[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 305-308]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      GETTING THE COUNTRY ON TRACK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Gohmert) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I have great appreciation and affection for 
my friend from North Carolina, Dr. Foxx,

[[Page 306]]

and I appreciate her comments. Actually, I didn't realize at the time, 
but some of the things she said leads into some rather painful things 
to talk about this evening, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. Speaker, I have been greatly encouraged, first of all, over the 
last few days to find out that Americans are paying attention. They 
realize what is at risk. They realize there is a great deal at stake in 
this country, and now--maybe not more than ever, but as much as ever--
we need to be about the business of getting this country on track.
  I have mentioned before, Mr. Speaker, in recent years--maybe 3 years 
or so ago--my wife and I had gone to Togo, West Africa, which is by 
Nigeria, while Mercy Ships headquartered in my district were there. It 
is just an awesome charitable institution.
  They bring a huge medical hospital ship into a dock in a Third World 
country, usually in Africa, and it is controlled by Christians, 
operated by Christians. They don't proselytize. They do the job of 
reaching out and ministering.
  After the ship has been there, blind can see, and lame can walk. 
People who had massive tumors that were about to cut off their 
breathing are able to live. Women who had a child and developed a small 
hole in either the urinary tract or the colon when having a child that 
had been banned from families--sometimes, for 20 years, they were not 
allowed to be with the family. They were considered unclean.
  They would have the fistula repaired and, after rather emotional 
ceremonies, for the first time, they would be reunited with family 
members. Sometimes, like I said, they hadn't seen them in 20 years. 
There were specific occasions like that.

                              {time}  1815

  And it is an amazing thing to watch. I was there for a week, really 
was blessed to help out with a number of different things.
  But some of the West Africans wanted to meet with me before I left. 
They knew I was in Congress. Some of them were a little perplexed to 
see a Member of Congress. They were told he was a Member of Congress, 
but he is back there washing dishes in the kitchen.
  But my late mother once said: I am not going to have you bunch of 
boys grow up and not be able to cook and wash dishes. So she made sure 
we could, and we can.
  But we had the meeting with the West Africans there. They were 
Christians. And the oldest, senior citizen, hardworking man, after we 
had a really nice visit, he concluded, in essence, by saying: We were 
so thrilled when you elected your first Black President--his words--but 
since then, we have seen America getting weaker. It appears you are 
getting weaker and weaker. And the weaker it appears America gets, the 
more we suffer. Please, please, go back to Washington and tell your 
friends there stop getting weaker, because we know where we go when we 
die, but our only chance of having peace in this world is if America is 
strong.
  I don't try to shove my religious beliefs on others, but it is part 
of who I am, just as it was with most of our Founding Fathers and those 
that went before us. But we were founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs. If 
you go look at one of the most important documents that established our 
independence--yes, the Declaration of Independence is critical. We are 
endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.
  But the Treaty of Paris, 1783, that was after the Revolutionary War, 
after the war had been won, but the Americans weren't sure that Britain 
wasn't going to come back. They had the most powerful navy, the most 
powerful army. What is to say they wouldn't come back?
  So it was critical that a document be signed, and something put in 
that document that was so important, that would be such an oath that 
the leaders of Great Britain would not dare break that oath, that they 
truly would recognize the United States as being independent and free 
of Great Britain.
  I didn't know until I got to Congress--I mean, I read history books. 
I read biographies. I love to learn more all the time. But I was struck 
when our pastor, David Dykes, his wife, Cindy, were up here and they 
wanted to go on a tour of the State Department. I had never been 
through a tour of the State Department.
  I went with them and, lo and behold, there was an original copy of 
the Treaty of Paris, the actual treaty. We were told it was an original 
copy. And I was surprised at the huge, big, bold letters that started 
the document because that document, if that is not signed, we are not 
free and independent, regardless of what the Declaration of 
Independence says. It means Britain is going to come in any time they 
get ready to. There had to be something so important put in that 
document so that when they signed it they wouldn't dare want to break 
it.
  The words that started the Treaty of Paris, 1783, were: ``In the name 
of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.'' That is a Christian belief. 
That was so important and held with such reverence that neither side 
would want to break an oath under the name of the Most Holy and 
Undivided Trinity.
  Mr. Speaker, for those that don't know--I know you do--but that means 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That is how the Treaty of 
Paris started that established not just our hopes and aspirations and 
principles as the Declaration of Independence did, this was the treaty 
that gave us the independence.
  So, yes, we got back into a fight with Great Britain in 1812, the War 
of 1812. 1814, part of that war, this building was burned and, 
apparently, if it had not been for a massive thunderstorm or rainstorm 
that night, this would have gone the way--this actual wing didn't come 
into existence for about 40 years, 44 years or so, but the reason we 
didn't get a big ruin up here on what was once called Jenkins Hill was 
because the rainstorm put out the fire. The roof was badly damaged. And 
even though sandstone, marble granite doesn't burn, necessarily, in the 
presence of extreme heat you get cracks and it falls. We didn't get a 
big ruin because of the rainstorm.
  Some thought maybe we ought to move the Capitol back to Philadelphia 
or New York, but others felt that what was here was preserved for a 
reason, so it was built back. It is part of our founding.
  And what we have seen in the last 6 years as this noble effort by our 
President wanting to bring peace throughout the world by showing how 
nice we were, by showing that we meant them no harm, we would be glad 
to meet with them, to sit down, we will give them offices, we will give 
them things, we will let murderers go from prison, and those type 
things will show our enemies how really decent and good we are, and so 
they will want to be our friends and will not want to be at war with 
us--the only problem is that may work in some common core-type thing 
taught in school, but it is not in touch with reality because there is 
evil in this world, and that evil has been most recently manifested 
repeatedly in radical Islamic jihadist actions. And there is no way 
around it. The more the people in this administration refuse to rise up 
and call evil what it is, the more the evil rises up.
  Last June, I was asked to go to Nigeria and meet with 23 of the 
mothers of daughters who were kidnapped by Boko Haram, a radical 
Islamic group. And I hope and pray more around this town, especially 
down the end of Pennsylvania Avenue, will begin to develop the courage 
and understanding that we are not going to bring peace to Christians 
and Jews throughout the world, and we are not going to bring peace to 
moderate Muslims who want to stand up to radical Islamists, but they 
know they go to the top of the death chart. But we have got to have 
people in the executive branch understand this is evil, and it is done 
in the name of Islam, and it is radical, and it is what they believe is 
jihad.
  Yes, it is their religion. It is not the religion of moderate 
Muslims, but to them it is their religion. It is their religion. It is 
their politics. It is their world view. And under their world view, you 
don't have freedom of expression. Ultimately, shari'a law will prevail, 
and either they must wipe you out

[[Page 307]]

and kill you as dogs, or some of the more moderate of the radicals will 
allow you to pay a tax, admit that you are subservient to the 
Islamists, and they may let you live in peace, unless they feel that 
they are being led by some religious fanatic to do otherwise.
  Things around the world have gotten worse for Christians and Jews 
because we had an administration, as noble and idealistic as it wanted 
to be--as wonderful as it would be if you could just say, ``We want to 
be at peace and we will turn the other cheek,'' that is not for a 
government to do, even a Christian-based government, as this one 
started and was for most of this country's existence.
  For Christians, there is an obligation to follow the beatitudes, the 
teachings of Christ. But, Mr. Speaker, some get confused and think that 
is the government's role, that if its people get killed, well, if we 
just say, ``Oh, that was probably our fault; we deserved it,'' then it 
will stop. It does not. It gets worse.
  People need to begin to understand what is going on in this world. 
There is evil, and people are being killed and tortured and women and 
young girls raped and their lives stolen from them, Christians and Jews 
being persecuted in greater numbers than any time in the world's 
existence--not a greater percentage but greater numbers.
  I met with many Nigerians who have been adversely affected by this 
radical Islamist--yes, radical Islamist--group, Boko Haram. And make no 
mistake, I am not advocating for sending troops into Nigeria. That 
would be a huge mistake, in my opinion. But we can help them. They need 
intelligence. We might use a drone and drop a bomb. That might help 
save many Christians from the horrors they are experiencing. We could 
work with the southern, with part of the Nigerian Government, at least, 
to help save those people.
  I mentioned before, I asked--these were all Christians. I asked did 
they attack this girls' school, because I know they don't believe girls 
should be educated. And they said no, they don't believe girls should 
be educated, but they attacked the school because they knew it was a 
Christian school.
  And usually when they attack a school, if there are boys, they kill 
the boys, and then they take the girls and sell them into sex slavery. 
And in the case of these innocent children, these girls, they took them 
captive. They raped them repeatedly. They abused them severely. They 
demanded that they convert from Christianity to Islam.
  But I asked the Christian pastor--and we were a couple of hours 
outside of town, where I had to go without the State Department or 
other people that would not have wanted me to put myself in that 
situation, but getting out to the remote location, secret location, 
where these survivors were. I said to the pastor: Where are the 
fathers? And he said: That is another part of the tragedy. They know 
that girls are being raped, sexually abused, abused in so many ways. 
They left their homes and they went into the bush because they are the 
fathers. They were supposed to protect their children, and they feel 
guilty, and they don't believe they deserve to be in a bed or a home 
while their daughters are being abused like they are.

                              {time}  1830

  That is a real human tragedy.
  Then we hear not of just some violent action in Paris, France--it was 
a terrorist action, committed by radical Islamic jihadists who are 
being taught, so many of them, as tiny children growing up, to hate the 
West, to hate Western civilization, to hate America, that it is a good 
thing to kill innocent Americans, and that somehow, in their weird 
religious belief--in this evil--they benefit by killing and harming 
what are really innocent people.
  This is a story from CNS News, on January 8, by Curtis Kalin:

       In the wake of the terrorist attack on the offices of 
     French satirist paper Charlie Hebdo, one Muslim cleric 
     justified the murders under Islamic law.

  Mr. Speaker, for those who don't understand, when they say they are 
justifying this under Islamic law, it means, to them, it is their 
religion. Yes, it is their religion:

       USA Today published a column by avowed ``radical Muslim 
     cleric'' Anjem Choudary. The piece, titled ``People know the 
     consequences,'' asks why France would allow the paper to mock 
     Islam, and further excuses the systematic murders as 
     justified under Islamic law.

  Then it quotes him:

       ``Muslims consider the honor of the Prophet Muhammad to be 
     dearer to them than that of their parents or even themselves. 
     To defend it is considered to be an obligation upon them. The 
     strict punishment, if found guilty of this crime under sharia 
     law, is capital punishment implementable by an Islamic State. 
     This is because the Messenger Muhammad said, ``Whoever 
     insults a prophet, kill him.''

  See, for those who don't understand, those are people who are saying, 
``This is our religion; it is our state; it is our lives,'' and until 
the people leading this administration understand that, it is going to 
get worse.
  I do believe what is in the Bible: that to whom much is given, of 
them much will be required.
  We have been put here in America in such a place and time that if we 
stand strong, we don't have to send American troops, who then end up 
being seen as occupiers, but we can help. We can give them 
intelligence, and we can give them the ability as we did in Africa. 
Within about 4 or 5 months, and with fewer than 500 American special 
ops people and intelligence, they defeated the Taliban by February of 
2002. Then we became occupiers and added tens of thousands of troops 
and ended up, eventually, with over 100,000 in this administration. 
Occupiers don't do well in that part of the world. If we tried to be 
occupiers in Nigeria, we wouldn't do very well, but we can help with 
information and if we get weapons in the right hands.
  I am not talking about sending weapons to the Free Syrian Army, which 
is working frequently with the Islamic State. I am talking about 
putting them in the hands of people who are our friends. Send them 
directly to those we can be sure are our friends in Nigeria. Send them 
to Erbil, where I was 2 or 3 weeks ago, in northern Iraq with the 
Kurds. They didn't throw down their weapons. They didn't hand them over 
to the Islamic State. They stood and fought. They are still standing 
and fighting. They helped clear an avenue to free some people who were 
trapped on a mountain while I was there.
  My dear friend, Dana Rohrabacher, set the trip up. He and I have 
traveled to so many places. My friend Steve King was there, and Gregory 
Meeks was there--a good man. We also were in Kabul in Afghanistan. 
There is hope there. We have got to be smart about the way that we 
help, but it does not help when we can't even recognize the enemy.
  I warned about one of the Homeland Security advisers--top advisers--
for a number of years. Finally, after all of this time--back, I believe 
it was, in August, he tweeted about the Islamic State's beheading and 
killing people. This adviser--top adviser--in the Obama administration 
tweeted out, Hey, the Islamic caliphate is inevitable, so just relax--
words to that effect. Finally, that was enough. They let him resign and 
not renew his term again. Thank goodness.
  I have been talking with people in Nigeria and emailing, and I have 
great hopes for the girls I have met with, these young girls, that they 
are going to come out of it. They are still traumatized. The families 
are still traumatized. The girls have not been released, and it doesn't 
appear that this administration has done anything to really help. As I 
was communicating with African friends in Nigeria, we got word of this 
story, this one from NBC News:

       More than 2,000 people are unaccounted for after radical 
     Islamist sect Boko Haram torched more than 10 towns and 
     villages in Nigeria, a local lawmaker told NBC News. Ahmed 
     Zanna, a senator for Borno state, where the attack happened, 
     said the militants razed the town of Baga as well as ``10 to 
     20'' other communities in the country's rural northeast over 
     the past 5 days. ``These towns are just gone, burned down. 
     The whole area is covered in bodies.''

  Look, I know that there are people
in this administration, including our President, who think you can win 
over evil by just being nice to it--offering to

[[Page 308]]

buy offices in Qatar, offering to release the evil forces--murderers--
from captivity, and that such wonderful, gallant gestures will turn the 
tide. Individuals can, but governments are supposed to protect the 
people. It is causing this weakness to grow, which allows evil to grow 
around the world. There is a vacuum being filled as we have lost our 
leadership role around the world, and it is being filled with evil 
religious nastiness called ``radical Islam.''
  As this administration continues to act as if it is not a religion 
and as if we can win them over with kindness, more people die. Now they 
are saying maybe 2,000 Nigerians have died today. So I couldn't help 
but reflect back to my senior citizen friend in Togo and his words, his 
imploring: ``Stop getting weaker. When America gets weaker, we 
suffer.''
  How much suffering is this administration going to allow before it 
wakes up to the reality of what radical Islam is?
  Until such time, this Congress needs to stand up and say we are not 
going to keep supplying weapons to radical Islamists who are working 
with the Islamic State in Syria. We will help our friends, like the 
Kurds. We are not going to keep supplying weapons to people who may 
have them end up with the Taliban. We are going to help our friends 
like we did with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. It is time to 
wake up to the reality of evil that this radical Islam is because, 
until this administration does, it is going to get worse.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________