[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14529]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          TONING DOWN RHETORIC WITH REGARD TO CONFLICT IN IRAQ

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, a year ago today, sovereignty was 
returned to the country of Iraq and the Coalition Provisional Authority 
left. But, Madam Speaker, over the past several weeks, the negative 
press over our progress and polls here at home seem to have undermined 
a lot of the good activity that has occurred there.
  The goal of the attackers, the goal of the insurgents, is to 
discourage Iraqis from participating in their own government. A second 
goal, of course, is to weaken our resolve here at home. Ironically, 
they seem to be failing in the first choice, but succeeding in the 
second.
  Madam Speaker, every time I have traveled to Iraq, I have been struck 
by the disparity between what I see on my television here at home in 
the United States and what is actually happening on the ground in Iraq. 
Our soldiers should not have to look over their shoulders to see if we 
support them in their mission.
  I urge my colleagues in this House on both sides to carefully 
consider their rhetoric when they use words like ``quagmire'' and 
``civil war'' in respect to the conflict in Iraq.

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