[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19589]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        FREE ELECTIONS FOR IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 20, 2004, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I find it very interesting and probably 
somewhat unusual that during morning hour debate three speeches in a 
row are on the exact same topic.
  I listened to the statement of my friend, the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Stearns). I just listened to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Frank). And I will state that it is important for us to spend some time 
engaged in debate and focusing on the very important elections that are 
going to be taking place on October 9 in Afghanistan, and then as was 
said earlier, six days later the registration process begins for 
elections that are scheduled to do take place in Iraq this coming 
January.
  The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) earlier referred to an op-ed 
piece that actually is what led me to come to take the well this 
afternoon and that is a piece by David Brooks in today's New York Times 
in which he talked about the challenge that lies ahead as we deal with 
the prospect of elections, as I said, on October 9 in Afghanistan and 
then elections to take place in Iraq. But he used a historical context 
which I think is very important.
  That historical context does go back to March of 1982 when we saw the 
elections take place in El Salvador. Now, the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and I were elected to the House together in 
1980. And during that decade we saw great struggles take place, really 
throughout the world as we saw nations move from totalitarianism to 
self-determination, political pluralism. Of course, we saw that in the 
latter part of the 1980s in Eastern and Central Europe. Really 
throughout most of that decade we saw the struggle take place in 
Central America, in primarily Nicaragua and El Salvador.
  In El Salvador it was in large part a civil war, a civil war that was 
fueled with resources that came from Communists in the region and from 
the Soviet Union, but it still was an upheaval that was taking place. 
And yet in 1982, as Mr. Brooks pointed out in his piece today, with 
75,000 lives being lost, an attack taking place on the national palace, 
people actually bombing those in line standing to vote, elections 
proceeded.
  There was a statement that he has in this piece in which he says that 
one person who was in line said, ``This nation,'' in referring to El 
Salvador, ``may be falling apart, but by voting we may help to hold it 
together.''
  Now, it is true that things have not gone perfectly in the war to 
liberate the people of Iraq. Everyone acknowledges that. But this is a 
war. There are no guarantees. There are no there is no absolute 
certainty. But we do know this: Saddam Hussein is no longer in power; 
and if he were still in power, if he were still in power he would be 
providing, as the international terrorist that he was, $25,000 to the 
families responsible for the bombings of buses that took place in 
Israel just a few weeks ago. And he would be involved in the kinds of 
repressive policies and the threat to destabilize his region and other 
parts of the world that he had been involved in.
  We do know that we brought an end to that. There still are terrorist 
forces in Iraq. But I will say, Madam Speaker, that as we head to this 
election on October 9 in Afghanistan and then in January in Iraq, it is 
important to know that it is not going to be a perfect election.
  We learned in 2000 that democracy is a work in progress. But as we 
begin with these elections in October and January, it is very important 
to note that that will be the beginning point as we move down the road 
towards the right of people to choose their own leaders, self-
determination, political pluralism, the rule of law, those democratic 
institutions which we have a tendency to take for granted here in the 
United States.
  So I would like to say, let us learn from history. Standing firm to 
proceed with some kind of election is the right thing for us to do. And 
I am very pleased that this administration and a majority in this 
United States Congress are dedicated to doing just that.

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