Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks launched against the United States on September 11, 2001.

Mr. Speaker, I am here to protest what has become a significant degradation of the democratic process in this House. We have a situation in which the House leadership has turned the legislative process into a propaganda arm. With increasing and depressing frequency, we are given resolutions to vote on in a form which does not allow for amendments, and these resolutions contain a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly.

What we have is a pattern of taking sentiments to which all Members of the House or nearly all Members subscribe, sentiments which are quite proper, and then adding into these sentiments are far more controversial sentiments, sentiments that many of us disagree with.

It is an abuse of the process of democracy to bring forward on this floor resolutions which combine those things with which Members agree with things which are controversial in a form which does not allow Members to even begin to separate them.

There are, for good reasons, parliamentary rules and ways through which Members can express partial agreement. We can amend. We can divide the question. But when bills are brought here under suspension of the rules, as they often are, the legislative process is turned into a political propaganda machine. What happens is Members feel coerced into voting in very large numbers for particular sentiments which could not in many cases get a majority on their own and certainly could not get majorities of the size that they get.

And then having gotten that, people will say, see, everybody agrees with that. Most recently this happened on September 9 when we voted on the resolution brought out of the Committee on International Relations dealing with the terrible events of September 11, 2001; and I will insert this in the Record, appropriately marked. It has resolve clauses that we all agree with, but it also has a series of ``whereas'' clauses which include a number of things which are extremely controversial, in my view, untrue, and unworthy of being put through in this coercive fashion.

Paragraphs 4 and 5, which I have noted on my copy of the resolution, treat the war in Iraq as part of the global war on terrorism. It has been made increasingly clear, most recently by our colleague who is now waiting confirmation as head of the CIA, that statements by administration officials tying Iraq to the September 11 situation were simply not true. Yet this resolution acts as if they were. This resolution implicitly reaffirms the increasingly discredited notion, believed, I think, by almost nobody except possibly the Vice President because he talks about it all the time, that said that there was a direct link between September 11 and Iraq.

And it is wrong to coerce Members to vote for statements that falsely assert this claim because otherwise they will be accused of not caring about the events of September 11.

Then on paragraphs 15 through 21, we have inappropriate celebratory language. If we read these paragraphs, we have solved the problems of immigration and terrorism. We are examining all the cargo. We have taken care of everything. We have ``whereas'' clauses here that look like part of the President's reelection campaign. He is entitled to a reelection campaign. He is not entitled to take things that belong in a reelection campaign statement and bundle them into an otherwise noncontroversial resolution to coerce people into voting for him.

This congratulates us, for example, that we have extended our borders overseas and to secure and screen cargo before it is placed on ships destined for United States ports of entry. It talks about the great success of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. Frankly, if one read this resolution and believed it, they would not need the 9/11 Commission report. These paragraphs basically celebrate the accomplishments of what the 9/11 Commission points out need to be done.

We have congratulations to the Immigration Service, congratulations to the FBI, congratulations to the Coast Guard. There are very hard- working decent people trying hard to accomplish these things, but we have not done them yet. These things, if they had been brought forward on their own as statements, would have been rejected, I believe.

It is absolutely wrong to take these inaccurately self-congratulatory statements about the administration's performance and our own performance here in Congress and get votes for them because otherwise people would be accused of not wanting to express our horror of September 11 and our thanks to those who worked so hard against it.

So, Mr. Speaker, because I did not think that the war in Iraq was part of the war on terror, I do not think we deserve to claim ``mission accomplished'' with regard to the fight against terrorism, I voted against this resolution. And I hope we will stop this practice of giving a bait-and-switch approach to legislation.

H. Res. 757, in the House of Representatives, U.S., September 9, 2004.

Whereas on September 11, 2001, while Americans were

attending to their daily routines, terrorists hijacked four

civilian aircraft, crashing two of them into the towers of

the World Trade Center in New York City, and a third into the

Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a fourth was prevented

from also being used as a weapon against America by brave

passengers who placed their country above their own lives;

Whereas three years later the country continues to, and

shall forever, mourn the tragic loss of life at the hands of

terrorist attackers;

Whereas by targeting symbols of American strength and

success, these attacks clearly were intended to assail the

principles, values, and freedoms of the United States and the

American people, intimidate the Nation, and weaken the

national resolve;

4

Whereas three years after September 11, 2001, the United

States is fighting a Global War on Terrorism to protect

America and her friends and allies;

5

Whereas since the United States was attacked, it has led an

international military coalition in the destruction of two

terrorist regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq while using

diplomacy and sanctions in cooperation with Great Britain and

the international community to lead a third terrorist regime

in Libya away from its weapons of mass destruction;

Whereas the United States is reorganizing itself in order

to more effectively wage the

Global War on Terrorism by transforming the Department of

Defense, sharpening the Federal Bureau of Investigation's

counterterrorism focus, strengthening the authority of the

Director of Central Intelligence to coordinate national

intelligence activities, and creating a Department of

Homeland Security;

Whereas of the senior al-Qaida leaders, operational

managers, and key facilitators that the United States

Government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds of such

individuals have been taken into custody or killed;

Whereas just as significant, with the help of its allies,

the United States has disrupted individuals and organizations

that facilitate terrorism--movers of money, people, messages,

and supplies--who have acted as the glue binding the global

al-Qaida network together;

Whereas Pakistan has taken into custody more than 500

members of al-Qaida and the Taliban regime, including Khalid

Sheik Mohammed and Ramzi bin al Shibh, conspirators in the

September 11, 2001, attacks, and Kahallad Ba'Attash, an

individual involved in the planning of the attack on the USS

COLE in 2000;

Whereas Jordan continues its strong counterterrorism

efforts, arresting two individuals with links to al-Qaida who

admitted responsibility for the October 2002 murder in Amman,

Jordan, of Lawrence Foley, a United States Agency for

International Development Foreign Service Officer;

Whereas in June 2002, Morocco took into custody al-Qaida

operatives plotting to attack United States Navy ships and

ships of other member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization in the Strait of Gibraltar;

Whereas the United States and its allies in Southeast Asia

have made significant advances against the regional terrorist

organization Jemaah Islamiyah, which was responsible for the

attack in Bali, Indonesia, in October 2003 that killed more

than 200 people;

Whereas Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand,

and other countries in Southeast Asia have taken into custody

leaders and operatives of local al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist

organizations and members of al-Qaida traveling through such

countries;

Whereas the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain,

and other countries have disrupted cells of the al-Qaida

terrorist organization and are vigorously pursuing other

leads relating to terrorist activity;

15

Whereas following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the

United States Government initiated innovative programs, such

as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program

and the Container Security Initiative, to extend our borders

overseas and to secure and screen cargo before it is placed

on ships destined for United States ports of entry;

16

Whereas the Department of Homeland Security implemented the

US-VISIT border security screening system in December 2003 at

all air and sea ports of entry, requiring that nonimmigrant

visa holders entering the United States be fingerprinted and

screened through various criminal and terrorist databases

before entry into the United States, and this system will be

expanded to land ports of entry in accordance with

congressional deadlines;

17

Whereas since September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has

conducted more than 124,000 port security patrols, 13,000 air

patrols, boarded more than 92,000 vessels, interdicted over

14,000 individuals attempting to enter the United States

illegally, and created and maintained more than 90 Maritime

Security Zones;

18

Whereas following attacks of September 11, 2001, the

Terrorist Threat Integration Center was established, which

now fuses, for the first time in United States history,

terrorist-related information, foreign and domestic,

available to the United States Government for systematic

analysis and dissemination to prevent or disrupt terrorist

attacks on the United States;

19

Whereas following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the

Terrorist Screening Center, a multi-agency partnership, was

established to integrate the dozens of separate terrorist

databases that existed before September 11th into a single

terrorist watch list for use by Federal, State, and local law

enforcement, intelligence, and border security personnel.

20

Whereas following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the

United States Government has ensured the hardening of cockpit

doors on airplanes and greatly expanded the use of armed

Federal air marshals to prevent and deter future hijackings

that could turn commercial planes into weapons of mass

destruction;

21

Whereas having recognized the need to prevent terrorist

organizations from using their resources, the Federal Bureau

of Investigation has worked closely with the Department of

the Treasury to target 62 terrorist organizations and freeze

$125,000,000 in assets of such organizations worldwide used

to fund terrorist activities;

Whereas to date United States Armed Forces and Coalition

forces have killed or captured 43 of the 55 most wanted

criminals of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, including

Saddam Hussein himself;

Whereas the al-Zarqawi terror network used Baghdad as a

base of operations to coordinate the movement of people,

money, and supplies; and

Whereas thousands of families have lost loved ones in the

defense of freedom and liberty against the tyranny of terror:

Now, therefore, be it

Resolved: That the House of Representatives--

(1) extends again its deepest sympathies to the thousands

of innocent victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist

attacks, their families, friends, and loved ones;

(2) honors the heroic actions and the sacrifices of United

States military and civilian personnel and their families who

have sacrificed much, including their lives and health, in

defense of their country in the Global War on Terrorism;

(3) honors the heroic actions of first responders, law

enforcement personnel, State and local officials, volunteers,

and others who aided the innocent victims and, in so doing,

bravely risked their own lives and long-term health;

(4) expresses thanks and gratitude to the foreign leaders

and citizens of all nations who have assisted and continue to

stand in solidarity with the United States against terrorism

in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist

attacks;

(5) discourages, in the strongest possible terms, any

effort to confuse the Global War on Terrorism with a war on

any people or any faith;

(6) reaffirms its commitment to the Global War on Terrorism

and to providing the United States Armed Forces with the

resources and support to wage it effectively and safely;

(7) vows that it will continue to take whatever actions

necessary to identify, intercept, and disrupt terrorists and

their activities; and

(8) reaffirms that the American people will never forget

the sacrifices made on September 11, 2001, and will never bow

to terrorist demands.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, let me first pay tribute to my distinguished friend and colleague from Illinois for the leadership he has provided to our committee and to this House on international matters in the last 3 years.

Madam Speaker, I also want to identify myself with the tribute of the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) to members of our Armed Forces, first responders and their families. So much has been said about September 11 and the subsequent battle against global terrorism that the legislation before us allotted an hour of discussion can only be viewed as a symbolic gesture.

But once the solemn commemorations are done, the only meaningful memorial that we in Congress can create is to seriously continue our commitment to carry on the global war against terrorism.

We need to understand that this is indeed a global war, and our hearts go out to the mothers and fathers of the children in southern Russia who just a few days ago were senselessly slaughtered in another act of global terrorism.

We have commitments to keep, Madam Speaker. We need to put into effect the recommendations made by the bipartisan commission investigating the 9/11 attacks. We must find innovative ways to carry out this global struggle against terrorism so that it becomes not a war in the conventional sense but a united worldwide effort to eliminate the conditions that give rise to terrorism, a global effort to sustain peace in all its many aspects.

Where will this effort take us next? We may differ about specific tactics, but I think all Americans agree on at least one broad goal: the United States must do all it can to prevent state sponsors of terrorism from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons.

Fortunately, Madam Speaker, we have already established at least one model for how to reach that goal peacefully. I refer, of course, to the new situation in Libya, a case study of the effectiveness of multilateral sanctions and diplomacy, sustained over decades by both Republican and Democratic administrations.

Under U.S. and British leadership, the international community, acting through the United Nations, enforced wide-ranging sanctions against Libya that created pressure on its leadership. Eventually, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi recognized reality and relented. This year he has taken the unprecedented steps to relinquish his country's nuclear weapons materials and programs, yielding valuable information about the extent of trade in these dangerous substances and among those who seek to harm the United States.

Qaddafi has rejected weapons of mass destruction once and for all, and he will reap the benefits in improved political, economic, educational, and cultural ties with the United States and the West. None of us would have guessed this development just a year ago.

We must waste no time, Madam Speaker, in applying similar measures to Iran, which has shown it will stop at nothing in order to become a nuclear power. The United States has long had sanctions in place on Iran; but now that Iran's nuclear intentions are clear and transparent, we must lead a campaign for full-scale international sanctions on Iran's fanatic regime.

Experts predict that Iran will have a nuclear bomb within 2 years; and with its development of long-range missiles, Iran will threaten our friends and allies across the globe. In order to avoid that nightmarish scenario, the international community must act decisively and quickly, starting with the meeting next week of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Madam Speaker, I call on that board to refer the issue of Iran's violations of its agreements to the United Nations Security Council for the purpose of imposing multilateral sanctions on Iran until it ends its nuclear program once and for all. With its vast reserves of oil and gas, Iran has no need for what it falsely insists are peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Madam Speaker, in 1996, this body passed the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, known as ILSA; and it renewed that act 3 years ago in 2001. Our actions mark a deeper truth. At the time, Iran and Libya were both energy-rich states, sponsors of terrorism, viciously anti-Western and both committed to the development of weapons of mass destruction. Now their paths have diverged dramatically.

Three weeks ago, I made my second trip to Libya and had my second meeting with leader Qaddafi. He told me of an encounter he had sometime ago with an Arab leader who wanted Libya to supply him with nuclear weapons. Qaddafi said he told that Arab leader that if he gave him such weapons, he could not use them, because the retaliation would be so awesome; and when he said this, he said, I also realized that devoting billions of our resources to developing weapons of mass destruction is pointless, and I am giving you all my weapons of mass destruction.

With this story, Colonel Qaddafi laid out the rationale for his decision last December to give up Libya's programs of weapons of mass destruction. As a consequence, U.S. commercial sanctions no longer apply to Libya. The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act is now the Iran Sanctions Act.

Iran has not yet adopted Libya's wise course. Its single-minded pursuit of nuclear weapons calls for an equally determined response from the international community. The IAEA meeting next week will be a test of both international will and the skill of our leadership.

In the post-9/11 age, letting fundamentalist extremists acquire nuclear arms makes no sense whatsoever. We should be no more relaxed about a nuclear armed Iran than we would about a nuclear armed Hezbollah or al Qaeda.

Mr. Speaker, as Aristotle observed, we make war that we may live in peace. But the effort that so many have called the war on terrorism must involve warfare only as the very last resort.

The case of Libya demonstrates that skillful, multilateral diplomacy can avoid the horror of war and can point us in a direction which is peaceful and constructive for the United States and for the rest of the world.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 3 minutes to my dear friend and distinguished colleague, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), and it is so appropriate that our next speaker be a Representative from New York.

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 3 minutes to my good friend and distinguished colleague, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey).

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 3 minutes to my good neighbor and distinguished colleague, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 2 minutes to another distinguished colleague from New York (Mr. Engel).

Mr. Speaker, before yielding back my time, let me just say that while in this election season there is a cacophony of voices which might give the impression of deep divisions, in fact the American people are united in their determination not only to wage a war on terrorism, but to win that war on global terrorism wherever it appears.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. I appreciate his comments and his leadership in bringing this resolution to the floor, and I appreciate the bipartisan way he has done it, and appreciate the support of the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos).

And I really want to associate myself with the gentleman from California's (Mr. Lantos) final remarks that no matter what we hear on this floor, Americans are united in this war and are united in how we approach the national security of this Nation. But I also want to say especially to those soldiers on the ground in harm's way, those young men and women that are fighting all over the world, most particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to the families of those that have sacrificed their loved ones that the remarks made by those opposed to this resolution reflect a very small, tiny, tiny minority in this country. We are united in this country in support of those troops, and, most importantly, they need to understand that what they are doing is right, what they are dying for is right, and we greatly appreciate their sacrifice.

Mr. Speaker, by the way, the vote on this resolution will prove me right, that they are a very tiny minority.

Mr. Speaker, 3 years on, it is hard to believe so much time has passed, for September 11, 2001, still resonates in our hearts and minds as if it were yesterday. Yet at the same time, the panging memories of that day call out to us across the ages: 8:47 a.m. when the first plane hit; 10:05 a.m. when the South Tower collapsed; the look on the President's face when he heard the news; the image of firefighters carrying the lifeless body of their chaplain; Mayor Giuliani, mask in hand, covered in ashy debris; the blood and the rubble; the attack on the Pentagon; the rumors, the panic, the fear, the desperate search for survivors; the defiant raising of the flag at Ground Zero; Flight 93, Todd Beamer, ``Let's roll.''

``Roll'' we have, Mr. Speaker, from that day to this on land, on sea, and in the air. Our enemies have been named and their sponsors warned, and America has risen. The cause of human freedom has stood anew athwart the forces of oppression and cruelty and violence.

History and Providence have called out again for the free people of Earth to stand against evil, and the citizens of this Republic have kept their charge.

On September, 11, 2001, America stared evil in the face, and though our eyes filled with tears, we did not blink. We did not fear ``though the Earth be shaken and mountains quake to the depths of the seas, though its waters rage and foam and mountains totter at its surging.'' We did not fear because we knew, even as the fires smoldered beneath the rubble, that we would stand, that we would fight, and that we would be heard.

We mourned that day the deaths of 3,000 of our countrymen at the hands of terror, and we mourn today more than 1,000 more whose lives have been taken by the same. We honor their courage, and we honor their sacrifice, and we give thanks and praise to our Creator that such men and women lived.

Three years on the recovery continues. The Pentagon has been repaired. The fields of Pennsylvania have been cleared, and Ground Zero has begun its resurrection. Unforgotten names have been read and reread, flags flown, and wounds reopened and healed once again. Memorials great and small have been planned and dedicated.

But, Mr. Speaker, monuments to freedom are never made of marble, but of action. Heroes like the 9/11 Lost, the firefighters and passengers, the cops and rescue workers, the moms and dads, are truly honored not by words, but by deeds.

The resolution before us today, Mr. Speaker, enumerates those deeds and the progress of the global struggle they have served. Three years on and the world has changed. Terrorist networks across the globe have been disrupted, and two-thirds of al Qaeda's leaders, managers, and facilitators have been arrested or killed. Terrorist regimes have been ended in Afghanistan and Iraq, ended by the finest coalition of states and soldiers ever assembled. The threat of that coalition led another terrorist regime in Libya to end its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Terrorists the world over are on the run, unable to organize, plan, or reconstitute their pre-9/11 training and operations. The war against terrorism, which was waged since at least the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and probably long before, was joined on September 11, 2001, and in the 3 years since, the tide of that conflict has turned.

The United States has committed itself to the proposition that the security of our Nation and the ultimate survival of civilization depend on the aggressive prosecution of this war everywhere at all times until this war is won. There will be no negotiated settlement in this conflict, no signatures on a piece of parchment. Drums will continue to beat, and blood, much as we may not wish it, will continue to be shed. But, Mr. Speaker, struggle is the only honorable course before us.

The murderers of 9/11 are the enemies of all that is good and true in this world. And even through our tears this week, we still see clearly the justice and necessity of our cause. The ideology of our enemies, a violent corruption of their religion, and the cult of death that they worship have no place in civilized society, whether of the East or West, and it is now the policy of our Nation and our allies to repel this evil so that generations hence may be free from days like those that we live now.

It is said that 9/11 was ``our Pearl Harbor.'' It was also said that ``Pearl Harbor'' was ``our parents' Alamo'' and that the Alamo was ``Texas's Valley Forge.'' We fight today, Mr. Speaker, so that our children and our grandchildren decades from now need not come to the well of this House and remember a horrible day of their own as ``our 9/ 11.''

Three years on, Mr. Speaker, and we fight everywhere and anywhere we must. For the soldiers in Baghdad, their faces marred with sand and sweat and blood, they are fighting the same evil and upholding the same virtues as the Special Forces in Tora Bora and the guards at Guantanamo, fighting the same evil and upholding the same virtues as the men aboard Flight 93 and the firefighters in the South Tower and the rescue workers at the Pentagon. It is one and the same conflict. It is one and the same conflict, in which one and the same courage will purchase for this Nation one and the same victory.

Support this resolution before us, my colleagues, and reaffirm our commitment to remember those that we lost and those that they left behind, those who protected us and those who died trying, those who remember and those that we cannot forget, who it was that started this war and who it will be that wins it, so that every September 11 from now until the end of the age, free men of the world can look to this Nation, the last, best hope on Earth, and know that when evil struck and the earth trembled beneath us, here America rose, here freedom stood.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss H. Res. 757, legislation commemorating the third anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against our country.

I remember September 11, 2001, vividly. The weather in our Nation's capital was warm

and sunny. I was giving a speech on the House floor. Soon after I finished, the Capitol building was evacuated. I did not know until I got back to my office that planes had hit the World Trade Center buildings in New York and that a third plane that may have been headed toward the Capitol building was taken down in a field in Pennsylvania. I am profoundly grateful that the passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 bravely fought back, thinking of the safety of others, not of their own well-being. Their actions saved the lives of untold numbers of us who were in Washington, D.C. that day.

The resolution on the floor today appropriately honors those who lost their lives due to these heinous attacks. Thousands of husbands, fathers, mothers, wives, daughters, brothers, children, grandparents and others were lost on that day. We must never forget those individuals and their families.

The resolution also honors the heroic actions and sacrifices of our men and women in the U.S. military and their families. I have had the privilege of visiting with dozens of our men and women in uniform, both here at home and in a war zone. I am continually awed by the professionalism, determination, and commitment of our troops.

I am also pleased that H. Res. 757 acknowledges the service and sacrifice of the first responders--emergency personnel, fire fighters, police officers, and others--who aided the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks. While these individuals humbly say they were merely doing their jobs that day, their selfless actions embody some of the best qualities of the American people.

Finally, the resolution congratulates the Congress and the President for various steps taken to improve the security of the American people in the wake of September 11th.

While Congress has adopted some piecemeal improvements on the security front, al-Qaeda will not wait for us to make gradual improvements. Security must be improved today, not after the next attack.

Congress and the Bush administration must stop the finger pointing, turf protection, and minor tweaking that have been the primary features of the Federal government's response to 9/11. It is time for bolder action.

Aviation security is not what it should be. Security screeners need the same upgraded equipment used in congressional office buildings and the White House. We need to deploy technology to detect plastic explosives carried on board planes. We must screen employees and vendors who work on the runways and have access to planes, but who are not currently screened at all. All cargo carried on passenger planes must be tested for explosives. We need effective countermeasures and international agreements to reduce the threat of shoulder-fired missiles. The arbitrary cap on the number of security screeners should be lifted.

A fully unified terrorist watch list that is electronically accessible to necessary Federal and State officials for real-time searches must be put in place now.

Border security is still notably lacking, three years after 9/11. The Federal government should hire 3,000 additional border inspectors and border patrol agents to secure our borders with Canada and Mexico. Existing technologies, like remote sensors, long-range cameras, and unmanned aerial vehicles, should monitor all 7,000 miles of our border 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Astonishingly, on the 3rd anniversary of the attacks, America's police, firefighters, and emergency response personnel still lack the fundamental ability to communicate with each other by radio. Congress must increase funding to help States and local governments purchase essential equipment.

Our Nation has 95,000 miles of coastline and 361 ports. Yet, the Federal government will spend only $46 million on port security grants this year while spending $10 billion to develop a missile defense system that is irrelevant to the threat posed by al-Qaeda. Congress should increase funding for radiation detection equipment to screen every cargo container, beef up the presence of U.S. inspectors at foreign ports to inspect cargo destined for the U.S., and enhance the Coast Guard fleet.

Five times as many Americans travel on trains and transit each day as on planes, but less than two percent of the transportation security budget goes to non-aviation programs. Congress and the Administration should increase funding for passenger rail and transit security. A baseline level of security for the transit systems in the 50 largest metropolitan areas would cost $2 billion.

Most of the 20 tons of nuclear material at 130 facilities in 40 countries has no more security than a night watchman and a chain link fence. In 2001, a bipartisan commission recommended tripling funding to $3 billion a year for programs to help secure nuclear materials around the world from terrorists.

Finally, I want to say that I am disappointed that H. Res. 757 contains several whereas clauses implying a link between al-Qaeda and Iraq, and Iraq and the September 11th attacks. A variety of experts, including the 9/11 Commission and the Senate Intelligence Committee, have concluded there was no cooperation between Iraq and al-Qaeda on the September 11, 2001, attacks or anything else. It is also inappropriate to link Iraq to the global war against al-Qaeda. Iraq did not pose an urgent threat to our national security. Iraq did not have ties to al-Qaeda. Iraq had not attacked the United States, nor is there any evidence Iraq planned to attack us. Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, nor any delivery system capable of attacking us.

I supported the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, and I continue to support military action against al-Qaeda. But, to use a resolution commemorating the anniversary of 9/11 to peddle discredited theories about Iraq in order to cover for the failures of the Bush administration in Iraq and justify the diversion of resources from the war against our real national security threat--al-Qaeda--does a disservice to the American people.

I will vote in favor of H. Res. 757 because I want to honor those I mentioned at the outset of my statement--those who lost their lives in the attacks, those who tried valiantly to save lives on that day, and our men and women in uniform. But, I want to state for the record that I disagree with some of the rhetoric in the resolution.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the previous order of the House, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 757) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks launched against the United States on September 11, 2001, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Madam Speaker, on this important resolution, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the resolution be read by the Clerk.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Today we gather in the House of Representatives to consider a resolution commemorating the anniversary of the terrorist acts launched against the United States on September 11, 2001. September 11 was a brilliant, sunlit, late summer morning in New York and Washington. Suddenly, death came raining down from the skies. Three thousand died because of the wicked acts of evil men who callously used innocent American citizens as their weapons.

The war against terrorism, which is the war for civilization itself, has come home to America.

Now, 3 years after the fact, all thoughts are drawn to that day. Time may not be an invincible healer, but it does soften and mercifully distance us from many of our sharpest pains and fears; and by transforming private remembrance into a more quiet and interior experience, it gives the public forms of remembrance greater depth and meaning, elevating these above mere ritual. I am certain that all Americans alive that infamous day will give reverance to this anniversary for as long as they shall live.

We remember today those fellow citizens and the innocents of all Nations who died September 11. We mourn with their families and extend to them once again our profound sympathy.

We remember with awe and gratitude the passengers of the fourth plane, the plane intended for the White House or the Capitol, who sacrificed their own lives to prevent the terrorists from achieving their evil goal.

We remember with profound respect the police, the firefighters and other emergency workers who charged into burning buildings, often at the cost of their own lives, in acts of selflessness and bravery before which we can only bow our heads.

We honor today the men and women of our Armed Forces who have taken the war against terrorism to the fever swamps where terrorism is bred, and who in doing so have given a new birth of freedom to long-oppressed peoples.

We remember in sorrow and prayer those brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country. Their names will not be forgotten. The just cause for which they paid the final price will not fail.

Freedom and decency will, with God's grace, prevail over wickedness and wanton killing.

Today, a day for remembrance is a day for prayer. In silence, let us commend to the merciful hands of God those innocents whose lives were stolen from them 3 years ago Saturday and those men and women of our Armed Forces and those of our allies who go into harm's way and risk their lives for freedom's sake.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Frelinghuysen).

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Fossella).

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I will only briefly comment on the remarks made by the last speaker. He can tell the newly free inhabitants of Afghanistan, of Iraq and of Libya that this has not been a worthwhile effort. There is a direct connection between the war in Iraq and the bombing of September 11. Our response to that bombing of September 11 was Iraq based on the best information available.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.

I just want to respond to a couple of the previous speakers who have injected the honesty of this resolution into question. You can disagree with somebody's point of view, as we often do, but questioning their honesty or their work product as dishonest I do not think has a place in this House. When it comes to the war in Iraq, you can say that by mentioning it in the resolution, and all it says is, whereas, since the U.S. was attacked, it led an international military coalition in the destruction of two terrorist regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. I do not know what is dishonest about that, but you

can think it is if you wish. The fact is the war in Iraq was a response to the 9/11 assault, kamikaze, suicide bombers that killed over 3,000 people.

There had been a surfeit of U.N. resolutions, I think 14 or 15. It was the considered opinion of every single government in the West that had an intelligence service that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. He had them before, he had the programs, and he used them. Therefore, having been assaulted, having been blind-sided by the aircraft, al Qaeda ran into the World Trade Center, we were not going to sit there and let it happen again. And based on the best intelligence, we responded to the sucker punch, blind-siding atrocities in the World Trade Center by moving into Iraq after getting another resolution demanding that he open up to inspection his weapons programs.

One can call that dishonest if they want. I call it leadership. And I am sorry that issue got into this resolution because we are commemorating heroines and heroes in one of the great tragedies in all of history, namely what happened September 11.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay).

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.