Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I take the floor tonight with my colleagues to talk about the values of freedom and the men and women who have, in very difficult places around the world, but especially in the warfighting theaters in Afghanistan and Iraq, have fought to change the world for freedom and, in doing so, to secure the United States of America, and to make us a more secure Nation, and to accrue to the benefit of generations over the next 10, 20 or 30 years.

I thought to talk a little bit about, especially following the speakers who have deplored our policy and condemned our policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, I thought it might be important to remind ourselves why we are in those theaters.

Madam Speaker, I brought tonight some of the citations for gallantry, gallantry that was carried out by American soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines in Iraq. I wanted to read one of those. Then I wanted to talk about what these soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines have purchased for the United States of America. I want to talk about the value of what they have done for our country.

This individual is Lance Corporal Aaron C. Austin. This is a commendation, a copy of a commendation, and a posthumous Silver Star medal, the Nation's third highest award for valor that was sent over to our office by the Secretary of the Navy. It talks about the incredible job that this young lance corporal, one of the guys who makes the Marine Corps work, that is an enlisted man just a couple of ranks up from private, but somebody who has taken a leadership position, who leads a fire team or a squad in places like Fallujah or Ramadi.

For conspicuous gallantry and bravery in action against the enemy as a Machine Gun Team Leader, Company

E, 2d Battalion, 1st Marines, Regimental Combat Team-1, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force. That is a force that takes a very dangerous difficult area west of Baghdad.

This great lance corporal, in an incredible firefight in which they were attacked from many different directions, by dozens of rocket- propelled grenades, RPGs, attacked by thousands of machine gun rounds, and then assaulted to within 20 meters of their position, Lance Corporal Austin supported his fellow marines, 16 of whom were wounded in this firefight, ensured that they receive medical treatment, and then rallied the few remaining members of his platoon and rushed to the critical rooftop defensive position to withstand the attack. I am quoting, ``Braving withering enemy machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire, he reached the rooftop and prepared to throw a hand grenade. As he moved into a position from which to launch or throw this grenade, enemy machine gunfire struck Lance Corporal Austin multiple times in the chest. Undaunted by his injuries, and with heroic effort, Lance Corporal Austin threw his grenade which exploded amidst the enemy, halting their furious attack.''

He did that with the last efforts of his body before he succumbed to that mortal wound.

By his bold leadership, wise judgment and complete dedication to duty, Lance Corporal Austin reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest tradition of the Marine Corps and the United States naval service. That is what Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy, said in this posthumous award of the Silver Star medal to this lance corporal, one of thousands of about 140,000 personnel who have been in the theater consistently over the last several years, accomplishing their mission in Iraq.

So we know that this lance corporal had incredible bravery, and I think following especially the speakers who have criticized this mission and said it is without value, I think it is important to talk about the value for this Nation that this lance corporal and the other hundreds of thousands of men and women who wear the uniform of the United States have delivered to us through their service to our country.

To hear the speakers who have criticized this mission talk, we somehow have created a terrorist enemy and an insurgent enemy that, because of our own fault, attacks America, and the way for us to hold off these attacks, to dampen these attacks, is to be suppliant and to do nothing and to be compliant, and somehow we have agitated and upset the enemy who otherwise would not be intending to hurt Americans.

I am reminded that when those planes hit the United States in 9/11, it was following two major military operations that this country undertook. Interestingly, we took them both on behalf of Muslim nations, protecting them from neighboring nations, from the attacks of neighboring nations.

One good question to ask the speakers who just finished was what did the United States do to deserve those attacks?

They further said, well, we did not find any nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction, in Iraq, and, Madam Speaker, let me tell you what we did find and what the world found and what history will reflect to the end of time.

I keep in my desk drawer a picture of Iraqi Kurdish mothers holding their babies tightly against them as they lie dead where they fell on the hillsides in northern Iraq where Saddam Hussein killed them with weapons of mass destruction; that is, chemical weapons; that is, poison gas; the only leader, to my knowledge, since Adolf Hitler to kill his own people with poison gas.

Every time I hear a speech about how things would have been better if the Americans did not show up, I pull that picture out to remind myself that things only get better when the Americans show up, and sometimes it is lonely, and sometimes it is tough, and sometimes we only find a few of our really toughest, closest allies like the Aussies and the Brits standing side by side with us. Although we now have lots of people from those countries that we liberated, which Donald Rumsfeld refers to as the new Europe, people like the Polish troops, who are securing, taking part in the multinational organization, securing the southern part of Iraq.

Sometimes we have a difficult mission, but it is very clear to us since September 11 that if we do not change the world, the world is going to change us. For Americans who wonder why we have not been attacked over the last several years, why there has not been another September 11, one answer is that we have kept the bad guy off balance. We pursued them in caves, in mountains, at 12,000 feet high where they thought we would never get to them. We have gotten them in safe houses where they thought they were totally safe, and we have pursued them to places where they never dreamed we would be able to find them. Because of that, we have kept them off balance, and we have kept them in a position where it has been very difficult for them to organize another attack against the United States.

The idea that we can somehow pull back into the United States and not pursue this war against terrorism and everything will be fine is a very erroneous idea. The men and women of our Armed Forces who are undertaking this very difficult mission in Iraq are accomplishing the mission. The mission is of great value because we have discovered in this century that when we have brought freedom to countries, those countries have not been a threat to the United States.

We are not worried about the nuclear weapons in Great Britain's arsenal because Great Britain is a free nation. We are not worried about the nuclear weapons in the arsenals, for example, of France or Israel because they are free nations. But we are worried about nuclear weapons and the possibility of nuclear weapons being obtained by nations which sponsor terrorism and which are themselves tyrannical to their people.

Every time we establish a nation which is free, and it does not have to be a perfect democracy or a perfect republic, but a Nation that has a modicum of freedom for its own people, and which has a benign relationship, a good relationship with the United States, and which is not our enemy, and which will not be a launching point for future terrorist operations, then we have achieved something of value that will accrue to the benefit of future generations of Americans. That is what our troops are doing. Our troops are doing something which is worthwhile and which is good.

For my friends who read off very solemnly the names of dead Americans, please do not give the impression that their lives were given without value, without reason, without cause, because they were given as a result of a very important mission. They have given great value to our country, and we owe all of them a great debt of gratitude.

Madam Speaker, I have some other citations that I will read at a later time. I am just talking a little bit about these great men and women who serve our country in uniform, who I think agreed with the proposition that what we are doing in Iraq is the right thing.

What I would like to do right now, though, is yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), because she has a few things to say about this issue, and then we have five or six other colleagues that I would like to discuss this very important American mission with. I yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman, and I want to thank her for being such a great representative of those men and women who serve, particularly coming out of her National Guard unit and the 101st Airborne, a legendary division.

I might say to the gentlewoman that a lot was made of the movie Band of Brothers, a story of the 101st in World War II. Of course, we have referred to a lot of those people as the Greatest Generation, and indeed, they were a great generation. But in reading about the exploits and meeting with the individuals of the 101st Air Mobile Division, which today is, in fact, getting ready and going into the northern AO, a very difficult place, and having already served in Iraq, I think it can fairly be said they are the greatest generation. They are every bit as good and great and capable as the people that fought in the Battle of the Bulge and went up those cliffs at Normandy. We are very proud of them.

I thank the gentlewoman, and I would like to yield to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bradley), who has been a great supporter of the troops and worked with us to put together a great defense bill this year.

Madam Speaker, do not go too far in praising me. My son did serve a couple of tours in Iraq, but just like lots and lots of other sons.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman; and I am reminded also, as I look down through the last several days in October, in fact starting with October 2, Iraqi Army soldiers captured bombers in Fallujah; October 5, Iraqi troops found and cleared improvised explosive devices in Fallujah; October 5, Iraqi soldiers seized a large weapons cache hidden by anti-Iraq forces in a school in Ramadi; October 8, Iraqi Army forces detained a suspected Iraqi bomber in Fallujah.

As we go down the line, we see the accomplishments of this force, which is a young new force, because we did not want to use the senior officers of Saddam Hussein's military. We needed to grow a force from scratch from this population. It has been tough. It has been rough. But these great Americans in the 2nd Marine Division, the 101st Airborne, the 3rd ID, which is going to be replaced shortly by the 4th ID in Baghdad, and all the rest of these tremendous troops who are serving, as we realized after New Orleans, are people with great talents, great ingenuity and great creativity. They can not only carry the day in a fire fight; they can also carry the day in training other personnel.

The accomplishments of the new Iraqi military as it stands up and takes over these areas of responsibility, like Najaf, which previously was a very hot area, that is a reflection on the capability of our troops, an important capability, which is the capability to train others. And of course why would others not want to be like American troops, because they show the greatest characteristics and character of any troops in the world.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis), who has a daughter with a birthday today. Because of that, we have moved him to the front of the queue, but also because he has a great background in the military himself and really works hard for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his statement and for his service and for all of the wonderful people that he represents.

I add my thanks to folks that wear the uniform. They are our very best citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Fort Benning, Georgia (Mr. Gingrey), who has done such a wonderful job on the Armed Services Committee and then moved on, but still has us in his heart. I thank the gentleman for all of the help that he gives.

Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I just wanted to thank the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) as he goes out the door because I know he has his beautiful daughter, Hannah, with him tonight. It was good of Hannah to come over and to watch Dad and delay her birthday celebration for a little bit.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for a very eloquent statement. And I would just protest to my colleague that I did absolutely nothing special in Vietnam, and these guys and women who are serving in Iraq are real heroes and have performed extraordinarily.

And I thought that was a very fitting recitation of Flanders Fields because the last line that the gentleman recited where the soldier says, take up our quarrel with the foe and do not fail us, was forgotten several times in this last century because we came out of World War I, the war that was supposed to end all wars, was so horrible we could not envision having a successor to World War I, and we let our guard down.

And when we got into World War II, we found that we had neglected our Armed Forces, and it took an incredible build-up and lots of casualties before we had the industrial might of the United States and all of our population working and about half of them under uniform and pushing back on the Axis powers. And then we demobilized so

quickly after World War II that when somebody asked General George Marshall how the demobilization was going, he said, It is not a demobilization; it is a route. We are throwing our weapons away.

And because of that we had a third-rate nation, Korea, push us down that peninsula in 1950 and almost pushed us into the ocean before we rallied and came back up to what is now the DMZ.

And we went through other fluctuations where we forgot that the admonition in that poem from people who gave their lives was to be strong and to fight for freedom and not to give up what we had. And we now realize that in this war against terror, we have to be strong, and we have to be forward-leaning because if we let the terrorists have safe haven like they had in Afghanistan where they could assemble their operations, where they could do their training, where they could gather their allies and have a platform to operate from, then we now know they could strike into America with that assemblage of capabilities. And that is what we are trying to deny them.

And if we can have an Iraq that has a modicum of freedom, and we are not threatened by free nations, and has a good relationship with the United States, and will not be a springboard for future terrorist operations, that is going to be good for generations of Americans especially in this neighborhood.

So it is an important thing that we are fighting for. It is a value. And the troops who have achieved this for us and are pushing forward with this mission are of value, and I think that is the essence of what the gentleman just said very eloquently, and I really appreciate his statement.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway), who has been a stalwart on the committee and really cares about the soldiers.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman, and I just want to echo his comments.

I am looking at what our young men and women are doing. The gentleman mentioned the Greatest Generation, and they did great stuff in Normandy and Bastone and Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. And we had wonderful people, wonderful troops in Vietnam.

The gentleman said I was a combat soldier. Compared to these guys, I was not a combat soldier. I had an easy tour in Vietnam. And compared to what these people went through, these young people who drove that iron spear up into Baghdad, who were told when they were going, and Tommy Franks testified before us on the Committee on Armed Services, General Franks testified that they heard on the radio back and forth between Saddam Hussein's commanders, ``Get ready to use the special weapon,'' and they thought that was nerve gas, those young people were moving ahead into what they thought was a nerve gas battlefield, and they moved ahead.

And this maelstrom of IEDs, these remotely detonated devices, which are very deadly, very tough, all of the conditions that they have gone through and fought through, the massive dust storms, the ambushes and that intense heat that the gentleman from west Texas interestingly mentioned, that makes them, in my estimation, as good as the Greatest Generation, and from my point of view, the Greatest Generation are those folks that are over there right now.

I appreciate the gentleman for his support for these people. We will keep on working. I know we will finish this mission, and we acknowledge the value of those men and women who have carried it to date.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would like to yield the balance of my time to the gentlewoman who has organized and led this Special Order, the great gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. Drake), a great member of the Committee on Armed Services. She has waited until last, and she is our cleanup hitter. I yield to the gentlewoman, and I thank her for her great work and her trips to the warfighting theaters.

Mr. Speaker, I take this time to talk a little bit about a great American leader who is winding up his tenure as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America, and that is, of course, General Richard Myers.

General Myers had his last appearance before the Committee on Armed Services today, and I was reminded of all the many wonderful appearances that he has made in advising not only the President and the Secretary of Defense but also the membership of both of the Houses of Congress with respect to the United States and our military requirements.

I was looking over the statements that were made by the President and others in 2001, really just a few days after 9/11, when General Myers was nominated for this position by the President of the United States, and I thought I would read that statement that the President made. I am quoting the President, George W. Bush, who said then in 2001: ``Today I name a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs, one of the most important appointments a President can make.

``This appointment is especially so because it comes at a time when we need great leadership. Secretary Rumsfeld and I thought long and hard about this important choice, and we enthusiastically agree that the right man to preserve the best traditions of our Armed Forces, while challenging them to innovate, to meet the threats of the future, is General Richard B. Myers.''

The President went on to say, ``General Myers is a man of steady resolve and determined leadership. He is a skilled and steady hand. He is someone who understands that the strengths of America's Armed Forces are our people and our technological superiority, and we must invest in both.''

Now, later, after the President had made that nomination, a number of people weighed in on this, commentators in the main weighed in on this nomination by the President and one, in one of the discussions, General Richard Hawley, retired, was asked about General Myers. He was asked to give his take on this particular appointment by the President. He said, ``Well, Dick Myers has wonderful credentials at the tactical, operational, and the strategic level. He has had diplomatic assignments. I think perhaps as an example when he was at U.S. Space Command, he really helped our combatant commanders understand how to fully integrate our space capabilities into their operations. And he also helped particularly those of us in the Air Force, but also I think others who work in defense issues understand what the potential is of our space forces to contribute in the future of our operational success.''

Now, of course, after that initial nomination and confirmation by the Senate, General Myers was thrust into this role, this very demanding role at a time in which we were engaged in a shooting war in Afghanistan on the heels of 9/11 and, shortly thereafter, combat operations in Iraq which have been ongoing. Through all of that, General Dick Myers has truly been a steady hand. He has been thoughtful, he has been able to handle the exigencies, the emergencies of the moment and, at the same time, look over the horizon to the problems that may face us 5 or 10 or 15 years down the line.

All the while he was operating or maintaining this understanding of our operational requirements in a combat sense, General Myers has been there when we have had national emergencies. I remember the hail of firestorms that we had in California. We had massive parts of our State literally on fire, and we desperately needed help. I remember the bureaucracy that we had in California in those days, and the fact that the State of California had not requested that our military capabilities, our military aircraft, that have a tremendous capability to put out forest fires, they had not requested that those be brought in because, in their words, they wanted to use all the contractors that they could before they went to the military. While that was happening, much of California was burning up.

I remember the decision that General Myers made to not wait on the bureaucrats in California, but to send these units, these emergency units out to California, and his reasoning was, by the time the planes got there, California would understand that they, in fact, needed some help in putting those fires out. Sure enough, before that first unit landed at Point Magoo, the State of California had, in fact, decided that they were not going to be able to put this one out in an expeditious fashion, and they requested the aircraft that General Myers had already sent.

So it was an example of a leader who understood how important it was to act quickly. Now, he has acted quickly as an adviser to the President and the Secretary of Defense. He is not in the chain of command. The combatant commanders go directly up to Secretary Rumsfeld and the President when they are receiving their orders for the prosecution of a war. But General Myers' advice on operations, on moving troops, on putting together a plan to handle the challenges of things like these improvised explosive devices, to handle rotations, this tremendous stress on our forces as we move forces in and out of theater, and as we bring the Guard and Reserve in and we

match them up with the active duty forces and have them in the present combat situation in Iraq and in Afghanistan, have the Reserve and Guard forces working side-by-side with the active duty forces to the point in which they cannot be distinguished, one from the other is, to a large degree, a function of General Myers' leadership.

So he leaves us with his last appearance before the House Committee on Armed Services today, and he is going to enjoy hopefully a little free time with his wonderful wife, Mary Jo. I know that we will be calling on him to give us his great judgment in the future, because he is a great American with lots of integrity, lots of respect from all sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill in both bodies, and also a great deal of respect from those people that work and serve this country every day, wearing the uniform of the United States. We are going to call on General Richard B. Myers many times. A wonderful, wonderful American.

Now, I would also like to talk very briefly about another great American, and an American family. I was reminded about this family when General John Kelly came in and we discussed some of the challenges that we are facing in Iraq. He is the liaison for the United States Marine Corps on Capitol Hill.

I thought about that family, that Kelly family as he walked out the door, and about the fact that while General Kelly was the Deputy Commander of the First Marine Division, and a very tough conflict and contest in Fallujah, in the western area of operations in Iraq, one of the most volatile and one which is very, very dangerous. While he was the Deputy Commander of the First Marine Division, his son John was a communications officer, also a United States marine in country, and his other son Robert was a rifleman, a member of a marine fire team, an enlisted marine who was, in fact, on the ground floor going house-to- house, street-to-street, and carrying out the mandates of the leadership of the First Marine Division in which his dad was the Deputy Division Commander. What a great American family. What a tradition this Kelly family has manifested. Of course, General Kelly has a wonderful daughter, Kathleen Kelly, who has spent a lot of time in places like Bethesda Hospital, comforting wounded marines and letting them know that Americans care about them.

That is the tradition of this country, and it is one that the Kelly family has done a lot to promote and to extend, and our great thanks to them for what they have done.

Also, Mr. Speaker, today I wanted to mention two wonderful leaders in my community who have passed on very recently. I have discussed before Jim Kuhn, who is a great, wonderful guy from the Imperial Valley, the guy who started the Salton Sea International Bird Festival. We are down there in Imperial Valley, we are very close to, and in fact, touch the Mexican border; we have an immense inland sea that is full of salt water, the Salton Sea. Jim Kuhn was a farmer who was a stand-out citizen who started in football and wrestling and went to Stanford, but came back to his beloved Imperial Valley and became one of the leading farmers, one of the leading innovators, a guy who was very creative in his area of agriculture, but also a guy with a great heart for the community. He founded this International Bird Festival which has brought people from all over the world to the banks of the Salton Sea there in Imperial Valley, California.

Jim died, as I noted earlier, very tragically in an automobile accident. He leaves a wonderful wife Heidi and the children, Vienna and Fritz, to carry on his legacy, and I know that they will.

Another dear friend and a great leader in California passed away, and we had services for him yesterday, and that was Corky McMillan. Corky McMillan was a guy who started his business with a pickup truck and a few carpenter's tools and rose from that and I might say is a guy who built much of San Diego, built a career and built a community in San Diego from those humble beginnings to become San Diego's finest homebuilder, one of the finest homebuilders in the Nation, and a person who literally built communities, not only in San Diego, but also in other parts of California and in other States.

Corky McMillan was a guy with a great heart. He was a guy who did lots of stuff for the community and was centered on his family. His family, Scott and Mark and Lauri and, of course, his beloved wife Bonnie were everything to Corky.

He became one of the great off-road racers in southern California. Those are the people that go down into Baja, California, with machines that go over holes in the ground that are 2 and 3 feet deep over ravines, literally taking those vehicles, those desert vehicles over them in a surreal manner, sometimes at speeds far exceeding 100 miles an hour, and manage to survive all of that. It is a rare breed of people. It started out with guys like Parnelli Jones, and has become a very high-tech sport, and it is one in which Corky McMillan and his sons Scott and Mark excelled and elevated to a level in which it is appreciated by people throughout the world.

Corky McMillan was a wonderful guy who gave a lot to his community and a lot to his country and a lot to the sport of racing, and we are going to miss Corky McMillan.

So I thank my colleagues for letting me reflect on some transitions today and talk about some Americans who truly deserve to be well remembered.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and pay tribute to an outstanding American who has given so much to our nation, yet asks for so little--former U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Bayard ``Vic'' Taylor.

Vic did not just wear the uniform of a United States Marine. From the beginning of his Marine Corps career, he lived the life of a Marine, dedicated to serving his country and improving the primary responsibility of each Marine--to understand and execute the tactics of the rifleman.

Vic first enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1957 and served in Hawaii and the Far East until his release from military duty in 1960. With the war in Vietnam intensifying, he reenlisted in the Marine Corps in 1967 to fight during what many consider to be the war's darkest years. The Second Battalion, Fourth Marines were fortunate to have Vic as both a rifle platoon and company commander, where he was awarded the distinguished Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with Combat V, two Purple Hearts, the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star.

In the jungles and battlefields of Vietnam, Vic quickly became familiar with intense and close quarter combat. Aside from leading a number of attacks against North Vietnamese Army fortifications along the Cua Viet River, he fought in the infamous battle for Dai Do. For many Vietnam veterans, the battle for Dai Do is not only a story of extreme heroism and courage, but also remains a testament to the brave men and fighting spirit of the United States Marine Corps. The victory at Dai Do can be credited to the extraordinary bravery, competence, initiative, toughness, and selflessness of individual Marines and small unit leaders like Vic Taylor who carried the day.

Vic's demonstrated knowledge of infantry tactics, techniques, and weaponry led to an assignment as an instructor at the Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, where he was later tasked with the responsibility of creating an improved Infantry Officer's Course (IOC). The need for such a course was predicated on the threat posed by our Cold War enemies and its purpose was to ensure Marines possessed the knowledge and training beyond basic infantry courses that were completed by officers in all occupational fields.

With the first class scheduled for May of 1977, Vic immediately gathered two equally creative and knowledgeable Marines, Terry Paul and Will Oler, as partners in this endeavor. They first determined the course should prepare newly acquainted infantry officers for the realities of combat. This meant managing a rifle platoon, obtaining increased weapons proficiency, and leading a rifle company in the event the Captain is either wounded or killed. However, during the course's development, it grew beyond expectations and featured not only tactics and weaponry, but also communications, demolitions, rough terrain skills and operations. While part of the instruction was derived from existing Marine Corps field manuals, much of it was original, drawn from Vic's personal experiences.

The IOC was completed on schedule and graduated its first class in June of 1977. The Marine Corps had a new Lieutenant, schooled to confront the dangers of combat and lead his fellow Marine through its peril.

The course has since increased in breadth and length, and rather than a six week curriculum as originally planned, it has expanded to 13 weeks and now includes an instructive desert operation course that has undoubtedly prepared our Marines for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Vic took great pride in knowing that this course would challenge each infantry officer with extreme circumstances and unique environments, similar to what he faced in the battle of Dai Do.

The infantryman shares a common bond that unlike many other service occupations, strengthens amongst trial and adversity. Their necessity, coupled with their sacrifice, should never be forgotten in the minds of Americans and will surely never be forgotten in the mind of the Marine. For each distinguished graduate leaving the IOC, nothing is more appropriate than expressing appreciation for this type of warrior's accomplishment than honoring him with tools of the trade. Knowing that the respect and history of the infantry lives in its weaponry, Vic thought it essential to provide each distinguished IOC graduate with a .45 caliber automatic Colt pistol--the weapon he often resorted to in combat and the weapon many of these Marines will continue to rely on in similar circumstances. He took it upon himself and endowed the Marine Corps University Foundation to maintain this distinguished award in perpetuity, citing each of these Marines as ``the Lieutenant I'd most like to have on my flank.''

Mr. Speaker, President Ronald Reagan once said, ``Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem.'' While I fully believe this to be true, I also feel that it is the service and dedication of Marines like Vic Taylor that validates this statement. Without his contribution and concern, it is likely that our fighting men and women on the ground would not have the knowledge and experience they posses today.

Despite Vic's retirement from the military in 1985, his leadership and guidance continues to serve the Marine Corps and will do so for years to come. Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in giving the thanks and respect Bayard ``Vic'' Taylor deserves for his service to the Marine Corps and to our nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay tribute to the life and memory of a good friend and a great American, Mr. James Edwin Kuhn of EI Centro, California. Jim died shortly after midnight on Monday, August 29, 2005, when his sports utility vehicle overturned on Evan Hewes Highway.

Those of us who knew Jim best remember a family man and an agricultural innovator who shared his passion for the outdoors. He is from a family of farmers that settled in Imperial Valley in the early years of the 20th century and helped build one of the strongest agricultural sectors in the country.

Jim was born April 21, 1964, spending much of his early childhood working on the family farm. In high school, he shined as a wrestler and a football player, demonstrating himself as a leader and making obvious his desire for success. Jim's father reinforced the importance of receiving a well-rounded college education, but also advised him to learn as much as he could about Imperial Valley, business, and agriculture. When he graduated

high school, Jim left for Stanford University and graduated in 1986 with a degree in Slavic languages and literature. He immediately returned to Imperial Valley and continued the Kuhn farming tradition started by Jim's grandfather.

Jim immediately began looking and thinking of ways to improve and expand the family business. He took his father's idea of exporting compressed hay to dairies in Japan and before long, Kuhn farms grew into a large, vertically-integrated farming, processing, and exporting company with more than 300 employees. Jim received much admiration and respect from his workers and their families, and just like Jim, they took great pride in the word done at Kuhn farms.

While maintaining a reputation as an innovator in the transport and international sale of hay and forage products, Jim also founded KF Dairy in 1992 and, in conjunction with Gossner Foods of Utah, established Imperial Valley Cheese--a local cheese production facility. He is also credited for introducing Klein Grass to Imperial Valley, where it has become a significant crop.

Jim also created the Salton Sea International Bird Festival in an effort to share with the community his passion for photographing birdlife and desert scenery. He recognized the value and beauty of Imperial Valley, and wanted nothing more than to show everyone living, visiting, or traveling through his community that agriculture and wildlife can coexist. The Bird Festival has become an annual event bringing people from all over the world to Imperial Valley.

Mr. Speaker, I know Jim's loving wife, Heidi, and his two children, Vienna and Fritz, will continue to share with family and friends his passion for adventure and the outdoors.

I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring and paying tribute to the life and memory of James Edwin Kuhn.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take my Special Order at this time.

Madam Speaker, I want to talk a little bit about the wonderful people of Rescue Task Force who are headquartered in San Diego, who have been operating in the disaster area in New Orleans, and use that discussion about them to reflect on all the great private efforts and public efforts to help the victims who have been created by this incredible disaster in New Orleans.

Rescue Task Force is a small group. It is headed up by Wendell Cutting, who is my chief of staff in San Diego and a guy who a couple of years ago was given only 3 months to live with terminal cancer and who has continued to survive and I think survive as an inspiration based on his continued drive and enthusiasm for helping people.

Wendell and Gary Becks have gone around the world in setting up medical clinics, providing food, providing medical services in Afghanistan and Iraq, in Albania, in Central America, and now are providing a helping hand in New Orleans.

A couple of days ago, they allowed me to go along on one of their missions. We went to Houma, Louisiana. I had with me Scott Turner, who is retiring this year after 10 years in the NFL, a wonderful cornerback who played for the Redskins and the Chargers and the Broncos. And along with Scott was Larry Nelson, the mayor of Yuma, Arizona; and Roy Tyler, who is a businessman from San Diego who now has Tyler's restaurants in Yuma, Arizona.

We brought along some help, but we also stopped in Houston.

When we landed in Houston, we had a lot of supplies there ready, and we trucked them into the affected area in Houma. We went to the civic center in Houma with the rescue task force personnel, and one of the things that they needed was beds because you have literally tens of thousands of people who are living in gymnasium settings; that is, where they go into a civic center or a gymnasium and they may have a blanket or two, but they do not have a bed, a mattress, between them and the ground.

So we had a need there, and rescue task force personnel managed to run down, working with some of the big stores, 1,000 beds for the folks there, and we got those paid for. I got a call yesterday that they, in fact, had been delivered.

Then we delivered lots of baby food and canned food to the various locations.

But I was really impressed when I was at the civic center there, this refugee center, or evacuee center. I was impressed with the people of Louisiana, because they had so many volunteers, they actually were having to turn them away, and they had mountains of clothes that had been donated to the point where they said, do not bring any more clothes.

They had a great medical system set up where people from the disaster were getting, in most cases, more checkups than they had had in years with the doctors and nurses available, and they were getting good, hot meals.

We went in the next day by air boat, into the streets and the communities that were under water in New Orleans, and I want to report that our military personnel, the National Guard folks, the active duty folks, and also lots of other folks from other agencies like ATF and reserve sheriffs' organizations are doing a wonderful job now in providing that very necessary security.

Now, I think it is a shame that we have to spend so much manpower on security and have active duty military forces come in that have to provide that security, but that is a fact of life, and they are doing a great job.

Madam Speaker, along those lines, I think that the real tragedy of this hurricane, aside from those individuals who lost their lives, is not the water and it is not the hurricane itself or the damage, the property damage, because all of that can and will be rebuilt. The real tragedy to me was that group of people, part of that generation of folks who live in New Orleans, which included people who shot at the rescue helicopters, who looted, and who committed crimes against their fellow citizens during this time of tragedy, during and shortly after the hurricane.

I think we need to put together a program or legislation to make sure that we do not reinstitute the projects, the location where people have lived for generations in a system that has not produced a high degree of moral compass and a high work ethic, and all of the other things you need to have for a solid community.

So let us work to rebuild not just New Orleans, but let us build a new generation of young people in New Orleans who will be outstanding citizens.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

I want to join with the chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in opposing this amendment and just making the point that sources and methods are important. His analysis and the analysis of his experts and ours is that this would indeed compromise those capabilities.

I think it is a real mistake to pass this amendment. I would hope the House votes it down.

Mr. Chairman, I have heard a number of Members who oppose this amendment talk about the importance of sending the right message to the world. We should send the right message. We should send the truth. Here is the truth, which dozens of Members know because they have attended the open and classified briefings we have had on Guantanamo. We have spent as much time in the Committee on Armed Services over the last 3 or 4 weeks working on the security of people in Guantanamo as we have working on our own troops in the warfighting theaters in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Number one, there has not been a single death in Guantanamo. There is not a Member who has argued against this amendment who can say at the same time there has not been a single death in their own prison system in the State they come from.

Everybody in Guantanamo is allowed five prayer calls a day. That means we use our loudspeaker system to bring them to prayer call. We give them 20 minutes of quiet time. We give them great meals. We give them a medical system we have looked over very carefully, Democrats and Republicans, which is considered to be as good as any HMO system in this country, in which every detainee gets four checkups, on average, per month.

We have had over 24,000 interrogations in Guantanamo, and here are the facts: People have talked about the use of dogs, the fact that dogs have been present at Guantanamo at various times, especially with the 20th hijacker, Mr. al Kahtani, who was subject to the most stressful type of interrogation. There is not one recorded instance in any investigation of a dog biting a prisoner.

There are only a couple of recorded instances of a prisoner being struck by a guard, and the one time when a guard struck a prisoner that happened on General Hood's watch. That guard was struck by the prisoner, I believe he knocked a tooth out. The guard hit him with a handheld radio. The guard, the American, was busted.

The watch word in Guantanamo is honor bound. The troops who guard those people in Guantanamo, who are hijackers, who do include Osama bin Laden's bodyguards, who do include the 20th hijacker, the guy who was destined to be on that plane that went into the ground in Pennsylvania, the guy who was forced to listen to rock music, that is the torture that the gentleman from New York was alleging to. The people who guard those individuals who are dangerous are outstanding American soldiers who are in fact honor bound.

I would put Guantanamo up against the prison system of any of the gentlemen who have spoken against this amendment from their own States. Guantanamo has a better record with fewer injuries, better record with no deaths, better medical treatment, and they have a better record for methods of interrogation, which, incidentally, Republican and Democrat Members have been allowed to watch over and over.

So the gentleman who could not understand why any hearings are being held, I suggest you turn on C-SPAN and watch them.

I urge all Members to vote for this amendment. It makes no sense to close down this important prison where we put terrorists.

Announcement by the Acting Chairman

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time to give my two cents' worth in this debate.

First, let me just say that I understand and I think we should all appreciate that everyone, folks on both sides of this argument, come at it from the perspective of what they think is good for the country. But I think it is absolutely wrong for the country to set a timetable for an exit from Iraq. The timetable and our exit strategy should be the standing up of the Iraqi forces so that they can protect this government that they are putting in place through a representative system in which people are allowed to go to the polls, vote for their elected leaders, and have those leaders represent them until they decide to vote again.

This idea of freedom, of democracy, which was embraced, I think, with unexpected exuberance by the Iraqi people, is something that we should be very respectful of, and we should also be respectful of our great men and women who right now have turned a major portion of their purpose, our uniformed personnel in Iraq, to the training up of the Iraqi forces. There is purpose, and the gentlewoman said it well, there is purpose in our forces, whether one is talking to general officers or talking to the troops on the line who are working those difficult areas of operation like Fallujah and Mosul and Tikrit and other places.

We have David Petraeus, one of the finest officers who ever served this country, former head of the 101st Airborne, who is in charge of training up the Iraqi forces. He is doing a good job. But this timetable is not something we can predict because there are lots of variables. The variables include the threat. They include the time that it takes to bring the various pieces of this Iraqi defense apparatus into place, to put those leaders who have to answer to this civil government in place. All these things mean that we must proceed at pace, but we must proceed

at our own pace and the pace of the Iraqi people. Not an arbitrary timetable.

Please support this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues for letting me follow the Top Gun, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham), in giving our thoughts about Admiral Stockdale because Admiral Stockdale represented the very finest in American heroism. When he was going to be pulled in by the North Vietnamese to do a propaganda film he beat himself in the face with a stool that was in his little prison cell so that they could not use him.

He shared for a while a prison cell with another great friend of ours, Sam Johnson, who was one of our wonderful POW heroes and is such a hero in this Chamber.

I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham) for his great service, as a guy who flew into a pack of 28 MiGs to save his wing man and was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor and received the Navy Cross because he was cut out of the same cloth as that great Admiral Stockdale.

Our very best to the Stockdale family, to Sybil and the kids, and to every aviator who would follow that tradition of heroism and continue to keep our country safe.

Mr. Speaker, I rose with my colleague the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham) a few minutes ago to talk a little bit about Admiral Jim Stockdale, a Medal of Honor winner; Jim Stockdale, POW; Jim Stockdale, an overall great American, who passed away leaving a wonderful family, but leaving also a family of Americans, all those people who have flown aircraft in the skies of the world, projecting American air power and protecting American freedom.

I thought it was appropriate that I stand here tonight talking about Jim Stockdale with another great Navy pilot, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham), who on 10 May, 1972,

south of Hanoi, was shot down by a SAM missile after he had shot down his third MiG. He ejected and, thankfully, was picked up by a Marine rescue helicopter and so therefore did not have to suffer the 7 years of imprisonment that Jim Stockdale suffered.

I thought, Mr. Speaker, it would just be important for us to once again recognize this enormous hero of the United States, a leader, a hero, a great model for all of us and for all those fighting in the war against terror right now, a wonderful figure for us to emulate in terms of following duty, honor and country.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham), and will listen to his memory of Jim Stockdale.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman for laying out that great description of Admiral Stockdale. It has been repeated many times, but I thought one of the extraordinary circumstances, he was asked why he was able to be such a great leader, and he said he learned from his mother. He went to drama classes or helped her in little theatrical shows where she led local drama shows and he learned to act spontaneously and also to think quickly.

I thought that was reflected when the North Vietnamese told him they were going to parade him, use him for television, and were going to put him out where he knew he would be used for propaganda purposes. He had a stool in his cell. He tore it apart and took part of that stool and beat himself in the face with it until he was unrecognizable. What a surprise the North Vietnamese guards must have had when they came to take Admiral Stockdale from his cell for his TV appearance and he had beaten himself.

Also when he saw that other prisoners had been tortured and were being tortured and some of them had been killed, and the Vietnamese were pressing him extremely hard, he took a razor and slit both of his wrists to show that he would rather die than break before his North Vietnamese captors.

Part of that toughness he attributed to his commitment to his dad when he went off to the Naval Academy to be, as he said, ``the best midshipman ever.''

I thought I would mention that Admiral Stockdale, besides being survived by Sybil, a wonderful, wonderful lady who then started, while he was a POW, she started the League of American Families of Prisoners of War and MIAs and, at the same time, she raised four sons. Those four sons are James of Pennsylvania; Sydney, who is in New Mexico; Stanford of Denver, Colorado; and Taylor, who is living in Claremont, California, and, of course, Admiral Stockdale left eight grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman who is talking with me, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham), has won the Navy Cross, was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor and the recipient of many other combat ribbons, and the Purple Heart. But I have never seen a list of service decorations as extensive as Admiral Stockdale's, who had two Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Medal of Honor, three Distinguished Service Medals, two Purple Hearts and four Silver Stars, and was the only 3-star admiral in the history of the Navy to wear both aviator wings and the Medal of Honor.

Interestingly, he went back, he wrote a number of books: ``The Vietnam Experience: 10 Years of Reflections and Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot.'' So he continued to give to this country, I would say to my colleague, before I yield to him, he continued to give to this country after he came back the value of his philosophy, and it was that tough philosophy, that great patriotic philosophy that got him through these extraordinarily difficult times as a POW.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I was just looking at the price tag of some of our high performance aircraft that we are going to be buying. You look at it and you say, we do not want to pay that, and then you reflect on the prisoners of war and that incredible defensive barrier that our pilots had to fly in, fly through to get into their targets in North Vietnam, and you say to yourself at that point I only want our pilots to have the very best.

So while I guess I am like everybody else, I get a little sticker shock when I look at the price of an aircraft. Of course, we get the same thing when we look at the price of a new car today in this country. I reflect when I see the incredible courage of those who strap themselves into that cockpit and fly out to protect American freedom and to protect our country, that they need the very, very best.

I would just ask the gentleman, because I know that he is familiar with the MiG aircraft, the latest high performance MiG aircraft, and I think one of his jobs, because the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham) knows aircraft, one of his jobs is to make sure that we keep high performance capability in the skies. I would just ask him for his reflections on what he thinks we need to do to maintain a strong American air power.

Mr. Speaker, I know that my son would like to remind the gentleman that it was a Marine pilot who rescued you when you went down.

But there is another point to American air power, and I think American air power in the future, and that is something that one of our real giants, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), brought up, along with the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), was this provision that we just passed, that just passed the House in his amendment to his bill, which gives the President leverage against Western countries, European countries, our allies who would sell military technology to China. Because there is a possibility that at some point in the future we may be in a conflict with China, and I think it would be a terrible thing if we saw any type of technology that gives them the ability to acquire American aircraft on a radar screen or to launch weaponry or munitions at that aircraft, or to have in their own aircraft, I would hate to see American stealth capability and technology.

Mr. Speaker, I just would like to end by saying I think one way we can remember Admiral Stockdale is to keep our country strong and be faithful to those who served, including Admiral Stockdale.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment is as important as spending bills in the defense appropriations measures or the defense authorization measures, because this will give the President the tools that he needs to make sure that we do not see Western technology, either from the United States or our allies, moving ultimately to battlegrounds in the future on some unfortunate date when that technology, developed by American allies, may end up being used to kill young Americans on the battlefield. It is a very, very important amendment. I hope all Members will vote for it.

I salute the authors, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde). I have watched the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) for 20-some years standing up on this floor during the Cold War, during the Contra wars. When the Berlin Wall fell, it did not fall simply under the forceful leadership of Ronald Reagan, but also the great eloquence and eloquent leadership of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) over the last many years.

So, again, both gentleman have answered the call of our country to national security, and I would hope that every Member votes for this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to take the floor briefly and comment on the passing of Admiral Jim Stockdale, one of the great heroes of our time.

Jim Stockdale, when he passed away was a resident of San Diego, California, with his wonderful wife, Sybil.

This occasion I think brought America's focus back to what Jim Stockdale accomplished and the enormity of his service to our country. I just thought it might be the right time to talk about that a little bit and about that extraordinary heroism that he demonstrated at a time when Americans had largely turned away from the operation in Vietnam.

Jim Stockdale was shot down, and I know that my two colleagues, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson), who shared a cell with Jim Stockdale in the Hanoi Hilton, and the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham) who was the most proficient Navy pilot of that period, in fact the only Navy ace in the Vietnam conflict, would want to be with me talking about Jim.

But Jim Stockdale was shot down and was incarcerated in the Hanoi Hilton. At one point, the North Vietnamese wanted to use him for propaganda purposes. To keep them from being able to do that, he broke up a stool that was in his cell and beat his own face with the stool almost beyond recognition so that he had no value to the North Vietnamese in terms of being an image that they could broadcast for propaganda purposes.

He was a leader in the true sense of the term. He led his men in that prison under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. He showed incredible heroism. In reviewing the exploits of American pilots, and they are numerous because one thing that America has always had is a great pool of individuals who are willing to go out and risk their lives. Ever since the days when we flew biplanes in World War I, to the current operations over Iraq and Afghanistan, we have always had extraordinary Americans who, as James Michener said in his book ``The Bridges of Toko-Ri,'' would fly off those little postage stamps that you call aircraft carriers and fly over and hit difficult targets, sometimes under enormous defensive fire, and then return back to that small carrier out at sea somewhere and try to make that extraordinarily difficult landing.

Michener asked, Where do we get such men? Where does America get such men? The answer is, we have always had them and they are sometimes guys like Randy Cunningham or Sam Johnson or, in this case, Jim Stockdale. Jim Stockdale when he was shot down really had the greatest challenge of his military career because that was a time when he had to be a leader, not in an aircraft that was going to return to a ship where he could live in some degree of comfort and convenience with his fellow pilots, but his war zone then was reduced to the small spaces that constituted the cells of the Hanoi Hilton.

He so inspired his men and so extended himself and endured torture to the degree that his countrymen who had served with him were unanimous when he was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor, they were unanimous in their support of Jim Stockdale for this Nation's highest honor, to go along with all of the other combat decorations that he had.

I just thought, Mr. Speaker, it might be a good time to remind Americans what a great hero Jim Stockdale was and what a great model he is for our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay tribute to Colonel Frank Gallegos, Commander of the 30th Space Wing and the Western Range at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Colonel Gallegos will be retiring after more than twenty-four years of faithful service to our nation.

Colonel Gallegos entered the Air Force in 1981 after graduating from the United States Air Force Academy. Since then, he has served in various operational assignments, and has performed staff duties at Headquarters, United States Air Force; Strategic Air Command; and on the Joint Staff. Colonel Gallegos also served as the Vice Commander of the Air Force Space Command and has commanded the 12th Missile Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana and the 90th Operations Group at Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.

Throughout his career in the Air Force, Colonel Gallegos has always maintained a commitment to the men over which he commanded. While some military leaders choose not to know the personnel which they command, Colonel Gallegos has maintained a reputation as someone who places his troops before himself. In fact, in each one of his command posts, Colonel Gallegos established personal relationships with each of his Airmen, understanding that such relationships are important to maintaining cohesion, respect, and morale.

Colonel Gallegos is a true leader, worthy of recognition. His strategic, tactical, and operational expertise has served our nation well and as our armed forces continue to confront the threat of terrorism around the world, we look to individuals like Colonel Gallegos to lead the fight. His replacement, Colonel Jack Weinstein, will be given the command of a Wing that represents the best this country has to offer. I am confident that he will provide the Airmen of Vandenberg Air Force Base with the same leadership and dedication that Colonel Gallegos exhibited for so many years.

Colonel Gallegos will retire to Omaha, Nebraska, the same place he met his wife Julie. His time with his wife and his daughters is well deserved and I would like to wish him the best of luck in the years to come. On the occasion of his retirement, I ask that my colleagues join me in recognizing the dedication and service of Colonel Frank Gallegos.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

I think most of my colleagues know that we had a hearing 2 days ago on something that is not an easy subject, that is, Guantanamo, the treatment of the detainees, many of whom were picked up on terrorist battlefields around the world, including the 20th hijacker, the bodyguard for Osama bin Laden and an institution which is at the focal point of a great deal of public discussion.

We had Brigadier General Hood, the commander of Guantanamo; Sergeant Major Menendez; and Lieutenant Commander Ostergaard, who runs the medical facilities. They gave us straight ahead, candid, absolutely truthful answers, and every member of the committee, Democrat and Republican, had a chance to ask them questions, cross-examine them. I would just ask my colleagues to look at the statements that came from Democrats and Republicans regarding the quality of the testimony.

Now, each year, we put together a $400 billion-plus defense budget. That requires candid, up-front testimony from the people that wear the uniform of the United States and the civilian officials that oversee the Pentagon.

In addition to that budget, we bolt on and bolted on this year a $50 billion bridge appropriations; and to do that, we had to ask of the services and of our military leadership, and we drilled down right to the platoon level; we had to ask them for unfunded requirements, that is, we said what did you need that was not in the budget but in your estimation, in your candid opinion, General, Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, what do you think we need for the Armed Forces of the United States.

They answered us candidly; and because of that, we were able to put together a complete and robust statement of the requirements that we had, and we were able to meet those with the $50 billion bridge fund that we then bolted on to the defense authorization bill.

Our process has been one that has been marked by candor, by truthful testimony, and I think by respect from Republicans and Democrats for the process.