H. Res. 861

In the House of Representatives, U.S., 

June 16, 2006.

Whereas the United States and its allies are engaged in a 

Global War on Terror, a long and demanding struggle 

against an adversary that is driven by hatred of American values and that is committed to imposing, by the use 

of terror, its repressive ideology throughout the world; 

Whereas for the past two decades, terrorists have used violence in a futile attempt to intimidate the United States; 

Whereas it is essential to the security of the American people 

and to world security that the United States, together 

with its allies, take the battle to the terrorists and to 

those who provide them assistance; 

Whereas the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and other terrorists failed to 

stop free elections in Afghanistan and the first popularlyelected President in that nation’s history has taken office; 

Whereas the continued determination of Afghanistan, the 

United States, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will be required to sustain a sovereign, free, and secure Afghanistan; 

Whereas the steadfast resolve of the United States and its 

partners since September 11, 2001, helped persuade the 

government of Libya to surrender its weapons of mass 

destruction; 
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Whereas by early 2003 Saddam Hussein and his criminal, 

Ba’athist regime in Iraq, which had supported terrorists, 

constituted a threat against global peace and security 

and was in violation of mandatory United Nations Security Council Resolutions; 

Whereas the mission of the United States and its Coalition 

partners, having removed Saddam Hussein and his regime from power, is to establish a sovereign, free, secure, 

and united Iraq at peace with its neighbors; 

Whereas the terrorists have declared Iraq to be the central 

front in their war against all who oppose their ideology; 

Whereas the Iraqi people, with the help of the United States 

and other Coalition partners, have formed a permanent, 

representative government under a newly ratified constitution; 

Whereas the terrorists seek to destroy the new unity government because it threatens the terrorists’ aspirations for 

Iraq and the broader Middle East; 

Whereas United States Armed Forces, in coordination with 

Iraqi security forces and Coalition and other friendly 

forces, have scored impressive victories in Iraq including 

finding and killing the terrorist leader Abu Musab alZarqawi; 

Whereas Iraqi security forces are, over time, taking over from 

United States and Coalition forces a growing proportion 

of independent operations and increasingly lead the fight 

to secure Iraq; 

Whereas the United States and Coalition servicemembers and 

civilians and the members of the Iraqi security forces and 

those assisting them who have made the ultimate sac-
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rifice or been wounded in Iraq have done so nobly, in the 

cause of freedom; and 

Whereas the United States and its Coalition partners will 

continue to support Iraq as part of the Global War on 

Terror: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

(1) honors all those Americans who have taken an 

active part in the Global War on Terror, whether as first 

responders protecting the homeland, as servicemembers 

overseas, as diplomats and intelligence officers, or in 

other roles; 

(2) honors the sacrifices of the United States 

Armed Forces and of partners in the Coalition, and of 

the Iraqis and Afghans who fight alongside them, especially those who have fallen or been wounded in the 

struggle, and honors as well the sacrifices of their families and of others who risk their lives to help defend freedom; 

(3) declares that it is not in the national security 

interest of the United States to set an arbitrary date for 

the withdrawal or redeployment of United States Armed 

Forces from Iraq; 

(4) declares that the United States is committed to 

the completion of the mission to create a sovereign, free, 

secure, and united Iraq; 
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(5) congratulates Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki 

and the Iraqi people on the courage they have shown by 

participating, in increasing millions, in the elections of 

2005 and on the formation of the first government 

under Iraq’s new constitution; 

(6) calls upon the nations of the world to promote 

global peace and security by standing with the United 

States and other Coalition partners to support the efforts of the Iraqi and Afghan people to live in freedom; 

and 

(7) declares that the United States will prevail in 

the Global War on Terror, the noble struggle to protect 

freedom from the terrorist adversary.

Attest: 

Clerk.