Date: 2003-03-26
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I was listening. to the gentlemans words today. and I was moved by the gentlemans statements and by the strength and veracity of that letter from that young woman who suffered the intense oppression of that brutal. crazy dictator. that dictator that is oppressing the people of Iraq. What she says is so true: the Iraqi people have been suffering for a long. long time. They have suffered through what we really cannot even imagine. the most horrendous humiliations. tortures. murders. assassinations. That man who has killed about 1.5 million people. has gassed his own people. and other nations. who has no concern for life or for any basic principles or freedoms. and who the world was negotiating with for about 12 years. Think about that. We all believe in negotiations. We all believe in diplomacy. I believe that we should try to negotiate. and when -we have a dictator. a crazy. insane man who has comm.tted mass genocide and murder. that we should try to negotiate. for 1 year. 2 years. 3 years. 4 years. 10 years. 12 years? When is enough failed negotiations enough? When isenough failure enough? I believe that the United Nations has a role to play. Yes. I believe we should get the United Nations resolutions to express the sentiment of the world once. twice. three times. ten times. But 17 times? How many resolutions must he ignore and continue his oppression. his assassination. and more dangerous to us. his trying to obtain nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction? How many times should we say. or is there a time when we should say. enough? What does it take? What does it take for the world to react? Thank God. fortunately. we have a President who stated after the attacks. those horrendous attacks that occurred on 911 against our people. our innocent people..he stated very clearly that those that harbor terrorism were terrorists. and that there was going to be a price to pay. Then he tried to warn. and he did warn. Saddam Hussein. He went to the United Nations and got one last chance for Saddam Hussein from the United Nations. But there is a time. unfortunately. when one must act. That time has come. Now our brave men and women are doing what the President said he was going to do. what he was going to ask them todo if Saddam Hussein did not disarm. He was going to disarm them with our brave men and women. They are doing an incredible job. an incredible job. This Is the time to support our troops. This is the time to not vacillate in that support for our troops. I know there are those who say. well. we support our troops. but we wish they were not there. They are there. They are performing a vital job. We have to support them wholeheartedly. not with caveats. not with reservations. We have to support them. We have to support them. and they have to do what it takes to get the job done. It is up to us. who are living and enjoying the freedoms that those thousands of men and women in uniform for generations have fought to give us. We should utilize those freedoms to show appreciation. to show respect. to show admiration. and to say. job well done. We are with you. We are going to be with you to the end. They are going to succeed because the vast majority of the American people r.pports them. because the vast majority of the American people supports our President. our Commander in Chief. in his efforts. We are so grateful. I actually was walking through. and I heard what the gentleman was saying on the floor. I had to come by and thank the gentleman. thank the gentleman for those words. and thank him for reminding us what is at stake. When the gentleman read that letter from that young woman. I think it brought it home. It brought it home to roost. What is at stake here is so precious. It is liberty. it is life. it is everything that we care for. everything that we believe in. Yes. unfortunately. it is expensive. It is expensive. It has been expensive for generations. But those who have to protect those lives. those freedoms are the American people. Once again. our troops are doing it with the honor. with the valor. with the talent that they have always done it. I want to thank them for what they are doing. I want to thank you. sir. for once again bringing that to light. That is why I had to come by here. I saw the gentleman on TV. and I had to come by to thank him for these words of solidarity to our troops. to the Commander in Chief. and to remind everybody why it is that we are in this battle. and that we are going to win this battle because it is so important. because so much is at stake. Yes. we are on the right side.