[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16918-16919]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           THE ADMINISTRATION'S LACK OF PLAN TO COMBAT TERROR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the 900th U.S. soldier died today in 
Iraq. A brave soldier whose name we do not know yet died in the line of 
duty. Four other soldiers died yesterday in Iraq. The fighting and 
dying goes on in Iraq, but the administration does not say much about 
it.
  The President did not mark today's sober note. Instead, he hit the 
campaign trail and did not say anything about the 900th American dead 
or of the 899th or the 898th, or the other brave men and women who have 
died just yesterday, not to mention since the war was launched by the 
President.
  Iraq is not popular with the American people, so it has fallen out of 
favor in the President's remarks. By the Republican convention, finding 
any comments about Iraq by the President will be akin to finding 
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Just not there.
  They have moved on as quickly as possible, but remember meanwhile, 
160,000 U.S. soldiers remain in harm's

[[Page 16919]]

way in Iraq, fighting and dying because America sent them there, but 
the America they left behind, not the America they have come home to.
  That is worth some discussion. We have an administration that talks 
tough on terror, but they completely overlook Iran. Ten years later the 
administration's best sound bite today is we will look into it. That is 
not a plan to combat terror at home or anywhere else.
  The administration had 10 years to look into it. Instead, they looked 
to someone they knew on evidence that was flimsy at the start and 
proven false since; the President committed American soldiers to a war 
in Iraq. When they could not find weapons of mass destruction, the 
administration changed the reason for going to war. Then they changed 
it again. Is that the administration's plan to combat terror? Yes. 
There is terrorism in the world, but we need real leaders and a real 
plan to meet that threat.
  There is terrorism in the world, and America is capable of meeting 
that threat, but not with bullets and bombs alone. And if you look at 
the record of this administration, you have to conclude that they do 
not have a plan on terror. They hold news conferences to tell everyone, 
presuming they include terrorists, that America should be vigilant, but 
afraid. America should go about its business, but be afraid. That is 
not a plan. That is rhetorical duct tape.
  America needs to be strong, not afraid. We did not win World War II 
by being afraid. We won by being American. We won by being American by 
fighting for American values, by fighting for American freedoms, but 
today American freedoms are under attack, and it is happening right 
here by this administration. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the 
administration switched language in the middle of the night and America 
woke up to something called the PATRIOT Act. There is nothing patriotic 
about depriving Americans of their civil liberties. There was nothing 
patriotic a few days later when the House voted to restore some of the 
civil liberties taken by the PATRIOT Act.
  Then Republicans deliberately left open the vote until they could 
force enough Republicans to change their vote. Yes, I said change their 
vote.
  The White House had preordained the outcome of the vote, so Democrats 
and Republicans voted. Then the Republicans voted again. The process 
was rigged. Civil liberties never had a chance. That is what the 
administration calls its plan to combat terror. Monitor the books you 
checked out of the library or the movie tickets you are buying online. 
They can go to a secret court and gain access to your entire life.
  George Orwell called it ``1984,'' his legislative novel that we used 
to think could not happen in America. It is happening. We have law 
enforcement agencies, smart, dedicated public servants who know how to 
catch the bad guys. We have the financial resources to arm the agencies 
with the funding they need to support our people. We do not need 1984 
in 2004. Every time the administration says, oh no, that is not what we 
are doing, another story surfaces about America under suspicion for 
doing something like taking pictures at a popular tourist site in 
Seattle, for example.
  The administration does not have a plan to combat terror. It has a 
terror alert stuck on ``be afraid, always.'' The American people 
deserve more than that. America is strong enough to fight the war on 
terror. It needs a leader strong enough to do it.
  John Kerry is a decorated combat veteran, a war hero who has seen the 
face and the horror of war firsthand. America can win the war on 
terror, but not by subverting American freedoms and civil liberties.
  America can win the war on terror under the leadership of a sailor 
who led men in combat and who risked his own life to save others under 
fire. America can win the war on terror, but it needs a combat veteran 
to do it. John Kerry is just such a man. We will have him in 104 days.

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