[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12253]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ANDER CRENSHAW

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 21, 2006

  Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, in the days after 9/11, the United States 
took the last action our enemies thought we would take--we took the 
fight to them. They believed that our partisan bickering would provide 
them with the protection they needed to continue to operate. They were 
wrong. Our armed forces struck hard at the very heart of their 
operation--disrupting their terrorist network and bringing down their 
leaders.
  They are an enemy without borders, and believed they could find 
sanctuary in any number of countries that would provide safe haven. 
They operated camps and training grounds half way around the world, far 
away from any U.S. military presence. Today, we have them on the run. 
Saddam Hussein has been captured and Zarqawi is dead. In their place 
stands the very thing our enemies fear the most--democracy. Instead of 
a fascist dictator is a newly elected Prime Minister, and fear and 
oppression has been replaced with an emerging economy.
  However, our enemies continue to fight . . . but why? Does their 
resolve stem from some military, political or strategic error on our 
part? To the contrary, it's our doubt that gives them strength.
  Al Qaeda has declared Iraq as the battleground between democracy and 
their hatred of our way of life . . . but they know that their war 
cannot be won on the battlefield. Instead, their war is waged in the 
minds of every American. By definition terrorism is the spreading fear 
and doubt through violence 
. . . and that's what they are trying to do.
  Since the days immediately following 9/11, solidarity has once again 
given way to partisanship. Despite our successes, this has given the 
terrorists the foothold they need. Unlike before 9/11, our forces are 
at their front door, poised to strike before they can do any more harm. 
But the terrorists believe the day is well within their grasp where 
they can resume operations without fear of intervention by the U.S. and 
our allies. A day when they can tumble a newborn democracy and another 
one more than 200 years old. If we let this day come and allow the 
fight to return to our shores, we have not only failed those who lost 
their lives on 9/11 and the those who died fighting for our freedom, 
but our families, friends and everything we hold dear. I look forward 
to the day when our friends in the Middle East can stand on their own. 
They have already proven to be dedicated allies, but their future and 
the future of our friendship still hangs in the balance.
  Some would rather abandon our friends and everything we have 
accomplished, hoping that this act of good faith will somehow appease a 
foe proven to be without mercy. But I know our borders and our 
communities should not be our front lines . . . and in our retreat, 
this would be the next battleground. It's happened before, and it would 
happen again.
  We didn't choose this fight, but we are in it. It is a war of freedom 
against tyranny. We have to stand together and prove to these killers 
they can't win. It's our job to keep our nation safe, and we will.

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