Date: 1994-05-12
Speaker: BOB DORNAN (republican)
Chamber: H

standing up here showing the front page of the Washington Post and a button that had circulated that said. "Ibelieve a certain woman that is bringing charges against an elected official." At the beginning or after they showed this short clip of my speaking. they said. "From Congressman BOB DORNAN. a noted basher of Professor Anita Hill." Lets stop r ght here! That is not true. Then it went on to say something else to somebody on the other end of some political spectrum. Everybody has something to say about the current scandals that I am not mentioning. I just want to correct the RECORD. We have called Nightline. They were both very apologetic and very polite. They said maybe they had jumped to conclusions. What my staff told them was that to support Justice Clarence Thomas. from the Court of Appeals here in D.C.. is not to have bashed Professor Anita Hill. I analyzed some things that she did on television or radio shows around America. I do not believe I ever did it on theHouse floor. If I did. I stand corrected. We cannot find a single speech I ever made against Anita Hill on thefloor of the House. What I did say. was that it is most unusual that she followed Clarence Thomas from job to job and that she never even put him on notice for anything he was saying in her presence. A rule of fairness at the entry level of sexual harassment. is that you let somebody know if you do not like the way they are speaking in front ofyou. That goes for a manly man. who might decide to tell the boys. "Hey. count me out when you tell dirty jokes. I do not like it." Thatis what my -dad always told me to do. Put people on notice. I have done it a few times. but failed my father mainly by either just giving a weak. perfunctory laugh or walking away. I am a father of three grown daughters. all in their thirties. and four granddaughters. God willing. more to come out of our grandkids. and I think any woman who does not like somebodys mouth. and it is usually a male involved. should stand up and tell them. If they persist. there is no other way to handle it before you have to take It to the courts. So I want Ted Koppel and the Nightline crew to know that. yes. I have discussed scandals on this House floor. No. I have never bashed Professor Hill. I was a supporter of someone I think is a wonderful person and is an excellent Justice at the Appeals Court level. I think he is going to be a superb Supreme Court Justice. I would like to comment on what a lot of writers are saying now. about Clarence Thomas. He seems to have been "struck mute." in the way he handles his job on the Supreme Court. They say it is because of having his reputation trashed. what he called a "hightech lynching." and I hope that is not true. I think the further we get from that terrible year of 1991. and what liberal staffers on the Senate side tried to do to his reputation. Clarence Thomas wins on the respect factor in the long run. And Anita Hill may have struck gold. I read in one of the news magazines that she made. brace yourself. $500.000 last year. half a million dollars. She "did not make $10.000 the year before. She was sort of dragged. according to her. kicking and screaming symbolically further and further into this arena by staffers of two Senators. Now there is a new scandal on the front page of todays Washington Times. To avoid all elected officials here. let us just look at Dan Lassiter. who was never elected to anything. from the State of Arkansas. There are now new charges. Investigators want to. know whether Dan Lassiter contributed thousands of dollars to certain campaigns and. if he used a New Mexico resort. His name is stunning. I will never forget it. a great call sign for the Air Force or Navy flight of four. "angel fire." It was 22.000 acres in New Mexico. It appears to have cost naive investors upwards of $40 million or more. So more will be heard on that. I guess we will have to meet with all the Parliamentarians and write some new rules around here. if and when the House committees. the relevant committees. start having hearings on the financial scandals. There is a new button that is in our Cloakroom now that says. "Full Disclosure Now." That means. when do we get these hearings that the Senate voted 90something to a couple of people and that were voted here 380something to a few to have these hearings. Where do we go from here before we take the memorial 50th anniversary of DDay district work period break that begins 2 weeks from tomorrow? Now. do these scandals affect foreign policy where people can die. I said here last night that six moderate to conservative Democrats told me they thought it would have an effect. That there were people in the White House talking about military force in Haiti and that it was driven by domestic concerns. I have here the draft of the House Republican Policy Committee. chaired by the very distinguished HENRY HYDE of Illinois. my good friend. I think this will probably be approved. Mr. Speaker. on Tuesday. I want to read it in its totality just in case somebody on the National Security Council convinces the White House to put people. men and now women. in harms way in Haiti. I want this Republican Policy Committee draft on record. because we had a unanimous vote to move on this. I do not know what they do in the Democratic Cloakroom. but in the Republican Cloakroom we have something cleverly titled "The Boarding Pass." All the people racing out to catch airplanes. I am leaving in the morning. I did not have to grab it and run to Dulles or National Airport. Our Boarding Pass is put up by the Republican Conference. DICK ARMEY. chairman. and it gives us themes to discuss at town hall meetings or with our voters or in appointments in getting out and about in our various districts. And the weekend theme is the coming GOP majority. Followed by recurring theme. health care. and then it says. "Clintons Haiti policy. welcome to the sunshine state." I am going to read that. But first. I want to reread a letter that I quickly read last night. because I only had 5 minutes. and resubmit it for the RECORD today. because it comes from. I will just use his first name.. Howell. from the Carolinas. I will not even say which one. Howell took me for a tour of his textile plant in Haiti. a beautiful facility. My father was a businessman and always prided himself on having the best working conditions for his workers of anybody in the field. I was one of those workers in California Heating and Air Conditioning for three long summers. crawling around among spiders under houses putting in units or updating heating units til I got promoted to the airconditioning and forcedair part of my fathers business. This is when I was 14. 15. and 16 years of age. I know good working conditions from poor. And Howell and his familys textile plant in Haiti was as good as I have ever seen. I was there all morning watching the coffee breaks. the lunch break. the machine facilities for lunches. And it was excellent. Here is what he wrote to me. this is dated April 12. last month. 1994. And I can see from the letterhead that he is into a new career field in the restaurant business. He says. "Dear Congressman. I will never forget the morning you rode through the streets of PortauPrince. Haiti. with me during the riots." We went out. I would ask the people listening to my words to picture Haiti as though you are leoking at a bull. an animal from the top down. It is only a third of the Island that Columbus discovered in 1492. He discovered it. as a matter of fact. this very week of 1493. I believe he named it Hispaniola. Haiti it is only a third of the Island. the western third. There is two big. long peninsulas that come out with a big Island in the middle of this natural port. as natural a port as Guantanamo Bay. Teddy Roosevelt once put the entire Great White Fleet inside Guantanamo. and I have seen writings from the turn of the century where the whole United States fleet could have gone into PortauPrince in Haiti. I went way out on the Southern peninsula. the bigger of the two horns. during this election period among election riots. Seven people were killed within 5 minutes just right of where we were. Our charge daffaires. a tremendous lady in the Foreign Service. said. "We had better get out of here." I saw a lot of horror there. I saw the torture house right. down by the port facilities where they deliberately would torture people at night. This is back 4 or 5 years and several juntas ago. They would allow the screams of the people being tortured to waft up. bringing a terrifying chill to everybody in the lower city area. On a cool. calm. clear night they told me at the Ambassadors house. which was then occupied by a charge daffaires that sometimes you could hear the screaming all the way up in the area where the larger homes were. All chilling stories about the horror of Haiti. For those who want a crash history course. it is fascinating. Napoleon sold the Louisiana Purchase to our third President. Thomas Jefferson. for one reason only: to get money to continue his war of combat in Haiti. because he thought Haiti was such a rich little slave colony. They were getting more money out of Haiti than they would ever get out of New Orleans. (which was to become the State of Louisiana two decades later) or the entire Louisiana Purchase. going up to the Missouri and Mississippi headlands. . Interestingly enough. Haitis birth as an Independent nation was 1 year after the Louisiana Purchase. Napoleon got the money from this fledgling country that was by then given. using our Constitution. only 17 years old. Yet it was not enough. Haiti became an independent nation in 1804. The first independent nation in the Caribbean. It is just tragic that it has lived such a violent. turbulent history over the last 190 years. Haiti has ended up in this tragic state now where the people are starving to death because of our policy of sanctions on this country. while we try to restore an .unstable nondemocrat. Although elected in the 1960s. JeanBertrand Aristide is more in the category of Allende. who won in the 1930s. or yes. even an emerging terror like Adolf Hitler. who won 34.-something percent. Just because you win an election does not always mean you. are a democrat. even if you win with 63 percent. Back to the letter from my friend Howell. He says. "Riding with you during the riots. your interest was most appreciated. Our factory was nationalized after Aristide came to. power. I lost everything. All I brought back from Haiti was a couple of bullet wounds. If Brian. who was then my chief of staff and has now gone into business in Orange County. "if Brian Is still with you. tell him hello. I have some interesting information firsthand from Ron Brown." I dont know what Ron Brown he is referring to. it must be his Ron Brown. "concerning a diversion of funds from the Nation of Haiti to a congressional caucus." he means a subcaucus. "Give me a call if you are interested. Best of luck. Howell." If anybody in the Carolinas. Mr. Speaker. is hearing my voice. I have yet to call him. but I will. Here is what our Republican Conferehce boarding pass says about what we might expect over the weekend on -Haiti. I repeat the title: "Welcome to the Sunshine State." "By giving in to sitins by one liberal subcaucus." and this must mean the Black Caucus. "and a hunger strike by TransAfricas Randall Robinson. Clinton continued to display his lack of leadership in foreign policy. According to Democrat Senator BOB GRAHAM. the Presidents decision to switch course on Haiti will amount to a very substantial green. light for people to leave Haiti." The luckier ones will survive. Many will drown at sea. as probably half a million Vietnamese. more like 600.000 or more. drowned in the South China Sea because of action taken in this Chamber a year and nine months before I was sworn in. rm talking about the votes of the spring of 1975. which cut off all economic and finally all military aid by that newly elected Wa tergate class in the spring of 1975 to Vietnam. "The Presidents erratic Haiti policy now appears to be cynically tied to moving forward with his liberal domestic agenda." so our conference is makIng the case that it is not scandaldriv- It is not a solution to Haitis chronic en. it is liberal domestic agenda driven. internal problems. That would be a se"particularly governmentrun health. rious and costly mistake for the United care.. Clinton needs the Black Caucuss States. U.S. armed forces should not be support. and according to Dalton West sent into combat as a substitute for of the Global Strategy Council. Clinton sound foreign policy." is giving the foreign policy issue away Forgive me if I say amen at that first in order to hold his whole coalition to- paragraph. gether. "President Clintons uncertain Haiti "President Clinton. however. may be policy seems more responsive to painting the United States into a cor- stormy political winds whipped up by. ner. If the tougher economic sanctions. United States domestic special interdont end Haitis militaiy rule. United ests than to any careful assessment of States military action may be the only our national interest in Haiti. The option left. President said. We have an interest in "The Boston Globe reports. however. bolstering democracy and human that Haitis military believes it can rights in Haiti. This is true. but as continueto ignore the United States. events in Somalia have made painfully because the Clinton Administration is clear with the loss of 30 American not serious about restoring Aristide to young lives. we have not the means nor power." the ability to send American troops to "Commenting About Clintons new forcibly impose demiocracy and respect policy on Haiti. the New York Post for human rights on everyone of the writes. Simply translated. it says Ran dozens of countries where those rights dall Robinson will eat. but lots of Hal- are lacking. That was "United States forces occupied Haiti tian children will starve. from 1915 to 1934 without ever achievtHe e Yoerk Post ing any durable political reform. There Here is the Henry Hydeled House Re- is no reason to believe that our will publican Policy Committee. and I ap- can be imposed upon Haitians any preciate this and stand by every word more effectively today than it was myself: "Statement of Republican Pol- from 1915 to 1934." icy on Haiti." and this is the loyal op- The third paragraph. "The President position which expanded Tuesday by says. We have a humanitarian interest one. There are now 177 Republicans in in preventing a massive and disastrous this House. exodus of Haitians by sea. and. indeed I noticed in our boarding pass it says. we do. Clinton himself recognized this "How about a revote on. the Presi- when he abruptly reversed his camdents massive tax increase of last paign rhetoric even before his inauyear. which only won by one. or how guration." That is because the boats about a revote on the ban on semi- were underway. "and. embraced the automatic weapons that look ugly?" hard choice of the Bush AdministraInteresting thought. tion. continuing the policy of forced reMost people who earn their living patriation of Haitians picked. up at analyzing or toting elections say that. sea." we should take 16 seats. a slam dunk. I would never count those chickens until 11 190 the votes are counted. but that means I would have changed that. "rescued if we take 16 seats. the Republican at sea." because many of them were on Party has 193 Members. That is more the edge of death. than Ronald Reagan had with 192 when "Now by reversing himself again and he was sworn in in January of 1981. and reinstituting shipboard processing of President Nixon twice hit 192. never asylum seekers--" I have never heard got beyond that. of that in my life. a floating immigraPresident Eisenhower had a majority tion office at sea-"Clinton is encourin the 220s in 1953 and 1954. and then aging Haitians to risk their -lives in lost it. and then fought back to about rickety boats and dangerous seas."203. I believe. Then he lost it again in shark infested waters I might add. rethe elections of 1958 and dropped down calling some of the horrible shark atin the dismal area where we are now tacks on a plane crasl stuffed with and have been for the last 40 years. people going to New York in the days Onehundred and ninetythree would of Veto Mark Antonio. a member of be. a magic number. rebuilding what this Chamber. "Dangerous seas while the late Tip ONeill called the conserv- the United States consular facilities in ative coalition. where it flushes a lot of Haiti continue to process asylum applimoderate Democrats who will come out cations. and vote more conservatively when the "Rather than continuing to make Republican numbers get over 190. Here veiled threats to use force." I would .we sit at 177. the House Republican have added over and over again. "ClinPolicy Committee. ton should abandon his administraHere is our statement on Haiti: "Re- tions haphazard and quixotic." I love publicans strongly oppose calls for that word as in Don Quixote. "quixotic United States military intervention in approach to Haiti and formulate a polHaiti. In the absence of threats to icy that has some. credibility. He American citizens in Haiti. there are should begin by loosening the grip of no United States National interests at JeanBertrand Aristide and his well-. stake that compel us to take such ac- heeled lobbyists over U.S. policy option. tions. He should aggressively work with regional friends. the organization of American States and the United NaL tions to seek agreement among Haitis parliamentarians. military leaders and president." I would call him exPresident Aristide because a new president was appointed by the Parliament down there yesterday. As I said last night. the Parliament that still sits in Haiti. however you want to characterize it. was elected in the same election on 16 December 1990 that elected JeanBertrand Aristide. "And we should seek agreement. among Haitis parliamentarians. military leaders". and Aristide himself. "to schedule new elections." let him try again. "in order to get beyond the current impasse. A bold and effective solution to the looming refugee crisis may lie in the use of fle De La Gonave..." That is this big island that I described between the two peninsulas. the horns of the onethird of the Island of Hispaniola known as Haiti. It is the island near Port au Prince. right inside the Port of Au Prince. "as a safe haven for Haitians." Now let me spell that name to drive. Mr. Speaker. some of our watchers and listeners to their geography books and their.atlases. Isle of the Gonave. Gonave. I assume the "e" is silent. being French.. Isle. Isle. de. de. la. 1a. Gonave. That giant island is more friendly to the United States than any comparable part of Haiti. If -we are going to put any young American Marines. male and female. to touch Haitian soil. and they do not land on this island only as a first step to set up a safe haven for Haitians trying to escape either starvation. now caused by us. or some of the cruelties of the military junta there. then theyhave no right to ask any American under a Commander in Chief. who dodged the draft twice. On the third goround he was drafted with an induction date of July 28. 1969. He had that induction notice politically suppressed and reversed. As I have said many times on this floor. I have never heard of anybody ever doing that other than a tragic automobile accident with severe injuries. or a severe athletic injury. Nobody undoes a draft induction showup date. Every military base I have visited. and I have been on about 10of them in the last 4 months. people come up to me of all ranks and military positions and jobs and say that it is hurtful to be put in harms way by somebody who three times avoided the call of his country and let other young high school kids to in his place. Our last and fifth paragraph on the Republican policy statement. "Only bold initiatives like this." combining using this Island of Gonave." with active diplomacy. will lead to a resolution of Haitis problems. The Clinton administration should be broadening its diplomatic engagement. not limiting its options to costly and unworkable solutions. Above all. Haitians must take responsibility for their own future. No action by the United States can substitute for that." Now. that calls to mind President John F. Kennedys stirring words. and I imitate him as flattery. not derision. when he said. "In the end it will be Vietnamese boys that will have to win their own freedom." I. do not know when we are ever going to learn here not to relive the mistakes of the past. But if we are going to go into Haiti because of its current problems of over a. 190year span since it won freedom in 1804. what are we going to do about Cuba? That has been a dictatorship from the middle of the fourth decade. and what are we going to do about Castro? Even in the illfated Bay of Pigs when the same President Kennedy denied air coverage while the men on the beach were depending on it. we were still using Cuban boys. really tough men no matter how young they were. to fight for their freedom. and we left them hanging out there on the limb to be captured. several thousand of them by Castro. who did put his air Power over the beach at the Bay of Pigs. How can we ask a young woman or a young man under a flawed command to go in and put their life on the line when we will hot do it for Cuba. There are still Cuban boat people of all colors and backgrounds trying to sail north to refuge in the worlds largest. truly free democracy? I have to pay a little respect to India which is twice our size and does have wild democratic elections where an average of 40. 50. 80 people are killed in every election that they have there. So I will take our system of open elections. Mr. Speaker. I hope when we come back for votes on Tuesday. or when the House comes back in to debate on Monday. there will be no surprises by the National Security Adviser. Tony Lake. convincing Mr. Clinton that the way to go in Haiti is to put American forces in there. I was sickened when the U.S.S. Harlan County pulled away. just a few days after the firefight from hell on October 3 and 4 in Somalia. from a gang of 40 rentathugs screaming. "Youre going to get what you got in Somalia." 40 rentathugs is what the best intelligence sources can tell the press now. They drove back U.S. Forces of mostly engineers who were told they could not bring their now banned for civilian. ownership semiautomatic M16s with them. It does not have a treble burst function. They had to carry only sidearms. only their Beretta. And now we are being told by caucuses in this House that the men on the Harland County could have scared off these 40 rentathugs. Why did we not go in? * Well. the fact remains we did not because there was guilt at the White House because the Commander in Chief. according to the liberal Washington Post. went Into a pay phone up at a golf course in Marthas Vineyard and made a call down to I guess Tony Lake and said send in that special operations group. whatever they call it. He did not know the term "Delta." which is the biggest known secret in the world. Now staffers at the White House. as high as you get. say that the one incident we cannot run from is the death of 18 of Americas besttrained Army personnel in Aideed country near the Bacarra Market in downtown Mogadishu. I rushed my words last night when I was talking about having widows and sisters up in the gallery. having fathers call me who had survived two or three tours in Vietnam without -ever being scratched. who lost their son. Mr. Joyce has retraced his very steps as his son was fighting for his life and then lying there dying. He said. "I was on the ninth hole at a golf course outside of Chicago." He will live with that memory forever. In a beautiful tribute in Newsweek magazine about 3 weeks ago to his son he asked. "Why did my son die in Mogadishu. Somalia?" There are no clear answers. and that is why I am going to recite on the floor next week the six Cap Weinberger commandments which outline when we should not put American men and now women in harms way. And I have added four to those. not to round it off to a mosaic 10. but there are four new things that have come up. One of them Cap Weinberger pointed out to me just last week. that American forces should never be put under foreign command. They should always go into combat under U.S. commanders or under allied commanders who trained with us under ratified treaties such as NATO. One of the things I have had to add to Caps six and his newest seventh is we have to make sure our people are trained and armed properly. None of this U.S.S. Harlan County Beretta 9ram only. and no weapons. It was sickening that we turned around. It has created problems for us in Bosnia and everywhere else in the world. but nevertheless. we did turn around. and now we are stuck with a totally different situation in Haiti. As far as this Congressman is concerned. I will make this promise: I hope somebody. Mr. Speaker. from the White House is listening. that if any American soldier. sailor. marine. pilot. or crewman. any man or woman dies in any operation in Haiti other than an operational accident off the coast. but dies from hostile fire. I will travel at my expense to anywhere in the country and personally talk to the mother. the father. the widow. any children over 13. and I will try to bring their opinions back to this House. I will try to extend the sympathy of my Government that we have squandered lives in another nonclearlydefined operation that may be driven by something other than human rights considerations. Americas vital interests or the interests of any legitimate allies. For any of the aforementioned reasons from what those six moderate Democrats told me to get scandals off the front page or. as my Republican Party in its majority opinion believes. that it is to try to hold together a coalition of liberal people in this House. The Republican Party has taken seven for seven this year and last of all the special elections. We probably are going to pick up a great number of seats in this Chamber and may even have an outside chance at taking control of the Senate which. in the last 40 years. was under Republican control for President Reagans first 6 years. I am not going to sit here as member of the Committee on Armed Services as a peacetime veteran. trained to be a combat fighter pilot. but serving under fivestar general President Eisenhower. never having to kill another mothers son or to put my life in jeopardy other than in the dangers of flying supersonic aircraft in tough operational training. I owe a debt to those who died before me. That is why I am going to Normandy with our distinguished colleague.. retired twostar general SONNY MONTGOMERY of Mississippi. why I will probably go back to Europe. this Christmas after we adjourn and the elections are over and walk the battlefield at Bastogne. in Belgium. and find that field at Malmedy where German war criminals machinegunned to death 108 young U.S. prisoners. some of them 18 years of age. Where the army violated an order from this House. this Chamber then. that no 18yearolds would ever be sent in combat. They would stay here and replace others of older age who would go. over. Pretty soon we usually find this is the military way of doing things. suddenly somebody does not get the word. and here are 18yearold young Americans in combat against German Waffen SS and Panzer Divisions. I owe a debt to those men behind me. and I owe a debt to those that came after me in Vietnamn. I want our young military people on active duty to live through their career. whatever time they give to their country. If they are called into combat. they should know the ground upon which they stand and that their country. including this Congress. both Houses. are going to back them up. that there is a victory goal in sight. that if the policies change. we will debate it in this House. There will be a whole new operational plan that they will be properly trained. and I am going to put in the RECORD those 10 commandments and hope to send them to all of the Chiefs of Staff of the various militaries under the Chairman. Gen. John Shalikashvili. and let us see if we cannot adopt a policy in this House so we do not have any more novictory conflicts like Korea or Vietnam. No more indecision such as we haveseen in Bosnia and the ultimate tragedy that took 30 or our Nations finest men in uniform in Mogadishu. Somalia. Here are those commandments right here. Mr. Speaker. I have time to read those Cap WeinbergerBOB DORNAN commandments. I ask. Cap if I could structure them in a Mosaic way and make them all thoushaltnot. and he said. "Of course." and he added that seventh one. The first six are pure vintage Cap Weinberger from a November 28. 1984. speech. 1. Thou shalt not commit U.S. combat forces unless the situation is vital to U.S. or allied national interests. 2. Thou shalt not commit U.S. combat forces unless all other options already have been used or considered. 3. Thou shalt not commit U.S. combat forces unless there is a clear commitment including allocated resources to achieving victory. 4. Thou shalt not commit U.S. combat forces unless there is clearly defined political and military objectives. 5. Thou shalt not commit U.S. combat forces unless our commitment of these forces will change if the objectives change. 6. Thou shalt not commit U.S. combat forces unless the American people and the Congress support the action. Here is the one that Cap Weinberger asked me to add last week. Cap. forgive me. We have worked out the language without you signing it off on here to include ratified treaties. 7. Thou shalt not commit U.S. combat forces unless under the operational command of American commanders or allied commanders under a ratified treaty. The following three are my own. and I will send them to Cap Weinberger to get his opinion before I send it on to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 8. Thou shalt not commit U.S. combat forces unless properly equipped. trained. and maintained by the United States Congress. 9. Thou shalt not commit U.S. combat forces unless there is substantial and reliable intelligence information including human intelligence. 10. Thou shalt not commit U.S. combat forces unless the Commander in Chief and Congress can explain to the loved ones of any American soldier. marine. pilot. or air crewman killed or wounded why that man or woman was sent in harms way. I added to the last one "sent in harms way" to indicate that people just do not turn up In harms way. Somebody sends them there. Now. the leprechaun that brought me these from my office. Mr. Speaker. brought me another article that I am going to read part of. and then submit for the REcoRD. It is by the man that I think is the best writer on all affairs. military and foreign policy. that involves military operations or potential operations. and that is Vietnam veteran. and I believe he is also a Korean combat vet. Harry Summers. Jr. He writes for the L.A. Times Syndicate. Here is what Col. Summers says. Title: "Let Blood And Thunder Men Practice What They Preach." blood and thunder men. He wrote this in the traditional great barracks that need a lot of reworking. I might add. Schofield Barracks. in Hawaii. For those of you who are Pearl Harbor buffs or movie buffs. that is the barracks that Burt Lancaster grabbed an aircooled .50caliber machine gun and went up on the roof to singlehandedly shoot down attacking- Japanese Zeroes and Kates. Here is what he says: "Resolved. that the resolution of the 24th North Carolina Regiment. August 26. 1863. that the blood and thunder men should practice what they -preach. by getting into the ranks and fighting. or forever hold their cowardly tongues. whether saint or sinner." A great civil war quote that I never saw. "Then and now." Harry Summers writes. "the view of those in the ranks who would close with the enemy with rifle and bayonet differ considerably from those who preach the virtues of military involvement far removed from the battlefield. To the civilian interventionists and editorialists now baying for United States soldiers to be committed to action in Bosnia. in Haiti. or in any other trouble spot around the world. military operations to them are an intellectual abstraction. Addressing the graduating class at West Point in 1869. which is 4 years after Appomattox. "General William Tecumseh Sherman. one of Americas fiercest warriors. noted that phenomenon over a century ago. I know there exist many good men who honestly believe that one may. with the aid of modern science. sit in comfort and ease in his office chair. and with little blocks of- wood to represent men or even with figures and algebraic symbols. master the great game of war. "I think this is an insidious and most dangerous mistake." he said. "The soldier in the ranks is not a block of wood or a mere unit. he is a man like yourselves. full of feeling and passion. varying in size and strength. and all the attributes of manhood." Now we are going to put our young American women in uniform in harms way. "Those words came to mind." Summers continues. as I trooped the line of the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 21st Infantry here at Scofield. paraded in my honor as the newly appointed honorary colonel of the regiment." Congratulations. Harry. I did not know that. "And they were brought home again the following evening as the young soldiers of those rifle companies and their corporals. sergeants. lieutenants. and captains and. their wives passed through the receiving line at the regimental dining out. Although. it is seldom mentioned. the first thing being an infantryman entails is unlimited liability. A Navy admiral. a distinguished Vietnam War fighter pilot. once daid he didnt know the difference between direct and indirect combat. A rifleman does. It is called the topical crest of the hill. If you are dug in 20 meters down the front slope with no way in hell of getting out when the enemy attacks. youre in direct combat. Indirect combat has its dangers too. but those rearechelon williesnow that is an unusual turn of a phrase. Those "rearechelon willies." either singular or plural. "on the reverse slope can cut and run if it gets too bad. The .tanks can reverse gear and drive away. The planes can zoom out of harms way. and the artillery displaced to a safer location. But the riflemen are stuck. They have a commitment to stand and fight. and. if need be. to die. That is shared by no. one else in the Armed Forces. They are the militarys true elite." Amen. Harry. "Where once nuclear bombs and missiles were Americas strategic forces. today conventional forces are once again the true strategic (that is. warwinning) force. And at the heart of conventional forces is the infantry. All the other arms and services exist to support their mission to seize and hold ground." And I know that this Army colonel is including the Marine infantry. "Everything depends on combat. Carl! von Clausewitz emphasized in his treatises on war 160 years ago. Even if you never fight. it depends on combat because it rests on the perception that if you did fight. youd win." He concludes. "But infantry units cannot be committed lightly. As Sherman said. they are not blocks of wood." Not toys. wargaming. "And neither are these volunteers a kind of foreign legion. They are Americas sons and daughters. as. to its credit. the news media reminds us when one of these soldiers is killed or injured in the Nations service. If todays blood and thunder men are so anxious to intervene. perhaps they could. as in the 1930s Spanish Civil War. form a latterday Lincoln Brigade with companies .from the New Republic." that is our schizophrenic magazine here In D.C.. "the New York Times. the Washington Post. and other -such jingoist organizations. Save the infantry for when the vital interests of the Nation itself are imperiled." That is Harry Summers. Jr.. U.S. Colonel Retired. I think I will send my WeinbergDornan commandments. to Harry. Mr. Speaker. I hope I do not have to speak on Haiti next week. I will hold my breath over this 4day weekend and see what the situation is next week.