[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12040]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      SUPPORTING THE WAR ON TERROR

  Mr. CARTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to proceed out of 
order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from Texas 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CARTER. Mr. Speaker, there was an historic debate on the House 
floor last week between both sides of the aisle concerning the war in 
Iraq. Unfortunately, I got a call late on Wednesday evening that my 
wife Erica had been rushed to the hospital with a serious medical 
emergency, and I was absent from that debate because I had to go to my 
wife's bedside at the hospital. I am happy to report she is at least 
out of the hospital, although the infection in her hand is still giving 
her a lot of trouble.
  I wanted to at least state my opinion on the war in Iraq and the 
consequences of American action, and I think heroic action, that is 
taking place in Iraq and also in Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, we are involved in a war on terror. The battle for Iraq 
and the battle for Afghanistan are clearly part of that war on terror. 
And if you want to talk about terror, how terrible could it be that 
what we have discovered happened to two of our fine soldiers, Kristian 
Menchaca and Thomas Lowell Tucker, who were slaughtered and butchered 
by our enemy, and we are just learning of the horror of what they did 
to those poor young men, those heroes, those American heroes who were 
willing to stand in the gap and be counted so that the people of Iraq 
can do what they have done, form up a government, make that government 
functional, get that government to where it is operational so that we 
can meet our goal.
  Our goal is a free Iraq, a democratic Iraq, because, as the President 
says, when we have free democratic countries, we don't have disputes 
with those countries that go to war. We are trying to advance the cause 
of freedom around the world and protect ourselves from people who would 
slaughter our citizens of this country.
  This is not warfare that we are talking about of these people. We are 
abiding by the rules of war; they are abiding by the rules of 
terrorism, which is no rule. And that is why we have to continue to 
take this fight to the enemy where they are until we have established a 
victory for the United States. And I honestly believe that victory is 
on the horizon.
  I have made three trips to Iraq. I have visited with individual 
soldiers in Iraq. They are proud of their mission, they are proud of 
their accomplishments, they are proud of the things that they do for 
the Iraqi public. They have stories to share, as one soldier shared 
with me who was in the hospital and had a rose there with him, about a 
little girl who gave him that rose and said thank you. He didn't 
understand the language she was speaking, but he knew it meant thank 
you.
  These troops are doing humanitarian as well as soldierly efforts to 
make life for the Iraqi people better. But, more importantly, we as 
American citizens should never tolerate an enemy that would butcher our 
troops. If there is any amount of decency in these people, they would 
at least abide by simple, simple rules of war. But they don't. We have 
had beheadings. We have had slaughter and mutilation of our American 
corpses.
  Mr. Speaker, we are on the right side of Iraq. I am proud that the 
4th Infantry Division, which is in my district, and the 1st Cavalry 
Division have been active participants in making life better for the 
Iraqi public. And, Mr. Speaker, I honor them by standing here today and 
say I fully support America's war on terror and the war in Iraq. And I 
apologize that I was not here for the debate, but I am grateful for all 
those who stood up for the United States of America's effort in the 
battle of Iraq.

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