[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 1176]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              DEFEATING THE TERRORISTS ABROAD--NOT AT HOME

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 12, 2007

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, yesterday afternoon as I 
was reading The Examiner, a Washington daily, I came across an 
editorial that summed up my view of our current conflict in Iraq and 
the overall global war on terrorism. I applaud The Examiner's editorial 
staff for declaring what is largely an unpopular view among the 
mainstream media.
  The editorial follows.

                            [Jan. 11, 2007]

  Do We Defeat the Terrorists in Iraq Now or Fight Them Here Tomorrow?

       Washington.--President Bush could not have been more frank 
     or honest with the American people than he was last night. 
     That said, the central issue remains today what it has been 
     since the first plane crashed into the WorId Trade Center on 
     Sept. 11, 2001: Are we as a nation willing to do whatever is 
     required to win the war on terrorism?
       Iraq is today the central front in that war, and the 
     president is doing all within his power to defeat the 
     terrorists there now so that we don't have to fight them here 
     in the future.
       The president believes the war in Iraq can be won by 
     increasing American troop strength for a period as the Iraqis 
     themselves assume greater responsibilities for securing their 
     country and by increasing U.S. economic aid to rebuild 
     infrastructure and provide jobs.
       Calling this troop movement a ``surge'' was unfortunate 
     because it conveyed the idea of something that isn't going to 
     happen--putting more U.S. soldiers on the ground than we have 
     had heretofore. In fact, as The Examiner's Bill Sammon 
     reported yesterday, even with the ``surge'' announced last 
     night, we will still be a few thousand short of the high 
     water mark of 160,000 U.S. troops a year ago.
       More important than the raw numbers is how those troops are 
     deployed.
       The president acknowledged last night that mistakes were 
     made in the days leading up to the U.S. action in Iraq and 
     the first phases of building the post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. 
     Working with increased Iraqi military and police forces, our 
     strengthened forces will now be able to rectify the biggest 
     of those mistakes: failing to eradicate the insurgents 
     completely and not disarming private militias like that of 
     Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. Special attention is to be 
     devoted to Baghdad and Anbar province, with Iraqi army units 
     in the lead.
       There will be more U.S. casualties in coming months. But 
     the only way to affirm the sacrifice of American blood and 
     material resources in Iraq is persevering and winning. Iraq 
     is not Vietnam unless congressional Democrats heed extremists 
     like Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA, and withdraw funding for the 
     American war effort in Iraq as they did in 1974, which led 
     directly to the fall of Saigon in 1975.
       The killing fields followed throughout Southeast Asia as 
     the victors took revenge upon those who looked to America for 
     protection and freedom. The killing fields will come again if 
     America fails now because Iraq will dissolve into chaos and 
     then a jihadist totalitarianism.
       Many Rubicons are being crossed on Iraq. There will be no 
     crossing back if we heed the ignoble call to retreat.

                          ____________________