[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13932-13935]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            PROTECT AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Gohmert) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, at this time I want to yield to my doctor 
friend from Texas, a former student of Texas A&M University, as myself, 
a guy who, as a junior in college when I was a senior in college, 
helped tutor me to make a 98 on the final exam of our accounting 
course. I yield such time as he may consume to my friend from Texas 
(Mr. Flores).


   Recognizing American Hero Brian Bachmann and All First Responders 
                             Across America

  Mr. FLORES. I would like to thank my friend from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) 
for allowing me a few minutes of his time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an American hero, Brian 
Bachmann, who served as Precinct 1 Constable of Brazos County, Texas, 
who was killed in the line of duty on August 13, 2012. Also, with 
yesterday being the 11th anniversary of 9/11, I also want to recognize 
first responders all across our country.
  As I began to write my reflections for this conversation, which I 
originally delivered on August 18, the words that kept coming to mind 
to talk about were the words ``home'' and ``celebration.''
  Before proceeding, I want to remind us of the heroes of Texas 
District 17. Since I was sworn into office on January 5, 2011, the 17th 
Congressional District of Texas has lost seven military personnel: 
Sergeant Scott Burgess; Staff Sergeant Bryan Burgess; Sergeant Edward 
F. Dixon, III; PFC Jesse Dietrich; Lieutenant Colonel David Cabrera; 
Captain Nathan Anderson; and Lieutenant Colonel Roy Tisdale.

                              {time}  1900

  In addition, we have lost two law enforcement personnel during that 
time, Deputy Sheriff Taylor from Johnson County; and on August 13, we 
lost Constable Brian Bachmann. In each case, God called home one of his 
children and heaven has been celebrating since each of those arrivals.
  Brian and I met in early 2010 when we were both running for our 
respective offices. Neither of us had ever run for public office 
before; and even though we came from different backgrounds, we formed a 
great friendship that endured the rigors of tough political campaigns.
  Following our victories, we remained great friends. Each time we were 
together at various events, we always picked up our conversations where 
we had left off at the prior events. Most of the time we teased each 
other in these conversations.
  The last time I talked to Brian was the Thursday before he was called 
home by God. We were both volunteers at the Brazos Valley Food Bank's 
Feast of Caring. We started out by teasing each other again. He began 
saying that I must not be a very good politician because I was already 
having to run again for office, to which I replied, Oh really, 
Bachmann? From what I've seen, you're the reason we need term limits.
  Following that conversation and fellowship, we went back to cleaning 
tables and serving food. I never appreciated the fact that I wouldn't 
see him on this Earth again.
  This is the Brian Bachmann that I knew, the friendly and always 
smiling guy who could care less about anyone's title. He was the person 
that loved our community and would do anything for it. He was the model 
public servant. However, and more importantly, he was a servant leader 
who ultimately modeled the words of Jesus in John 15:13 which state: 
``Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his 
friends.''
  I started this conversation by talking about home and celebration. At 
the end of each week, I jump on a plane and head home from Washington 
to Texas. That is where I'm happiest. That's where my wife, Gina is. It 
is close to our sons, our daughter-in-law and our granddaughter. In 
short, it is the community that I love. I always celebrate those 
homecomings, and my sense of excitement always builds as the airliner 
approaches Bryan/College Station.
  The same thing happened on the afternoon of August 13. As Brian's 
situation changed here on Earth, others were preparing his new home. 
Brian knew this day would come. However, like the rest of us, he didn't 
know when, where, or how. But because of his relationship with Christ, 
he knew that he would someday be able to look forward to going to his 
next home for eternity. God knew all the details about Brian's 
homecoming, and the celebration started immediately on the afternoon 
when he left us.
  The Apostle Paul reinforces this in 2 Corinthians 5:8, where he says: 
``We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body 
and at home with the Lord.'' This is the same knowledge that all 
Christians have. We know that when our human life ends, we will move to 
our eternal home with God.
  At that moment, on August 13, Brian instantly heard the voices of 
those who had gone before him welcoming him home but, more importantly, 
the One who loved Brian enough to die for him held out his nail-pierced 
hands, embraced him and said, ``Howdy, Brian. Welcome to your new 
home.'' Those same hands and arms embrace and comfort Brian's family 
and all of us here now.
  About 20 years ago, Max Lucado wrote a book titled ``The Applause of 
Heaven.'' I'm going to paraphrase the last few paragraphs of that book, 
as follows:
  You'll be home soon. You may not have noticed it, but you're closer 
to home than ever before. Each moment is

[[Page 13933]]

a step taken. Each breath is a page turned. Each day is a mile marker 
passed, a mountain climbed. You're closer to home than you've ever 
been.
  Just as when my airline flight approaches Bryan/College Station each 
week, before you know it, your appointed arrival time will come. You'll 
descend the ramp and enter the city. You'll see the faces that are 
waiting for you. You'll hear your name spoken by those who love you. 
And in the back, behind the anxious crowd, the One who would rather die 
than live without you will remove His pierced hands from His heavenly 
robe and applaud your arrival.
  We should be celebrating Brian's heavenly homecoming here on Earth as 
well. He is another soldier that fought the good fight and gone home 
where God has told him, ``Well done, good and faithful servant.''
  Brian's parents, Brad and Carmen, his wife, Donna, and his children, 
Sam, Amanda, Colby and Caitlyn, can all take comfort in Brian's 
homecoming because we know that the cross of Jesus has won again.
  Brian's sacrifice should remind us that we're all here to serve. It 
is my prayer that Brian's homecoming reminds us of all our human 
frailties and the shortness of our time here on this Earth. I'm hopeful 
that all of us will have the type of relationship with Christ that 
Brian did, so we will have similar homecomings with Him in heaven.
  Let me close by asking everyone here to pray for and support the 
Bachmann family. Please pray for our country during these troubled 
times. Please pray for our military men and women who sacrifice to 
protect us abroad, and please pray for our first responders like Brian 
Bachmann who protect us here at home.
  Brian, we celebrate your homecoming.
  I again thank the gentleman for yielding.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Huizenga of Michigan). The gentleman 
from Texas will be recognized.
  Mr. GOHMERT. How much time is remaining, Mr. Speaker?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 25 minutes remaining.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, it's a difficult day, difficult week in the 
world. And I appreciate the tribute of my friend, Bill Flores, for a 
great American hero.
  I also want to pay tribute today to our U.S. Ambassador, Chris 
Stevens, and the three others who were killed in Libya in the service 
of their country. We grieve for their families. We grieve for their 
friends and all who may have come to harm and will come to harm; 
hopefully, no more, but our thoughts and prayers are with them.
  It is important, during times when Americans are attacked on American 
soil, American buildings are attacked, which is what an American 
Embassy is, that the world understand that there will be consequences.
  For those who sometimes want to ask, well, aren't you a Christian, 
don't you believe in turning the other cheek? The answer is, yes, 
individually. But there is a different charge for the government. There 
is a different charge for the people who have the responsibility of 
government and protecting the people and their rights.
  The United States Government has the obligation to protect our 
citizens, to protect those who are serving this country, and as far as 
our military, to give them everything they need to win, whatever it 
takes, give them rules of engagement to allow them to win, whatever it 
takes, and then come home.
  So it grieves me much, also, to see a time when people are dying, not 
for a wishy-washy government in Washington, D.C. that can't decide what 
its priorities are, but for the ideal for which America stands and for 
what it represents, for what it represents to people who yearn for 
freedom around the world.
  And it does not help when an administration, in response to American 
attacks on American soil and American individuals, the administration 
ends up asking Americans to give up their First Amendment rights for 
which our servicemembers are fighting.

                              {time}  1910

  It doesn't help when a general calls an American and asks an American 
to give up your First Amendment rights rather than proclaiming to the 
world, We're the United States military. You've attacked our country. 
You've attacked our brothers and sisters, and you will pay for that.
  When we took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, 
foreign and domestic, it means that when enemies who are foreign 
enemies attack on American soil--attack Americans because they're 
Americans--we have an obligation if they were not protected and they 
got hurt or killed. We have an obligation to those who would serve 
behind them--to those who are in this country--to protect them for the 
future.
  That doesn't come when an administration or even a general turns 
around and says, Hey, I know I took an oath to defend the Constitution 
against all enemies, foreign and domestic, but we think, by your 
utilizing your First Amendment rights, it may be offending people 
around the world, so why don't you just subject your First Amendment 
rights to shari'a law. So it's okay to burn a Bible. That's okay. It's 
okay to burn a flag. Okay. That's all right. But just, for heaven's 
sake, don't say anything that might offend someone of the Islamic 
religion.
  I, personally, don't think anybody should do that, but I certainly do 
think we should defend ourselves against radical Islamists who want to 
annihilate this country and destroy our way of life. We have an 
obligation. We took an oath to do that, not an oath to say: Let's give 
up the Constitution. I took an oath to defend and subject it to 
shari'a. No, no, no. Let's give that up so that maybe the people who 
are killing Americans and the people who are attacking our Embassies 
won't feel so offended, and maybe they won't kill people.
  That is not the role of a general. It's not the role of a general to 
tell former military members that they should never speak out against a 
Commander in Chief when, as former members of the military, they're in 
a good place to be able to judge what's going on. It is and it should 
be a crime within the military to create problems for good order and 
discipline by publicly demeaning or condemning anyone in your chain of 
command. In my 4 years at Fort Benning, we knew that. President Carter 
drove me crazy with his ineptitude, with his inability to make 
decisions, to make the tough calls, and in his pathetic handling of the 
attack on our American Embassy in Tehran for which America still pays 
in the pathetic way it was handled.
  For those of us who have been in the military, there is an obligation 
when you see the same mistakes being repeated. Since you know that 
those in uniform cannot step up and criticize the chain of command, we 
have an obligation to do that, and it is not helpful for anyone with 
stars on his shoulders to tell former military members, Oh, this is not 
appropriate for you to criticize my boss. How about the person with 
stars on his shoulders stepping up and doing the criticizing privately 
on behalf of the soldiers he is supposed to be commanding and 
protecting?
  There are stories that are coming out. Time will tell. This one is 
from Fox News today. It's entitled ``U.S. Officials Suspect Strike on 
Benghazi Post `Coordinated,' Timed for 9/11 Anniversary.''

       U.S. officials are increasingly suspicious that the murder 
     Tuesday of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, 
     and three other American officials was not the result of a 
     protest against an anti-Islam film, but instead was a 
     coordinated terror strike timed for the 11th anniversary of 
     the September 11 attacks.
       A senior administration official told Fox News they are 
     exhaustively investigating every angle of the attack in 
     Benghazi, and an earlier assault on the U.S. Embassy in 
     Cairo, Egypt, and there are early signs the Benghazi assault 
     may have been planned. The official cautioned, though, that 
     the administration has not jumped to any conclusions about 
     what happened, saying it would be ``premature'' to do so.

  The article goes on down, and it quotes different people. One is Pete 
Hoekstra, the former chairman of the

[[Page 13934]]

House Intelligence Committee, who told Fox News that the attack 
appeared to have the markings of an al Qaeda or an al Qaeda-affiliated 
strike.
  It quotes him as saying:

       ``We've been talking for years about the desire of Al 
     Qaeda, radical jihadists to celebrate the anniversary of 9/
     11. All my background, all of the conversations that I've had 
     over the last 18 hours lead many people to believe that this 
     was just more than a mere coincidence.''
       Hoekstra noted that the supposed protesters--purportedly 
     angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad--
     didn't attack in Tripoli. They attacked in Benghazi, ``where 
     it so happens our Ambassador is.'' And they happened to be 
     ``fully armed and fully equipped,'' he said.
       Hoekstra noted that al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri had 
     recently released a video calling on militants to attack 
     Americans in revenge for the killing of an operative in 
     Pakistan. The message said his ``blood is calling on you, 
     inciting you to fight and kill the crusaders.''
       Hoekstra said the film may have been just a cover to carry 
     out such an attack.
       Two intelligence officials also said the attack looked 
     ``coordinated.''
       London-based think tank Quilliam reached the same 
     conclusion, saying the Benghazi strike appeared to be a 
     ``well-planned terrorist attack that would have occurred 
     regardless of the demonstration (over the film).''
       Also, the brother of Zawahiri was nearby during the 
     separate protest at the American Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday.

  There is so much going on, but one of the last things that people 
ought to do is say it's time to give up First Amendment rights. One of 
the goals that we know of for the Muslim Brotherhood in the United 
States within 10 years--it was one of their 10-year goals--is to 
subjugate the U.S. Constitution to shari'a law. There are great 
patriots who have called upon Americans to, perhaps, make it illegal to 
speak out and offend or to do anything that might offend worshipers of 
Islam without saying the same thing about any other religion whether 
it's Buddhist, Christian, whatever.
  If they have their way and if we make the mistake of curtailing our 
constitutional rights to avoid offending people who want to annihilate 
us anyway and who want to have an international caliphate where they 
rule over us anyway--those they don't destroy--we make a major error. 
There are those who say there should be no criticism among Members of 
Congress and people in the government as to the handling by the 
Commander in Chief, but since we know people in uniform cannot speak 
out when they see mistakes by their commanders, we have an obligation 
to them to speak out.
  But I do make this pledge to my friends across the aisle that, in any 
criticism, I will endeavor to ensure that I, personally, do not ever 
make the kind of wild-eyed allegations against this President that were 
leveled at President Bush by them.

                              {time}  1920

  How quickly some people forget.
  Also, I understand this is a political season, it is a time when 
people are running for election and reelection. We all know that. But 
we have a friend. We have a prime minister of a friendly nation who has 
been mistreated by this administration, who deserves better treatment 
by this administration, who deserves to have this administration and 
this President keep their words that have been given to our friends in 
Israel, and it wouldn't hurt to meet with such a leader.
  We know that in July that there were people who came to the White 
House for meetings in the White House, one of whom was a member of a 
known terrorist organization. That terrorist was allowed into the White 
House. Obviously, from the hearing we had with the Secretary of 
Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, from a response she gave to me, 
she was ignorant of fact that we had a terrorist going into the White 
House for meetings. But by the next day when she testified, I believe, 
across in the Senate, she had become aware that we had a member of a 
terrorist organization meeting in the White House, and apparently this 
administration intends to continue meeting with members of known 
terrorist organizations, from what was said back in July.
  And yet, the President--though he had time for meetings with known 
terrorists--will not carve out a little time to meet with the prime 
minister of our dear friend Israel at a time when Israel and many in 
the United States suspect that Iran may be 2 months away from having 
the nukes to carry out another Holocaust. We don't know the specific 
days there may be, but it would seem that you wouldn't necessarily need 
a rocket to have pinpoint accuracy if it's carrying a nuclear weapon. 
And now that we've seen trouble on the borders of Israel, all around 
Israel almost, it doesn't seem it would be impossible to get one 
smuggled in. Rockets have been smuggled in by the hundreds that are 
routinely fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip. That's why there was a 
legitimate legal blockade to try to prevent those types of things from 
coming into the Gaza Strip, but they came in anyway, and they continue 
to come in.
  We owe our friend, our ally, who this President has pressured, has 
cajoled, has ridiculed, has snubbed, and taunted by just saying, Trust 
us, we'll take care of Iran, don't worry about your national security, 
trust us. No nation should be told that they cannot invoke self-defense 
when their nation is at risk of being annihilated.
  I remember learning in college that President Eisenhower had ordered 
that people from towns surrounding areas of these concentration camps 
where, when totaled together, was 6 million Jews that were killed, 
murdered, tortured, maimed, and he ordered that the people from the 
towns be required to come help clean up. The reasoning was so that no 
one could ever say the Holocaust never happened, because they cleaned 
up the atrocity. I remember thinking that was a little overboard for 
General Eisenhower. Really, you had to rub those peoples' noses in such 
horrible affliction? It hasn't been that long ago that I had these 
thoughts, and now we have people, like leaders of countries like Iran, 
that is about to have nuclear weapons if we don't intercede, who have 
said just that the Holocaust never happened, it was a hoax. 
Unbelievable.
  It is unbelievable to me that in a matter of decades since World War 
II, since that horrible Holocaust, such an indictment against the human 
race, that people could do that to one race. It's just almost 
unfathomable that even in Europe, where those atrocities were committed 
and genocide was attempted, that we would see this growing anti-
Semitism raising its ugly head again. And at the same time anti-
Semitism is growing even in Europe, a civilized area, an educated area, 
it grows around the world, as we see people in the Middle East begin to 
have dreams of a new Ottoman Empire where every religion will be 
subjected to some of what we've seen happen in those countries where we 
helped bring about an Arab spring that's turned into a winter 
nightmare.
  This is not a time to play petty personal games, to snub leaders of 
friends, of allies, even when you disagree with them, for heaven's 
sake. Take a little time from a fundraiser, take a little time that you 
don't go to the golf course, and meet with the leader of a country that 
sees hatred for its people, anti-Semitism, the racism, the bigotry 
growing around the world, that is scared for its own existence, that 
can't be sure we're going to be there with them because of the actions 
of this administration. Take a little time to meet with them. It is an 
inconvenient thing to have to be President when you are really best at 
running for office, but take some time and be President and meet with 
our friends.
  The messages that are going out to those whom we seek to make allies 
for the future is not a good message. The people that have laid down 
their lives for the American ideal deserve the best we can give them. 
So on this day when we grieve and our flags are at half mast for the 
atrocity committed against our ambassador and others, our thoughts and 
prayers are with the families, and our thoughts and prayers are that 
our leadership will become what it should be to protect America.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page 13935]]



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