Date: 2007-09-04
Speaker: LINCOLN DAVIS (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Tennessee

Mr. oss. I had an opportunity with my oldest daughter and two of my grandchildren to go fishing. We were going to spend probably a couple hours there. We wound up spending over 7 hours. The last day that I spent in my district. I did the same thing. not intentionally. My middle daughter called and came up on Sunday. and I spent. as I did my first Monday home. my last Monday home I spent fishing in the rivers there below Sergeant Yorks home in the mill pond. Now. Sergeant York was a great American hero. But we have had other great American heroes. as well. Eisenhower being one of them. I want to mention something about Eisenhower in just a moment. But first of all. I want to talk about what someone that America respects greatly said a few years ago. Clark Clifford and Richard Holbrooke wrote a book in 1991 called "Counsel to the President." After Winston Churchill had made his -"Iron Curtain" speech in Fulton. Missouri. they were traveling back on the train from Missouri. President Truman and many of his staff members had already retired for the evening. The three people who were basically sitting in the room at that time were Charles Ross. who was the press secretary for Truman. and Clark Clifford and Churchill. They talked about how our lives are influenced strictly by the accident of our birth. What Churchill said. and I am quoting him as quoted in the book. "If I were to be born again. I would wish to be born in the United States. Your country is the future of the world. You have natural resources. the spirit. the youth. the determination. which will steadily increase your global influence." He was correct in making that assessment over 60 years ago as he made this speech. He was correct then. And we are correct today to say that Americas presence in the world today is recognized. But why has it changed? Why would a great Brit. who is considered the Brits Britishman. say. "If I were to be born again. I would love to have been born an American"? How many people in the world today would say that? I would say that because when God put my soul in the body of a woman who lived in America. it was a great blessing for me just to be born in this country. We have got to regain and recapture throughout the world that spirit that folks from nations abroad have seen in this country. and I think we can recover it. to where we are looked upon. as Ronald Reagan said. as that shining light of freedom that folks can look at and aspire to. We. need an Eisenhower moment in Iraq. It has been said that after Eisenhower was elected President in 1952 that as he was ordered up he asked. as a general. from the military people in the field. the Army. if he could be able to have a few small planes that he would fly over South Korea and in parts of North Korea. It is also said. and his memoirs pretty much confirmed this. that after they landed he was silent for a few moments. And he basically said. We cannot win this war the way that we are fighting it. but we cant afford to lose it. either. We cannot win this war the way we are fighting it. He knew we would have to engage in a much greater. larger war that would include perhaps even China. which would have stretched Americas resources and I. think Americas fiber to the breaking point. Eisenhower understood that we were in a war that we should not have been in. Now some will question what I am saying. But that was Eisenhowers comments. It is a war that we are not ready to win. It is a war that we can lose. and we cant afford to lose. In his first 6 or 8 months of his Presidency. he brought about a resolution of a ceasefire in Korea. Did we stay there? Sure. we have been. Will we stay in Iraq? Sure wewill. Every resolution that we passed on this floor that calls for a date certain authorizes this administration and authorizes the Defense Department to keep adequate personnel in the field and military presence in the field to help protect the resources. the assets of this country and protect our friends in the area and to help train the troops and the soldiers of the armies. the policemen. and the civilians of Iraq. We will be there several years from now. just as we were in South Korea. as we were in Western Europe. It is how we stay that makes the difference. It is how we stay that will make the difference. The way we are there now I dontbelieve is the way we ought to be. We can no longer be the army for Iraq. We can no longer be the policemen in the streets. on the beat. providing security for the folks in Iraq. The Brits just pulled out. This great British leader named Winston Churchill. his country just pulled their troops out of Basra. Are we going to have a surge in Basra with American troops? Mr. Speaker. lets ask the President that. Is that our intention now. that we will have a surge and resupply the troops there? Because it seems in southern Iraq obviously there is a lot of turmoil. a lot of killings. basically a civil war between the Shias. now some folks say are happening. In northern Iraq where the Kurds are. we are not there operating as the army or the policemen on the beat. In northern Iraq where the Kurds are. they are providing their own autonomy. It is my opinion that the longer we stay in Iraq. the worse we will be. We need an Eisenhower moment in Iraq. not a General Custer moment. not a charge into the Little Big Horn to where we get destroyed. It is time that we -reassess our situation in Iraq to a war that we win in Iraq. I am saddened as I watch TV. I am seeing Iraq being sold by TV commercials as if we are selling an automobile to the American public. That saddens me when I see some of our wonderful soldiers. and I applaud them. who are saying. We cannot cut and run. I agree with them. We cant cut and .run. But we dont need to be selling this war on TV commercials as the right thing to do. The thing that we have not done. in my opinion. is that we have allowed Afghanistan to be left pretty much as an island to themselves. Oh. we are there. But just think what we could have done if we had spent the time and resources and kept the number of troops in Afghanistan that we moved to Iraq. It is my belief that Karzai would have probably been. and still may be. someone that we may call their George Washington. We now see troubles in Pakistan. We are now seeing countries in Central Asia after the dominance of the Soviet Union for many years. many are floundering around trying to figure which is the best route to go. Each feels. I believe. that democracy is the best route to take. Many are struggling with their democracies in Central Asia. Just think of what we could have done in Afghanistan if. in fact. we had stayed there. helped build that country to take out those that would do harm to them. to destroy Afghanistan. We could have helped build a democracy that I believe would have been infectious. and an epidemic of democratic nations would have been springing up all over to cbntinue to bloom and to progress in Central Asia. It would have been infectious. in my opinion. in the Middle East. as well. and we would have seen I think the tumbling of the strongmantype governments. In every one of those countries surrounding Iraq. there is a strong person who runs those countries. If we had stayed and continued in Afghanistan. we would have seen. in my opinion. a much different Middle East than we see today and a much different Central Asia. One of the. real problems we have today is I think even Pakistan would have seen the success in Afghanistan and might have wanted to move further in that direction. In fact. the Talibantype warriors and al Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden did attack us. I keep hearing these folks from the side saying. If we dont fight them there. we will fight them here. What do you think happened on September 11? They were here. And we have forgotten who attacked us. It wasnt Iraq. It was Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network. They are now. in some folks opinion. in the areas of Waziristan and Pakistan. If. in fact. we allow. or if. in fact. Pakistan were- to fall. guess who gets the nuclear weapons? So our foreign policy. in my opinion. needs to be revisited. All of us need to start being American Democrats and American Republicans. not rightwingers and leftwingers. t looks like we have chosen up sides here and we have started to listen to the talk shows on one side or we look at the liberal communications on the other side. and all of a sudden that is what drives us in this country. It is time we start being Americans again. American Democrats and American Republicans. and look at our failures. Eisenhower understood it. George Custer found it out. We dont need a Custer move. We dont need to have advertisements telling us we need to have a war in TV commercials. We need honesty. Mr. President. We need honesty. My request to you is that you have an Eisenhower moment. one of honesty. Lets get on with making sure we rebuild that area. put our troops out of the kill zone and stop requiring them to be the soldiers. Because if in Basra and southern Iraq and northern Iraq our troops are not there. and the only place where it seems the most violent actions that take place is where our troops are. that should tell us something. We need to be sure that we keep enough troops to keep Syria or Iran. or quite frankly even our -friend called Turkey. from invading Iraq for their own beneficial gain and let Iraq work its problems out. It is time. We have given them a government. They have accepted their government. They have elected their government. It is time for them to start leading and taking on -the responsibility. I call upon this President. this administration. and this Congress to work together to make that happen. We have built and helped build in South Korea over a period of 3040 years one of the strongest democracies in the AsianPacific rim and Asia. the strongest economy called South Korea. It took a long time. It will take a long time to resolve the differences in the Middle East. It will take along time to resolve the differences in Iraq. But we cannot do it the way we are doing it today.