[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10930]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNIZING THE CITY OF LAGUNA NIGUEL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN CAMPBELL

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 21, 2008

  Mr. CAMPBELL of California. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to recognize 
the city of Laguna Niguel, located within the 48th Congressional 
District of California, for recently formalizing its Sister Cities 
Agreement with Al Qa'im, Iraq. This is the tenth Sister City 
relationship to be established between United States and Iraqi 
jurisdictions, and I see this as a clear sign to the people of Iraq 
that citizen volunteers within communities like Laguna Niguel stand 
beside them in their time of building a free and prosperous society.
  The Sister City Program, administered by Sister Cities International, 
was initiated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower back in 1956 to 
encourage greater friendship and cultural understanding between the 
United States and other nations through direct personal contact. The 
partnership between Laguna Niguel and Al Qa'im will be for the purpose 
of exploring and implementing mutually beneficial programs in the areas 
of government and business information exchange, health, education, 
cultural arts, and sports.
  As a preliminary first gesture, the city of Laguna Niguel's Military 
Support Committee sent hundreds of soccer balls, uniforms and pumps to 
Al Qa'im to help the Marines deployed there build relations with the 
local citizens. According to their commanding officer, the city played 
an extremely important role in assisting the Marines in accomplishing 
their mission.
  This is just an early indicator of many great things to come as the 
activities of their mutual cooperation agreement unfold. Mayor Farhan 
Tekan Farhan of Al Qa'im was recently quoted in Marine Corps News, 
saying that ``this is a great occasion for Al Qa'im, and God willing, 
this relationship will prove to be a promising one.''
  I especially want to thank the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 
led by LTC Jason Bohm, for initiating the program with Laguna Niguel 
and Al Qa'im, and the recently deployed Task Force 3rd Battalion, 2nd 
Marine Regiment, Regimential Combat Team 5, led by LTC Peter B. 
Baumgarten, for facilitating the official signing for the Sister City 
Program. I look forward to hearing and telling more about many other 
good things to come from this innovative program over the months and 
years ahead.

                          ____________________