[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18796]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2000
             BLAME AMERICA FIRST CROWD; CONDEMN OUR TROOPS

  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the 
House for 5 minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Poe). Without objection, the gentleman 
from Texas is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, there are some that come before this body, 
come to this floor and like to play the blame America first. Let us 
play the blame game, blame America first. We have had people come here, 
and even a former marine came to this floor and called Active Duty 
marines cold-blooded killers who had not been tried, who had not been 
even charged, and, as I understand it, not even charged today, accused 
people of coverups.
  There is so much good in the United States military services. It 
deserves to be addressed. The members of our military deserve 
accolades. Having spent 4 years in the United States Army, I can tell 
you that these members serving now are some of the best that have ever 
served in the United States armed services.
  So rather than blame America first, as so many want to do, I thought 
it would be more appropriate to come to the floor and talk about heroes 
of our American military, people of whom we are proud.
  Now, you are going to end up hearing me do this quite a bit from here 
on. We have asked for information from the Department of Defense about 
people who have won honors for their heroic acts, and so I want to 
present to you tonight about Sergeant First Class Paul Smith. He served 
with Bravo Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 
3rd Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Georgia, during the invasion 
of Iraq in March of 2003.
  On April 4, 2003, Sergeant Smith was setting up a temporary enemy 
prisoner of war holding area during the seizure of Saddam International 
Airport when his unit came under attack. Smith kept his soldiers 
focused during the fight while engaging the Iraqi force of around 100 
men with his M16, one hand grenade, and an AT4 antiarmor weapon.
  At one point in the battle, Sergeant Smith manned a .50-caliber 
machine gun in the exposed turret of a damaged M113 armored personnel 
carrier and began firing at the main force of the enemy. He fired about 
400 rounds of ammunition, which gave his soldiers time to regroup, time 
to mount an attack of their own. And when the shooting stopped, the 
Iraqi force had been defeated. Unfortunately, that was not before 
Sergeant Smith suffered an enemy bullet to the head.
  Two years to the day later, Sergeant First Class Paul Smith's 11-
year-old son David was presented this Nation's highest honor, his 
father's Medal of Honor, by President Bush. The President did not fall 
short on recognizing the significance of Sergeant Smith's heroic 
actions. He said, ``Sergeant Smith gave his all for his men. Five days 
later Baghdad fell, and the Iraqi people were liberated. We count 
ourselves blessed that we have soldiers like Sergeant Smith.''
  Jesus said, ``Greater love hath no one than this, that one lay down 
his life for his friends.'' Sergeant First Class Paul Smith laid down 
his life for all of his men, for his country, and we are the better for 
it.
  May God bless Sergeant Smith, his soul, his family, his soldiers. And 
may God continue to bless America.

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