[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 17190-17191]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE LIFE OF STAFF SERGEANT JEFF HANSON

  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to assume the 5 
minutes of the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ramstad) and address the 
House for 5 minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
Nebraska is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I attended a funeral of the 
Staff Sergeant Jeff Hanson from my district in Nebraska who was killed 
in Iraq last week. His death was the 29th soldier from Nebraska and the 
14th from my district. My district is largely rural. We find that 
people from small towns and farms tend to volunteer, enlist at a higher 
rate, tend to be rather patriotic. Therefore, districts like mine have 
assumed a disproportionate load of the war in the Middle East.
  One of the things that struck me about the funeral was that I visited 
with his father, Robert, and also with his wife, Jennie. Robert had one 
request of me, and he said, please do not let them pull out 
prematurely. He said that his son saw progress in Iraq, and he felt 
that little of that progress was being translated to the American 
people.
  Robert said this, and I think it is very true, he said, freedom is 
costly and always has been. Like the Civil War, we go back to World War 
I, World War II, there has always been a great price that has been 
exacted. He said that there was no doubt in his mind that we needed to 
stay the course and see things through.
  But this is just the story of one soldier, one wife, and does it 
reflect the thinking of a lot of people? I guess, as I thought about 
Robert's comments, I reflected on the fact that I have talked to almost 
all of the parents and spouses of those 14 soldiers who have died in 
Iraq, and I cannot recall one of them saying, get us out of this.
  I have seen time after time comments very similar to Robert's saying, 
we saw meaning, we saw purpose; we saw progress; we think we need to 
stay the course.
  Jeff Hanson was a young person, well-educated, was an excellent 
leader. He served in Kosovo previously, was a Federal police officer. 
His wife, Jennie, indicated that Jeff was not only committed to 
fighting terrorism but also giving everyone in the world, including 
Iraqis, a chance at freedom. He felt that was really an important part 
of his mission.
  She, also like Robert, felt that we should continue until we had had 
some measure of finality to the struggle.
  So I guess, as the funeral concluded, I was reminded of the words of 
a young captain that I met over in Kuwait in 2002. This captain had 
been in Iraq for a year, and he said this; he said, if we pull out 
prematurely, three things will happen: Number one, those who have died 
will have died in vain, and that is very true. I think that is one of 
the things that the family of Jeff were trying to get across.
  Secondly, he said, we will have gone back on our word to the Iraqis, 
and you may recall that that happened in the first Gulf War. We cannot 
afford to do that.
  Then, thirdly, we will have indicated to terrorists everywhere that 
terrorism works, it is effective, and if they hang in there long 
enough, eventually, we will back down, and terrorism will only 
multiply.
  I believe that strongly, and I think the family of Jeff Hanson feels 
that very strongly. I know we are involved in a great debate. There are 
many people who do not agree with that point of view. So, before long, 
we will have 300,000 Iraqis trained and equipped sometime late this 
fall, and that has been the target. At some point, we obviously have to 
turn it over to them and say, it is your ball, you run with it, now let 
us see what you can get done with it.
  So we do not know how it is going to end up, but I do feel that we 
need to honor the feelings of so many who have sacrificed so greatly 
and think this national debate through very carefully before we make 
any preemptive or presumptive move that may be contrary to the wishes 
of so many who have suffered.
  I thank the Speaker for this opportunity to reflect on the life of 
Jeff Hanson and his family, and we hope that Jeff and his fellow 
soldiers can see this through to a successful solution.

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