The free Iraqi people.
  As I say, there are naysayers who likely did not celebrate this good 
news: The radical Islamist world, terrorists, al Qaeda, and a few 
political partisans. To them, it is not about Iraq, the people, it is 
about the President they want to see fail.
  On what grounds do I say this? Well, on Monday, June 28, CNN heard 
Wendy Sherman, a former State Department counselor in the Clinton 
administration, say ``I hope we have turned a corner, but obviously I 
think we need a change in presidents to really change the corner.''
  The President overthrew a brutal dictatorship, he arrested Saddam 
Hussein, he has since handed him over to Iraqi courts, restored or 
built new infrastructure, and set up a provisional government within 1 
year following the attacks, and we need a change in the Presidency? Mr. 
Speaker, if you had to pick a team, would you rather play with those 
who see victory or those who see defeat?
  Now, back to the Iraqi people. A recent poll of 2,200 Iraqi 
households by an Iraqi firm shows that half of Iraqis interviewed 
believe Iraq is headed in the right direction; 65 percent think they 
will be better off; 73 percent believe the handover of authority to the 
interim government will improve the current situation.
  The Iraqi people now enjoy an administrative law system with 
sovereignty, justice, and rights of free expression, justice, thought, 
and conscience. That such optimism abounds following decades of 
tyranny, war, and terror reminds me of a speech by a citizen of a 
former colony of the British empire at its waning days, spoken at their 
handover, a citizen who made an impassioned plea for his countrymen to 
march into the destiny before them and create a land of democracy and 
freedom. That was August 14, 1947, by the eventual prime minister, Mr. 
Nehru, when he gave his speech on the granting of Indian independence.
  Of course, there are spectacular differences, Mr. Speaker, between 
the two countries and the situation. India was a colony of another 
nation, not a sovereign country; whereas, Iraq has been hostage to an 
internal tyrant of their own blood and nationality. However, the mood 
of a nation and a people on the cusp of a new day, standing in the sun 
on their own, with the blessings of the free world, is somewhat 
transferable.
  Mr. Nehru's entire speech is inspiring and lyrical, but there are two 
particular passages I find applicable to the handover the world is 
watching now. Nehru begins, ``A moment comes, which comes but rarely in 
history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, 
and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is 
fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to 
the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of 
humanity.''
  Mr. Speaker, the Iraqis too are the soul of a nation, long 
suppressed, finding utterance, and I wish them the joys and the 
blessings of liberty. And I close with this uplifting benediction of 
Mr. Nehru's. ``To the nations and peoples of the world we send 
greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering 
peace, freedom, and democracy.''
  Nehru admonished his fellow Indians that it would not be enough to 
work for peace within India's border, or the border with Pakistan, but 
that to be truly peaceful citizens of the world, Indians must cooperate 
with their international neighbors in ``furthering peace, freedom, and 
democracy.''
  I wish and I hope that citizens of Iraq will think this, and think 
not only of civil rest within their great nation, but the opportunity 
for the dawning of a new day across the troubled swath of their 
neighborhood of the world.

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