[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7402-7406]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      SUPPORT FOR THE IRAQI PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boustany). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) 
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, let me say that I again thank both of my 
colleagues earlier for yielding to me. And I would invite them to stay 
and participate if they would like, and I will be happy to yield to 
them at any point.
  I know it is now 10 minutes of 7:00 and you would probably like to 
go. I would be happy to yield to my friends.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. We always appreciate your love and appreciation. 
Anytime we come before the Rules Committee, we would love to have our 
amendments passed in your committee.
  So I would just say that and then humbly walk out of the Chamber.
  Mr. DREIER. I am happy to say to my friend, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Meek), that as you know, we were particularly proud of the 
work product we have had over the last 2 days. Of the 30 amendments 
that were made in order, we saw 22 of those amendments made in order 
offered by colleagues on your side of the aisle.
  And we continue to try to do everything we possibly can to ensure a 
free-flowing debate on a wide range of issues. And obviously the 
existence of these Special Orders does create an opportunity to do just 
that. I thank you all very much for being here.
  Mr. Speaker, I have taken this time out this evening to talk about a 
very important mission which took place over the Easter District Work 
Period with a number of our colleagues. And I am very pleased to be 
joined here in the Chamber by my very good friend, the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Gingrey), who was a member of this delegation.
  It also included, this was a rules committee trip, it included the 
vice-chairman of the Rules Committee, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Lincoln Diaz-Balart); the chairman of the ethics committee who is also 
a member of the Rules Committee, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. 
Hastings); and our friend from Ft. Lauderdale, we had three Floridians 
actually, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings of Florida); and we 
had another Floridian, as I said, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Crenshaw).
  So this 6-Member delegation specifically went during a 12-day period, 
during that district work period to the Middle East. We went to a grand 
total of eight countries plus the Palestinian territories.
  And on this trip, Mr. Speaker, we were able to go into Iraq and visit 
the different regions in Iraq. We went to Fallujah, the Shiia area. We 
went into Baghdad, the Sunni area, and then we went to Kirkuk in the 
north which is the Kurdish area.
  And we had a chance to visit with our troops. We had a chance to meet 
with people who have been able to be among those 8\1/2\ million Iraqis 
who on January 30 of this year, for the first time in half a century, 
participated in free and fair elections. And we were able to see the 
struggle that is going on.
  Now, of course we continue to get tragic news from Iraq. This morning 
we got the report of 12 people who were tragically killed, a contract 
helicopter went down. We have had a number of our Marines killed in 
recent days.
  Just this past week, a very good friend who worked with my chief of 
staff, Brad Smith, who was in Iraq during the month of January last 
year, she was a relief worker there, was tragically killed. So, Mr. 
Speaker, we continue to have very, very tragic news that has come from 
Iraq. And we regularly see reports of these tragedies.
  But the thing that was so incredible for this delegation, and I know 
repeatedly for colleagues of mine who have had the chance to go to 
Iraq, is that it has shocked many, including yours truly, someone who 
was a strong supporter of the President, but believed that maybe 
looking at the January 30 elections, it might not have happened just 
right, so we might have considered delaying that election.
  Well, thank God President Bush and Prime Minister Blair and other 
international leaders, and leaders in Iraq, it was a mixed view in 
Iraq, but thank God that they went ahead and insisted on holding that 
election. Because they had a 58.5 percent turnout, as I said 8\1/2\ 
million Iraqis finally exercising the right to begin the process in 
this election of the 275-member transitional national assembly.
  And they elected this national assembly. They have put together a 
government within the past couple of weeks. And we in our meetings had 
the chance to meet with the now new prime minister; he had not been 
selected by the transitional national assembly at the time, Ibrahim 
Jaffari.
  We met with the interim prime minister, who is no longer prime 
minister, but was just for the third time yesterday a target of an 
assassination attempt, that being Iyad Allawi, the man who delivered a 
phenomenal address to a joint session of Congress here. And we, as I 
said a moment ago, also got to see many of our troops, the courageous 
men and women in uniform.
  And as I said, Mr. Gingrey is here with us on the House floor, but 
our entire delegation had the chance to stand before a large group of 
Marines led by my very good friend, Colonel Mike Shupp, who was there 
and was one of the key leaders in last November's battle of Fallujah, 
and to see the dedication and the resolve of our men and women in 
uniform is something that is inspiring to all of us.
  Mr. Speaker, to me, one of the most amazing things from having 
witnessed

[[Page 7403]]

what we did in Iraq, is that we found President George W. Bush was 
absolutely right. He was absolutely right when he referred to the fact 
that by encouraging the effort to rid the Iraqi people of Saddam 
Hussein and move in the direction of free and fair elections, which, 
remember, many skeptics all over the world, including here in the 
United States, said could never happen, how in the world could the 
Iraqi people actually choose their own leaders?
  Well, the fact that President Bush insisted on doing that, he was 
right when he said that the example that we will see in Iraq will 
spread throughout the region. Well, I have to admit I was not quite as 
sanguine as he about this. I, of course, as everyone did, hoped that 
this would be the case, but I did not have the degree of certainty that 
President Bush obviously had.
  And I am so gratified that President Bush was absolutely right. And I 
am able to provide this report, because along with visiting Iraq, this 
great example that we have now seen based on what took place on January 
30, we have seen in country after country, people indicating, leaders 
indicating that movements towards political pluralism, the rule of law, 
the development of very important democratic institutions is on the 
move. It is on the move today.
  Now, on this trip, as I said, as well as visiting Iraq, we went to 
Egypt. And in Egypt we had a wide range of meetings with leaders in 
that country, including the new prime minister, who for the past 8 
months has served as prime minister, Prime Minister Nazif. And he 
referred to the fact that under President Mubarak a decision has been 
made to actually modify what is called article 76 of the Egyptian 
Constitution. That is an interesting irony that it is article 76, 
because we all know what an important number that is in this history of 
the United States of America: 1776, the year that we declared our 
independence.
  But the change in article 76 in Egypt created an opportunity for 
President Mubarak to establish a chance for multi-candidate elections 
for the first time in Egypt. We know that there have been very bold, 
wonderful dynamic and strong military leaders in Egypt, Gamal Abdel 
Nasser, who was obviously a very, very strong leader.
  The world remembers in the early 1980s when that dynamic very, very, 
very bright leader, Anwar Sadat, who had been a leader in the region, 
was brutally assassinated, and now we for the last 2 decades have seen 
Hozni Mubarak as president. All of those people, all of those people 
military leaders in Egypt.
  But, when we met with Prime Minister Nazif, he made it clear to us 
that the country is now moving for the first time ever towards multi-
candidate elections, that, again, a very encouraging sign for us. He in 
fact went to the extreme of saying they today regularly have to violate 
the Constitution of Egypt, it is understood that they have to violate 
the Constitution of Egypt. Why? Because he described it as a socialist 
constitution, the constitution which was obviously wrought out of the 
era of the Soviet Union; and it is a constitution which clearly needs 
to be rewritten, as they acknowledged to us, and it is something that 
clearly will take place.
  He also, this is Prime Minister Nazif, referred to the fact that bold 
moves towards economic liberalization are taking place. In fact, one of 
the things that struck us was the fact that in Egypt they have just 
reduced the top rate, the top corporate tax rate from 42 percent to 22 
percent, knowing that that is very important towards encouraging 
economic growth.

                              {time}  1900

  They also are looking for their comparative advantage economically. 
What is it that they are doing in Egypt?
  We had the chance, my friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Gingrey) and I and the rest of our delegation, to visit something known 
as the Smart Village where many of the high tech companies that are 
based here in the United States have established new operations. In 
fact, the great leader of Microsoft, Bill Gates, had dedicated a 
Microsoft facility in this Smart Village just outside Cairo, Egypt. And 
so we, I believe, saw many, many great things come from that visit.
  We also visited with the defense minister. It was very impressive to 
see this individual, who is obviously a strong military leader, 
indicate when asked the question, what would it be like, would it be 
possible for a nonmilitary leader to actually be elected president of 
Egypt? And his response was, if the people of Egypt elect a nonmilitary 
leader, so be it; that is the way it will be. Another sign that was 
very, very encouraging in that country.
  We also had the chance to visit Jordan. In Jordan we met with the 
deputy prime minister who is providing great leadership in the area of 
economic and political reform in the country. But we also had a chance 
to meet with King Abdullah II. And we know that he has worked 
diligently to try to bring about a resolution to the Israeli-
Palestinian question.
  He, as a Western-educated individual, is someone who has worked a lot 
to provide leadership on human rights issues for all in the Middle 
East. And in our meeting he referred to the fact that Jordan at that 
moment was not in the forefront of political liberalization in the 
region. He said to us that in 6 months we will be in touch and he 
assured us that Jordan will, in fact, be in the forefront.
  And I was happy to see that just a week or two ago he removed over 
half of his cabinet and is obviously on the road towards creating the 
kind of political liberalization to go hand in hand with the very 
important economic liberalization that he has already pursued. We have 
been part of that, of course, by virtue of our having established a 
U.S.-Jordan free trade agreement. So we are very, very excited to see 
the things that took place there and are continuing to take place 
there.
  We also had the chance to visit Israel and the Palestinian 
territories. Mr. Speaker, we all know what a challenge that has been 
for years and years and years, and we have seen attempts made to try 
and bring about a resolution. We happen to be in the Knesset just as 
they completed the vote on what was called disengagement. It was a 
referendum on the government and it has to do specifically with the 
disengagement, the removal of 3,000 settlers from Gaza. And it was a 
vote that by a two-to-one margin, nearly two-to-one margin prevailed 
for the Sharon government and an indication that great steps are being 
made towards the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
  We also went to Ramallah in the Palestinian territories and met with 
a number of the leaders there, Hanan Ashrawi, a woman who has been one 
of the great proponents of women's rights and a leader in the 
Palestinian area. We met with the opponents of Mahmoud Abbas, Mr. 
Barghouti, and we talked about the challenges that exist in the 
relationship and the fact that on January 9 of this year 1 million 
Palestinians participated, following the death of Yasser Arafat, in 
this free and fair election, which is again an indication that we are 
seeing great progress made in that region.
  One of the most moving experiences we had, of course, was when we 
went to Beirut, Lebanon. And in going to Lebanon, Mr. Speaker, we were 
literally there on the heels of the tremendous uprising that we saw 
take place, probably 6 weeks ago at this point, when on one occasion a 
quarter of a million young people and other Lebanese gathered in what 
is now known as Martyr Square. And on another occasion a million people 
gathered in Martyr Square. Why? To protest the fact that for 3 long 
decades the Syrians have basically thrust themselves into and 
controlled Lebanon. And we know that there has been great civil strife 
in Lebanon in the past, but we have witnessed the Syrian involvement 
which has been so extraordinarily great in that area.
  Well, we stood at the graveside site of Rafik Hariri, who tragically 
was assassinated and we stood with students who said to us that they 
felt as if they had been in jail. And they said, We are in the process 
of breaking from this jail and we today are willing to give our lives 
to ensure that the people of Lebanon will be free of Syrian control.

[[Page 7404]]

  They were inspired by a couple of factors. The efforts that the 
United States and the Coalition forces put together to allow the 
opportunity for the people of Iraq to be free of Saddam Hussein and to 
see 8.5 million of them participate in their election, coupled with 
again, the tragic assassination of the revered former Prime Minister, 
Rafik Hariri. These events led to this huge uprising.
  I am very happy to report that this afternoon, or this morning, I met 
with the deputy chief of mission, our deputy chief of mission in 
Beirut. He was here in town, Chris Murray, and he talked about the 
reports that we have seen about 95 percent of the Syrian forces 
including the intelligence operation, along with the military leaving 
Lebanon, and he felt very strongly that by the end of April we will see 
all of the Syrian forces out of Lebanon.
  The law calls for an election to be held by the 31st of May. And we 
were there encouraging that election to take place. We are happy to get 
the report that every indication that we have is that the elections in 
Lebanon will, in fact, take place. And it was a great experience, a 
wonderful one, and very inspiring to see these courageous human beings.
  We met with opposition members of parliament who were there, 
including a man called Mr. Hamadeh, who 6 months ago was nearly killed, 
and you could still see the burns on his face from a terrorist attack 
that he had suffered. But he was willing to stand up for the cause of 
freedom in this country. Mrs. Mouawad, who is the widow of a former 
prime minister who, in 1991, had been assassinated, and a wide range of 
very dynamic leaders who are looking forward to a strong future in 
Lebanon.
  Now, one of the questions that exists is the commitment of the United 
States and the international community for the future of Lebanon 
because it is clear that over the past several few decades we have had 
a mixed record there in dealing with encouragement of support for the 
people of Lebanon. And I am very happy to say that this administration 
and the United States Congress will stand proudly with the people of 
Lebanon as they pursue this goal of greater self-determination, free of 
Syrian control.
  Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that this is all in the interest 
of our national security. This is all in the interest of the national 
security of the United States of America. President Bush has said time 
and time again, democratically elected leaders in countries do not 
attack others. If we can see more democracy take place throughout the 
world, it is obvious that we will diminish the kind of threat that has 
existed for the United States of America.
  As we encourage economic growth in country after country, I am 
convinced that we will see a diminution in the attraction that many 
young people, who are hungry, have towards international terrorism. In 
fact, I remember talking to a number of people who said if we had a 
percentage point or two of economic growth in Pakistan and Afghanistan, 
we might have avoided what took place on September 11 because many of 
the people who were involved in terrorism are seeking economic 
opportunity in so doing.
  Not all. I am not so naive as to believe that all are, but many 
people are attracted because they have nothing else to do and no 
economic opportunity.
  So as we encourage the economic and political liberalization that is 
taking place today in the region, it clearly will play a big role in 
focusing on stability in that long troubled part of the world; and at 
the same time it will play a big role in ensuring our national security 
and the security of the neighbors throughout that area.
  Now, as I said, I was joined on this trip by five of my colleagues, 
and it is after 7 o'clock and we finished a very long night last night 
working on the energy bill. We finally completed that this afternoon. I 
am very happy to be joined by a distinguished member of the House 
Committee on Rules, who was a very important part of this delegation.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to my friend from Marietta, 
Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) at this time.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman chairman for yielding 
to me.
  As he mentioned at the outset of his remarks, I was one of a group of 
six Members primarily from the Committee on Rules, we affectionately 
called it CODEL Dreier, and we had an opportunity really to visit these 
8 countries and the Palestinian West Bank as well. But I think more 
than anything else what we did in visiting those countries is to let 
the people in the Middle East, and this was almost exclusively a Middle 
Eastern trip, to let them know that we are their friends, to let them 
know that we are willing to reach out and to help solve the myriad 
problems in the Middle East. Mr. Speaker, there is no question that 
there are plenty of them.
  We are of course continuing to try to help the Iraqi people as they 
build their own government and stand up their military so they can 
defend themselves. They want democracy. They have had a taste of it. So 
at these many places that we stopped you could see it just sort of 
blossoming, blooming. And they seemed very, very appreciative that we 
would meet and listen.
  We did a whole lot of listening, Mr. Speaker; we did a little bit of 
talking. We had some formal sessions, but mainly I think it was a great 
experience for us, but it was a great experience for them as well, as I 
say, to see Members of Congress.
  It is not the easiest place in the world to get to. It is certainly 
not what you would call a vacation paradise, like some folks would go 
on spring break down to Panama City or some of the beautiful beaches in 
our country. It was not anything at all like that, of course.
  But on one of the last days of our trip, Mr. Speaker, we were 
actually on the island of Cyprus and had an opportunity there to visit 
what they call the Green Zone. It is a separation, demarcation, almost 
like the DMZ, frozen in time since the uprisings between the Greek 
Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots in 1974, I think.
  But we discussed that separation, that division, the fact that they 
had recently had a referendum where one side, the north, the Turks were 
very much in favor of unification per the Kofi Annan plan from the 
United Nations. And the Greek Cypriots were, I think, 70 percent voted 
in opposition to that. But we had an opportunity to visit, to sit down, 
and just right across the table from the President of Cyprus, President 
Papadopoulos.
  And as the chairman said, we also had an opportunity to meet with the 
Turkish Cypriot leader and let them know that we are concerned and we 
care about what is going on with that, I guess you could call it the 
``Gateway to the Middle East.''

                              {time}  1915

  So there were so many things like that, almost like each day was 
another opportunity, and certainly, not the least of which as the 
Chairman has just pointed out, the time we spent in Lebanon and 
visiting that grave site of former Prime Minister Hariri and the 
poignant, very sad, but most important, opportunity to meet and talk 
with his widow. I thought that was a unique opportunity for the group 
and I appreciate the gentleman from California (Chairman Dreier) for 
arranging that.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, if I could reclaim my time, I would say to 
my friend, if we look at what it is that so many of these young people, 
in Lebanon especially, stood for, there clearly was, as I was saying, a 
direct correlation between what is taking place in Iraq and what it is 
that we are now seeing take place there; the idea of seeing in country 
after country people saying if they can do it, then we can, too.
  Now, Lebanon is a nation that has had a long history of democracy. It 
has been a tradition there for many, many, many decades, but obviously, 
when they have struggled with this control from Bashar al-Asad and 
Syria for such a long period of time and his father before that, Hafiz 
al-Asad, we need to do everything we can, and the United States played 
a big role in leading in

[[Page 7405]]

the United Nations Security Council the passage of Resolution 1559 
which called for the complete withdrawal of Syrian forces.
  I will never forget just looking into the eyes of these young people 
who were there saying, We are willing to die to make sure that the 
people of Lebanon can be free of the kind of tyranny that has been 
inflicted on us. Of course, we have continued to see terrorist attack 
after terrorist attack. Just a couple of days before we were there, 
there was a huge explosion in the printing factory the Saturday before 
we went in, and we decided it was very important for us to go anyway so 
that we could encourage these people and let them know that the 
international community stands behind them today and this immediate 
struggle but will be with them for the long pull as they do move 
towards these elections.
  One of the things that I am very happy about is that we in the 
Congress have just played a role in helping in Lebanon, and it will be 
in other countries, with the establishment of a new commission, the 
Democracy Advisory Commission, that we are going to have that will 
provide a chance for Members of the United States House of 
Representatives to directly work with our counterparts and newly-
elected parliaments in other parts of the world, and obviously, Lebanon 
will, I believe, be a very important part of that as they begin this 
rebuilding effort.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, if the chairman would yield for a minute, 
there was certainly an opportunity to meet with those students in 
Beirut. Actually, they were in a tent city and had been there 
protesting the Syrian involvement in Lebanon, and they came up to us. 
It was fairly early in the day. They probably just came out of the 
tents where their living conditions were not so great. They were 
unshaven, but as the Chairman pointed out, just to look in their eyes, 
just to look in that deep feeling that we could see, it just came 
through, loud and clear. They care so much to have democracy and 
freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of the opportunity to vote, and 
freedom from outside interference with their country. The Lebanese are 
very proud, proud people, as the chairman pointed out, and that was a 
very important moment for me.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I think it is also important to note that on 
this trip we also had an opportunity, as we were coming back, to stop 
and report to our counterparts in the European parliament as we went to 
Brussels, Belgium. Actually, I spoke about this the other day here on 
the House floor, Mr. Speaker, when I introduced a resolution calling 
for negotiations for a U.S.-EU free trade agreement.
  One of the things that we have found is we were reporting to European 
parliaments about the importance of this, the developments that we are 
seeing in the region, and they were very encouraged. Of course, a 
number of these countries had been strong opponents, very strong 
opponents to our effort that had taken place in the Middle East and in 
Iraq.
  I will never forget the dinner that we had in Brussels when a 
socialist member of the European parliament from Lisbon, Portugal, 
stood up, and he was proud to be a socialist. We obviously disagreed on 
a wide range of issues, but what he said was that in watching both the 
inaugural address and the State of the Union message delivered by 
President Bush, in which he talked about the struggle for freedom in 
Iraq and other parts of the world, that he had never been more proud to 
hear a statement from a President of the United States, and he had 
never been in such strong agreement or as inspired by a statement of 
the President of the United States as he was by the statement from 
President Bush. In that meeting that we had in Brussels, we were able 
to get into a number of very important issues with the Europeans that 
impact the United States.
  First and foremost, and one of the main reasons that I wanted to stop 
in Brussels to meet with members of the European commission and 
European parliamentarians was that we wanted to ensure that we would 
not see the European Union lift the arms embargo on the sale of weapons 
to the People's Republic of China. I have been very gratified and I 
know it was not just our effort because President Bush and Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice had very successful trips. The President had one 
trip. Secretary of State Rice has had three trips to Europe since she 
has become Secretary of State, talking about the need to ensure that 
there is not a lifting of the arms embargo. I am happy to see that 
since we were there and since these other efforts have been put into 
place that our European allies have decided not to lift the arms 
embargo on the transfer of these weapons.
  We have other trade disputes that exist over the issue of Airbus, 
some other measures that were put into place by the Europeans, and it 
is my hope that we can begin negotiations on a European Union-U.S. free 
trade agreement that will allow us to address many of these concerns 
that are understandable and have been there.
  Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to further yield.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman will recall, as the 
chairman led this delegation, as he just mentioned, in Brussels, that 
opportunity to meet with the European commission and the EU, as well as 
visit NATO, which was a very good experience, but we took an 
opportunity to let the European Union know, as the gentleman from 
California (Chairman Dreier) pointed out, how strongly we do feel about 
being in opposition to them lifting that arms embargo, particularly in 
light of the fact that in just a very recent session of their people's 
Congress, they voted unanimously an anti-secession law which basically 
says that it is illegal for the Republic of China, Taiwan as we know 
it, to leave their country and they are still part of the mainland, 
according to this law.
  So we wanted to make sure, and I think the chairman did an excellent 
job in his one-on-one discussion with several leading members of the 
European commission, of how important it was to us for stability in 
that region, for stability in the Middle East. I mean, I think that 
was, of all of the diplomatic things that we were able to accomplish, 
and there were many on this 10-day trip, but I thought that was real 
significant.
  Mr. DREIER. Well, I thank my friend for his contribution. I want to 
say that he was very helpful in that effort as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say that as we look at where we are 
headed in the future, it seems to me that we have gotten to the point 
where there is an understanding that freedom, economic freedom and 
political freedom, are interdependent. We need to do everything that we 
can to encourage people to choose their own leaders, to live under the 
rule of law, and at the same time, we need to encourage economic 
opportunity for people all over the world.
  One of the things that we have learned from this trip that we took is 
that it is a God-given right and it is something that everyone aspires 
to. The arrogance that has existed in the past, believing that somehow, 
some people may not be educated enough or have an understanding or they 
may be tied to some tribe or some other entity, and so the notion of 
thinking that they might be able to play a role in choosing their own 
leaders is extraordinary arrogance on the part of people who hold that 
view, because I believe that every single person on the face of the 
earth should have that opportunity to be able to choose their own 
leaders, to be able to seek economic opportunity for themselves.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, if the chairman would yield, this is such 
an important point that the chairman is making, and I hope my 
colleagues are listening because that reaching out, as I have said 
earlier, that is so important. I do not think anybody could do it any 
better than the gentleman from California (Chairman Dreier), and this 
delegation showed them that we are very much willing to open our arms 
and our hearts and our support of the people in the Middle East in 
realizing, as the chairman pointed out, that they want to grasp hold to 
a little measure of that peace and liberty that, quite honestly, people 
in our country, Members of Congress as well, sort of fall

[[Page 7406]]

into the trap of taking that for granted. It is not something to be for 
granted when we go to these countries, and we realize that they only 
have a very small measure of it. So I thought that was extremely 
beneficial.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is absolutely right, and when 
one thinks about the lives that have been lost, the more than 1,500 
lives that have been lost in Iraq, the lives lost in Afghanistan and 
the American lives lost throughout history, and of course, the 
coalition forces in our entire struggle in the global war on terror, 
all of this that has taken place is geared towards ensuring the safety 
and security of the American people, and that, again, it is in our 
interest to encourage and pursue these kinds of developments.
  So I would like to just close by expressing my appreciation to my 
friend from Marietta who not only went on the trip but stayed into 
Thursday evening for us to have a chance to talk about this important 
mission, but I also want to express my appreciation to all of our 
colleagues who took time out from this traditional district work period 
to make sure that we continue to pursue and encourage the cause of 
freedom and stability throughout the world.
  So I thank my friend for his participation, and I thank our 
colleagues and I thank the American people, Mr. Speaker, for the strong 
support that they have provided in our quest to ensure that we win this 
global war on terror and expand political pluralism and freedom for 
peoples throughout the world.

                          ____________________