The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“RECENT BIG EVENTS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3047-H3050 on May 5, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RECENT BIG EVENTS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kline) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. KLINE. Mr. Speaker, we have had several important events occur in the last weeks and days, and today of course we passed a very historic piece of legislation in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act to make sure that our country is safer, that our troops have what they need for this war on terror.
All of this prompted me to think that it was time to sort of recap where we are, where we have been, where we are, and where we are going in this war against the Islamic extremists who attacked us so horrifically and so viciously on September 11.
We also have coming up tomorrow Military Spouse Appreciation Day, and that certainly is one of those events that the timing of which has come together to make me want to come to the floor and discuss with my colleagues our progress in this war on terror.
I hope to be joined by some more of my colleagues here in a minute. We had a little bit of scrambling to get the timing right. The early vote today had people out of pocket, as we used to say.
Let me start by just recapping some of the really, really big events that we have seen happen in the last few months. I have a picture here next to me that I think is absolutely astonishing in its implication.
These are women in Afghanistan who are serving now as police officers in the Afghani security forces. Just think about that. Before September 11, before we were attacked, before our country decided to step out and defend itself and freedom loving nations of the world by going after the brutal terrorists who had attacked us in Afghanistan, these women could not be seen in public without being shrouded from head to toe. They had no place in official Afghani society. They could not go to school.
It is remarkable to think what has happened with the free elections last year in Afghanistan that elected President Karzai and has resulted in women going to school, a woman, a 19-year-old Afghani woman being the first Afghani in history to cast a vote in a free election, and look at them today. To me it is just remarkable and speaks volumes about what has happened in the last couple of years and in the last few months.
Often we see the news here and I have got to tell you that our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq see the news as well. I was just over in both Afghanistan and Iraq in January of this year before the elections in Iraq, and I had the chance to talk to many of our soldiers and Marines who were engaged in combat. And they almost universally, their only complaint was that their story, the story of their hard work and their successes was not being told in the news, because the news that shows up on television and in our newspapers is so heavily weighted to the tough events.
It is a tough security situation in and around Baghdad. There is no question about it. But those soldiers and those Marines, they see the stories of the explosions and the attacks and they do not see the stories of their successes and the friendships that they are making and the progress they are making in helping free countries to become established as democracies in this world.
There is another picture which I want to put up here and share. And I know many of you have seen this picture many times and it speaks absolute volumes about the difference in Iraq today and when Saddam Hussein had the Iraqi people under his iron fist. What a telling story this young woman with the purple ink on her fingers indicating that she had voted. And I know when I was over in Iraq with my colleagues in January, and this was before this historic election, and we were talking with American forces and with Iraqi leaders including then the Interim Prime Minister Allawi, and the then U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte.
We were talking about the prospects for the election coming up and they were great concerns, you may remember, that the election could not go off on time, that no one would show up to vote. That it was going to be a disaster. And I can tell you that the American forces and the Iraqis and our coalition partners were adamant in saying that the elections must go forward. To not have those elections go forward on time would be a disaster, and one which it would be almost impossible to recover from.
And they told us, my colleagues and I, the five of us, three Republicans and two Democrats, and by the way, it is sometimes forgotten, I know that it is sometimes forgotten around America that we can come together and work together in a bipartisan way on a number of issues. And certainly taking care of our troops and doing everything we can to ensure victory in this absolutely tough war that we are engaged in is one of those times.
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But we were told by the leaders in Iraq that the elections must go forward, that they would go forward, and that there was security on a scale that had not been seen before, to do everything in the power of the Iraqi security forces and the Americans to make sure that the election took place.
I know that, like my colleagues, I was glued to the television and watching this election day unfold in Iraq, throughout the country; and I was astonished as the day unfolded that the Iraqis were coming, sometimes walking for miles, walking for miles to cast their vote and to proudly dip their finger in the purple ink and thus brand themselves to the terrorists as someone who has defied their threats, the threats to kill them and to cast their vote. They came by the millions and voted.
Today, we have seen this week the Iraqi government sworn in as a result of those elections. They get engaged in politics there like we do here, and not everybody agrees on everything. There was a great deal of wrangling going on there by people who do not have experience in a democracy, and I found that they engaged in it a lot of the same ways as we do here. They tried to cajole each other and threaten each other and twist each other's arms and make deals and move forward towards democracy.
So this week, May 3, Iraq's first democratically elected government in over half a century was sworn in. This event is yet another historic milestone in Iraq's progress toward a representative and transparent government. Our goal, can my colleagues imagine when we have a free Iraq, Iraq with a democratically elected government in power, the force that that free country will have in this region, the help that it will give us in the war on terror in which we are so heavily engaged?
The freedom epitomized by this picture in Afghanistan and this picture from Iraq is so important to our success in defeating these Islamic extremists in gaining back peace for us and security and safety for us and for our neighbors and for the world.
Iraq's new prime minister, Mr. Jafari, has completed the selection of cabinet members, and again, remember how tough this is to do, of different factions in Iraq. He is trying to work with all of them; and even though the Sunnis, in large measure, had boycotted the January election, they have been seeking to be included in this government. I think it is fair and safe to say that many of them wish that they had not chosen to boycott, that they, too, had chosen to walk the miles and stick their finger in the ink and be a part of this great step for freedom and democracy in the world.
According to the report that I am looking at here, the position of defense minister will now be held by a Sunni Arab, even though the Sunnis had largely boycotted the election. The current composition of the cabinet is as follows: 15 Shiite Arab ministers, 7 Kurds, 4 Sunnis, and 1 Christian. This newly formed cabinet is now tasked to write a permanent Iraqi Constitution and must organize fresh elections for the end of this year. This process continues, ever growing, ever adding to their freedom and to democracy in that country, and thereby, I believe, very strongly, adding to our own security and to a better world.
Now, we know that the fight still goes on, and we see those news reports that the soldiers and Marines were a little bit unhappy. But unhappy or not, the facts are that it is still pretty tough out there, and our soldiers and Marines are engaged in combat. U.S. and Iraqi forces have captured over 100 insurgents in Baghdad in 1 day this week. Twelve al Qaeda members were killed close to the Syrian border on Monday of this week. The fighting goes on.
We took, as I said in my opening comments, a very important step today in passing the supplemental funding bill. It did some very major things, and I see that one of my colleagues has walked in, and I do not know if he is ready to talk about that bill. I see a nod from his head, and so I would be happy to yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul).
Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman for his leadership on this issue.
As I look at the poster of the purple finger, I can only think back to the State of the Union address where the President stood right here, talked about the brave men and women fighting in Iraq, and many of us stood with our purple fingers in the air in solidarity with the Iraqi people and the voters from Iraq who exercised that great freedom that great day.
I also recall the Norwoods who live in my district, Janet and Bill, who lost their son in Iraq as he fought to save seven Marines held hostage by insurgents, successfully freeing them and giving his own life in the process. I was proud to have authored a bill to name the Pflugerville post office after Byron Norwood, a true hero; and that is what Janet Norwood told me was such a great comfort. This is really what it is all about.
I rise today in support of America's brave troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and all over the world who are protecting the cause of freedom, both here and abroad.
Today, my colleagues and I showed this commitment to these young men and women of the Armed Forces by passing and sending to the President an emergency wartime supplemental aimed at giving our fighting forces the very best in equipment, intelligence, and support.
Included in this bill was $75.9 billion for defense-related spending, including improvements in troop armor, additional force protection and a desperately needed increase in military pay and health benefits so that military families are secured while their loved ones are on duty.
We additionally authorized funding for the FBI and the ATF to actively pursue drug and crime syndicates that are often fronts for laundering money to terrorist organizations.
I was pleased to see also that we included important funding to improve security here at home for such items as an additional 500 border patrol agents, 50 new immigration and customs investigators, 168 new enforcement agents and detention officers, and critically, almost 2,000 detention beds so as to limit the number of illegal border crossings which pose a threat to our national security.
We also successfully included almost all the provisions of the REAL ID Act that passed the House last month in this Chamber, including provisions on political asylum, border infrastructure, and basic Federal standards to State driver's licenses that will make it more difficult to counterfeit identification in this country. Let us not forget, the 19 hijackers on September 11 had over 63 fraudulent and false identification cards on them.
This coming Sunday, May 8, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of our victory in Europe, and that victory came at a great cost, but it was a great accomplishment. We achieved that triumph because Americans banded together to show their support for the brave soldiers, to ensure them that their cause was just.
Today, we fight the same causes of human dignity and freedom; and though it comes at a cost, we must be vigilant and see it through to the end. We are winning in Iraq and Afghanistan; and because of our efforts there, freedom is winning in Ukraine, in Georgia, in Lebanon, and Egypt. However, there are still groups of people in this world who hate us, who think they can defeat us, who look to shake the very foundations of our determination by hitting us here at home.
We have achieved a good beginning for securing our Nation at home, and I want to thank my colleagues and the administration for that effort. I and 44 of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle drafted a letter to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), chairman of the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, where we asked for full funding for the recommendations the 9/11 Commission made and what was authorized in the intelligence bill for 200 border patrol agents, 800 interior investigators, and 8,000 detention beds authorized in the Intelligence Reform Act.
In the post-9/11 world, this is no longer just an immigration issue. It is one regarding national security. As a former counterterrorism prosecutor in the Justice Department whose jurisdiction included the Mexican border, I experienced it firsthand.
I am pleased that in addition to the 500 new border patrol agents in this bill, we were successful in getting full funding for 2,000 new agents in the Homeland Security Authorization bill which passed last week by that committee, of which I am a proud member; and I hope to see this bill voted on by this Chamber in the next few weeks.
However, we have a long way to go. We need more detention beds to hold people who cross the border illegally. We need more interior investigators; and by securing our borders, we protect ourselves from terrorist threats. I look forward to continuing our work to make sure the terrorists do not get past our borders.
If we look around the world and what is happening on the world stage, dictatorships around the world have begun to fall like dominos, and democracies are rising in their place. We have much to be hopeful and optimistic about, but we have a lot of work left to do. This is an issue that crosses party lines, and I am excited about the cooperation that we have had on the other side of the aisle.
We recently saw another crucial victory in the war on terror, with the capture of the number three al Qaeda operative Abu Farraj al-Libi. By removing this direct threat to our country, we have taken another step towards peace; and because of it, the world is a safer place. I commend Pakistan for their efforts that brought this man to justice and recognize our troops and the soldiers of other nations that are working jointly to eradicate terror from the globe.
When President Bush pledged to fight terrorism in the days following September 11 with a mission and a megaphone on Ground Zero, he sent a clear message to the insurgents. Let today serve as a reminder of that message and of vindication for all those who lost loved ones at the hands of evil.
As long as we are asking the men and women of America's Armed Forces to risk their very lives to defend freedom and protect our Nation, so, too, we must not fail to do our part by supporting them and by funding our border security. Our troops are doing their job and doing it well, but it is time now for us in the Congress to do our part.
I would like to thank the gentleman for his leadership on the issue.
Mr. KLINE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks today and for his passion about the issues.
We did many things in passing this supplemental, and the details on enhancing our border security are part of our war against the Islamic extremists in this war on terrorism. Those are important steps that we took today in terms of funding and beefing up that security that is so important to our safety here at home.
We did a number of other things in this bill that I think it is useful for us to think about and talk about for just a minute. Clearly, the bulk of the money that we are going to appropriate today, almost
$76 billion, went for defense, things that our troops need in order to win in this war.
Today, in the Committee on Armed Services, we had a hearing and listened to testimony from generals in the Army and the Marine Corps about the progress that we are making in adding armor to our vehicles, to our wheeled vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, and we are making progress. It seems never enough, armor's not thick enough, there is not enough of it. We should never be satisfied, I suppose, until every soldier and Marine is fully protected; but that is simply not possible.
This is a war. It is combat. We need to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to provide our soldiers and Marines with the tools that they need and yet know that combat is a dangerous and, sadly, sometimes fatal business.
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I know in our office this week we have been very saddened. My Legislative Director, Miss Jean Hinz, lost her cousin, a Marine, who was killed flying an F-18 over Iraq. These stories wrench at your heart as you put the human and personal face on the result of the sacrifices that our troops are making in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world.
We did something else in this bill that I think is important that we remember. We need very much for our new Democratic allies in the region, the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, to succeed. So we added money to help the people of Afghanistan, these women and their families and their fellow Afghani citizens, $1.7 billion to help them in Afghanistan. It is important for their development, it is important as they reach for democracy, and it is important for us as we seek victory in this war and peace in the world.
Well, it has been mentioned a time or two that we have a convergence of events here. I think most of my colleagues and most Americans know, or they will remember in sort of a cold sweat here in the next day or so, that this Sunday is Mother's Day, and I know there is always a rush to get those flowers and buy the candy and do those things. Tomorrow is also Military Spouse Appreciation Day. What a nice occurrence that we have Military Spouse Appreciation Day coming together with Mother's Day. This year Military Spouse Appreciation Day falls on the 6th, which is tomorrow. We celebrate this day each year on the Friday before Mother's Day.
So, you see, the confluence of those two events is not an accident, but a reinforcing one of the other. Military Spouse Appreciation Day is set aside to honor the many men and women who bravely support their spouses in uniform, and this reminds us of the importance of the families of our soldiers and sailors, airmen and Marines who are making such sacrifices. So in the supplemental bill which we just passed, we add money for life insurance, we add money to give to the families of the soldiers who lose their lives, a death gratuity increase from $12,000 to $100,000 and the life insurance from $250,000 to $400,000.
We need to keep these families in mind. And I have another picture here, a scene seen so often as a member of our Armed Forces prepares to leave or comes home from or to the loving arms of his or her family. We need to make sure that we are doing the things that we can, those of us in this body, my colleagues and I, to make sure we are doing everything, not only for the soldier, but for the child as well.
So as we recognize Military Spouse Appreciation Day, I think we need to do it in the context of the family, of the military family. Now more than ever it is particularly important to recognize and celebrate, and celebrate, our military spouses, those thousands who remain on the home front while their spouses have been deployed overseas to help fight in this war on terror. Like our military men and women, the military spouse's bravery goes unparalleled. They remain the strength that we do not always see but is ever present. And I know that is true from my own experience in the military, the importance of that family and the love that goes with it.
This weekend we take the time to appreciate all military spouses and moms nationwide for their strength, unity, patriotism and bravery. Their jobs are not easy, but it is these wonderful individuals that keep this country strong and remind us every day, remind us every day, of what we are fighting for.
So on this weekend we want to say thank you to the military spouses across the Nation and, of course, happy Mother's Day to our mothers. And I, like many of you, will need to be on my way to the store to buy that box of candy. Such a simple gesture, but every gesture we make reaching out to those that are so important in our own lives and to our men and women in uniform is something we have to do.
I have one more picture I would like to put up as a way of kind of wrapping up my thoughts and comments today. Thanks for your support, the sign says, with these servicemen and women. And that thanks for your support needs to go every way in our country; them to their families, them to the rest of us in America, and we, the rest of us in America, to them and to our neighbors around the world. It takes support, it takes family support, it takes all of our support for our men and women in combat. And I believe it is incumbent upon all of us, all my colleagues, all Americans, every day in every way that we can to tell our men and women in uniform how much we love them and care for them and want to ensure their success and make sure that they have everything that they need in order to win this war.
So sort of wrapping up, if you look back to what we have done, and sometimes we forget, we now have free men and women in Afghanistan for the first time ever. A democracy in Afghanistan. The first time ever in 5,000 years. There were women who could not go outside the house who are now serving proudly, serving their country and serving their fellow citizens proudly and looking forward to the advancements of democracy in that country and giving them some hope for the future. One of the poorest countries in the world beaten down by the brutal dictatorship under the Taliban and now free in a democracy growing with hope for the future.
And in Iraq, in Iraq, the purple fingers, the Iraqis walking for miles, defying threats of death to vote in a free election and establishing Iraq not as a haven for terrorists, not as the home of a brutal dictator killing tens and hundreds of thousands of his own people, but as a free democracy.
Then, as we look at the progress our troops are making, their successes in battle, their successes in establishing relationships with the people of Afghanistan and of Iraq, their successes in helping rebuild the infrastructure, we have much to be thankful for, my colleagues. But let us remember that it is not easy and it is not over, and it will take our continued vigilance in making sure that we are supporting our troops, expressing our love and support, and as we might say around here, making sure we are putting our money where our mouth is.
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