May 18, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE H 5365

A caller called in from Montana. I believe his name was Bob. I hope he is

watching. Bob says, ‘‘Admiral Moorer,

Bob Dornan, I think Robert McNamara

was a war criminal.’’ There was a

pause, and I said ‘‘Admiral, those

words crossed my mind yesterday at

the Vietnam Memorial.’’

I thought, well, liberals love to come

at me for overstating the case, and I

rejected ever using those words. ‘‘But

what do you think, Admiral? Is he a

war criminal?’’ Admiral Tom Moorer,

without a blemish on his career, in

1942, he was flying PBY Catalinas, and

they were painted black, and they

called them ‘‘Black Cats.’’ They were

actually using it as a patrol bomber,

bombing in the Solomon Islands: Distinguished Flying Cross, with Silver

Stars, great combat veteran, Admiral

Tom Moorer says, ‘‘Congressman, yes, I

believe Robert McNamara is a war

criminal.’’

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I lost my

speaking privileges on this floor the

day after the State of the Union for

using a term that I will not complete

tonight. I do not want to get into problems with our parliamentarian. I

talked about aid and comfort to hostile

powers with whom we were engaged in

combat.

Suffice it to say, when Wolf Blitzer

asked Bill Clinton at the White House

if he felt McNamara’s book vindicated

him, Clinton said, ‘‘Yes. Yes, I do.’’

And because he is bright, he said, ‘‘I

know it sounds self-serving, but, yes I

do.’’

Imagine getting vindication from an

evil person, a person that honorable

men think of as a war criminal. You

cannot get vindication there, Mr. Clinton. You just cannot!

And I have found out since then why

Mr. Clinton went to Moscow alone on

New Year’s Eve of 1969, why he woke up

in Leningrad and headed to Moscow

January 1, 1970, why he was there only

3 days, 27 degrees below zero, 10 inches

of snow cover. It was to go to a banquet, a banquet that a former U.S. Senator was at in the National Hotel, the

best hotel in town, and he was broke,

freezing, and he was only there 3 days,

and then off to Prague, the banquet,

the peace banquet, and then I found

out yesterday from a new book called

‘‘Clinton Confidential,’’ by George

Carpozzi, I hope George is listening, I

would like to help his book to attain a

counterbalance to McNamara’s book,

that Clinton had also another trip to

Moscow I never knew about, June 1991,

4 months, less than 4 months before he

declared for the Presidency on October

3, 1991. He was in Moscow. The Paula

Jones incident was March 8, which, by

the way, is V–E Day, and 1 month

later, June 8, he has a personal 11⁄2-hour

meeting with the head of the KGB.

What the heck was that all about, less

than 4 months before he declared to be

commander in chief?

So, Madam Speaker, I will say what

some press people know, that I will be

back trying to follow parliamentary

rules, but if I get overruled. I will appeal the ruling of the Chair and I will

win by a party-line vote. I polled my

party members. I am going to discuss

next month what the historical expression in our Constitution means about

aid and comfort, what constitutes a

hostile power, what constitutes an

enemy force, what 58,000 deaths mean,

and I will do a full hour on McNamara

and why it is an absolute disgrace that

he would rip open this unhealed wound

of Vietnam and bring the type of agony

that I have gone down to the wall and

talked to some of these vets that they

feel McNamara telling them it was

wrong, terribly wrong, that we would

try to free South Vietnam, help them

stay free, with 44 newspapers in Saigon.

I went over there eight times during

that conflict. I knew what the mistakes were, what the corruption was.

But none of it was as evil as the human

rights violations in Hanoi or what goes

on to this day this North Korea, in

China, in conquered Vietnam, in Cuba,

for that matter.

We have a terrible century of history,

and it is going out with a lot of bloodshed and hurt and pain, but we have

still got these heroes from our darkest

year of 1942. We have got our Walt

Krells and David Hrdlickas.

Something has been bothering me

lately. I have been thinking about

traveling around the country, reaching

maybe way beyond my reach, to offer

some leadership to this country, and it

has to do with something that atheists

love. They call it the natural selection.

I wonder if it has ever occurred to anybody the worst thing that wars do to

any nation, large or small, the best,

the very best die off, while the worst

hide out and escape and cut corners

and they get rewarded during peace,

sometimes, while the best are gone, the

opposite of natural selection, as atheists see it by the law of the jungle.

How many men would be running for

the presidency today who had shown

their strength of character in Korea or

Vietnam if they had not been put into

this Medal of Honor book as posthumous recipients of their Nation’s

greatest honor? There is only one word

on that Medal of Honor: Valor. And

sometimes I think it stands for ‘‘veterans against lying or revisionism.’’

Mr. McNamara’s book is a sacrilege

and an offense from a war criminal,

and I will not stop trying to bring out

the truth until my last breath, and I

might tell my liberal critics that all

warriors hate war. Those who were not

killed to kill another mother’s son in

combat, like myself, but were trained

to be combat ready and have a small

piece of the action of melting down the

evil empire, we understand why a nation should honor those that died, or

those that had their young bodies

ripped apart or those that managed to

escape unscathed by the grace only of a

merciful God, a Creator.

This Nation must come back to virtue, and our great Nation has to do

something for the veterans, starting

with the Korean veterans on July 27, in

about 2 months and a week, when a

beautiful, uplifting memorial is dedicated.

There are a thousand veterans that

are going to turn out to confront Mr.

Clinton if he shows up that day because

in the letter to Colonel Holmes he also

questioned our effort in Korea. I know

what people who avoid service think.

They think people are fools who go off

and lose their lives. Well, they are not

fools. They are the very essence of the

countries’ strength, and they are the

salt of the Earth.

And with that, Madam Speaker, I

conclude this evenings’ remarks with

what Douglas MacArthur said, ‘‘I shall

return.’’

A bill of the Senate of the following

SENATE BILL REFERRED

ftitle was taken from the Speaker’s

table and, under the rule, referred as

follows:

S. 534. An act to amend the Solid Waste

Disposal Act to provide authority for States

to limit the interstate transportation of municipal solid waste, and for other purposes;

to the Committee on Commerce.

By unanimous consent, leave of abLEAVE OF ABSENCE

fsence was granted to:

Mr. MCNULTY (at the request of Mr.

GEPHARDT), for today after 2 p.m., on

account of family business.

Mr. BONO (at the request of Mr.

ARMEY), until 2:30 p.m. today, on account of recovery from surgery.

By unanimous consent, permission to

SPECIAL ORDERS GRANTED

faddress the House, following the legislative program and any special orders

heretofore entered, was granted to:

(The following Members (at the request of Mr. SKAGGS) to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material:)

Ms. KAPTUR, for 5 minutes, today.

Mr. OWENS, for 5 minutes, today.

Mr. DEFAZIO, for 5 minutes, today.

Mr. PALLONE, for 5 minutes, today.

Mr. SKAGGS, for 5 minutes, today.

Mr. POSHARD, for 5 minutes, today.

The following Members (at the request of Mr. DICKEY) to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material:

Mr. KIM, for 5 minutes, today.

Mr. NORWOOD, for 5 minutes, today.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, for 5 minutes,

today.

By unanimous consent, permission to

EXTENSION OF REMARKS

frevise and extend remarks was granted

to:

(Mr. OBEY, to include extraneous

matter on the conference report on

H.R. 1158 in the House today.)