Date: 2007-02-15
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. You know. it is an honor to be here today joined by Members of Congress who have served this Nation nobly both in the Armed Forces and today as statesmen and -women in the United States House of Representatives. You know. there are lots of ways people can serve this country. Dedicating time to the Armed Forces. the greatest military in the world. can be some of the most fulfilling time in ones life. I know. because I spent 29 years in the United States Air Force. got called up from my ROTC class at SMU and flew 62.combat missions in Korea in a plane I named after my wife. "Shirleys Texas Tornado." In 1965. I left for my first tour in Vietnam. working for General Westmoreland in the headquarters. In 1966 I returned again. And while flying my 25th mission. I was shot down. landed in the middle of a division of North Vietnamese soldiers. What followed for the next 2.494 days can only be described as hell on Earth. or as my friend and fellow POW. Jeremiah Denton did. blinked the letters of one word in Morse Code into a movie camera as a desperate plea for help. The letters made up the word "torture." Of my nearly 7 years in captivity. I spent more than half of that time in solitary confinement. As you can imagine. the North Vietnamese would say and do anything to break our will. The physical torture is not fit for describing as some of it is too graphic and too gory. There were many times that I would pray to God that I would pass out and slip into unconsciousness just to escape the paiii if I couldnt escape the beatings. Yet. what also scarred me for life was the emotional torture that the North Vietnamese broadcast to taunt us and break our wills. They constantly blared antiAmerican messages- from back home over the loud speakers. The enemy knows that any antiAmerican murmur can be used as a weapon. And the same holds true today. The enemy wants our men and women in uniform to think that their Congress doesnt care about them. that they are going to cut the funding and abandon them and their mission. They want Congress to cave to the wishes of those who advocate a cutandrun attitude. And we should not allow that to happen. We must learn from our mistakes. We cannot leave a job undone like we left in Korea. like we left in Vietnam. like we left in Somalia. Osama bin Laden said that "in Somalia. the United States pulled out. trailing disappointment. defeat. and failure behind it." And we didnt blink an eye when the radicals bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia killing 20 and injuring 372. or after the Kenya embassy bombings that killed 213 people and injured 5.000. or that same day at the Tanzania embassy bombing killing 11 people and injuring 68. On October 12. 2000 the USS Cole bombing killed 17 and injured 39. And we all know how they tried to bring down the World Trade Towers and didnt stop until they. completed the job September 11. All of these tragedies of terrorism happened without a United States response. We cant waver in our fight for freedom. We cannot abandon the bedrock of democracy. theyare the brave and selfless men and women of our United States Armed Forces. We will stand up with them. We must stand up with them. And I will stand up with them in Congress. because they stand up for our freedom every minute of every day. They are the reason we call America the land of the free and the home of the brave. And I salute them. Now. today I have the distinct privilege of managing time during this debate. Each person joining me is a shining example of duty. honor. country. And I know folks across America will learn a lot from hearing about their stories and hearing why they know firsthand freedom is not free.