[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14628-14629]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              THE 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF IRAQI SOVEREIGNTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate the 1-year anniversary of 
Iraqi sovereignty, I would like to take the time to express my 
gratitude and appreciation for the men and women of the United States 
military who are fighting for freedom in Iraq and around the world, 
both those still fighting and those who have fallen. These soldiers of 
liberty are following the tradition of what Franklin Delano Roosevelt 
described as ``the greatest arsenal of democracy.''

[[Page 14629]]

  From Bunker Hill to Gettysburg, and from the beaches of Normandy to 
the rice paddies of Vietnam, no nation has lost so many in the name of 
liberty. Indeed, never before in the history of mankind has one people 
acted to free so many of the world's oppressed, both within and beyond 
its borders.
  America does not fight for land, glory or riches. No, Mr. Speaker, we 
fight to free those who live on the land, to spread the bounties of 
freedom, and to bring the riches of liberty to those who cannot do the 
job alone. So it has been, and so it is in Iraq. Our brave soldiers and 
support personnel are engaged in a battle as important as any the 
United States has ever before waged, for the success of democracy in 
Iraq is a crucial test of the ideals this Nation was founded upon.
  Our founding texts all proclaim freedom's universalism. Liberty is 
not the unique right of Americans or even Westerners, but is mankind's 
right. Indeed, it is a right that according to our Declaration of 
Independence is unalienable.
  We went to Iraq because Saddam Hussein's dictatorship was a threat to 
his neighbors, the Middle East, the United States and his own people. 
We remain in Iraq because we know that sometimes liberty needs some 
nursing before it can grow on its own. We have not abandoned other 
people of the world after their liberation, and we will not abandon 
Iraq. We will continue fighting for freedom's survival.
  And while we know that the men and women who are lost to freedom's 
cause will never be forgotten, that knowledge can never fully heal the 
pain of their families. The hole left in their lives by their lost 
loved-one can never be fully filled. Still, from their sacrifice, much 
solace can be taken.
  In times of war, it is often best to look to our history to see how 
past generations of Americans dealt with the loss of their countrymen 
in just causes. During the civil war, the most trying time in this 
Nation's history, hundreds of thousands of families lost their sons as 
they tried to save the union.
  At the height of the casualties, President Lincoln sought to reassure 
a wounded nation. The Gettysburg address was a clarion call to those 
who heard his immortal words. In memory of the soldiers lost at the 
Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln delivered the greatest 2 minutes in 
American oratorical history.
  The speech's poignancy may never again be matched, as in just over 20 
words Lincoln honored the dead for their service, ensured that their 
sacrifice would not be in vain, and captured the essence of the 
American experiment.
  But I am afraid that too often Lincoln's words are forgotten, so I 
would like to read them aloud now so that all Members might hear them 
and take them to heart when considering our current conflict. For 
Lincoln's words are as true for our lost men and women in Iraq as they 
were for the fallen at Gettysburg:
  ``Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this 
continent a new Nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the 
proposition that all men are created equal.
  ``Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that 
nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We 
are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a 
portion of it as a final resting place for those who died here that the 
nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But in a larger 
sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this 
ground.
  ``The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have hallowed it 
far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note 
nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they 
did here.''
  This is the most appropriate part: ``It is rather for us the living, 
we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from 
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which 
they here gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly 
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation 
shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, 
by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth.''
  Mr. Speaker, I am humbled by Lincoln's words. And while I cannot 
match their eloquence, I can heed their meaning. From the commitment of 
the fallen in Iraq, I will take increased devotion to the cause of 
liberty, the cause for which they fought, and I hope so too will all 
Members of this body.
  President Lincoln used the Gettysburg address to honor the dead not 
by shirking from conflict, but rather by issuing a clarion call to 
continue fighting in their stead.
  As we approach the Fourth of July, it is fitting that we celebrate 
Iraq's fledgling democracy, and remember those who fought for freedom's 
dawn there, and in other parts of the world.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the men and women of our Armed Forces, and hope 
they will return home soon with the knowledge that they have served in 
the tradition of America's Great Emancipator, and brought freedom to 
those who would otherwise never have known its glories.

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