[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5415-5421]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. GINGREY. Madam Speaker, I thank you. And it's indeed an honor to 
be here tonight to talk with my colleagues about something that's going 
on in the world today that is of huge import. And no, I'm not talking 
about

[[Page 5416]]

who was the victor in the NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament.
  I'm not here to talk to my colleagues about who might be the winner 
this year of the American Idol contest, as we get closer and closer and 
that draws the interest of so many of television viewers throughout the 
country.
  What I'm talking about tonight, Madam Speaker, is probably the most 
important thing that this country has on its plate in a long, long 
time, and that is the situation in the Middle East and what's going on 
in Iraq and Afghanistan and how important that conflict is, not just to 
this country and its citizens, but the region in the Middle East and, 
indeed, the entire world, Madam Speaker, as we continue to wage, as we 
have for the last 5\1/2\ years, this battle, this war against global 
terrorism. And ground zero, Madam Speaker, make no mistake about it, 
ground zero is in Iraq.
  Today our commander there, of the multinational force Iraq, General 
David Petraeus, and the United States Ambassador, Ambassador to Iraq, 
Ambassador Ryan Crocker, are here in Washington, D.C. to testify before 
both the United States Senate and in this chamber, the United States 
House of Representatives, to the Armed Services Committee of both the 
House and the Senate, and to the Foreign Affairs Committee of both 
bodies. General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker spoke to the Senate 
today in a full, long day of testimony, and they will be speaking 
tomorrow to the House committees that I just mentioned.
  Madam Speaker, along with yourself and many other very fortunate 
Members of this House of Representatives, I do serve on the Armed 
Services Committee, and I certainly look forward to hearing from these 
two great men who have served so well and for so long in a difficult 
part of the world, and also to have the opportunity to ask some 
questions, and I'm sure some of them will be tough questions, hard 
questions for Members of both political bodies, both the majority and 
the minority.
  So, as I say, this opportunity tonight, on behalf of my party, the 
Republican minority, to take this hour and talk about this and try to 
explain to my colleagues that this is really, we are at a critical 
point in this war in the Middle East. And we have an opportunity, as 
I've felt for a long time, as I felt last September when General 
Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker first came before the committees and 
explained that the surge that we enacted in January of 2007 is, indeed, 
working. And what they said last September is that we need to give it a 
chance.
  Indeed, if you made an analogy to a sporting event, you might say 
that we're in the fourth quarter of a tough game, and at times, indeed, 
January of 2007 and several months before that, it did appear that we 
were losing. Members of this body and the other body in leadership 
positions made some pretty drastic statements, even to the extent of 
saying the war's lost, it's hopeless, it's a hopeless situation; we 
need to just pack up and come home.
  But General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, last September told us, 
no, that is not the case because we did change courses. We listened to 
the recommendations of the Iraqi Study Group, co-chaired by a very 
prominent Democrat and Republican, and we listened very carefully to 
their recommendations in regard to what needed to be done. And this 
surge of about 30,000 additional troops has certainly given us the 
opportunity to regain control and get the upper hand against these 
Islamic extremists and thugs that could, and would, and are determined 
not only to destroy Iraq, but to make that country the base of their 
support. And, yes, of course I'm talking about al Qaeda.
  Anyone who thinks, Madam Speaker, that Iraq is not ground zero now 
for al Qaeda simply is ignoring the words of Osama bin Laden.
  So we are, as General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker said, we are at 
a very critical point. And today, the evidence will show, and during 
this next 45 to 60 minutes of time that me and some of my colleagues on 
our side of the aisle will have to discuss this, we are going to 
present the evidence that we are succeeding. We have not won yet, but 
we're ahead in the fourth quarter, and this is certainly not the time 
to pull our team off the field and say, well, you know, they're tired, 
they're stressed; the ranks are thin. It's cost us too much money. And 
hey, you know, we may have some conflict break out somewhere else in 
the world, and we have to be ready for that. Maybe 6 months from now, 
maybe a year from now, maybe 10 years from now.
  So this approach, strategy of giving up something that we have almost 
won, after sacrificing 4,000 killed in action, and closer to 20,000 of 
our brave men and women severely wounded, and an untold number, maybe 
as many as 100,000 Iraqi civilians who have also given their lives for 
the cause, it makes no sense to this Member, Madam Speaker, that you 
would give up at such a critical, crucial time.
  So what we're going to talk about tonight is really four things. I 
want to concentrate on four things. And as I say, hopefully, a number 
of my colleagues will be able to finish up their previous engagements 
and be here with me on the floor, because these Members are members of 
the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Foreign Relations of 
the United States House of Representatives. And they, Madam Speaker, 
know of what they speak.
  And what we're going to do is break it down, as I say, into four 
areas of discussion. The first area would be to talk about where are we 
today? What difference has a year made? Actually, it's a little more 
than a year. January of 2007. But it took until October, just this past 
fall, to get all of the additional troops and their support, logistical 
support into the theater. And you really couldn't expect a lot of 
change in the battle until we got the full force of those 30,000 
additional troops. And you, ladies and gentlemen, my colleagues, we all 
refer to that as the surge. And this was what was recommended by 
General Petraeus.
  And so we're going to talk about it, what a difference a year makes, 
and talk about some of the statistics about overall violence and 
progress. And the statistics don't lie. You can't put spin on numbers. 
Numbers are what they are. And I think the numbers, when we finish this 
special order hour, Madam Speaker, I think my colleagues will agree 
that by any standard, any parameter, any metric that I talk about, 
you'd have to say that the surge that was essentially envisioned, 
planned by General Petraeus, is, indeed, working, maybe even far better 
than he expected.
  And the second thing that I'll talk about is, what would victory look 
like? You know, we're on track. We're not there yet. I think it would 
be presumptuous, maybe even naive of me to say that we have victory in 
our grasp, or to suggest that the mission is over, we won. No, we're 
not there yet.
  And I think the violence that broke out recently in Basra, the second 
largest city in Iraq, after Baghdad, the port city where every drop of 
oil that's taken out of the ground, those 2\1/2\ to 3 million barrels a 
day from the reserves in the country of Iraq, they flow out of that 
port at Basra. And there's been a lot of violence there. And, you know, 
that's some disappointing news after we have had a string of several 
months of good news and great statistics.
  But we know from that little wake-up call that there's still a lot of 
work to be done. Unfortunately, as has been the case in so many 
conflicts throughout the course of the history of our country, we have 
had to take the lead so many times. And we have had strong allies, 
certainly, the Brits have been a great ally of ours throughout history, 
and continue to be. But the fact is that they're citizens are, they're 
not as supportive, maybe, from time to time, as we would like for them 
to be.

                              {time}  2100

  And it's very difficult for their parliament to keep troops as part 
of our multinational force. There are some in Basra, but something like 
a thousand British troops were removed from that critical area, which 
they have had responsibility for since day one of Operation Iraqi 
Freedom. A lot of those troops were brought home for political

[[Page 5417]]

reasons in September of 2007, and it weakened our situation in Basra. 
We are paying the price today, I think, because of that, but we will 
talk about these statistics, and we will certainly talk about what 
victory would look like.
  The third point that I am going to ask my colleagues to discuss, and 
I will discuss as well, is the fact that despite these overwhelming 
statistics and the progress that we've made, there are Members in this 
body, in this town, the media, voices, that say and continue to say, it 
is not worth it. It is not worth it. It is not worth the lives that we 
have sacrificed. It is not worth the money that we've spent. Even 
achieving victory is not worth it. We need to bring the troops home and 
spend that money on social welfare programs, on health care for 
everybody, and maybe a $5,000 tax rebate for every man, woman, and 
child in the country. There are other things that we could do to spend 
that $10 billion a month that this war is costing us. Now, I want to 
talk about that, and we will get into it.
  And then lastly, and maybe most important tonight, we will talk about 
the consequences of failure, the consequences of withdrawal, which I am 
absolutely convinced, if done prematurely, will lead, inevitably, to 
failure.
  So we will conclude by talking about the consequences of that. And I 
think, as my colleagues listen, it will be quite sobering to them as 
they think in their mind and understand, and this is an intelligent 
body of 435 great Americans, of people who have served this country 
well and representing their districts well, but sometimes we need a 
wake-up call. Sometimes we really, Mr. Speaker, need a wake-up call. 
And that's why we do these Special Orders on both sides of the aisle.
  But tonight, I don't think there really is anything more important to 
talk about than the situation in the Middle East, and I'm proud to have 
this opportunity, and it's a great honor and a privilege.
  I see my colleague from Tennessee, one of my classmates who joined 
with me in the 110th Congress. We were both elected in 2002. We both 
had served, me in the State of Georgia, she in the State of Tennessee, 
in the General Assembly; and we are part of a proud group of, I think 
there were 53 freshman back in 2003 as we got here. And we all, I'm 
sure, felt like we had the answers to all problems and that we were 
going to solve all of the country's problems and the world's problems. 
And I can tell you that we haven't, but we haven't given up, and we 
will continue to work hard.
  So it's an honor to be joined now by the gentlewoman from Tennessee, 
my good friend and outstanding Member, Marsha Blackburn.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from Georgia, and Mr. Speaker, 
he just touched on something I think is so very important.
  Every once in a while, we need a wake-up call, and I think that is 
indeed true. And today has been a very serious day. This week is a very 
serious week here on Capitol Hill. And as I entered the Capitol again 
this evening to participate in our Special Order hour, I was struck by 
this stillness of the surroundings, the serene feelings of the Capitol 
as you walk in and as you look at the paintings and at the statues, 
making my way over to the chamber, reminded of those who have loved 
this Nation and loved the freedoms that we all enjoy and that allow us 
to stand in this chamber and participate in debate and to bring forward 
ideas and talk about what is a good idea and what is a bad idea.
  And indeed, as the gentleman from Georgia said, every once in a while 
we need a wake-up call and a reminder that freedom is an idea that 
definitely has served this Nation well. It, Mr. Speaker, is an idea 
that serves all of the nations of the world very well. It is something 
that people all over the globe seek to have.
  We have had discussion on this floor tonight about Tibet and the 
desire there to live in freedom, to worship freely. Many of us have 
watched the Iraqi people move forward with elections freely and 
willingly. Some of us travel to other nations to participate as we 
watch people seek to go in large numbers to the ballot box in their 
nation to freely vote.
  I was struck a little bit earlier today, and I think it was more or 
less a wake-up call for me, Mr. Speaker. I stood in the shadow of the 
Capitol on the Senate side with a group called Vets for Freedom. I have 
had the opportunity to spend some time with them as they have told 
their stories about the success, the success stories, if you will, of 
what is happening on the ground in Iraq. And today they were joined by 
Senator McCain, Senator Lieberman, and other Members of the Senate, 
several of us from the House, including one of our most distinguished 
Members and a former prisoner of war, Sam Johnson, the honorable 
gentlemen from the great State of Texas.
  And it was amazing to stand there and look into the faces of these 
veterans who have been willing to put it all on the line for freedom, 
to put it all on the line to protect this great Nation. And then to 
give actions to, again, to the actions they've carried out, to the 
words and the stories they're telling, and again, to take an action of 
coming here and coming to the Capitol and meeting with the Members of 
this body and to stand and support General Petraeus and Ambassador 
Crocker as they reported to our Nation, to say we've been there, we've 
carried out the heavy lift, and indeed, freedom is worth the fight.
  They've also made it very clear that America now has the opportunity 
to achieve our fundamental objectives in Iraq through the establishment 
of a peaceful, stable, secular, democratic State which will be a 
reliable ally in the struggle against both Sunni and Shiite terrorism. 
Establishing this ally would allow America to reorient our position in 
the Middle East away from a position that relies on anti-democratic 
States to a position based on a strong democratic partner whose 
citizens have explicitly rejected al Qaeda and terrorism in general and 
have chosen freedom.
  Today, General Petraeus reported to the Senate on his progress. 
Tomorrow, the House will hear from the general.
  What we've learned so far is that levels of violence and civilian 
deaths have been reduced substantially. Al Qaeda Iraq, and other 
extremist elements, have been dealt serious and damaging blows. The 
capabilities of the Iraqi security forces have grown. Indeed, the 
involvement of local Iraqis and local security has been noteworthy. The 
forces are growing, and indeed, the Iraqis have carried out their own 
surge, Mr. Speaker.
  Americans are well aware the additional U.S. forces that deployed to 
Iraq as part of the surge and our great Nation's part there. What is 
less understood well is that Iraqi forces surged, adding over 100,000 
additional soldiers and police to their very own security forces in 
2007.
  There has been a shift in attitude among certain elements of the 
Iraqi population. The Sunni communities in Iraq increasingly have 
rejected al Qaeda's indiscriminate violence and extremist ideology. 
They recognize that they cannot share in the new Iraq if they don't 
participate in the political arena. That, Mr. Speaker, is a major step 
forward.
  Over time, these awakenings have prompted tens of thousands of 
Iraqis, some former insurgents, to contribute to local security as sons 
of Iraq. There are 91,000 sons of Iraq Shia, as well as Sunni, under 
contract to help coalition and Iraqi forces protect their own 
neighborhoods. Again, they are taking the lead.
  Al Qaeda's leadership, who still see Iraq as the central front in a 
global strategy, send funding, instructions, and foreign fighters to 
Iraq. Iraq's ethno-sectarian conflict in many areas is taking place 
through debate rather than through violence. That is another turn that 
we have seen. Security incidents are at a level not seen since early 
2005, and civilian deaths have decreased to a level not seen before the 
mosque bombings in 2006.
  Mr. Speaker, these are all items that are being reported to us of 
successes, military successes, that are taking place; and indeed, the 
gentleman from Georgia has mentioned some of these,

[[Page 5418]]

has touched on some of the trends that we are seeing; and I know he's 
going to spend a little bit of time this evening going back and looking 
at these steps that tell the story of what is happening on the ground.
  And as we see this take place, we see a population that is, indeed, 
beginning to feel safe to leave their homes. And once you're safe to 
leave your home, then you can start to work to make certain that your 
neighborhood is safe and then you make certain that your province is 
safe. All of this leads to a safer and free Iraq.
  We know that the Iraqi parliament is making some progress, and as the 
gentleman from Georgia detailed some of the stats tonight, these are 
going to be items that will be included as we look.
  Mr. GINGREY. The gentlewoman remembers, I think we all remember, 
hopefully, that last year the Congress asked for the Iraqi government 
to meet certain benchmarks. And this is exactly what Representative 
Blackburn is talking about now in regard to certain laws that their 
parliament would need to pass. It was sort of like a, you know, we'll 
only continue to help you if you promise by a date certain that you 
will have provincial elections, that you will pass a de-Ba'athification 
law, which essentially meant that those Sunnis, those brave soldiers 
that we are calling now and referring to as sons of Iraq, and as I say, 
mostly Sunnis, that they would have an opportunity to be included, 
maybe to be officially a part of the Iraqi security force.
  So the government had to get over the fact that there was this 
rivalry, if you will, between the Shias in the majority and the Sunnis 
in the minority and the Sunnis led by the brutal dictator. Saddam 
Hussein had suppressed, oppressed, murdered so many of the Shias for so 
many years of his reign of terror that it's difficult to all of a 
sudden reach out an olive branch, but that's what we asked them to do 
in regard to de-Ba'athification, and I think it's important. And also 
asking them to share the oil revenue with all parts of the country, not 
just where the oil is found in the oil-rich Kurdish region but also in 
the west where there's very little oil and in the south as you have 
sharing.

                              {time}  2115

  So that's what the gentlewoman is talking about, and I yield back to 
her.
  I just wanted to say that, and I'll make this one last point before I 
yield back, if the gentlewoman will bear with me just a second. It was 
said that those benchmarks needed to be met before we would provide 
additional troops and security and help stabilize things on the ground. 
But you couldn't have an effective parliament, an effective government 
until the people on the ground, in the towns, in the villages felt that 
their new government that they voted for could protect them, that had 
the ability, had the military strength, had the training that they felt 
secure and that they could go forward with this government. So the 
provision of security on the ground was first and foremost, and that's 
what the surge was all about.
  I yield back to the gentlewoman from Tennessee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. And he's exactly 
right. Security on the ground, a secure and stable environment. And 
that is what the counterinsurgency strategy has been about, and the 
results that it has yielded.
  As we have just discussed, indeed, and as Americans know well, we had 
a surge from our troops. The Iraqis also carried out their surge, and 
what it has yielded is an environment where not only we saw the 
military progress, but also where political progress can take place. 
And there are some wonderful lessons learned here.
  I think that one of those, when we are in Iraq visiting with our 
troops and working with some of the Iraqis and helping to mentor some 
of the women that we have mentored over there, one of the things they 
will tell you is, we are so glad that you have not left us. Thank you 
for not leaving us. We know people are frustrated. We know there are no 
guarantees. But we also know that it is important that we keep at it. 
It's not going to happen overnight. And thank you, thank you for not 
leaving. We fear what would happen if you left.
  And they are, as the gentleman from Georgia was saying, Mr. Speaker, 
they are seeing progress. The Iraq parliament is seeing progress. And 
as the gentleman just listed some things, and let me touch on them 
again, a pension law for regime officials, that has happened. De-
Ba'athification reform, that has been carried out. An amnesty law, 
provincial election laws. And as he said, the sharing, the national 
government now sharing oil revenues with the provinces, something that 
a year ago many people said, it will never happen. But, here we are, 
and yes, indeed, it all is beginning to take place.
  I yield back to the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. GINGREY. Well, again, I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee. And 
I would like to reemphasize the statistics that she was talking about 
that we said at the outset, Mr. Speaker, of this hour that we're going 
to talk about what a difference that a year makes and present those 
statistics, how particularly violence has decreased. And Representative 
Blackburn has already talked about that.
  But I would ask my colleagues to reference this first slide in regard 
to its title. This is a little difficult to see in the back of the 
Chamber, but ``Civilian Deaths.'' And it is amazing, if you look at 
this top line going back to January of 2006 and then coming forward 
almost to present day, March of 2008, and you see that about the time 
of the surge, that peaked the civilian deaths. We're talking about on 
an almost monthly basis, 4,000 civilian deaths. I think if you follow 
the line down, that would be about January or February of 2007. And in 
March of 2008, at the far side of the chart, you're looking at a number 
just slightly over 600. So to go from almost 4,000 deaths to 600. And I 
have some additional charts to basically show the same thing, again, 
the statistics that we promised to present at the outset of the hour, 
to show you what a difference a year makes.
  And this slide, my colleagues, says ``High Profile Attacks,'' 
basically explosions. And the blue line is the total. The next, I guess 
you would call that the brown graph, is car bombs. The red is suicide 
car bombs. And then on the bottom is suicide deaths. But this is a 
total. And that's where the rubber meets the road in these statistics.
  And again, about a year ago, you were talking about attacks occurring 
in the range of 125 a day. And until this recent outbreak in Basra, 
they were down to about 40 a day. So, again, as I said at the outset, 
by any measure, by any parameter, any metric you want to take, the 
success of the surge is obvious.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentleman will yield.
  Mr. GINGREY. I will be glad to yield. I will make one further point, 
and then I will yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee.
  These success stories you don't see on the nightly news. I think it 
was Ann Murray that sang a very famous hit a number of years ago, and I 
think the title of that was ``A Little Good News Today.'' You don't 
hear about good news because, by definition, it's not news. It's only 
mayhem and violence and killings and rapes and people putting their 
children in the trunk of a car and leaving them there for a day as a 
disciplinary action for some minor infraction. These are the kind of 
things that are on the front pages of our newspapers and on the 24-hour 
news service. They only talk about it when there's violence. 
Unfortunately, there's not much credit given to a little good news, in 
fact, a lot of good news.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  And he has shown us some great charts, civilian deaths, the coalition 
data, the high profile attacks with the suicide car bombings, the car 
bombs, the suicide attacks, the weapons caches that are found and 
cleared. And when you look at the fact that we are finding many more 
weapons caches than we were and when you look at the fact that the 
attacks are down and the deaths are down, you have to ask, how

[[Page 5419]]

did this happen? And the way it has happened is our men and women in 
uniform, and God bless them all, and I think about my constituents from 
Fort Campbell who are deployed right now, who are in both Iraq and 
Afghanistan, but the men and women in uniform who are taking the lead 
and who are gaining the trust of the Iraqi people and of the Iraqi 
forces and of the Sons of Iraq. And it is our men and women in uniform, 
as they gain this trust, and as the Iraqis know we're not going to 
quit, they are telling them, this is what I know, this is where you go 
to root out this evil person, this is where you go to root out this 
weapons cache, this is where you go to get this information. Because 
they know that we are their partner in success and we are their partner 
in freedom.
  And it really begs the question, and as I visited with some of the 
veterans that have come to spend some time with us today, this really 
begs the question, when you look at the data and when you have this 
discussion, can we afford to give up on a war where we are winning, 
that our military men and women tell us that they are seeing some 
successes every single day? Can you afford to give up? And how would 
history remember it if you did give up?
  I yield back to the gentleman.
  Mr. GINGREY. And I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee for those 
very intelligent remarks and understanding of what is going on. She has 
added so much to this hour.
  We're getting into the final third of our time. And I'm very pleased 
that one of my colleagues, a freshman, it's hard to believe, Mr. 
Speaker, indeed, that he is a freshman because his wisdom is far beyond 
that. He serves with me on the Armed Services Committee. He will be 
there tomorrow when General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker testify to 
us, to the House Armed Services Committee.
  At this point, I would be happy to yield to the gentleman from 
Colorado, Representative Doug Lamborn.
  Mr. LAMBORN. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his kind 
introduction and for his leadership in bringing this issue before the 
American people tonight. I also thank the gentlelady from Tennessee for 
her intelligent remarks as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to support and recognize the tremendous efforts 
of the men, women and leaders of our Armed Forces. The progress made in 
Iraq is undeniable. The surge is working. And as General Petraeus said 
today before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the men and women of 
Iraq and Iraqi Security Forces have themselves surged, determined to 
make Iraq a safe, secure and self-determined nation.
  The surge in Iraq is working, but America's job is not complete. We 
must continue our mission until true freedom and stability are obtained 
in Iraq. To stop or pull back now would be irresponsible and reckless, 
risking American and Iraqi lives and the national security of both 
nations.
  Reducing our presence in Iraq at this point would quickly undo the 
valuable progress that has taken years to achieve. As General Petraeus 
said before the Senators, it is a fragile situation, and it is easily 
reversible. To pull back now would communicate to terrorists that 
America has given up and does not have the stamina or commitment to 
persevere in the global war on jihadist terror.
  The decision on when to reduce the presence of our troops must be 
based on winning the peace for the people of Iraq, not political whim 
that overlooks the successes of our military. But it must not be based 
on artificial timelines proposed by politicians in Washington as 
opposed to the considered judgment of the commanders in the field. 
History will not forgive us if we choose to lose a war we can win.
  Precipitous withdrawal now means future generations of Americans and 
Iraqis will be forced to pay for our giving up victory at a time when 
we are not only achieving success, but when the people of Iraq 
themselves are rising up against the influence of terrorists and 
sectarian ideals in order to create an Iraqi state based on self-
determination and freedom.
  The right thing to do is to support our service men and women and 
General Petraeus in their mission in Iraq. I, too, would like to bring 
our troops home, but not at the price of providing a safe haven for 
terrorists and allowing terrorists to claim victory.
  To quit now would be a disservice to those who have sacrificed in so 
many ways, but especially to America's sons and daughters who have 
given so much, and in some cases paid the ultimate price for our 
security and the freedom of the people in Iraq as well.
  So I join with my colleague from Georgia. I, too, look forward to 
listening to the two gentlemen tomorrow, General Petraeus and 
Ambassador Crocker, as they describe what has been going on. And I look 
forward to the opportunity to ask questions and get to the bottom of 
things that are going on. But I know that I can say what I've just said 
now with full confidence because I've been watching what's happening in 
the news and I've been getting the reports up until now, just as my 
colleague from Georgia has.
  I yield back to the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. GINGREY. Well, I thank the gentleman from Colorado for being with 
us. And I hope that if time permits, he can remain with us for some of 
the additional time. I would be happy to yield to him if you'll just 
let me know. But, again, he is a member of the House Armed Services 
Committee, and indeed, he knows of what he speaks.
  Mr. Speaker, and my colleagues, the testimony today that went on with 
the Senate Armed Services Committee was very telling. We are all busy 
on this side of the Capitol with committee meetings and other 
responsibilities, so you don't have the time to sit there glued to the 
television set and watch every single member ask questions of General 
Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. But I was able, on occasion, to hear 
some of the dialogue and the exchange. And I want to share just a 
little bit of that, Mr. Speaker, with my colleagues at this time. And 
this poster, this slide that I have, you can reference what I'm talking 
about.
  Senator Lindsey Graham, the senior Senator from the great State of 
South Carolina where I spent most of my youth, I live and represent 
Georgia proudly now, but Senator Graham, formerly a Member of this 
body, the House of Representatives, and now serving so well in the 
United States Senate, asked this question of General Petraeus: ``Is it 
fair to say that when Muslims will stand by us and fight against bin 
Laden, his agents and sympathizers, that we're safer? Is it fair to say 
that?''

                              {time}  2130

  And General Petraeus's response: ``Absolutely.'' It only took one 
word, my colleagues, ``absolutely,'' we are safer.
  And Ambassador Crocker responded this morning in a similar manner, 
and let me give his quote: ``In the little over a year that I have been 
in Iraq, we have seen a significant degradation of al Qaeda's presence 
and its abilities. Al Qaeda is our mortal and strategic enemy. So to 
the extent that al Qaeda's capacities have been lessened in Iraq, and 
they have been significantly lessened, I do believe that makes America 
safer.'' And this is the direct quote from Ambassador Crocker's 
testimony this morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
  We will get into now the third point that I said, Mr. Speaker, at the 
outset of the hour that I wanted to emphasize, and that's the question 
of is it worth it? Despite the progress that we have talked about 
tonight that General Petraeus told the Senate this morning, there are 
those who would ignore that progress and still as they did last 
September. Maybe it was a more credible argument then. Of course, they 
were making it before the surge had even gotten there, not really 
giving it much of a chance. But today to argue for immediate withdrawal 
and to give up, to snatch defeat literally from the jaws of victory, 
that's basically what they're saying: It's not worth it. It's not worth 
it. It's time to quit. And this is what General Petraeus said this 
morning, another quote, and I share it with my colleagues:
  ``I do believe it's worth it. I took on the task,'' and just like 
General

[[Page 5420]]

Petraeus he would say this, ``the privilege of command of Multi-
National Force Iraq because I do believe that it's worth it and I do 
believe the interests there are of enormous importance, again, to our 
country, not just the people of Iraq and the people of that region, and 
the world.'' That's a quote taken from General Petraeus's testimony 
this morning.
  I am pleased at this time, Mr. Speaker, to yield to another one of my 
classmates, the gentleman from Iowa, Representative Steve King. 
Representative King is not only on the Armed Services Committee, but I 
do believe he's on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. And he is 
extremely knowledgeable about foreign affairs, about national defense, 
about so many critical issues. So it's indeed a pleasure to welcome 
this evening another of my classmates, the distinguished gentleman from 
Iowa, Representative King.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. I thank the gentleman from Georgia and appreciate 
your yielding, Mr. Gingrey.
  Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor tonight to join with my colleagues 
to raise our voices in unison in support of our Commander in Chief and 
the Commander of the Iraqi forces, General Petraeus, with whom I have 
had a significantly long working relationship for quite some time, and 
for all the troops that have fallen in line behind the Commander in 
Chief and behind General Petraeus all the way out across the board.
  I have personally made five trips to Iraq. I've been to Afghanistan. 
Each time that I go over there, I stop in at Landstuhl. I visit the 
wounded. I see the price that's being paid. I see the dedication in 
their eyes. And I believe it's a little stronger in the eyes of those 
at Landstuhl than it is in those who are standing at attention in Iraq 
or those that are on duty in Iraq. But all them, all of them, have put 
their lives on the line. They are all volunteers.
  And I think back to a time at a Thanksgiving dinner in Baghdad 
actually, and the command sergeant major gave me that look that was 
like I'd like to talk to you off on the side. And I walked over to the 
side, and he said, I know war is expensive, but we're all volunteers 
here. We are not just volunteers for this mission. We have volunteered 
for the military. We've all re-upped since the beginning of this war, 
and we all knew that we had a very high likelihood of being deployed 
here. We want to come here. And I volunteered for this because I want 
to take this fight from my children and my grandchildren. I want it 
done in my time. I know war is expensive, but you can't say ``no'' to 
us. You cannot pull us out now, not after this sacrifice, not this 
time. We have got to finish this fight that's before us.
  And that's a conversation I will never forget, and I will never 
forget the look in his eye as he delivered that to me. That's some of 
the best that we have, our command sergeant majors. And this one fried 
that into my memory. And I think he has expressed for the fighting men 
and women over there what they want us all to hear on the floor of 
Congress and what they want the American people to know. If they're 
willing to take the risk, if they're willing to provide the sacrifice, 
how are we to say ``no''?
  Mr. GINGREY. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I will yield right back 
to the gentleman, but I think his point is just so well taken.
  This morning, I started the day at 8 o'clock in the morning with a 
rally in the park on the Senate side, and it was organized by a group 
called Veterans For Freedom, Vets For Freedom. And 400 of them, 400, 
were there to give us that very message that Representative King is 
talking about, that it is worth it, it is worth it, and to beg us, 
literally to beg us. And I am sure, my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, you 
will be hearing from them. We will all be hearing from them. I did 
today. The members from Georgia that are part of the Veterans For 
Freedom are here, and they're going to make sure that we hear that 
message loud and clear.
  And I yield back to my friend.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. I thank the gentleman from Georgia. And I just left 
a table of marines that are all on multiple tours of duty in Iraq or 
Afghanistan, and a couple of them were decorated with Purple Hearts and 
serving in places like Fallujah. And you look them in the eye, and you 
see what they're asking us to do: Just back us. Just stand behind us. 
Don't undermine us. Stand behind us.
  I take us back to the Vietnam war. I picked up the book written by 
General Giap, who was credited with what they call their victory for 
the Vietnamese, for North Vietnam. In that book on page 8, as I recall 
the page, page 8, there's a little phrase in there where he says they 
got our first inkling that we could defeat the United States when we 
saw that they didn't press for a total victory in Korea. A negotiated 
settlement in Korea gave Vietnam the inspiration to fight the war 
against us not only on the ground in Vietnam, where they paid multiple 
prices in lives beyond ours, but to do it in the public airwaves across 
the country. The protests that went on in the streets here and across 
in Europe were all part of their war strategy. The liberal media 
undermining the effort was all part of their war strategy. That doesn't 
mean they called the shots for the media, but they were complicit in 
this. And as the will of the American people was broken down by biased 
information and sometimes misinformation, they understood this: The 
bottom line in the book Principles of War by von Clausewitz, a summary 
of his analysis is the object of war is to defeat the will of the 
enemy.
  So the voices that come out from this side of the aisle, Mr. Speaker, 
are the voices of defeat, not the voices of victory. They are 
undermining the will of the American people. The press is playing into 
that. We should be standing with our troops.
  And I walked down the steps in the Cannon building, and I presume he 
was a veteran. He reached up and he said, ``Support our troops,'' and 
shook my hand. And I said, ``I will and I will continue to be there.'' 
But I missed a beat or I would have said ``and their mission'' because 
you can't support the troops without supporting their mission. You 
can't ask people to go off and put their lives on the line for 
something you don't believe in.
  I believe in this. The Iraqi people believe in this. And today they 
know something they didn't know a year ago or 4 years ago, two big 
points that they understand, that's part of their national 
understanding: One is the Americans and the coalition forces are not 
there to occupy. We don't want to be there to occupy. We want them to 
have their freedom. The second thing is we're not there for the oil, or 
we would have taken it by now. We want the Iraqi people to live and 
breathe free.
  Yesterday I had a lunch with an individual who was instrumental in 
bringing Benazir Bhutto to Iowa as she gave a keynote address shortly 
after September 11. I sat down with her on a couch afterwards one on 
one, and I asked her, How do we get to the point of victory? How do we 
defeat al Qaeda and our enemy?
  And her answer was, You've got to give them freedom. You've got to 
give them a chance at democracy. If you do that, they'll change their 
focus from hatred towards taking care of their families, their 
communities, their neighborhoods, their jobs, and their mosques.
  And I look back on that conversation. Sadly, we have lost her, her 
voice for freedom, but there is a piece of wisdom in that that the 
American people need to understand. Iraqi people are now breathing 
free. They weren't free before. The Afghani people are breathing free. 
They weren't free there ever. Today there are 50 million people that 
are free because of the sacrifice of U.S. and coalition troops and 
because of the inspiration that we provide for the world, and that is a 
very big thing to hand on to the next generations.
  And as we watch the Bush administration move towards that last month 
in office, and we have many months to go yet, but when it gets to that 
point, I'm going to say this: I believe history will treat President 
Bush a lot more kindly than the media has treated him in this time when 
they write objectively what it means to have the strong leadership in 
the Commander in Chief, to have an all-volunteer military that's doing 
a better job than we could

[[Page 5421]]

have ever asked anybody to do, and they say let us finish our task. The 
Iraqis say let us finish our task. They're paying their price. We need 
to hold up our end of this bargain, and we need to support General 
Petraeus.
  And I yield back to the gentleman from Georgia, and I thank him.
  Mr. GINGREY. I thank the gentleman from Iowa so much for being with 
us.
  As we rapidly approach the conclusion of this hour, I wanted to make 
a few other points. The gentleman from Iowa spoke of it when he said we 
are not there for their oil. We are not there for their land. We're not 
there for anything except to try to bring a democracy to the Middle 
East. And you think about the history of this country in other battles 
that we have been in, in World War I in Belleau Wood, in World War II 
on the beaches of Normandy, or in the Argonne Forest, in the Korean 
war, in the rice paddies of Vietnam or the sands of Iwo Jima, whom were 
we fighting for, and what did we ask for in return? We were fighting 
for other people as much as we were fighting for ourselves, and the 
only thing that this country asked for in return was a little bit of 
dirt to bury our dead. We don't bury our fallen soldiers anymore on 
foreign soil, but that's really all we ever asked for.
  The 4,000 that we have lost in this battle, how can we possibly turn 
our back on them? How can we turn our back on the Veterans For Freedom 
that I talked about that we met this morning?
  And, Mr. Speaker, I have sufficient time, and I hope you will allow 
me to read these 25 names from my district, the 11th of Georgia, who 
have paid the ultimate sacrifice in this conflict to bring a little bit 
of democracy to the Middle East. And let me read quickly, Mr. Speaker:
  Sergeant Michael Hardegree from Villa Rica; Lance Corporal Samuel 
Large, Jr., also from Villa Rica; Specialist Joshua Dingler from Hiram, 
Georgia; Sergeant Paul Saylor from Bremen; Captain Hayes Clayton from 
Marietta, my home; Private First Class Jesus Fonseca, Marietta; Lance 
Corporal Stephenen Johnson, Marietta; Airman First Class Antoine Holt, 
Georgia; Sergeant Brian Ardron, Acworth; Private First Class Marquis 
Whitaker from Columbus; Staff Sergeant John McGee, Columbus; Sergeant 
First Class David Salie from Columbus; Corporal Tyler Dickens, 
Columbus.

                              {time}  2145

  Staff Sergeant Rickey Scott, Columbus, Georgia; Corporal John Tanner, 
Columbus, Georgia; Sergeant Thomas Strickland, Douglasville, Georgia; 
Spec. Marvin Camposiles, Austell; Spec. Benjamin Bartlett, Jr., 
Manchester, Georgia; Lance Corporal Juan Lopez, Whitfield; Private John 
M. Henderson, Jr., from Columbus; First Lieutenant Michael Fasnacht, 
from Columbus; Lance Corporal Kristopher C. Warren, from Resaca; 
Specialist Justin Johnson, from Rome, Georgia; First Lieutenant Tyler 
Brown, president of the student body at Georgia Tech, died in Iraq, 
from Atlanta, Georgia; Jack Hensley, a civilian contractor from 
Marietta, Georgia was beheaded by the brutality known as al Qaeda.
  Mr. Speaker, as I conclude my time, again, I thank you for allowing 
me to read those names.
  And my colleagues, I hope that some of those families are listening 
because I pledge to you we will not turn our back on them. They have 
paid the ultimate sacrifice. You are continuing to pay the sacrifice, 
but God bless you for the support of this commander in chief and with 
your patience and our determination here in Congress, we will give 
victory a chance, and we will achieve victory.
  And with that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back.

                          ____________________