Message From the Senate

MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE -- (House of Representatives - June 15, 2006)

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Mr. HEFLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

You know, we have been at this for about 6 hours, I guess, and I think everything that has been said on the subject has been said. Not everybody has said it, and so we will continue for another 6 hours on it.

But I have seen many people today who seem to have used this as an opportunity to insist that the mission in Iraq has been a failure, and that our presence in Iraq has not been properly run, and that we are not winning the peace. Frankly, Mr. Speaker, I think this is absolutely a wrong assertion and only serves to lower the morale of the men and women fighting in Iraq, while encouraging the terrorists who aim to harm both America and Iraq.

The other day I was rushing to Chair a meeting in the Armed Services Committee. I was running a little late so I was kind of frustrated and in a hurry. Someone stopped me out in the hall and said, Congressman Hefley, Congressman Hefley, would you like to meet a marine from your district? And, of course, I would like to meet a marine from my district, but I was in a hurry. I did stop, and I went over to this young marine. They introduced him to me, and there he stood in his starched shirt and red and blue striped pants, straight as a string, and strong as could be.

I introduced myself and he introduced himself, and then someone said, Sergeant So and So lost both legs in Iraq. I would never know it from looking at him, but he lost both legs in Iraq. I said, oh, I am sorry to hear that, but thank you. He said oh, no, no, no, since then I have gone to jump school. I would not go to jump school with two good legs. Since then, I have gone to jump school and I am going back to Iraq. The job's not done.

I have been to Germany, as many of you have, to see where we bring the wounded into Germany. There was one young man laying on his bed, and I said, well, when were you wounded? He said about 4:30 this morning. About 4:30 this morning, we had gotten him off the battlefield. We had stabilized him and had him in an airplane and had him to Germany where he had already had successful surgery before the end of the day. The main desire of his heart was to get back with his unit in Iraq. That is good morale.

I talked to another young man that was just coming out of the operating room, and he had his arm up in a cast. I asked him, well, soldier, do you plan to stay in the service? He said, oh, I plan to stay in if they will let me. He said the job is not done.

And the point I make with these stories is that they see that they are doing something important. They see that they are doing something meaningful. They see they are doing something that helps America and they want to continue to do it.

We are fighting the war on terror on our terms, and we are winning.

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