Progress in Iraq

PROGRESS IN IRAQ -- (House of Representatives - December 07, 2005)

(Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, yesterday when Democrat leader Howard Dean said that the war in Iraq is unwinnable and Senate Democrat presidential candidate JOHN KERRY said that American soldiers in the dark of the night are terrorizing Iraqi women and children, I scratch my head in absolute disgust and disappointment. The party of Scoop Jackson has apparently been now completely hijacked by Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore.

I went to Iraq last week, and I wish that Mr. Dean and Mr. Kerry would go to Iraq and talk directly to our soldiers. Here is what I found, and incidentally, I went with a bipartisan group, three Democrats, three Republicans. We found troop morale high, a great deal of enthusiasm for the mission. No equipment shortages. From tissue to toilet paper, our troops are well equipped. We found that they were very engaged in the mission and that the Iraqi security forces each day were getting more and more of the territory under their control.

We found enthusiasm for the December 15 election, 228 different political parties already offering candidates. A lot of progress is being made. Everything is completely different than the pessimism and the continuous criticism and the Vietnam-era radicalism expressed by Mr. Kerry and Mr. Dean. I would invite those two to go over there and see for themselves before they send such discouraging signals to our troops in action.

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