[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 22988]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            IRAQI ELECTIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Saturday was a great day in American history. It was a 
great day in international history. And for those of us that do not 
read Time Magazine, it was a great day for democracy.
  The Iraqi elections came off Saturday. The results are still coming 
in. We do not know all that occurred. But there are great things that 
already can be gleaned from what happened. The Iraqis showed an 
extraordinary amount of courage. Whereas in America on election day we 
have people who say, I don't know if I can brave going down and 
standing in line for 5 or 10 minutes. That may be more than I can 
handle.
  Or, gee, the traffic is kind of heavy today. I don't know if I am 
going to go vote. I don't know, it looks like it might rain. I may 
catch the next election.
  Not in Iraq. The Iraqis had the opportunity to vote on a 
constitution. They had an opportunity to vote for governing themselves 
for the first time in the history of mankind in what many acknowledge 
to be the cradle of humanity, where mankind began, and they came out 
and voted.
  When I was in Iraq earlier this year, it was after the January 
elections, and they talked in terms of 8 by 11 flyers that were posted 
all over the countryside, around the voting areas, that simply said, If 
You Vote, You Die. Those people that voted knew they were going to have 
to dip their fingers into permanent blue ink that would be on their 
fingers for probably a couple or 3 weeks. They knew they could be 
targets by what they had marked on their fingers. Yet they had the 
courage to step forward.
  Some of the things people do not hear and do not read because not all 
magazines give you all the facts, but there were many places where 
Iraqi policemen stepped up to protect the voters. These were not 
American soldiers. These were not American police. They were Iraqis 
protecting Iraqis who had developed national pride in what they were 
trying to accomplish. I did not hear it on any of the media, I 
certainly did not read it in Time Magazine, but there were a couple of 
policemen who gave their lives in stepping forward and trying to 
protect voters. I was told by the Iraqis when I was over there, the 
voters never got out of line because they realized if they got out of 
line from voting and ran for cover, those guys that died protecting 
them while they tried to vote would have died for nothing, much like if 
we cut and ran from Iraq before this process is finished, then those 
valiant, brave people whose names we have just heard more of would have 
died for nothing. Thank God we have a President who is seeing this 
through to the end.
  There was an additional policeman, I was told by Iraqis, who found a 
suicide bomber in the voting place. He grabbed him, rushed him outside, 
threw him to the ground, threw himself on top of him and they were both 
killed in the ensuing explosion. Nobody got out of line, they told me, 
because they knew that would have meant that the policeman died for 
nothing. They stayed, they voted, and thank God they have some great 
days ahead. It is not easy days. It is difficult days. We have got to 
stay the course.
  Some of the headlines I did read, not in magazines necessarily but 
some of the periodicals said it turned out to be the most peaceful day 
in months, this preceding Saturday when it was voting day. Only one of 
Baghdad's 1,200 polling stations came under attack, another article 
read. The relatively small number of insurgent attacks compared with 
the last poll may be a sign of how Sunni involvement in politics can 
complicate matters for insurgent leaders whose aim is to destroy the 
political process.
  Just as evil unimpeded and unobstructed by good people will spread in 
an insidious way, so will good and democracy spread just like sunlight 
during the dawn of a new day as it touches more and more land and 
spreads. That process is in its infancy in the Middle East, but it is a 
beautiful thing to see occurring and we can thank God and thank those 
people who have served their country and given their lives.
  Here are other comments. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the 
Sunnis are now invested in this process. There is no political base any 
longer for this insurgency.
  I was told by a former general under Saddam Hussein this past spring 
in Iraq that if you will just stand behind us in America until we get 
our constitution voted in, until we have an election under the 
constitution, you will see violence subside.
  We are very grateful for all those who have contributed.

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