[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20545]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  NO PERMANENT MILITARY BASES IN IRAQ

  (Mr. MORAN of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, our intelligence agencies have 
confirmed that al Qaeda is stronger in numbers and effectiveness than 
it has ever been. And that's because 5 years ago, when we had bin Laden 
cornered and crippled, we outsourced the job of capturing him. And then 
we diverted our focus and our resources to Iraq, which turned out to be 
his greatest dream realized because it gave him so many propaganda 
tools as a rallying cry and a recruiting tool. And that's just what 
happened.
  And now, when President Bush says that he envisions a military 
presence in Iraq similar to South Korea, well, we've been in South 
Korea for 50 years, this plays into their propaganda. We need to make 
clear there will be no permanent military bases in Iraq; that we are 
not there as occupiers, but rather as liberators.
  Let's start getting serious about winning this global war on 
terrorism. We can start today by passing the resolution declaring that 
the Congress is unequivocally opposed to permanent military bases in 
Iraq.

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