[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6469-6470]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 JUSTICE DELAYED BECAME JUSTICE SERVED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Pence) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, Osama bin Laden is dead. Justice delayed 
became justice served. And I stand to pay a debt of honor and a debt of 
gratitude to all of those who brought us to this day.
  The first time most Americans heard Osama bin Laden's name was 
perhaps from that podium. Just more than a week after September 11, we 
gathered here. President George W. Bush spoke that name into history. 
And every day since, it has been clear to freedom-loving people across 
this planet that we had to reach this day to answer for the tragic and 
brutal events visited upon our country on September 11.
  I rise to pay a debt of honor and a debt of gratitude. I commend 
President Barack Obama for his decisive leadership, making the tactical 
decisions that were made, as well as providing our troops with the 
resources they needed to get the job done and come home safely. I 
commend his predecessor, President George W. Bush, whose tenacity and 
commitment to the war on terror clearly brought us to this day. I also 
commend our intelligence community, who, year upon year, never lost 
sight of the demand for justice.
  But I mostly rise today to pay a debt of honor and gratitude to the 
members of our U.S. Armed Forces, past and present. Those Sunday night 
who slid down the ropes and captured and killed Osama bin Laden are in 
our hearts, but also those over the last 10 years who have made the 
necessary sacrifices in the war on terror, and I rise today to 
particularly pay tribute to them.
  I was here on 9/11. After we had the opportunity for the roads to 
open, I

[[Page 6470]]

made my way back to our small home in Northern Virginia, and there, 
with my wife and our children, 6, 7 and 8, we gathered for a short 
family meeting and for prayer before I would come back in to the 
Capitol.
  My little 6-year-old daughter stopped me in the kitchen as I was 
walking to the car and she said, ``Daddy, I have to talk to you.'' I 
said, ``I've got to go.'' She said, ``Daddy, I've got to talk to you.'' 
I said, ``What?'' She said, ``If we have to make a war, do you have to 
go?'' And I dropped down on one knee and I threw my arms around that 6-
year-old and I said, ``Daddy's too old.'' But every day since I have 
thought of all the daddies and mommies who looked their little ones in 
the eye, looked their spouses and their parents in the eye, and they 
said, ``I have to go.'' And they went. And some of them didn't come 
home.
  In the Sixth Congressional District, we have a roll of the fallen 
heroes of the war on terror. I recite them today with the deepest 
respect and gratitude.
  Lance Corporal Matthew Smith of Anderson; Private Shawn Pahnke of 
Shelbyville; Specialist Chad Keith of Batesville; Staff Sergeant 
Frederick Miller, Jr., of Hagerstown; Sergeant Robert Colvill, Jr., of 
Anderson; Specialist Raymond White of Elwood; Lance Corporal Scott 
Zubowski of New Castle; Sergeant Jeremy Wright of Shelbyville; Master 
Sergeant Mike Heister of Bluffton; Staff Sergeant Michael Bechert of 
New Castle; Staff Sergeant Brian Keith Miller of Pendleton; Specialist 
Jonathan Lahmann of Richmond; Lance Corporal Layton Crass of Richmond; 
Lance Corporal Andrew Whitacre of Bryant; Specialist William Justin 
McClellan of New Castle; Private First Class Jaiciae Pauley of Muncie; 
Staff Sergeant Phillip Chad Jenkins of Decatur; and Sergeant Jeremy 
McQueary of my hometown of Columbus.
  This was a victory for freedom. And as much as it belongs to those 
who made the decisions, developed the intelligence, who slid down the 
ropes and stepped into harm's way Sunday night, this victory belongs to 
those who lie in earthen graves in my district and all over this 
country who brought it about.

                              {time}  1020

  Winston Churchill said, We sleep soundly in our beds because rough 
men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do us harm. Today, 
I pay a debt of gratitude to a Commander in Chief, present and past, 
but to all the members of the Armed Forces who allow us this day to 
say: Justice served. Osama bin Laden is dead.

                          ____________________