Conflict in the Middle East
Floor Speech
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. GINGREY. Madam Speaker, I thank you. And it's indeed an honor to be here tonight to talk with my colleagues about something that's going on in the world today that is of huge import. And no, I'm not talking about who was the victor in the NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament.
I'm not here to talk to my colleagues about who might be the winner this year of the American Idol contest, as we get closer and closer and that draws the interest of so many of television viewers throughout the country.
What I'm talking about tonight, Madam Speaker, is probably the most important thing that this country has on its plate in a long, long time, and that is the situation in the Middle East and what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan and how important that conflict is, not just to this country and its citizens, but the region in the Middle East and, indeed, the entire world, Madam Speaker, as we continue to wage, as we have for the last 5 1/2 years, this battle, this war against global terrorism. And ground zero, Madam Speaker, make no mistake about it, ground zero is in Iraq.
Today our commander there, of the multinational force Iraq, General David Petraeus, and the United States Ambassador, Ambassador to Iraq, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, are here in Washington, D.C. to testify before both the United States Senate and in this chamber, the United States House of Representatives, to the Armed Services Committee of both the House and the Senate, and to the Foreign Affairs Committee of both bodies. General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker spoke to the Senate today in a full, long day of testimony, and they will be speaking tomorrow to the House committees that I just mentioned.
Madam Speaker, along with yourself and many other very fortunate Members of this House of Representatives, I do serve on the Armed Services Committee, and I certainly look forward to hearing from these two great men who have served so well and for so long in a difficult part of the world, and also to have the opportunity to ask some questions, and I'm sure some of them will be tough questions, hard questions for Members of both political bodies, both the majority and the minority.
So, as I say, this opportunity tonight, on behalf of my party, the Republican minority, to take this hour and talk about this and try to explain to my colleagues that this is really, we are at a critical point in this war in the Middle East. And we have an opportunity, as I've felt for a long time, as I felt last September when General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker first came before the committees and explained that the surge that we enacted in January of 2007 is, indeed, working. And what they said last September is that we need to give it a chance.
Indeed, if you made an analogy to a sporting event, you might say that we're in the fourth quarter of a tough game, and at times, indeed, January of 2007 and several months before that, it did appear that we were losing. Members of this body and the other body in leadership positions made some pretty drastic statements, even to the extent of saying the war's lost, it's hopeless, it's a hopeless situation; we need to just pack up and come home.
But General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, last September told us, no, that is not the case because we did change courses. We listened to the recommendations of the Iraqi Study Group, co-chaired by a very prominent Democrat and Republican, and we listened very carefully to their recommendations in regard to what needed to be done. And this surge of about 30,000 additional troops has certainly given us the opportunity to regain control and get the upper hand against these Islamic extremists and thugs that could, and would, and are determined not only to destroy Iraq, but to make that country the base of their support. And, yes, of course I'm talking about al Qaeda.
Anyone who thinks, Madam Speaker, that Iraq is not ground zero now for al Qaeda simply is ignoring the words of Osama bin Laden.
So we are, as General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker said, we are at a very critical point. And today, the evidence will show, and during this next 45 to 60 minutes of time that me and some of my colleagues on our side of the aisle will have to discuss this, we are going to present the evidence that we are succeeding. We have not won yet, but we're ahead in the fourth quarter, and this is certainly not the time to pull our team off the field and say, well, you know, they're tired, they're stressed; the ranks are thin. It's cost us too much money. And hey, you know, we may have some conflict break out somewhere else in the world, and we have to be ready for that. Maybe 6 months from now, maybe a year from now, maybe 10 years from now.
So this approach, strategy of giving up something that we have almost won, after sacrificing 4,000 killed in action, and closer to 20,000 of our brave men and women severely wounded, and an untold number, maybe as many as 100,000 Iraqi civilians who have also given their lives for the cause, it makes no sense to this Member, Madam Speaker, that you would give up at such a critical, crucial time.
So what we're going to talk about tonight is really four things. I want to concentrate on four things. And as I say, hopefully, a number of my colleagues will be able to finish up their previous engagements and be here with me on the floor, because these Members are members of the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States House of Representatives. And they, Madam Speaker, know of what they speak.
And what we're going to do is break it down, as I say, into four areas of discussion. The first area would be to talk about where are we today? What difference has a year made? Actually, it's a little more than a year.
January of 2007. But it took until October, just this past fall, to get all of the additional troops and their support, logistical support into the theater. And you really couldn't expect a lot of change in the battle until we got the full force of those 30,000 additional troops. And you, ladies and gentlemen, my colleagues, we all refer to that as the surge. And this was what was recommended by General Petraeus.
And so we're going to talk about it, what a difference a year makes, and talk about some of the statistics about overall violence and progress. And the statistics don't lie. You can't put spin on numbers. Numbers are what they are. And I think the numbers, when we finish this special order hour, Madam Speaker, I think my colleagues will agree that by any standard, any parameter, any metric that I talk about, you'd have to say that the surge that was essentially envisioned, planned by General Petraeus, is, indeed, working, maybe even far better than he expected.
And the second thing that I'll talk about is, what would victory look like? You know, we're on track. We're not there yet. I think it would be presumptuous, maybe even naive of me to say that we have victory in our grasp, or to suggest that the mission is over, we won. No, we're not there yet.
And I think the violence that broke out recently in Basra, the second largest city in Iraq, after Baghdad, the port city where every drop of oil that's taken out of the ground, those 2 1/2 to 3 million barrels a day from the reserves in the country of Iraq, they flow out of that port at Basra. And there's been a lot of violence there. And, you know, that's some disappointing news after we have had a string of several months of good news and great statistics.
But we know from that little wake-up call that there's still a lot of work to be done. Unfortunately, as has been the case in so many conflicts throughout the course of the history of our country, we have had to take the lead so many times. And we have had strong allies, certainly, the Brits have been a great ally of ours throughout history, and continue to be. But the fact is that they're citizens are, they're not as supportive, maybe, from time to time, as we would like for them to be.
And it's very difficult for their parliament to keep troops as part of our multinational force. There are some in Basra, but something like a thousand British troops were removed from that critical area, which they have had responsibility for since day one of Operation Iraqi Freedom. A lot of those troops were brought home for political reasons in September of 2007, and it weakened our situation in Basra. We are paying the price today, I think, because of that, but we will talk about these statistics, and we will certainly talk about what victory would look like.
The third point that I am going to ask my colleagues to discuss, and I will discuss as well, is the fact that despite these overwhelming statistics and the progress that we've made, there are Members in this body, in this town, the media, voices, that say and continue to say, it is not worth it. It is not worth it. It is not worth the lives that we have sacrificed. It is not worth the money that we've spent. Even achieving victory is not worth it. We need to bring the troops home and spend that money on social welfare programs, on health care for everybody, and maybe a $5,000 tax rebate for every man, woman, and child in the country. There are other things that we could do to spend that $10 billion a month that this war is costing us. Now, I want to talk about that, and we will get into it.
And then lastly, and maybe most important tonight, we will talk about the consequences of failure, the consequences of withdrawal, which I am absolutely convinced, if done prematurely, will lead, inevitably, to failure.
So we will conclude by talking about the consequences of that. And I think, as my colleagues listen, it will be quite sobering to them as they think in their mind and understand, and this is an intelligent body of 435 great Americans, of people who have served this country well and representing their districts well, but sometimes we need a wake-up call. Sometimes we really, Mr. Speaker, need a wake-up call. And that's why we do these Special Orders on both sides of the aisle.
But tonight, I don't think there really is anything more important to talk about than the situation in the Middle East, and I'm proud to have this opportunity, and it's a great honor and a privilege.
I see my colleague from Tennessee, one of my classmates who joined with me in the 110th Congress. We were both elected in 2002. We both had served, me in the State of Georgia, she in the State of Tennessee, in the General Assembly; and we are part of a proud group of, I think there were 53 freshman back in 2003 as we got here. And we all, I'm sure, felt like we had the answers to all problems and that we were going to solve all of the country's problems and the world's problems. And I can tell you that we haven't, but we haven't given up, and we will continue to work hard.
So it's an honor to be joined now by the gentlewoman from Tennessee, my good friend and outstanding Member, Marsha Blackburn.
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Mr. GINGREY. The gentlewoman remembers, I think we all remember, hopefully, that last year the Congress asked for the Iraqi government to meet certain benchmarks. And this is exactly what Representative Blackburn is talking about now in regard to certain laws that their parliament would need to pass. It was sort of like a, you know, we'll only continue to help you if you promise by a date certain that you will have provincial elections, that you will pass a de-Ba'athification law, which essentially meant that those Sunnis, those brave soldiers that we are calling now and referring to as sons of Iraq, and as I say, mostly Sunnis, that they would have an opportunity to be included, maybe to be officially a part of the Iraqi security force.
So the government had to get over the fact that there was this rivalry, if you will, between the Shias in the majority and the Sunnis in the minority and the Sunnis led by the brutal dictator. Saddam Hussein had suppressed, oppressed, murdered so many of the Shias for so many years of his reign of terror that it's difficult to all of a sudden reach out an olive branch, but that's what we asked them to do in regard to de-Ba'athification, and I think it's important. And also asking them to share the oil revenue with all parts of the country, not just where the oil is found in the oil-rich Kurdish region but also in the west where there's very little oil and in the south as you have sharing.
So that's what the gentlewoman is talking about, and I yield back to her.
I just wanted to say that, and I'll make this one last point before I yield back, if the gentlewoman will bear with me just a second. It was said that those benchmarks needed to be met before we would provide additional troops and security and help stabilize things on the ground. But you couldn't have an effective parliament, an effective government until the people on the ground, in the towns, in the villages felt that their new government that they voted for could protect them, that had the ability, had the military strength, had the training that they felt secure and that they could go forward with this government. So the provision of security on the ground was first and foremost, and that's what the surge was all about.
I yield back to the gentlewoman from Tennessee.
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Mr. GINGREY. Well, again, I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee. And I would like to reemphasize the statistics that she was talking about that we said at the outset, Mr. Speaker, of this hour that we're going to talk about what a difference that a year makes and present those statistics, how particularly violence has decreased. And Representative Blackburn has already talked about that.
But I would ask my colleagues to reference this first slide in regard to its title. This is a little difficult to see in the back of the Chamber, but ``Civilian Deaths.'' And it is amazing, if you look at this top line going back to January of 2006 and then coming forward almost to present day, March of 2008, and you see that about the time of the surge, that peaked the civilian deaths. We're talking about on an almost monthly basis, 4,000 civilian deaths. I think if you follow the line down, that would be about January or February of 2007. And in March of 2008, at the far side of the chart, you're looking at a number just slightly over 600. So to go from almost 4,000 deaths to 600. And I have some additional charts to basically show the same thing, again, the statistics that we promised to present at the outset of the hour, to show you what a difference a year makes.
And this slide, my colleagues, says ``High Profile Attacks,'' basically explosions. And the blue line is the total. The next, I guess you would call that the brown graph, is car bombs. The red is suicide car bombs. And then on the bottom is suicide deaths. But this is a total. And that's where the rubber meets the road in these statistics.
And again, about a year ago, you were talking about attacks occurring in the range of 125 a day. And until this recent outbreak in Basra, they were down to about 40 a day. So, again, as I said at the outset, by any measure, by any parameter, any metric you want to take, the success of the surge is obvious.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentleman will yield.
Mr. GINGREY. I will be glad to yield. I will make one further point, and then I will yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee.
These success stories you don't see on the nightly news. I think it was Ann Murray that sang a very famous hit a number of years ago, and I think the title of that was ``A Little Good News Today.'' You don't hear about good news because, by definition, it's not news. It's only mayhem and violence and killings and rapes and people putting their children in the trunk of a car and leaving them there for a day as a disciplinary action for some minor infraction. These are the kind of things that are on the front pages of our newspapers and on the 24-hour news service. They only talk about it when there's violence. Unfortunately, there's not much credit given to a little good news, in fact, a lot of good news.
I yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee.
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Mr. GINGREY. And I thank the gentlewoman from Tennessee for those very intelligent remarks and understanding of what is going on. She has added so much to this hour.
We're getting into the final third of our time. And I'm very pleased that one of my colleagues, a freshman, it's hard to believe, Mr. Speaker, indeed, that he is a freshman because his wisdom is far beyond that. He serves with me on the Armed Services Committee. He will be there tomorrow when General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker testify to us, to the House Armed Services Committee.
At this point, I would be happy to yield to the gentleman from Colorado, Representative Doug Lamborn.
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Mr. GINGREY. Well, I thank the gentleman from Colorado for being with us. And I hope that if time permits, he can remain with us for some of the additional time. I would be happy to yield to him if you'll just let me know. But, again, he is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and indeed, he knows of what he speaks.
Mr. Speaker, and my colleagues, the testimony today that went on with the Senate Armed Services Committee was very telling. We are all busy on this side of the Capitol with committee meetings and other responsibilities, so you don't have the time to sit there glued to the television set and watch every single member ask questions of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. But I was able, on occasion, to hear some of the dialogue and the exchange. And I want to share just a little bit of that, Mr. Speaker, with my colleagues at this time. And this poster, this slide that I have, you can reference what I'm talking about.
Senator Lindsey Graham, the senior Senator from the great State of South Carolina where I spent most of my youth, I live and represent Georgia proudly now, but Senator Graham, formerly a Member of this body, the House of Representatives, and now serving so well in the United States Senate, asked this question of General Petraeus: ``Is it fair to say that when Muslims will stand by us and fight against bin Laden, his agents and sympathizers, that we're safer? Is it fair to say that?''
And General Petraeus's response: ``Absolutely.'' It only took one word, my colleagues, ``absolutely,'' we are safer.
And Ambassador Crocker responded this morning in a similar manner, and let me give his quote: ``In the little over a year that I have been in Iraq, we have seen a significant degradation of al Qaeda's presence and its abilities. Al Qaeda is our mortal and strategic enemy. So to the extent that al Qaeda's capacities have been lessened in Iraq, and they have been significantly lessened, I do believe that makes America safer.'' And this is the direct quote from Ambassador Crocker's testimony this morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
We will get into now the third point that I said, Mr. Speaker, at the outset of the hour that I wanted to emphasize, and that's the question of is it worth it? Despite the progress that we have talked about tonight that General Petraeus told the Senate this morning, there are those who would ignore that progress and still as they did last September. Maybe it was a more credible argument then. Of course, they were making it before the surge had even gotten there, not really giving it much of a chance. But today to argue for immediate withdrawal and to give up, to snatch defeat literally from the jaws of victory, that's basically what they're saying: It's not worth it. It's not worth it. It's time to quit. And this is what General Petraeus said this morning, another quote, and I share it with my colleagues:
``I do believe it's worth it. I took on the task,'' and just like General Petraeus he would say this, ``the privilege of command of Multi-National Force Iraq because I do believe that it's worth it and I do believe the interests there are of enormous importance, again, to our country, not just the people of Iraq and the people of that region, and the world.'' That's a quote taken from General Petraeus's testimony this morning.
I am pleased at this time, Mr. Speaker, to yield to another one of my classmates, the gentleman from Iowa, Representative Steve King. Representative King is not only on the Armed Services Committee, but I do believe he's on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. And he is extremely knowledgeable about foreign affairs, about national defense, about so many critical issues. So it's indeed a pleasure to welcome this evening another of my classmates, the distinguished gentleman from Iowa, Representative King.
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Mr. GINGREY. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I will yield right back to the gentleman, but I think his point is just so well taken.
This morning, I started the day at 8 o'clock in the morning with a rally in the park on the Senate side, and it was organized by a group called Veterans For Freedom, Vets For Freedom. And 400 of them, 400, were there to give us that very message that Representative King is talking about, that it is worth it, it is worth it, and to beg us, literally to beg us. And I am sure, my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, you will be hearing from them. We will all be hearing from them. I did today. The members from Georgia that are part of the Veterans For Freedom are here, and they're going to make sure that we hear that message loud and clear.
And I yield back to my friend.
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Mr. GINGREY. I thank the gentleman from Iowa so much for being with us.
As we rapidly approach the conclusion of this hour, I wanted to make a few other points. The gentleman from Iowa spoke of it when he said we are not there for their oil. We are not there for their land. We're not there for anything except to try to bring a democracy to the Middle East. And you think about the history of this country in other battles that we have been in, in World War I in Belleau Wood, in World War II on the beaches of Normandy, or in the Argonne Forest, in the Korean war, in the rice paddies of Vietnam or the sands of Iwo Jima, whom were we fighting for, and what did we ask for in return? We were fighting for other people as much as we were fighting for ourselves, and the only thing that this country asked for in return was a little bit of dirt to bury our dead. We don't bury our fallen soldiers anymore on foreign soil, but that's really all we ever asked for.
The 4,000 that we have lost in this battle, how can we possibly turn our back on them? How can we turn our back on the Veterans For Freedom that I talked about that we met this morning?
And, Mr. Speaker, I have sufficient time, and I hope you will allow me to read these 25 names from my district, the 11th of Georgia, who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in this conflict to bring a little bit of democracy to the Middle East. And let me read quickly, Mr. Speaker:
Sergeant Michael Hardegree from Villa Rica; Lance Corporal Samuel Large, Jr., also from Villa Rica; Specialist Joshua Dingler from Hiram, Georgia; Sergeant Paul Saylor from Bremen; Captain Hayes Clayton from Marietta, my home; Private First Class Jesus Fonseca, Marietta; Lance Corporal Stephenen Johnson, Marietta; Airman First Class Antoine Holt, Georgia; Sergeant Brian Ardron, Acworth; Private First Class Marquis Whitaker from Columbus; Staff Sergeant John McGee, Columbus; Sergeant First Class David Salie from Columbus; Corporal Tyler Dickens, Columbus.
Staff Sergeant Rickey Scott, Columbus, Georgia; Corporal John Tanner, Columbus, Georgia; Sergeant Thomas Strickland, Douglasville, Georgia; Spec. Marvin Camposiles, Austell; Spec. Benjamin Bartlett, Jr., Manchester, Georgia; Lance Corporal Juan Lopez, Whitfield; Private John M. Henderson, Jr., from Columbus; First Lieutenant Michael Fasnacht, from Columbus; Lance Corporal Kristopher C. Warren, from Resaca; Specialist Justin Johnson, from Rome, Georgia; First Lieutenant Tyler Brown, president of the student body at Georgia Tech, died in Iraq, from Atlanta, Georgia; Jack Hensley, a civilian contractor from Marietta, Georgia was beheaded by the brutality known as al Qaeda.
Mr. Speaker, as I conclude my time, again, I thank you for allowing me to read those names.
And my colleagues, I hope that some of those families are listening because I pledge to you we will not turn our back on them. They have paid the ultimate sacrifice. You are continuing to pay the sacrifice, but God bless you for the support of this commander in chief and with your patience and our determination here in Congress, we will give victory a chance, and we will achieve victory.
And with that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back.
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