National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 10, 2006)
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Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment that will provide funds for a critical component in our Nation's effort to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis and others in the global fight for freedom and democracy.
For 25 years, groups like Operation Smile have sent teams of volunteer surgeons and medical personnel throughout the world to provide medical treatment and surgery to children suffering from facial injuries, cleft palates and other facial deformities.
Last year, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Jordan to take part in the first mission of the Iraq Initiative of Operation Smile. I was able to observe the indescribable joy of families as the lives of over 50 Iraqi children were transformed.
Mr. Chairman, it is difficult to describe how moving such an experience really is. It made clear absolutely to me the vital role these efforts play in our Nation's diplomatic efforts.
Recently, the Secretary of Defense exercised his discretionary authority to permit space available travel on military aircraft in order to safely return 110 Iraqi children to Baghdad from Amman where they had undergone urgently needed oral and facial surgeries. This intervention was deemed necessary and appropriate because armed insurgents had stopped and boarded the children's buses when they were traveling to Amman, raising serious questions about the safety of undertaking the return trip by ground.
Mr. Chairman, such activities are vital to our efforts in Iraq. Not only are many young children receiving critical, life-changing reconstructive surgeries, Iraqi physicians are also being trained so that even more children can be helped. This helps the Iraqi people understand that our war is with the terrorists and not with the Iraqi people.
Mr. Chairman, Americans have a genuine and abiding compassion for their fellow human beings, and if our diplomatic efforts and our military efforts in other Nations are to truly succeed, compassion must always be a centerpiece of those efforts. Groups such as Operation Smile provide a clear, tangible demonstration of such compassion. They put a smile on the face of freedom and our Nation's commitment to liberty in Iraq and the world over.
I truly believe these efforts save American lives by helping to win the peace, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
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Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Chairman, thank you.
I guess the only way I can describe this, Mr. Chairman, is as they begin to create these surgeries, as they begin to pull the child's lip together with a giant hole in the center of his face or her face, it not only seems to pull a face together, it seems to pull a life together. If you understand the significance of going through life with an uncorrected cleft palate or cleft lip, this is to also take the child out of an emotional darkness that is almost impossible to describe.
The ultimate impact to these families is one that is emotional beyond words. When you hand the child back to the mother or the father, there is a wailing and a moved feeling that they express that, again, is just beyond my ability to describe.
But it does have I think an effect, as I said, of putting a smiling face on the face of freedom, and I just am so grateful that this is something that we can do together as a House and that while we may have differences on a lot of our policies throughout the world, the one thing remains that America is a noble Nation and we are committed to making sure that all of God's children, as it were, have an opportunity to lay hold on this miracle of life and to live as meaningful as they can possibly can, and I appreciate the support that is demonstrated for the amendment.
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Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I am not sure what else I can add to this except to just simply express that we are not only changing the lives of children in the profoundest sense, but we are letting our soldiers in different parts of the world demonstrate their own compassion to these children as they are a part of the logistical process of making this real.
I would just suggest to you that the bottom line is that this is a diplomatic effort, a medical diplomacy, that is in the best interests of America. It saves Americans lives, and it transform the lives of all the children.
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