Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, tonight we are going to begin to look at one of the most far-reaching scandals that our generation has seen. The Oil-for-Food fraud is possibly the largest scandal in the history of the United Nations. We have got several speakers who are going to address the situation there where the United Nations Security Council possibly changed the votes in order to benefit themselves and certainly became very close to this scandal of tremendous proportions. Iraqi individuals appear to have bribed or coerced members of the U.N. who are administering the program.

Mr. Speaker, it is a shame that this issue is only being addressed by one side of the House. I would request that my colleagues on both sides begin to talk about the Oil-for-Food scandal, which possibly reached $10 billion and certainly affected the U.N. votes as we considered going to war with Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton).

Mr. Speaker, the Oil-for-Food fraud is possibly the largest scandal in the history of the United Nations and one of the greatest financial scandals of modern times. Set up in the mid-1990s as a means of providing humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people, the U.N.-run Oil-for-Food program was subverted and manipulated by Saddam Hussein's regime, allegedly with complicity of U.N. officials to help prop up the Iraqi dictator.

Saddam's dictatorship was able to siphon off an estimated $10 billion from the program through oil smuggling and systematic thievery by demanding illegal payments from companies buying Iraqi oil and through kickbacks from those selling goods to Iraq, all under the noses of U.N. bureaucrats.

Members of the U.N. staff that have administered the program have been accused of gross incompetence, mismanagement, and possible complicity with the Iraqi regime. Benon Sevan, former executive director of the Oil-for-Food program appeared on an Iraqi oil minister list of 270 individuals, political entities and companies from across the world that allegedly received oil vouchers as bribes from Saddam Hussein's regime.

The U.S.'s General Accounting Office estimates that the Saddam Hussein regime generated $10.1 billion in illegal revenues by exploiting the Oil-for-Food program. These figures include $5.7 billion from oil smuggling and $4.4 billion in illicit surcharges on sales and after-sales charges on suppliers.

Without a shred of evidence, European and domestic critics have frequently derided the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq as an oil grab driven by U.S. corporations such as Halliburton. They ignore the reality that the leading opponents of war at the U.N. Security Council, Russia and France, had vast oil interests in Iraq protected by the Saddam Hussein regime.

The Oil-for-Food program and its elaborate system of kickbacks and bribery are a major source of revenue for many European politicians and business concerns, especially in Moscow.

Mr. Speaker, the role of Congress should include first of all the strengthening of the Paul Volcker Commission of Inquiry. It should ensure that the Iraqi interim government and congressional investigators are able to conduct an effective and exhaustive investigation in the Oil-for-Food program. It should push the administration to ensure that the Oil-for-Food scandal is thoroughly investigated. It should keep the international spotlight on Oil-for- Food, encouraging foreign governments to launch their own investigations. It should increase the likelihood of serious reform at the U.N., including significant safeguards to prevent repetitions of its failures. It should limit the role of the United Nations in shaping the future of Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, the most effective way to ensure that the United Nations fully cooperates with its own commission of inquiry, which has received veiled threats if it continues to probe, the most effective way that we in the United States can deal with that inability to do its own investigation is threaten to reduce funding from the U.S. to the U.N., specifically the United States's assessed contribution.

Mr. Speaker, the U.N.'s dismal and allegedly corrupt handling of the Oil-for-Food program should lay to rest any notion that the organization can be entrusted with shaping the future of the Iraqi people. Many Iraqis regard the U.N. with suspicion, lacking both legitimacy and credibility.

Iraqis have bitter memories of Secretary General Annan's February 1998 statement to reporters, ``Can I trust Saddam Hussein? I think I can do business with him,'' said Mr. Annan.

The Benon Sevan letters give us evidence that the former director of the Oil-for-Food Program interfered with congressional investigations. Specifically, Sevan wrote several letters on official U.N. stationery warning some of the companies implicated in the scandal that they must first seek U.N. approval before releasing documents to investigators.

Mr. Speaker, the Security Council had heated debates over whether the U.S.-led war to liberate Iraq should proceed, but the resistance in the Security Council cannot remain separated from the Oil-for-Food scandal and the fact that influential politicians, major companies and political parties from key Security Council member countries may have benefited financially from the program.

The Al Mada list of 270 individuals, political entities and businesses across the world that allegedly received oil vouchers included no fewer than 46 Russian and 11 French names. The Russian Government alone allegedly received an astonishing $1.36 billion in oil vouchers.

The close ties between Russian and French politicians and the Iraqi regime may have been an important factor in influencing their governments' decision to oppose Hussein's removal from power.

Mr. Speaker, this Oil-for-Food scandal must come to the attention of the American public, and if it is only Republicans who will address it, we will do so.

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

Mr. Speaker, I often criticize the media for the things that I think are inattentive and improper. Tonight, I would like to rise to give tribute to the media where I think good has been done.

A long-time friend, Rebecca Allen, an editor from the Orange County Register, forwarded to me eight articles in a series they printed in mid-June. The articles, written by the brave and courageous Yvette Cabrera and Minerva Canto, four articles apiece, detailed the difficulties that face young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

My district butts up to the very corner of Juarez, and I have watched the problems of hundreds of deaths of young women, but until reading a series of articles, it was not personal. The first in the series of articles talked about she never came home. Concentrating on Erendira Ponce, 17, all that she dreamed of was a life beyond her poor neighborhood. At 17 she ended up as one of hundreds of women killed in Juarez, Mexico, skull crushed, raped and just thrown down into the dirt.

The second in the series of articles is about the investigator Angolee Talavera, 29 years old, the lead investigator who still has no one to try for all of the killings.

The third in the series of articles concentrates on a suspect's wife. The police have tried to silence the suspect's wife. The suspect, a truck driver, Victor Javier Garcia Uribe, was summarily arrested by two men who were dressed with masks over their head and other men that came up with Halloween costume masks. Little did they understand that Victor had married his wife Mary Ann Garcia when she was still in a wheelchair from an accident suffered while they were dating. He nursed her back to health, moving in with her, and because of the love and the faith that they have built up, she stands by him continuing to provide more and more evidence that he is innocent. Yet, he stays in prison today. Her persistence is rewarded by three beatings from the local authorities, with the admonition that this is a message from the governor, Stop making noise.

The fourth in the series of articles is about a mother's pain. Irma Monreal just lives with the loss of her 15-year-old, the one around whom her and her family's dreams operated. Her 15-year-old daughter just brought the light and life and laughter into their home. Esmerelda wanted to rescue her mother from the poverty, getting a job as a secretary to pour a new concrete floor in their dirt-floored home. At 15, she was taken and brutally murdered. Her body was found purple and swollen with all of the flesh and even the hair missing, just a blank skull on top of her body. What kind of tremendous terror are the people in Mexico living with and the authorities unable to solve?

The fifth series is about an orphan, the inevitable orphans that suffer from the loss of moms.

The sixth is about an activist, the activists who are ignored, who are threatened to keep silent, to stop making waves.

The seventh was about an imprisoned reporter who dared to write about the loss of her friend and blame the authorities, and now she sits in prison.

And finally the eighth article is the hope for the future, talking about women such as Esther Chavez.

The one common trait, Mr. Speaker, is the impunity with which these young ladies are killed. The common element is the careless violence that discards these young ladies as if they had no value.

Mr. Speaker, I add my voice to those speaking up on behalf of justice. We are told in the Bible that the worst sins are those which are committed against the poor and the fatherless, against those who are innocent and unwilling and unable to provide their own protection. Mr. Speaker, these are the people who are suffering in Mexico today. These are the people who are suffering in Ciudad Juarez. I commend the Orange County Register for printing this bold series of articles and drawing to the attention of the United States the difficulties that lie just across the border for women who have done no wrong.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I would recognize that the Governor of New Mexico really put it in perspective before the 2003 session. He declared that tax cuts create jobs, and the Democrats need to get over that and pass the tax cuts. That was the tax cut in New Mexico passed in 2003.

And he did stimulate growth in the economy. At one point, July of last year, New Mexico was number two in job growth. Keep in mind, they were like 43rd or 44th in per capita income. So job growth that high is tremendous.

The next thing that I would observe is that since I graduated from college, tax freedom day, that is the day which we all work until to pay the taxes, tax freedom day has always been in late May, early June. And now, because of the tax cuts we have given, tax freedom day this year occurred on April 11, and I hear people telling me thank you.

A gentleman in Ruidoso, New Mexico, grabbed me the last time I was there, shook my hand and said, ``I have six kids,'' and he said, ``I will tell you that I saw the tax breaks in my paycheck.''

Watson Trucking Supply in Hobbs, New Mexico, are goods friends of mine; I have known them throughout my career there in Hobbs. They were set to lay off people before our tax cuts. They had run completely out of manufacturing back orders, no new business; they were set to lay off. The day that we passed the tax and jobs bill here in Congress, he got more back orders than he had ever had, he had 2 years' worth of work laid out in front of them; and instead of laying off people, they began to hire people.

The potash mines in New Mexico have begun to hire because now the potash market is lifting with the overall market.

The copper mines in western New Mexico, Phelps Dodge has put miners back to work there mining copper. They have told me in my office that if they had regulatory certainty, that is not to roll back regulations, but the certainty that they would be able to get the rules that are in place and keep the rules that are in place, that they would open a smelter and hire 600 people for very good, high-paying jobs in an area that has just been decimated.

We have an MPC plant going into New Mexico, only the second MPC plant in the world; and that is going into New Mexico. There are going to be about 200 jobs there, all good, high-paying jobs.

I have seen in New Mexico the fact that these tax cuts have really created job opportunities, the job growth in New Mexico continues to today, and I appreciate the gentleman yielding time to talk about these exact examples.

Mr. Speaker, I have just a couple of comments. As the gentleman is talking about the actual economy and the country right now, what I have found is that the continued harping from the other side here in this body has caused the Nation to be a little suspicious that maybe their success is the only success. I have found in my district that people come up and say, you know, I know they are not having too good results in the rest of the country, but I am having my best year ever. A window manufacturer in my district told me that exact thing, that they

have had their best year ever and they have been in business for several years.

We have another business in Berlin that is beginning to export very high-quality welding across the world; and again, they are saying, we are having a tremendous year.

One of the things that I would like to point out is that during the committee hearings yesterday on the soda ash industry, we found that back about 3 years ago, arbitrarily, the government raised taxes from 4 percent to 6 percent on soda ash.

Now, that soda ash industry made $700 million in revenue last year, they made no profit but they paid $100 million in taxes. We are losing business to China because China, in the same number of $700 million in revenue, actually in the soda ash industry, paid no taxes. And so our companies make no profit and yet they pay $100 million in taxes.

I will augment what the gentleman said about free trade, that free trade is beginning to point out the deficiencies of our tax systems here that we do actually have a repressive tax system that is costing us jobs in the soda ash industry, in the potash industry, in every manufacturing industry that there is.

And I think that it is time for us to begin to try to help American manufacturers, American miners, and American oil companies rather than hurt them.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to visit today with Members of the body to discuss just one of the aspects of the changes that we have seen in the world. We hear a lot from our friends that the war on terror is not progressing, that there is no significant advancement.

Mr. Speaker, two days ago we were joined by His Excellency Hamid Karzai, President of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan, to talk about the changes in his country. He reports that Afghanistan was one of the poorest countries. They had, of course, the Taliban and al Qaeda working there. They have an economy that is controlled by the drug lords. Private militias have been ever present in their countries.

Yet, today he reports that under their new transitional government that they are rebuilding the schools and starting the children back to school. Boy and girls, 5 million of them, are back in schools today in Afghanistan. They are also developing health clinics to provide basic health services for the inhabitants and the citizens of Afghanistan.

One of the most important things he said is they are beginning to rebuild their economy, beginning by rebuilding highways and roads so that commerce can be conducted throughout the nation. As they conduct commerce, they are also beginning to rebuild the military, the militias, their national guard, and reestablish police forces in order to guarantee security for the people of Afghanistan and to defend the country's sovereignty.

The government of Afghanistan is beginning to fight against the narcotics trade, the one that has been so prevalent in that nation and provides drugs throughout the world to eat the heart and soul out of not only their children, but our children and the children of Europe, Germany, France and all around the world. And when the government of Afghanistan begins to do what they can to stop the flow of illegal drugs throughout the world, we know that the world situation has changed for the better.

He reports to us that the Afghanis are beginning to vote with their feet, that over 3 million refugees have come back to Afghanistan and reestablished permanent residence there, voting with their feet, saying that we believe Afghanistan is a better place today than before the United States entered and began to fight the war on terror inside their borders.

The country has adopted an enlightened constitution, one which for the first time begins to recognize the rights of women. And in that constitution, 25 percent of the elected seats are reserved, 25 seats in parliament are reserved for women. A stunning turn around for a culture that in Afghanistan had simply eliminated women from any positions of authority in that country.

He declares that they have established an open and inclusive society. He reports that there are many things that they still have to do, that they are requesting the help of the United States on. The Islamic State of Afghanistan is requesting the help of the United States, help in disbanding the private militias and demobilizing those tremendous forces of evil inside the country that both protect and encourage the drug trade.

He asked that we continue to fight with them to dismantle the entire drug industry, the illegal drug industry in that country, to help them to reduce the very high infant mortality rate. He explains that Afghanistan is open for business but they need businesses to come and help them rebuild the country. And he has an open invitation that asks American businesses to come there to help establish an economy that will sustain their people now and in the future. But he declares to us, President Karzai, declared to us on the floor of this House when he spoke to the joint meeting of the Senate and the House, that the greatest menace still in Afghanistan is terrorism. And he declared that terrorism is the greatest menace worldwide, as well as in Afghanistan.

He talked about al Qaeda in Afghanistan that killed Muslims prior to the US dismantling the Taliban and chasing al Qaeda out of the country.

Mr. Speaker, we were honored to have the President of Afghanistan visit and bring us up to date on the changes that have occurred in his eyes.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt) for bringing this issue in front of the body.

Mr. Speaker, there are two things that our standard of living in America is based upon.

Our standard of living is very high in this country because of two basic, essential facts. First, we have affordable food and, second, we have affordable energy. Both of those things determine how we live our everyday lives, how much we have got to spend on our kids' school clothes, how far we have got to

spend on the schools that our kids go to, those things are determined by the basics that we do not have to spend more than a small amount of our income on either food or energy.

Mr. Speaker, House bill 6, the energy bill, really begins to address the fact that jobs are being sent overseas because of high energy costs but it also addresses the more relevant fact of the cost of energy in our homes. I had some high school students in my office today. They asked, what is your position on drilling in ANWR? I said absolutely, that I supported it in my campaign, and that I have supported it since I got here. They asked, why would you do that? And they seemed to be asking it in good faith. You could tell that they had had discussions in their school and they were asking for my opinion because they had received the other side. I said, it is very simple. You hear your parents talking about how much it costs to fill up their car with gasoline, about $40 to $50 to $60 now depending on what size tank you have. I said, you have heard your parents talk about it. Yes, yes, it is very much higher. The fact is that we are talking about supply and demand and they were a little curious about that. They did not really understand it fully. I said, it is simply like cell phones. When cell phones first came out, the supply was very limited so you might pay $450 or $500 for a cell phone but today they will give them to you just to get the business. That is because as the supply of cell phones has increased, the price has gone down. Petroleum is exactly the same way.

If in 1995 President Clinton would have signed the ANWR drilling bill that was put in front of him, both House and Senate in 1995 passed that bill, if he had signed that, today we would have 1.5 million new barrels of oil coming down the Alaska pipeline and into our shores. What our attempt is today to lower the price of gasoline in our cars is we have gone to the Saudi Arabians and we are asking them on bended knee, we the United States is asking Saudi Arabia on bended knee to increase production by somewhere between 1 and 2 million barrels per day. We know that at that figure, the price would come back down to what Americans are used to paying for a gallon of gasoline. But instead, President Clinton vetoed the bill that was passed by the House and by the Senate, he vetoed the bill, so today instead of having the 1.5 million barrels that we are asking the Saudi Arabians for, that 1.5 million barrels would have been produced on American soil and with American jobs, instead it is being produced somewhere else and then we have the higher energy costs and we are more dependent on foreign oil.

My friend from Nebraska talked about the high price of natural gas. There are some very compelling things in the price of natural gas. It is being pushed up because the Federal Government is requiring that many of our electrical generating plants convert from coal into the clean-burning natural gas. The Federal Government demands that we convert electric plants over to natural gas, therefore, pushing the demand up while at the same time the Federal Government at the insistence of some of the extreme environmentalists is beginning to limit access to the natural gas drilling that is available. The drilling that they are stopping, the drilling that the extreme environmentalists are stopping is not in pristine areas. They are exactly in areas on Federal land that have been drilled before. There is no reason to say that we cannot drill there except the extremists believe in their heart that America has too much.

Mr. Speaker, as we consider world history, we know that each generation will be faced with its own challenges. And though I am certain that the human race will survive; for a Nation to survive these challenges, each generation must continually produce men and women who are sufficient to the moment and equal to the task. It needs to generate men and women who see without limits, who work without tiring, and who sacrifice without restraint. A nation must find within itself in these times of trouble those who will forego comfort and give up the beaten paths of certainty to find new courses of action and overcome all obstacles in pursuing the truth. Mr. Reagan was sufficient for the moment and equal to the task.

Mr. Speaker, we are here to mourn the passing of a President, but we are here to celebrate the life of leadership and sufficiency that Mr. Reagan represented.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 213 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Stated against:

Mr. Speaker, Newsweek magazine this week had a cover story calling Mr. Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress, the INC, our con man in Iraq. Newsweek claims the INC gave the U.S. poor information about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs despite millions in funds received from the U.S. Government, including the DIA and the Department of State. Stories say Chalabi is linked with Iran, and members of the INC have been engaged in fraud.

First of all, we need to understand some basic concepts that people who provide intelligence to the U.S. from tyrannies and dictatorships often risk their lives. They are what we would call tainted, probably unsavory. It is not as if a number of the members of the Governing Council in Iraq are not connected to Iran. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq gets $1.2 million a month from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards whose head is Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, and he is on the Governing Council. The members of the Dawa Party and the Kurds also engage in commerce with Iran and are linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

But let us look at the facts that differ from what the press tells us and what our friends on the other side of the aisle are saying. This is some of the help we have received from the INC. When we are being told that aluminum tubing was being procured that violated the sanctions, this turned out to be true. We were told that Saddam Hussein had buried much of his weapons programs or hidden them in dual-use facilities. This information from as early as 1991 and throughout the 1990s turned out to be true.

We were told Saddam Hussein had unmanned drones that could deliver bio or chemical weapons, and this turned out to be true. We are told by the INC and others that weapons were being shipped to Syria; and Dave Kay confirms that he agrees with that assessment, although the exact nature and amount of the weapons that were shipped to Syria still have to be determined.

The INC said that al Qaeda and its affiliated terrorist groups were being trained and harbored in Iraq, and this has been confirmed. We only have to review the terrorists caught recently in Jordan who admitted they fled Afghanistan to Iraq before the war to liberate Baghdad, and while in Iraq they received training and assistance in the use of poisons and bombs from Iraqi intelligence.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs said that the INC gave U.S. and coalition forces intelligence on a daily basis that saved American lives, stopped attacks, and deactivated roadside improvised explosives.

There are examples in the past that have failed to be covered by our friends on the other side of the aisle or by the press; but I think if we take just a moment, we can see the difficult nature of providing help to other countries and to people in other countries.

First of all, the U.S. Government provided hundreds of millions of dollars to the Taliban during the late 1990s in the hopes they would turn over Osama bin Laden. What did we get for our dollars at that point, and what did the Clinton administration explain to us?

The U.S. Government and others provided between $3 billion to $5 billion to the Aristide government in Haiti, and what did we get for our money? Haiti's gross domestic product declined by one-third, and crime and murder rates hit levels not seen since the Duvalier family ruled the country. Haiti became one of the major transshipment points for illicit drugs into this country, and now Aristide has left the country after robbing the treasury of every last dime.

During this great Haitian robbery by Mr. Aristide, a former Democratic congressman received a retainer of $50,000 from the Haitian Government and Aristide to provide cover for this looting. The Haitian Parliament could not even meet during Aristide's rule for fear that he would have them killed.

Mr. Speaker, what is this fight all about? For the past 25 years, there has been serious disagreement in the U.S. Government and amongst our allies about the nature of Islamic fascism and the terrorist means we face. This problem was accentuated when the Oslo Peace Process was begun. Particularly during the Clinton administration, it was assumed that terrorism directed against the U.S., the Trade Center in 1993, the Khobar Towers in 1995, the Kenyan and Tanzanian embassies in 1998, the USS Cole in 2000, it was assumed those attacks were the work of a loose band of terrorists unconnected to any state sponsor or government. The Clinton administration assumed, therefore, that this was a problem of law enforcement, a point reiterated by many leading Democrats today.

The Peace Process was assumed to require the agreement of the Islamic regimes in the Middle East: Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Jordan. Mr. Speaker, these assumptions were proved incorrect. President Bush changed those assumptions into fighting the war against terror. Mr. Speaker, we need to have the facts.

The assumption was that once Israel made an adequate offer to the PLO, that the PLO in turn would reign in the terrorist groups attacking Israel.

General Zini, for example, in his latest book makes this very assumption that the PLO and Arafat were not responsible for the terrorist attacks against Israel in the first and second Intifadas. He says that once a peace deal is put on the table by Israel, Arafat will take care of the security issue.

The assumption was that none of these Islamic/Arab governments were supporting terrorism against the United States and the terrorism would stop once a deal was made between Israel and the PLO.

The Peace Process featured Secretary of State Christopher making some 70 visits with President Assad of Syria to negotiate Syria's support for the ``Peace Plan''.

The United States could not on the one hand be negotiating a peace deal with Syria and other Arab regimes, while at the same time holding them accountable for terrorism aimed at the United States and Israel.

President Bush fundamentally changed this paradigm.

In June 2002, the President said the PLO had to have new leadership that agreed that Israel had a right to exist as a sovereign country, something Arafat has never agreed to; just today, the Egyptian government is reportedly asking that Arafat resign and new PLO leadership be appointed.

The President also drew a strong link between states such as Iran and Iraq that support al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that new intelligence reveals that a Lt. Col. in the Iraqi intelligence service met with the pilots of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in Kuala Lampur in Malaysia in January 2000 where the 9/11 plot was begun; additional evidence connects Mohammed Atta, one of the key conspirators and pilot of one of the planes on 9/11, met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague, the Czech Republic on April 8, 2001.

If these states are training, financing and providing sanctuary, documents and weapons to these terrorist groups, then they have declared war on the United States. As National Security Adviser Rice has noted, ``they are war with the United States, but we were not at war with them.''

Even as we fight to protect this country, we have bureaucrats fighting an internal, Inside the Beltway battle that is distracting from the larger and more important effort.

Mr. Speaker. From the troops still in the field today in the deserts of Iraq and mountains of Afghanistan, to the scores of veterans who have served in different theaters and eras, Memorial Day is a time to honor these American heroes and celebrate the freedoms that their sacrifices have secured.

This Memorial Day we stand victorious in liberating Iraq and Afghanistan, and our soldiers have struck another blow against international terrorism. These patriots and their families are making great sacrifices on behalf of this nation, this world and all of humanity.

This is also a time for our nation to remember the high price of freedom, as we mourn with the families whose loved ones do not return from the front lines. Memorial Day is a time to honor their lives and their sacrifice.

New Mexico has been reminded that freedom isn't free, as we have laid to rest four of our bravest sons and daughters.

Air Force 1st Lt. Tamara Archuleta, 23 years old, of Los Lunas, New Mexico died on March 23, 2003 in an HH-60 Pave Hawk accident in Afghanistan. She was assigned to the 41st Rescue Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

Army Sgt. Lee D. Todacheene, 29 years old from Farmington, New Mexico, was killed April 6, 2004 when mortar fire hit his guard post in Balad, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 77th Armored Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Germany

Marine Corp Pfc. Christopher Ramos, 26 years old from Albuquerque, New Mexico, was killed April 5, 2004 by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, CA.

Marine Lance Corporal Aaron Austin, 21 years old from Lovington, NM. He was killed April 26, 2004 by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Pendleton, CA.

I ask for a Moment of Silence from this Body, to honor them, and their memory.

Mr. Speaker, Memorial Day is May 31st this year. But each day we live in freedom is a Memorial Day, and an opportunity to thank our brave members of the United States Military, as well as our Veterans. They have the eternal thanks for a grateful nation.

The time we spend with our families and friends over Memorial Day weekend is a time for us to turn back toward what is truly important: our faith, our families, and our precious freedom.

May God Continue to Bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to visit tonight and talk about Iraq and perceptions about Iraq; but before I start, I would like to commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.

Payne) for bringing to the floor this subject of the human rights violations, the countless deaths in the Sudan and other African countries.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to draw conclusions that may differ from my colleagues, but I would explain to this House that his perceptions and my perceptions about what is going on in Africa are very similar, and I appreciate his heartfelt contending on behalf of them.

Mr. Speaker, I looked at the photographs that America has been looking at and saw the expanded group of photos, and they were startling and disappointing. America and the President have apologized, but the silence that comes from the rest of the world over the beheading of Nick Berg parallels the silence that I hear from the rest of the world about the Sudan and about Rwanda.

Mr. Speaker, it was not the newspapers that first drew my attention to Rwanda years ago. It was my pastor at a local church speaking up about the killings of hundreds of thousands in that country.

I was in Vietnam in the 1970s, 1971, 1972, part of 1973 and part of 1974; and we were aware of some of the things that were going on in Cambodia then and later, but the world was silent; and I share with my colleagues, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) and the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), the concern that no one speaks, that our press holds its force silent.

Mr. Speaker, weekly I have my secretary print out a Web site called the Voice of the Martyrs that explains killings daily around the world unjustly and in the dark of the night simply because someone has the power to kill and torture and maim without consequence. Mr. Speaker, we must lend our voices to those injustices because the people who will suffer the most are going to be the least among us.

The powerful, the rich, no matter what country, they will always have their way. They will always have the representation, but the last great hope for humanity is in this country where the rule of law stands and where our Constitution gives rights because the guaranteeing of those rights, the guaranteeing of those rights encourages those without political power and those without family connections, and so I thank the gentleman for his comments tonight.

The examples of terrorism that exist around the world at this time and in the past will cause us to blanch in horror. The risks to humanity are extreme. The financial devastation is great.

In Lebanon, the trading and banking center of the Middle East was destroyed by the PLO and Hezbollah with Iranian and Syrian funding and support.

Terrorism has caused difficulties in El Salvador. It has been the victim of Farabundo Marti National Liberation terrorists for over a decade and a half. The FMNL and their allies the PLO, Black September, the Red Brigades and the terrorists worldwide bombed thousands of buses and bridges, assassinated mayors, elected officials and burned villages. They placed landmines in coffee plantations so women and children workers would hopefully not go to work. When they did, their limbs were blown off.

In Afghanistan, the country was destroyed by the Taliban and al Qaeda. Killings and tortures were daily, routine tools of governance.

This is what terror brings to us. Mr. Speaker, this is the reason that I commit myself to a fight against the war on terror because it is the weak, it is the powerless and the innocent who suffer most from terror.

There are those who say that it is simply the United States policies that caused 9/11; and yet to the people who say that it was the United States policies who caused the extremists to attack our World Trade Centers, I ask them what is the policy in Sri Lanka that causes the attack of terrorists? What is the policy in the Philippines and Indonesia that caused terrorist bombings?

Mr. Speaker, we need to remember at this point exactly why we are in the war on terror. It is because of the terrorism. It is because of the output and the effects of terrorism. It is because in this country on 9/11 soccer moms became security moms. Soccer moms began to wonder how safe their children were at school.

Mr. Speaker, families everywhere, whether it is Iraq, Sudan, Rwanda, Chad, Cambodia, families everywhere have a similar hope. They hope that their children will grow up and receive an education, that they will grow up and receive an education in safety knowing that their security is assured.

Mr. Speaker, 9/11 for America changed that fact, but terrorism had taken away the security of much of the world previously. Mr. Speaker, it is my contention that you cannot have freedom, liberty and security at the same time as you have tyranny and terrorism. That, Mr. Speaker, is the reason that we are fighting this war on terror, in my opinion.

For those who wonder exactly what the connection is between Iraq and the war on terror, we are just now learning from Jordan that al Qaeda terrorists planned to use chemical weapons to blow up the U.S. embassy. They were trained in Iraq before we liberated the country last year.

Mr. Speaker, Jay Epstein of The New Republic wrote this week of new and convincing evidence that Mohammed Atta did, in fact, meet with a senior Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague in 2001.

We are fighting the war secondly, Mr. Speaker, because of the consequences of Iraq's continued use of deceit and denial to hide weapons that risk the entire world, but especially the rhetoric and intentions were directed at the United States.

It is not the policy of this country to wait until the first attack of weapons of mass destruction before we take the necessary steps to stop their proliferation.

Mr. Speaker, when I was in Iraq last year, Mr. Kay explained to us that they had found 35 fermenters, fermenters having two types of activities associated with them: first, the making of biological weapons; and second, the making of chemical weapons. Mr. Kay stated at that point that though they did not have the weapons in their hands at that point, they were within 2 weeks at any point they would want to start making significant weapons.

Thirdly, our critics should look at root causes to understand why we are fighting this war on terror. The entire effort to liberate Iraq and Afghanistan has been to show a different and new future to the Middle East, a future that contains the promise of at least the beginnings of democracy rather than the awful choice between living under a dictatorship or joining the Jihad.

A fourth reason we are fighting the war on terror, Mr. Speaker, is the recognition that 23 other countries have realized we must fight terrorism. Our allies in this coalition, 23 nations, have sent over 25,000 soldiers to help stabilize Iraq in order to allow self- governance to emerge. They have helped us construct schools and telecommunications. Lives have been given by Polish soldiers defending and protecting southern Iraq, in charge of multinational forces working closely with pro-democratic Iraqi forces. British soldiers have defended and protected Basra and Um Qasr. El Salvador soldiers fought and repulsed Sadr terrorists in southern Iraq just a few weeks ago. The Jordanians run the hospitals in Fallujah. Peshmerga Kurds protect and build in northern Iraq. Our Japanese friends have helped in telecommunications and in reconstruction.

It seems as though people in this city tend to forget why we are fighting the war on terror and they tend to believe that this war is like maybe an intramural conflict, a game of tag. Mr. Speaker, the stakes are far higher than that. The stakes literally seem at this moment to be whether the world will remain free or come under the awful persecutions we find in the Sudan, in Rwanda; that we found in Bosnia and Kosovo. The future of the world is hanging in the balance, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am joined tonight by my colleague, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Barrett), and I want to yield the floor to him. I appreciate his participation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Barrett). He is one of the distinguished colleagues in the freshman class, and I am always pleased to hear his heartfelt conviction as he speaks.

My colleague talked about the fact that we will win this fight. And, Mr. Speaker, there are successes we should be proud of that indicate that we are doing what we set out to do. The American people will not always hear these on the evening news or read them in the newspaper. In fact, Mr. Speaker, when I went to Iraq, when I walked among the young people, our young men and women soldiers, the most frequent question, and not just young soldiers from New Mexico, but as I walked through the assembled dining halls three different days at noon and in the evening, Mr. Speaker, the continuing question, to which I had no answer, was why do my parents not hear the good things we are doing in Iraq on the evening news?

Mr. Speaker, it is the same silence that affects the media that we were talking about earlier, the refusal to carry the actions of astonishing bravery, courage, compassion, valor, and sometimes just the plain steel nerve to be in that foreign land, fighting for a foreign people, and shedding American blood so that Iraqis can be free. Mr. Speaker, that is noble and we are doing an honorable task.

One of the signs of success that I look at, Mr. Speaker, is that we have not been struck since our original attack on 9/11. The second component of success is that the Taliban has been uprooted and moved out of Afghanistan. The al Qaeda is on the move and has stopped training the thousands of terrorists in the training camp that they had set up in Afghanistan. The funding mechanism for the war on terror that existed in Saudi Arabia has been dismantled, Mr. Speaker. Saddam Hussein sits in a jail cell, as do over 40 of his top regime leaders.

But, Mr. Speaker, one of the successes that I count great is that our friends in Pakistan have picked up the sword against terrorists. They were fighting on one side of the Pakistani border and U.S. troops were on the Afghanistan side of the border and were pinching rebels and terrorists in between us. Mr. Speaker, it is that willingness of other nations in that region that represents some of the most amazing turnarounds in this war on terror.

There are many countries who would expel the terrorists, but they just could not do it by themselves. They did not have the funds or the military strength or the military might, and our participation has given them the will and the way to fight their own war on terror.

Worldwide we are seeing more terror cells interrupted by international law enforcement. Our human information is getting better in this war on terror. Because of an election years ago, we made the decision to take our spying operatives out of the cells and simply rely on eavesdropping and electronic methods of information gathering. But those information-gathering techniques that were stopped under a previous administration led to our blindness, so that we could not know that were going to be hit on 9/11.

Mr. Speaker, that reemergence of human intelligence is one of the most significant things in our finding different weapons in Iraq. Mr. Kay said that many of the scientists said, you will not find weapons of mass destruction until we, until we the Iraqis, are ready for you to find them. It was through their efforts that we did find the 35 fermenters that we have found.

Mr. Speaker, another great success is the fact that Libya simply walked to the table and said we want to give up our weapons of mass destruction; we have them and we want to give them up. Since then, Libya has been removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Members of this House visited Libya, led by my friend, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon), a senior member of the House Committee on Armed Services. They listened to Qadhafi himself detail Lybia's long and ugly support for international terrorism, and now that has ended.

Mr. Speaker, some claim that Libya was already prepared to do this, but I say nonsense. Just days prior to the beginning of the war to liberate Iraq, Mr. Qaddafi initiated negotiations; but only after those pictures of the capture of Saddam Hussein were shown worldwide did Mr. Qaddafi agree to the deal, all of his weapons gone, lock, stock and barrel. As supporters of terrorism, Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq are no more. As developers of weapons of mass destruction, they are no more.

Mr. Speaker, we have positive effects inside Iraq that affect the social systems, for providing medical care and rebuilding schools; children are kicking soccer balls, and kids are spending time with organs. Our troops are building new and better societies in Iraq and

Afghanistan. The immediate and long-term benefits for a more peaceful region and a more peaceful world are immeasurable.

More than 250 Iraqi students and teachers welcomed soldiers at the grand opening of the Al-Walid Elementary School in Baghdad recently. The opening is the result of several months of work by soldiers from the 4th Battalion, the 1st Field Artillery Regiment, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, the 1st Armored Division, and the 409th Civil Affairs Battalion, an Army Reserve unit from Abilene, Texas. Repairing the schools is a big part of our responsibility because these children will become the future of Iraq. Their attitudes control the future.

Mr. Speaker, our troops have not stopped here. The soldiers understand that you can see the future of Iraq through the eyes of its children. The most recent project for the 105th Forward Support Battalion, headquartered in Germany, was giving away 150 soccer balls to local kids in Baghdad. Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division have been working to not only make Iraq secure, but have been putting time and effort into helping towns and villages with their Operation Helping Hands program. With the Operation Helping Hands, soldiers donate their own money, and many of them are financially strapped providing for their needs in Iraq as well as the needs back home for their family, but they have been donating their own money to help provide families with food and health care necessities. Brigades Commander Ben Hodges came up with the idea of helping the poor families in the area. They have collected several thousand dollars which goes a long way toward helping many Iraqi families.

These compassionate troops are helping Iraqi families in a way that they have never been helped before. Soldiers are often out in Iraqi communities providing medical care and humanitarian assistance. A small, impoverished village about 10 miles from Baghdad was recently paid a visit from the Medical Civic Action Program. The program sends doctors and medics to provide free medical care on a regular basis. Because of conditions under Saddam Hussein, soldiers are treating diseases we rarely see here at home: tuberculosis, hepatitis, and polio.

Mr. Speaker, we should be proud of our troops for fighting for women's rights. For the first time in history, women in Mosul, Iraq, were able to join the rest of the world in celebrating International Women's Day. That day recognizes coordinated efforts of women everywhere for equal rights and political and economic equality. The state of the woman in Iraq was in horrible condition prior to our arrival. Eighty-eight percent of women could not read. Today, 77 percent of all school-age girls are in school. The People's Assembly Building was rededicated as a center for Iraqi women. The center will serve as a meeting place for all women of Iraq where they can share ideas, offer training, coordinate communication, and build a safer homeland.

In Mosul, Iraqi police say they are grateful to soldiers from the U.S. Army's 503rd Military Police Battalion for their assistance in rebuilding police stations. Coalition forces helped to renovate several police stations which enable the Iraqi police officers to protect their fellow citizens. In the past year, 4,570 police, correction specialists, and firefighters from the Ninevah Province have completed this training. They are better prepared to maintain security for the people of Iraq because of the training the coalition forces have provided.

Iraqi security forces continue to take huge steps along with the political process. Less than a year ago, the Department of Border Enforcement was created consisting of the border police, immigration inspections, and civil customs inspection stations. Today there are more than 82,000 border policemen and nearly 9,000 border enforcement agents operating along a 3,600 kilometer border. Coalition forces are actively involved in border security operations. In addition to conducting joint patrols with the Iraqi border police, coalition forces routinely visit border posts and continue to train and mentor the Iraqi border patrol officers.

More than 11,000 experienced policemen who have completed the transition integration program have learned democratic principles and values, basic fundamentals of policing, policies and standards for conduct, law and order, and their responsibilities to their communities. There are more than 1,600 policemen who have trained from scratch in an 8-week training program. In early March, 450 additional policemen graduated from the first class of the 8-week Baghdad Public Safety Academy. Another 1,500 new policemen will graduate in April. Two academies are expected to have more 2,100 new professional policemen by the end of 2004.

The new Iraqi Army is growing. In early March, more than 1,000 recruits of the 4th Battalion graduated from the 9-week basic training program.

These are amazing stories. These are the stories of the Americans that I know. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands more.

I am proud of our soldiers and want to say thank you. These are not the stories that you will hear on the news or in the newspapers, nor will you hear them many times during this election year; but I would like at this moment to say thank you to the young men and women in Iraq who are fighting for the freedom of a foreign land.

One story that is told from Iraq, a U.S. soldier recently evaluated an Iraqi woman, Farha Abed Saad, for medical treatment after she had been harmed by Iraqi thugs who wished to rob Iraqis of their right to freedom. Her comments say it well, ``Thank God you have come here to Iraq to make us free,'' said Mrs. Saad, kissing a soldier's hand. ``When I see you, I see my own sons. Thank you, thank you.''

Mr. Speaker, compassion is a common language. Compassion is what we are showing to the people in Iraq when we fight side by side with them.

Mr. Speaker, we have other advances in this war on terror and in the social setup in Iraq. Already the transition to Iraqis is beginning. People are talking about the end of June, but this week the transition began with the transition of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Culture, both responsibilities being moved across to Iraqi civilians.

Mr. Speaker, the oil in Iraq has begun to flow again. It is moving through pipelines that we have found damaged and we as coalition forces have repaired. Because of that flow of oil and because of U.S. reconstruction of oil facilities, over $8 billion, almost $9 billion is in the bank now in trust for the Iraqis. It is being used to fund the operation of their government.

Mr. Speaker, you will not hear that story either as we read the evening news because it seems that the news does not want to report the positive and the progress that we have seen in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, we heard eloquent points from a gentleman on the floor earlier this evening. The gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) spoke about the fact that in any contest some people will win and some will lose. Then he gave the four points that create the winners, that help determine the winners. Mr. Speaker, when the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) speaks about winning, I listen. The gentleman from Nebraska coached the 1994 national champions and came back the next year in 1995 and coached the same Nebraska Cornhuskers to another national championship. And then he took a year off and came back in 1997 to win his third national championship.

Mr. Speaker, when this gentleman speaks about winning, I believe he knows what he is talking about; and he says for us to win in Iraq will require the same elements as to win in any other situation. It will require a unity of purpose. Secondly, it will require sacrifice; the willingness to pay a greater price than the competition often determines the winner.

Third, we must have confidence in a successful outcome.

Fourth, there must be a bond among the team, a caring, a respect, a love among the group.

Mr. Speaker, when we begin to talk so violently in this Nation and to politicize the war, we begin to undermine the unity of purpose, the willingness to pay a greater price, we undermine the confidence and the successful outcome, and we begin to damage that bond that needs to exist among the group members if an effort is to be a winning effort.

Mr. Speaker, as I listened to the many complaints and to the calls for

resignations, my mind goes back to World War II. I just cannot imagine what it would have been like in World War II after Pearl Harbor if we had gone through the same sort of questions from the press and from the political parties. Can Members imagine Mr. Roosevelt taking time off from the war to come in and speak about why Pearl Harbor was allowed to be attacked? There are many in this Nation who felt that the attack was known to be coming, and yet both sides for the good of the moment said we will let those questions go because we have got a greater enemy here.

I cannot imagine the consequences if we had chosen at that moment to pull the President in front of a commission and ask him to explain and justify every action. I cannot imagine, Mr. Speaker, asking the President at that point in the conflict in the first year or even 2 years, what is your exit strategy? Our exit strategy then is like our exit strategy now: it is to defeat the enemy.

Mr. Speaker, if we are going to win this war on terror, it is going to take valor, valor like that of Pat Tillman who gave up a lucrative career in pro football to serve his country, and he paid the ultimate price.

It is going to take sacrifice like a young woman helicopter pilot from my district who died in a night helicopter crash in Afghanistan, or like the young man from Lovington, New Mexico, just 18 miles from my hometown, who paid the ultimate sacrifice and was just recently laid to rest.

Mr. Speaker, as I talked to his mother, she explained that he never liked school much, he did not like to read, he did not like to study, but when he got involved as a gunner in the military, he found an understanding of what he thought he was about and he began to read constantly, read his operational manuals, to work to improve his capabilities.

Mr. Speaker, it will take those kinds of sacrifices. Freedom is not free. It takes tremendous sacrifice. It will take courage to win this war on terror. It is going to be a long fight and it will take commitment. It will take commitment from the young men and women who are required to go. It will take commitment from their families. It will take commitment from political leaders who are required to vote to fund the efforts.

If we are going to cut and run now, Mr. Speaker, we can be sure that we will not win this war on terror. We can also be sure that the security moms will have been concerned justly. It is our obligation to see that we fight the war on terror outside this country's borders, that we take the fight to them and we take the desire away from them, take the desire away from them that makes them want to strike us.

We have had losses and they cannot be minimized. The loss of a single life is too many. But far more of the enemy have paid the full price than of our young men and women. We owe it to the people of this country and to the free people of the entire world to stand our ground and to fight and to have the resolute intent to see that this war on terror is won.

Mr. Speaker, I cast my lot on the side of the people who will fight this war and who will see that liberty triumphs over tyranny and over terrorism.

Mr. Speaker, as we consider the implications of the debate about the photographs that our news media has been putting on the front pages and on the TV screens, it is important that we begin to calm down and to take a look at what we are doing and to remember why we are in Iraq.

Frankly, as we hear the discussions about having the President impeached and the Secretary of Defense resign, it is important for us to remember that 9-11 changed everything. So soon we forget, Mr. Speaker. 9-11 is the day that innocent civilians in this country went to work in the morning expecting they would come home to their families that night. 9-11 was the day that this body convened for its normal business. 9-11 was the day soccer moms became security moms, worried about the safety of their children in the streets. And President Bush said that he would fight terror; that if you harbored a terrorist, you were a terrorist; if you funded a terrorist, you were a terrorist; if you allowed them to pass through your country, you were a terrorist. And, Mr. Speaker, he has been solid and resolute about that commitment.

No matter how despicable the acts of our soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison, they remain the actions of just a few. They do not reflect the majority opinion. They do not reflect American values, and they do not reflect what is going on in Iraq. Because there are magnificent tales of sacrifice and commitment going on in Iraq.

For those people who wonder why the Secretary of Defense should not step down, it has not been that long ago, Mr. Speaker, that we saw Rodney King in those famous videos where members of the Los Angeles Police Department were beating him. That circumstance did not reflect the policemen in L.A. any more than our current actions reflect our soldiers in Iraq. To put it in perspective, we should have, if we want equivalent actions, have called for the Governor of California to step down.

Secretary Rumsfeld is a tremendous political and military leader. If we look at the advances and the accomplishments that have occurred, to suggest change at this point in this war begins to seem irresponsible. Al Qaeda is completely uprooted and on the move. Thousands of al Qaeda members are dead or in prison. The Taliban is gone from Afghanistan. Saddam Hussein sits in a prison cell. We have over 40 of his top officials in prison cells awaiting trial. Libya has begun to give up its weapons of mass destruction, its nuclear weapons. Pakistan worked with us on the Afghanistan border fighting terror. Worldwide, we are seeing terrorists captured and imprisoned by the network of people on the side of good and against evil.

Mr. Speaker, Secretary Rumsfeld is greatly responsible for the actions that are positive and that show that we are winning the war on terror. And to suggest that he step down is irresponsible.

But we must also consider what it is going to take to win this war on terror. It is going to take valor, valor like that of Pat Tilghman, who gave up a lucrative career to go serve his country. It is going to take sacrifice, like a young helicopter pilot from my district who died in a night crash in Afghanistan. It is going to take courage, because this is going to be a long fight, Mr. Speaker. And if we are going to run right now, I will guarantee you that we will not win this war on terror, and that every American life will be affected. And those soccer moms who became security moms will have been justified in their fears, and they will have been let down by the leadership of this country, many of whom are calling for the President to come back home and to leave that fight.

Mr. Speaker, we owe it to the people of this country and to the free people in the entire world to stand our ground and to fight and to have the resolute intent to see that this war on terror is won. Mr. Speaker, I cast my lot on the side of those people who will fight this war, who will see that liberty triumphs over tyranny and over terrorism.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, in response, I found a different case from my constituents. The first woman who signed up for one of the drug cards, Mr. Speaker, was 85. She had a monthly cost of $409, and after the card was given and she was able to navigate her way through it, her cost was $13.61. Mr. Speaker, that hardly sounds like the drug industry is going to get a payoff.

Mr. Speaker, I, like many, am profoundly disappointed in the photos and the actions of a handful of our soldiers, but I do not for one moment mistake the actions of a few to be representative of the many.

On the floor of this House, Mr. Speaker, I have heard my colleagues from the other side of the aisle say that the war being fought in Iraq cannot be won and is, in fact, ``unwinnable.'' And yet with straight faces these same colleagues say that they support our troops.

They have short memories, Mr. Speaker. They say they support our troops, and yet some of them earnestly voted against providing our troops with the very resources they need in the field, fighting not only for our liberty but for the freedoms of others.

Mr. Speaker, the words and actions of these individuals do not indicate support for our troops, and I find it profoundly disappointing when some show such blatant disregard, dishonor, and disrespect for our troops. Some of my colleagues have made such comments without concern for the impact that it has on the morale of our troops who are currently fighting in Iraq as well as those who are poised to go to Iraq.

Is this Election Year rhetoric and the partisan banter part of the Democrats' winnable strategy in Iraq? The bottom line is that some Members of the other party have become representative for retreat and appeasement. Mr. Speaker, appeasement and retreat has not worked in the past and will not work in the future with the terrorists. Mr. Speaker, we must win this war on terror. The stakes are too great for the future of humanity.

I went to Iraq late last year and personally visited with our soldiers. The young men in this picture and the young women that I met, those are the soldiers in Iraq who are an all-volunteer force who are fighting so that our children and grandchildren do not have to live in a world where there is daily fear of terrorism. These men and women deserve the thanks of a grateful Nation and a grateful world. They deserve to have our unwavering support for their unwavering belief in liberty and their understanding of freedom.

Since the American people will not hear these stories on the evening news, Mr. Speaker, I am here tonight to share true stories of astonishing bravery, courage, compassion, valor, and steel nerve. Mr. Speaker, I am talking about our soldiers and what they have done for America, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the entire world.

The soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division have been working to make Iraq secure but also have been putting time and effort into helping towns and villages with their ``Operation Helping Hands'' program. With ``Operation Helping Hands,'' our soldiers donate their own money to help provide families with food and health care necessities. Brigade Commander Colonel Ben Hodges came up with the idea of helping the poor families in the area. They have collected several thousand dollars, which goes a long way toward helping many Iraqi families.

Mr. Speaker, our troops are compassionate. They are helping Iraqi families in a way that they have never been helped before. Soldiers are often out in Iraq communities to provide medical care and humanitarian assistance. A small, impoverished village about 10 miles from Baghdad was recently paid a visit by personnel from the Medical Civic Action Program. This program sends doctors and medics out to provide free medical care on a regular basis. Because of conditions under Saddam Hussein, soldiers are treating diseases we rarely see here at home such as tuberculosis, hepatitis, and polio.

Mr. Speaker, we should also be proud of our troops for fighting for women's rights. For the first time in history, women in Mosul, Iraq were able to join the rest of the world in celebrating International Women's Day. The day recognizes coordinated efforts of women everywhere for equal rights and political and economic equality.

The People's Assembly Building was rededicated as the Center for Iraqi Women. The center will serve as a meeting place for all women of Iraq where they can share ideas, offer training, coordinate communications, and build a safer homeland.

And in Mosul, Iraqi police say they are grateful to the soldiers from the U.S. Army's 503rd Military Police Battalion for their assistance in rebuilding police stations. Coalition forces helped to renovate several police stations and enabled the Iraqi police officers to protect their fellow citizens. There are more than 1,600 policemen who have trained from scratch in an 8-week training program.

Mr. Speaker, these are the stories of our young men and women in Iraq. These are the stories of the people who are fighting for freedom and fighting to rebuild a country. Mr. Speaker, the war on terror must be won.

The new Iraqi Army is growing. In early March, more than 1,000 recruits of the 4th Battalion graduated from the nine-week basic training program.

These are our soldiers stories. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands more. I am proud of our soldiers and want to say ``thank you.'' These are not the stories that you will hear on the news, or in the newspapers--nor will you hear them during election year rhetoric.

A U.S. soldier evacuated an Iraqi woman, Farha Abed Saad for medical treatment after she had been harmed by the thugs who wish to rob Iraqis of their right to freedom. ``Thank God, you have come here to Iraq and make us free,'' said Ms. Saad, kissing a soldier's hands. ``When I see you, I see my own sons! Thank you, thank you.''

It is a sad day, Mr. Speaker, when some in this city who routinely ignore the great accomplishments of our soldiers only to politicize the war at their expense.

We will win this war on terror, Mr. Speaker, there is no other option. This IS a winnable war--and we must stand behind our policy and our troops with a firm resolve.

A world controlled by terrorists is not acceptable. If the United States of America cannot defeat terrorism, who in the world can? We will continue to fight against Al-Qaeda and Al-Qaeda affiliated groups--like the one who viciously beheaded 26-year-old Nick Berg. Nick Berg was a civilian who voluntarily went to Iraq to help rebuild Iraqi communication antennas. And my prayers are with his family.

After 9-11, Mr. Speaker, America was called to a new destiny. Our destiny is to defeat terrorism and tyranny. Amid the towers of American tragedy, Mr. Speaker, emerged our soldiers as towers of American strength.

And they shall have my eternal gratitude.