Floor Statements

You're starting us off on a bad note.

It's good to be here this evening and to engage in conversation and dialogue certainly on the situation that we are in today in Iraq, and certainly in this country.

I want to deviate just a little bit and talk a little bit about my study hall period. Folks say that Members of Congress had recess. When I was in school and we had recess, we played most of the time; but I can assure you for the last several weeks of the month of August I did a lot of traveling in the district I represent, listening to a lot of people, the chamber of commerce, business people, individuals on the street, country stores, wherever I might have been, restaurants, coffee shops. We talked about a lot of things. People are worried about the war in Iraq. People are worried about the war in Iraq to the point where we know we can't lose there or we can't allow this nation to go into anarchy, but how do we prevent that from happening?

And as I listened to those debates and those dialogs, I realized that people were seriously concerned about what we're doing and how we're engaged. I hear people talking about whether we should have gone or not. That's legitimate, and I think historians, probably political scientists over the next several years, next decades and next centuries will obviously gauge that and will judge that. We can talk about whether the war was prosecuted right or not; and, quite frankly, I think there are some questions there as to whether or not this administration, Mr. Speaker, and whether this White House, Mr. Speaker, has engaged the way that would bring about a quicker resolution to where it would win much quicker in Iraq.

But when I went home on Sunday, I drove back down through the Shenandoah Valley, down Highway 81, hit Interstate 40, went across the Cumberland Plateau, and I realized what a beautiful Nation we have. When you look at those hills along the Blue Ridge down through the Shenandoah Valley and then the Cumberland Plateau near the Cumberland Gap and realize the beauty of this vast Nation that we have and the people who live here.

I had an opportunity, my first day off, to spend about 7 hours fishing at a great warrior's old mill, Sergeant Alvin C. York, in Palmyra where I live.

Mr. Ross, I had an opportunity with my oldest daughter and two of my grandchildren to go fishing. We were going to spend probably a couple hours there. We wound up spending over 7 hours. The last day that I spent in my district, I did the same thing, not intentionally. My middle daughter called and came up on Sunday, and I spent, as I did my first Monday home, my last Monday home I spent fishing in the rivers there below Sergeant York's home in the mill pond. Now, Sergeant York was a great American hero. But we have had other great American heroes, as well, Eisenhower being one of them.

I want to mention something about Eisenhower in just a moment. But first of all, I want to talk about what someone that America respects greatly said a few years ago. Clark Clifford and Richard Holbrooke wrote a book in 1991 called ``Counsel to the President.'' After Winston Churchill had made his ``Iron Curtain'' speech in Fulton, Missouri, they were traveling back on the train from Missouri. President Truman and many of his staff members had already retired for the evening. The three people who were basically sitting in the room at that time were Charles Ross, who was the press secretary for Truman, and Clark Clifford and Churchill. They talked about how our lives are influenced strictly by the accident of our birth.

What Churchill said, and I am quoting him as quoted in the book, ``If I were to be born again, I would wish to be born in the United States. Your country is the future of the world. You have natural resources, the spirit, the youth, the determination, which will steadily increase your global influence.'' He was correct in making that assessment over 60 years ago as he made this speech. He was correct then. And we are correct today to say that America's presence in the world today is recognized.

But why has it changed? Why would a great Brit, who is considered the Brit's Britishman, say, ``If I were to be born again, I would love to have been born an American''? How many people in the world today would say that? I would say that because when God put my soul in the body of a woman who lived in America, it was a great blessing for me just to be born in this country. We have got to regain and recapture throughout the world that spirit that folks from nations abroad have seen in this country, and I think we can recover it, to where we are looked upon, as Ronald Reagan said, as that shining light of freedom that folks can look at and aspire to.

We need an Eisenhower moment in Iraq. It has been said that after Eisenhower was elected President in 1952 that as he was ordered up he asked, as a general, from the military people in the field, the Army, if he could be able to have a few small planes that he would fly over South Korea and in parts of North Korea. It is also said, and his memoirs pretty much confirmed this, that after they landed he was silent for a few moments. And he basically said, We cannot win this war the way that we are fighting it, but we can't afford to lose it, either. We cannot win this war the way we are fighting it. He knew we would have to engage in a much greater, larger war that would include perhaps even China, which would have stretched America's resources and I think America's fiber to the breaking point.

Eisenhower understood that we were in a war that we should not have been in. Now some will question what I am saying. But that was Eisenhower's comments. It is a war that we are not ready to win. It is a war that we can lose, and we can't afford to lose. In his first 6 or 8 months of his Presidency, he brought about a resolution of a cease- fire in Korea. Did we stay there? Sure, we have been. Will we stay in Iraq? Sure we will. Every resolution that we passed on this floor that calls for a date certain authorizes this administration and authorizes the Defense Department to keep adequate personnel in the field and military presence in the field to help protect the resources, the assets of this country and protect our friends in the area and to help train the troops and the soldiers of the armies, the policemen, and the civilians of Iraq. We will be there several years from now, just as we were in South Korea, as we were in Western Europe. It is how we stay that makes the difference. It is how we stay that will make the difference.

The way we are there now I don't believe is the way we ought to be. We can no longer be the army for Iraq. We can no longer be the policemen in the streets, on the beat, providing security for the folks in Iraq. The Brits just pulled out. This great British leader named Winston Churchill, his country just pulled their troops out of Basra. Are we going to have a surge in Basra with American troops?

Mr. Speaker, let's ask the President that. Is that our intention now, that we will have a surge and resupply the troops there? Because it seems in southern Iraq obviously there is a lot of turmoil, a lot of killings, basically a civil war between the Shias, now some folks say are happening. In northern Iraq where the Kurds are, we are not there operating as the army or the policemen on the beat. In northern Iraq where the Kurds are, they are providing their own autonomy.

It is my opinion that the longer we stay in Iraq, the worse we will be. We need an Eisenhower moment in Iraq, not a General Custer moment, not a charge into the Little Big Horn to where we get destroyed. It is time that we reassess our situation in Iraq to a war that we win in Iraq.

I am saddened as I watch TV. I am seeing Iraq being sold by TV commercials as if we are selling an automobile to the American public. That saddens me when I see some of our wonderful soldiers, and I applaud them, who are saying, We cannot cut and run. I agree with them. We can't cut and run. But we don't need to be selling this war on TV commercials as the right thing to do.

The thing that we have not done, in my opinion, is that we have allowed Afghanistan to be left pretty much as an island to themselves. Oh, we are there. But just think what we could have done if we had spent the time and resources and kept the number of troops in Afghanistan that we moved to Iraq.

It is my belief that Karzai would have probably been, and still may be, someone that we may call their George Washington. We now see troubles in Pakistan. We are now seeing countries in Central Asia after the dominance of the Soviet Union for many years, many are floundering around trying to figure which is the best route to go. Each feels, I believe, that democracy is the best route to take. Many are struggling with their democracies in Central Asia. Just think of what we could have done in Afghanistan if, in fact, we had stayed there, helped build that country to take out those that would do harm to them, to destroy Afghanistan. We could have helped build a democracy that I believe would have been infectious, and an epidemic of democratic nations would have been springing up all over to continue to bloom and to progress in Central Asia.

It would have been infectious, in my opinion, in the Middle East, as well, and we would have seen I think the tumbling of the strongman-type governments. In every one of those countries surrounding Iraq, there is a strong person who runs those countries. If we had stayed and continued in Afghanistan, we would have seen, in my opinion, a much different Middle East than we see today and a much different Central Asia.

One of the real problems we have today is I think even Pakistan would have seen the success in Afghanistan and might have wanted to move further in that direction. In fact, the Taliban-type warriors and al Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden did attack us. I keep hearing these folks from the side saying, If we don't fight them there, we will fight them here. What do you think happened on September 11? They were here. And we have forgotten who attacked us. It wasn't Iraq. It was Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network. They are now, in some folks' opinion, in the areas of Waziristan and Pakistan. If, in fact, we allow, or if, in fact, Pakistan were to fall, guess who gets the nuclear weapons?

So our foreign policy, in my opinion, needs to be revisited. All of us need to start being American Democrats and American Republicans, not right-wingers and left-wingers. It looks like we have chosen up sides here and we have started to listen to the talk shows on one side or we look at the liberal communications on the other side, and all of a sudden that is what drives us in this country. It is time we start being Americans again, American Democrats and American Republicans, and look at our failures. Eisenhower understood it. George Custer found it out. We don't need a Custer move. We don't need to have advertisements telling us we need to have a war in TV commercials.

We need honesty, Mr. President. We need honesty. My request to you is that you have an Eisenhower moment, one of honesty. Let's get on with making sure we rebuild that area, put our troops out of the kill zone and stop requiring them to be the soldiers. Because if in Basra and southern Iraq and northern Iraq our troops are not there, and the only place where it seems the most violent actions that take place is where our troops are, that should tell us something.

We need to be sure that we keep enough troops to keep Syria or Iran, or quite frankly even our friend called Turkey, from invading Iraq for their own beneficial gain and let Iraq work its problems out. It is time. We have given them a government. They have accepted their government. They have elected their government. It is time for them to start leading and taking on the responsibility. I call upon this President, this administration, and this Congress to work together to make that happen.

We have built and helped build in South Korea over a period of 30-40 years one of the strongest democracies in the Asian-Pacific rim and Asia, the strongest economy called South Korea. It took a long time. It will take a long time to resolve the differences in the Middle East. It will take a long time to resolve the differences in Iraq. But we cannot do it the way we are doing it today.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things we really need to make sure of is that the American public as they watch this Blue Dog Coalition group here talk tonight, every one of us to the ``T'' comes from rural areas basically. We love America, we love our troops, we visit them.

I have been to Iraq five times and Afghanistan twice. I went for a reason, to tell our troops thank troops thank you, we love you, we appreciate you. We pray that an umbrella of safety will be put over our troops. We work for those back home to be sure that their families are recognized and that our communities uphold them and undergird them.

I don't want anybody to have a misinterpretation of what we are saying here tonight. This is about America, and it is not about TV ads that try to justify a war going on in Iraq. I am ashamed those things are on TV. We support our troops, and we will continue to do that.

Madam Speaker, it is one of my great honors as a Member of Congress to attend ceremonies that pay tribute to our gallant veterans and to assist them in anyway possible.

On September 8, 2007, veterans from Fentress County, Tennessee will be in Washington, D.C. to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This special group will be comprised of veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm.

During their visit to Washington, the first for many, they will also tour the monuments erected to honor those who have served. It is at those hallowed memorials where they will be to pay their respects to their fallen brothers and sisters.

Whether serving stateside or overseas, the men and women of America's Armed Forces embody the true spirit of what makes this country of ours so great. They have embarked on noble journeys to free many from the jaws of tyranny and oppression, usually at their own peril. They deserve our admiration, support, and appreciation.

In closing, I am humbled with the knowledge that others have paid such a steep price to give us the liberties and freedoms we all enjoy today. May God continue to look over the souls of those who have gone before us and look down at us with all his blessings.

Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.

Madam Speaker, today I am proud to congratulate Pauline Sherrer of Crossville, Tennessee, on her succession as President of the Tennessee Press Association. Pauline will join a long line of talented and dedicated journalism professionals in taking the helm of the TPA.

Pauline's family has long been an integral part of the Tennessee media. In 1981, the Sherrer family purchased the Crossville Chronicle, the hometown paper of Cumberland County. Pauline maintained her role as publisher of the Chronicle through two sales of the paper, providing the people of Cumberland County with fair and accurate reporting on the issues that affect them most. Loved by the Chronicle staff and lauded by her peers, Sherrer's leadership has set a standard for meeting the needs of readers.

With over 36 years of experience with the press and now as the first woman to hold a position on all three of Tennessee's press association boards, Pauline is a model for young women and anyone interested in a career in journalism. A mother and a grandmother, business leader and volunteer, Pauline serves her work, family and community with her strong voice and will.

It is my privilege to congratulate and honor Pauline Sherrer for her work, service and commitment, and to welcome her as the new President of our State's Press Association.

Madam Speaker, it was over 200 years ago that Major William Russell and Jesse Bean reportedly traveled in search of a ripe landscape to settle the Franklin County we know today. The county was named for one of our Founding Fathers, Ben Franklin, and finally took its place amongst Tennessee's other counties when recognized officially by the Tennessee Assembly in 1807. Since then, statesmen and sportsmen, farmers and craftsmen, war heroes and great scholars alike have represented the culture of Franklin County to the State and the country. I am proud today to recognize the successes and history of Franklin County, and to wish upon its people a future as blessed as the inception of the county they call home.

Named for a soldier of the American Revolution and the first Speaker of the Tennessee Assembly, the town of Winchester was designated as the Franklin County seat in 1809. Winchester today offers visitors a host of curiosities, festivals and other Tennessee fun. From the Dogwood Festival to the yearly Jamboree, Winchester gives plenty of reason to visit and more than enough for Franklin County residents to stay and make their home.

High atop the Cumberland Plateau and not far from Winchester, Franklin County offers another great treasure in the town of Sewanee, and the University of the South. Since it's founding in 1860, Sewanee has produced writers and theologians, and 25 Rhodes scholars to make Tennessee and Franklin County proud. The school has undergone a series of name changes, too, finally settling on ``Sewanee: The University of the South.'' Plenty of us in Tennessee and Franklin County just call it ``The Mountain,'' but whatever the name, it's a fine piece of the Tennessee tradition.

Construction of the University came to a halt when the cornerstone was destroyed by Union soldiers in the Civil War. In the midst of its 200 year history, like so many Tennessee counties, Franklin County endured the hardships of that difficult time in our Nation's history, and today still commemorates those lost to the Civil War so many years ago.

From its first settlers to the friends and neighbors who live their today, Franklin County has honored its namesake and our forefather, Ben Franklin, with its history and the traditions they will maintain for years to come. As Franklin himself advised, ``wish not so much to live long as to live well.'' This month, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the continuing story of Franklin County, a 200 year history lived long and well in Tennessee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution. The responsible redeployment of our troops is a brave step toward a new direction for the war in Iraq. It will remove our troops from the most dangerous kill zones in Iraq and refocus our efforts toward defeating terrorism across the globe.

The decision to redeploy is one that I have not come to lightly. This bill gives the President the power to maintain a military presence in the region while, at the same time, imposing the accountability the American people demand that we enforce.

Four years into a difficult and prolonged engagement, I had hoped we would have seen better proposals for progress in quelling the violence. Throughout the course of our debate, whether on the air waves, Internet or in the halls of Congress, we've heard much of the supposed failures of our military goals. We hear often of continued strife and instability in the nation we sought to set free; of an Iraqi economy crippled by the trials of war; of parliamentary disputes, civil unrest and sectarian violence; and of a peace we all believe in that has yet to take place in Iraq.

But these stories, however true, are only a portion of our efforts. They are the darkest side of our endeavors meant to do good and sinfully omit the triumphs and victories of our sons and daughters who've done a great service.

For all that remains undone, our troops have accomplished a great deal. We brought free and open elections to a nation once shackled by a tyrannical regime. Iraq has experienced freedoms unimagined before, and Saddam Hussein was put to death for his crimes.

It is in this vein that we must continue our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, the greater Middle East and around the world, for it is essential to our security.

As we prepare to redeploy our troops from Iraq, we must commit as well to remain ever vigilant in the face of terrorism. Whether they are threats to America and her allies, whether radicalism threatens the foundations of the natural freedoms we've sought so hard to prove, we must prepare ourselves to face those threats and bring their agents either to justice or a swift demise.

We must continue our hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the instruments of al Qaeda. While I am behind the efforts to redeploy, our military must be equipped and prepared to protect American civilians, property and interests at home and abroad.

As I prepared my case today on the merits of redeployment, I was reminded of a speech delivered by Congressman Abraham Lincoln on January 12, 1848, that railed against President James K. Polk of Tennessee for bringing our country to war with Mexico. Lincoln believed that Polk had stretched the facts to fit the case for war, just as many have expressed their belief here that our President stretched the truth about WMDs to make his case for war.

President Polk's war with Mexico yielded the borders that stand today. Our nations endured the battle of Vera Cruz, the battle of Mexico City, but the results of the Mexican-American war remain, and our two countries live as partners in peace. The results of the war yielded positive results. History has favorably judged James K. Polk, just as history will judge this President.

So as the President considers signing the order to redeploy, I hope he will. I implore him to consider the advice of Mr. Lincoln.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to honor the work of students and advisors at Scott High School in Huntsville, Tennessee for implementing and promoting conservation practices at school and in the community.

Through hands-on experiments and computer-aided instructions, students have learned about alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal, hydroelectric, and fossil fuel technologies. They also took field trips to help foster first hand knowledge of these energy sources. School leadership has plans in the near future to use high school students to teach alternative energy education to grade school students.

With the assistance of a few teachers, students were able to mount solar panels, donated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, near the Agricultural Department's greenhouses to run two exhaust fans and a lighted school sign. During this process, students were involved in all aspects of this activity. They designed battery and solar panel racks, mounted the batteries, wired the inverters and other electrical components, and installed the panels.

Their laudable goals and actions have garnered attention by having been selected to attend the National Youth Awards Program for Energy Achievement sponsored by the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project. The Scott High School energy team will join other winners at the ``Kids Teaching Kids Awards Program,'' in Crystal City, Virginia. The Kids teaching Kids approach encourages students to reach out to their peers and communities and to teach about energy in fun and innovative ways.

There trip to the Washington, DC area will be capped off by attending the NEED Project's National Recognition Ceremonies in Yates Auditorium at the U.S. Department of the Interior. I applaud these young individuals and their advisors for their conservation practices and promoting the use of alternative energy.

Madam Speaker, let us give praise to the longevity of Zion Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Tennessee as they celebrate the 200th anniversary of their founding. Many churches are often the social center for the communities they serve. Zion has long been ministering to the spiritual needs of Maury Countians and striving to provide a better life to those living abroad during their many mission trips.

Founded in 1807 by descendants of Scottish and Scott-Irish Presbyterians, the first house of worship was erected in the center of the 5,120 acres of land they purchased from the heirs of General Nathaniel Greene. With a strong commitment to God and their faith in the human spirit, may Zion Presbyterian Church continue their outreach and ministry.

Madam Speaker, Milestones indicate distances traveled by one or many, collectively. I rise today to honor one individual from the beautiful Sequatchie Valley for having reached the 50-year anniversary of a major milestone in her life.

Ms. Nancy Ewton Sharpe of Dunlap, Tennessee, the first born of W. Howard and Jeanette Campbell Ewton, was brought into this world on April 1, 1938. Her grandparents, F.P. and Nancy Ann Ewton, started a funeral home in 1919 and built their own caskets. Nancy attended school in Dunlap for 12 years graduating in 1956. She then began studies at the John A. Gupton College of Mortuary Science in Nashville, Tennessee. Graduating in 1957, she was the first dually licensed female funeral director-embalmer in the State of Tennessee. I rise today to honor Ms. Sharpe's accomplishment and celebrate the 50th anniversary of her success.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for the recognition. I'll be very brief, which is difficult for me to do, being from the mountains of Tennessee. Sometimes I get a little wordy. I had one of my folks back home tell me that after I'd been here for about a year, he said, Lincoln, you've gotten so windy as those folks in Washington, I believe you could blow up an onion sack. I'm not sure exactly what he meant by that, but I had to tone down my rhetoric somewhat after that.

But it's good to be here to talk about accountability and, quite frankly, how the lack of accountability has gotten us in the situation we're in in Iraq, as well as in our budget management. When we take a look at how the growth of government grew through the 1980s up to the early 1990s, in 1992, we were spending roughly 22 percent of gross domestic product on national expenditures, on our budgetary process, Mr. Speaker.

And through the 1990s, we saw a downsizing of government through the Clinton-Gore years, where we were spending roughly 18.5 percent of gross domestic product. We now have seen that jump to the point to where it's somewhat over 20 percent in gross domestic product. We've seen government grow the last 6 years. We saw it downsized during the Clinton-Gore administration, and the 12 years prior to that we saw it grow to where it was well over 22 percent.

So, when we talk about accountability, let's be sure that America understands, Mr. Speaker, that it has certainly not been the Democratic Party that has made that happen. Under our management, under our watch, we saw a downsizing of government expenditures.

I want to move now to Iraq. I recently had an opportunity to visit the White House, Mr. Speaker, with our President, along with 12 or 13 other Members. We had a very frank conversation. In one of the conversations, the comment was made that we have a strong commitment in the Middle East, and we do have a strong commitment there.

We denied Hitler during World War II being able to obtain the oil in the Middle East. The tanks of Rommel ran out of fuel, and we were able, quite frankly, through the mass force we had, 16 million Americans, as well as help from Europe during World War II, the Allied Forces were able to eventually conquer Germany.

We then continued to be there and have a presence all through the Cold War, which also denied the Russians from being able to obtain the oil that was there.

There's no doubt in my mind that we're going to be in the Middle East for a long time when we leave the war zone and the hostile war zones of Iraq.

And as we made that conversation, Mr. Speaker, our President certainly agreed with that, that we have a long-term commitment and an interest in the Middle East for many years to come, and we will have. It's kind of like 1953, in South Korea, when Eisenhower decided a cease-fire would be in order, and we signed a cease-fire and have been maintaining troops in South Korea since 1953. We'll be in the Middle East for a long, long time. After the first Persian Gulf War, we maintained a presence there in the Middle East, and we'll still do that. It's how we stay that determines whether or not we'll win.

What my real concern is about this situation in Iraq is I don't think, Mr. Speaker, this administration, I don't think, Mr. Speaker, this President understands the gravity of what's going on in the Middle East.

Every country in the Middle East, some our friends supposedly and some might continue to be our friends, during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the Shah of Iran was also our friend. When the ayatollahs took over, we lost that friendship, and Iran no longer maintained our friendship. But in places like Saudi Arabia, in Kuwait, in the Emirates, when you look at Jordan, King Abdullah, a decree made him King, not an election. He is our friend, and I personally like King Abdullah, but he had an uncle named Prince Hassan that most folks thought would eventually go on to be King of Jordan. That didn't happen.

So, when we talk about having a free-standing democracy in the Middle East, in Iraq, I'm puzzled somewhat that that becomes one of the major objectives to determine whether or not we win. We need to have stability in Iraq, stability, Mr. Speaker. My hope is that eventually a democracy will occur.

For us to assume that the Shias, the Sunnis and the Kurds, in one of the most volatile mixed populations in any country in the Middle East, that we, you notice I say we, we're going to use that country as a model of how we democratize the Middle East, I think, is a flawed failure, will continue to be, and will be something that will be unsuccessful.

If, in fact, this administration, led by our President, had decided that we ought to have democracy in the Middle East, maybe he should have started with this gentleman he's holding hands with, the monarchy, the royal family of Saudi Arabia. I wonder how many times this administration, Mr. Speaker, how many times this President, Mr. Speaker, has talked to the royal family of Saudi Arabia and say, wouldn't it be nice to have in Saudi Arabia a thriving democracy, a freestanding democracy.

I wonder how many times, Mr. Speaker, this President, Mr. Rumsfeld and others, Mr. Speaker, asked the people of Kuwait after being liberated in 1991 that you should establish a democracy and not revert back to the royal families, to be dictatorial in the decisions that you made.

Every nation in the Middle East has a strongman-type government, except for Israel and except for Lebanon. Whether it's Syria, whether it's Iran, Iraq had theirs, the Emirates, Qatar, every country over there has a strongman-type government, and we believe that for us to consider having one, that we've got to democratize Iraq. I think that's a flawed policy, and, Mr. Speaker, I hope our President engages with this Congress to try to find some solutions to how we establish stability in the Middle East and certainly in Iraq.

I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for yielding.

I thank my friend from Arkansas (Mr. Ross).

I have had an opportunity to get to meet a lot of folks that I have served with here in the U.S. House. All of those obviously within the Blue Dog Coalition have become pretty endeared to me because of the commitments we focus on as being deficit hawks and defense hawks. We talk about those issues conservatively. I am going to talk a little bit about each of those issues tonight.

I had a privilege recently to spend considerable time with my good friend John Salazar from Colorado. I have become convinced he knows how to hook up a piece of equipment.

I am also convinced in the conversations with him that he and his family have shared in the good Lord's Earth in being farmers with his brothers; and in talking with him, I had a much deeper understanding and certainly a much deeper abiding friendship knowing that as my brother and I both farm, brother doing most of it back home, that all of us come from different parts of the country maybe, but we all have that same spirit and that same heartfelt belief that America is the greatest place in the world to live and raise your family. For those of us who live in rural areas, obviously we believe that is probably the best place for America to raise their families.

I traveled today with a group of young students from both Clark Grange and York Institute, being named after Alvin C. York, Sergeant York, from the hometown of Pall Mall where I live, and as we traveled through the Capitol I could see their eyes light up as we talked about the history of this great building that we serve in, the great Chamber that we are in here this afternoon.

But as you look on the wall in the rotunda, you realize that America in the 1770s, in 1775, at the Boston siege, we convinced with our ragtag Army, the Continental Army, convinced the British soldiers and sailors that we could defeat them, and they set sail late in the winter, early spring and went to New York. We followed them there, and by 1776 we suffered a pretty strong defeat.

The first victory that we received for our independence, for our democracy that we have was in Saratoga in the fall of 1777, which convinced another nation called France to come and join us in our fight for independence, but I can assure you, no one won our independence for us. In this country, we fought until basically the battle at Yorktown where Cornwallis, general of the British forces, decided that he had to surrender, and surrendered.

That basically ended the hostilities until Washington in 1783 resigned his commission to the Continental Congress that existed at that time. So from 1775 basically until hostilities pretty much ceased in 1781, we fought for our independence in this country. We fought so we could establish a democracy that would be a shining example, as Mr. Reagan used to say, on that hill to the rest of the nations of the world that this is what can be accomplished.

That took us 6 years, and 2 years into being sure to sort of protect that fragile peace that we had until Washington gave up his commission and surrendered it in 1783.

I want to remind the people of America and the people of Iraq, we fought for our independence. We fought for this democracy that we have. No one came to this country and forced upon us a democracy. No one came to this country and said this is the gift we want to give you.

The blood and the tears and the hard work and the sweat of our young men and women from this country have been in Iraq now for over 4 years, toiling, and in fact, in many cases going to war with the Iraqis, first of all, to depose a ruthless dictator, we all agree with that, and then we fought with the Iraqis and in many cases against the Iraqis, whether they be Sunni or Shia, to say we want to give you this gift that we fought for over 200 years ago, we want to give you this gift called democracy.

In 2005, in December, we literally sent a surge of our troops over in the midsummer of 2005 to be sure that those brave individuals from Iraq, men and women, over 12 million of them, went to vote to establish the leaders of their country so they could establish their own Constitution. The surge then allowed them to vote. They finalized their commitment, in my opinion, for the democracy.

No one gave us ours. We are trying to give them theirs. And we have tried and we have tried and we have tried and we have spent billions of dollars making it happen.

You have to invite me to come out to your home sometime. I invite you to my home in Pall Mall, but I have got to visit more with your family. As I learn more and more, I realize the quality of people that we have here serving. It was such a wonderful yield, the comments you made during that period of time. It is certainly good to be on the floor with you.

But as I talk about that democracy that we fought for, that we fought for, I realize that there has never been a time that a democracy in any country has ever been imposed from without. It has always been from within, the French Revolution, the startings of the Magna Carta where we said we are no longer going to give taxes if you are basically going to squander it on your parties, Mr. King.

When Israel established a nation in the Middle East, what type was it? It was a democracy.

My fear is that we can keep our soldiers, our young men and women in the battlefields in Iraq for a long, long time, and we can never force a democracy on the people of Iraq or anywhere else. We went into Iraq, and Iraq especially, without realizing the national customs, the traditions, the faith, their family values that are totally different in many cases than ours.

I think everyone loves liberty and freedom. I just believe as we engage that we ought to realize that we cannot impose our will on anyone unless we do it with a much larger force than what we have today.

Let me stay on Iraq for a moment.

I hear the other side, the minority party in this Chamber, talk about the defeatist Democrats, the retreatist Democrats, whatever terminology they want to use. I find that somewhat repulsive that there are those who would assume that Democrats want to lose a war.

Let me tell you something. I come from Tennessee. Andrew Jackson in the war of 1812 and 1814, when he had that battle, the war was over with. There had already been a surrender of the British. He still fought that war, and I believe he was a good Democrat. In World War I, a fellow named Woodrow Wilson, I happen to believe he was a Democrat, he fought the war until it was over with. We won that war.

In World War II, we went to war and took 16 million people. We call them the Greatest Generation. They came back home, and they started having children like rabbits in the spring. That is 77 million folks we call baby boomers. They give us a huge workforce in this country.

Then we went to Korea, and let me finish, in World War II, we lost Roosevelt during that time. Harry Truman had the forces. We had invaded Normandy and had conquered the Germans and had conquered Europe. We had already put in place the invasion Army that was going into Japan. Harry Truman changed course. You need to replay that message to the White House, Harry Truman changed course. He didn't put the invasion force in the ships. He dropped a couple of bombs, a horrible occurrence that happened, but it saved millions of lives and stopped the war. Then we occupied Germany and Japan, and they now have two thriving democracies in the world because they chose that type of government.

Then in Korea we had a fellow named Truman who got us engaged there as well, happened to be a Democrat. But the person who quit fighting was Eisenhower, a Republican.

In the 1970s, in Vietnam, the President at that time was a Republican named Richard Nixon, when we left Vietnam. We can talk about Democrats not following through. We have never lost a war when we have had Democrats in the White House. Andrew Jackson, when he was in New Orleans, a general, we couldn't keep him from fighting and conquering General Packingham.

I am tired about this talk of the Democratic Party not being strong on national defense. Baloney. That is not the case. Let's stop it. Let's start talking about how we win, and how we stay in Iraq, and that becomes winning for us.

This resolution that we vote on tomorrow still allows several thousand people to stay in Iraq after we have taken our soldiers out of the kill zone and the battle zones in Iraq.

We still will be there with several tens of thousands of troops that will be training, providing security, and protection, quite frankly, for many of the folks in Iraq. We will also keep tens of thousands of troops there that will seek out and search the al Qaeda cells if they exist in Iraq, or any terrorist groups that exist in Iraq.

So I get kind of unhappy when I hear the other side start talking about what great success we are having. It is my hope that this search would work, because then we in America can claim a huge successful victory in Iraq.

As we move now, I want to move briefly to the accusing tone we often hear that Democrats are big government. When Bill Clinton became President in 1992, and was sworn in 1993, the government had grown to 22.4 percent of gross domestic income.

When he became the President, working with the Republican Congress in 1995, we saw a government decrease of 18.1 percent of gross domestic income. We saw over a 4 percent decrease in spending during the 8 years that a Democratic President was in office. It had grown to a little more than 22 percent under Reagan and Bush and had receded to 18.1 percent under Bill Clinton.

It has now grown over the last 5 years, 6 years, to over 21 percent. How can anyone in this Chamber talk about being conservatives or blaming anyone for growth? The growth periods actually have occurred under Reagan, Bush, decreased under Clinton, and increased under this Bush administration.

How do you call that being conservative? I just think that it is time that the American people realized that they are being told a lot of things on this floor that aren't true.

I used to see a truth squad. I really wish they were telling the truth on a lot of issues that they were talking about.

I thank you for allowing me to come visit with you tonight.

Mr. Salazar, it was good to be with you and hear the commitment that your family has made, your father and others, to defend the Nation.

Madam Speaker, known for its unique and comprehensive educational experience, Sewanee: The University of the South, is holding a two part lecture series focusing on the Middle East. Ambassador Reda Mansour, Consul General of Israel to the Southeastern United States, has been invited and will lead the first lecture.

Madam Speaker, I ask for a moment of silence on behalf of Captain William Anderson, a former Congressman from Tennessee who recently passed away.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Edward M. Lindsey for his many contributions to Lawrence County, Tennessee and the world through the Lions Club organization.

Edward Lindsey joined the Lawrenceburg Lions Club in 1946. Since then he has served as president, zone chairperson, district governor, and a member of the association board of directors. Through his work and good nature, Mr. Lindsey was elected president of the International Association of Lions Clubs at the 49th Annual Convention in 1966.

Mr. Lindsey has also served the Lawrenceburg area as mayor, president of Lindsey Manufacturing Company, and president of Ed Lindsey Industries of the Blind where he received the National Board Member of the Year award from the National Industries for the Blind.

I congratulate and thank Mr. Lindsey for his numerous contributions to the people of Lawrence County. I have no doubt that a great many have been affected by his generous works.

Madam Speaker, I remember reading about Captain William Anderson's adventure under the North Pole with his crew of 115 on board the USS Nautilus. Anderson captained the first atomic submarine from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean under the polar caps of the North Pole in 1958.

Born in Bakerville, Tennessee on June 17, 1921, Captain Anderson graduated from Columbia Military Academy in Columbia Tennessee and the U.S. Naval Academy in 1942. By the age of 39 he was promoted to Captain. ADM Hyman Rickover, the Father of the Nuclear Navy and longest-serving active duty military officer in U.S. history, tapped Anderson to be the Skipper of the first working nuclear submarine.

After a distinguished military career Capt. Anderson retired from the Navy in 1962. During his service Anderson participated in eleven submarine combat patrols and was awarded the Bronze Star among a multitude of other citations.

Upon retirement from the Navy, Capt. Anderson served as a consultant to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson for the National Service Corps. In 1964, Anderson was elected to Congress as Tennessee's Sixth District representative. He served from 1965-1973.

Never a person to seek the limelight, Captain Anderson embodied the American spirit. He may have received acclaim for his polar voyage, but he also served admirably during World War II and continued his service after retiring from the Navy in the United States Congress. Navy Captain (ret.) William Anderson, a great Tennessean, will be missed.