9/11 Tragedies

9/11 TRAGEDIES -- (House of Representatives - September 13, 2006)

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Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, we have seen these past few days events to remember the tragic incidents of September 11. And, frankly, when we were reliving that tragic day, among the many things that crossed my mind was the realization that thousands of Americans died. Thousands of Americans died in their place of work for the simple sin, their only crime being that they were free people who live in a free country. They were people who love freedom, and their only crime was that that morning, like every other morning, they went to work so that they could help their family, they could feed their children, they could pay their bills, and they could continue to live and prosper in freedom.

Mr. Speaker, 9/11 was not the only attack against America. It was the largest attack, the terrorists' most successful attack against America, but by no means was it the only attack or the first attack against America.

The problem, Mr. Speaker, however, was that America did not realize until that horrendous wake-up call of 9/11 that there were a number of radicals around this world who had already for a generation declared war. They had declared war against the United States and our allies for the simple reason that we live in freedom, that we cherish freedom, that women can work and live in freedom and have equal rights to men. For those reasons, there is a group of people who declared war against the United States. Not only did they declare it verbally, as they did, but they did so in actions. And again, we just didn't wake up to that realization.

When President Jimmy Carter withdrew the United States' support from the Shah of Iran, in essence facilitating and allowing the Ayatollah Khomeini to take power in Iran, he didn't realize the type of enemy we were dealing with.

More recently, in February of 1993 when the first bombing of the World Trade Center took place killing six people, the United States didn't realize who the enemy was, and we didn't fight back. But the killers persisted in trying to kill Americans.

In October of 1993, in Somalia 18 valuable, decent brave American soldiers were killed. Osama bin Laden later personally claimed credit for organizing the Somalia fighters. We didn't fight. On the contrary, we withdrew immediately from Somalia. I will quote what bin Laden said about our withdrawal. He said, ``America exited, dragging its tail in failure, defeat and ruin. Caring for nothing, America left faster than anyone expected.'' Again, we didn't fight.

In June 1996, a truck bombing in the Khobar Towers barracks in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Americans and we did nothing. We did not fight back. But the killers were not content. They kept trying to kill Americans.

And then in August 1998, the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya where 224 people were killed, including many Americans, we didn't fight back. We did nothing.

In December 1999, the plot to bomb the Millennium celebrations in Seattle that was foiled when custom agents arrested an Algerian person smuggling explosives into the United States. The killers continued to persist, and we were not fighting back.

And then of course the tragic bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Yemen where U.S. 17 sailors were killed, and we did not fight back. But the killers were not satisfied and they continued to persist.

And then of course we got the big wake-up call, September 11, 2001, the destruction of the World Trade Center, the attack on the Pentagon where a total of 2,992 Americans were murdered on that horrendous day. Finally, America woke up to the realization that there had been a war declared on our country and our way of life and it was time that we fought back, that we started bringing justice to those terrorists wherever they may be so we would not have to fight them here on our streets, so we would not have to deal with another September 11 or another World Trade Center explosion like the first time or another attempt on the celebrations like those in Seattle.

America started fighting back finally because we found out that these killers are not going to stop if we don't fight because that is what we always did. We didn't fight back. In many cases we withdrew. Did that appease them? No. It emboldened them, like bin Laden said.

After that then, after September 11, this President and this Congress decided to fight back and decided to remove the Taliban from power. Our brave men and women in uniform have done an incredible job under the most difficult circumstances and removed the Taliban and that which was a state sponsor of terrorism is no longer a state sponsor of terrorism, and there is a struggling democracy that is gaining ground and taking root in that land where al Qaeda used that land to plan the horrible events of 9/11.

Also on a bipartisan vote of this House and the Senate there was a vote to basically remove a state sponsor of terrorism and a threat that was Saddam Hussein. Let me read a quote from December 16, 1998 about why Saddam Hussein was dangerous and what the bipartisan attitude here in Congress was. ``The hard fact is that as long as Saddam remains in power he threatens the well-being of his people, the peace of his region, and the security of the world. The best way to end that threat once and for all is with a new Iraqi government, a government ready to live in peace with its neighbors, a government that respects the rights of its people.''

That was not President Bush that I quoted, that was President Bill Clinton that I quoted when he mentioned the only way was to remove Saddam Hussein.

Let me read another quote on how Congress and the country was united against international terrorism. ``Saddam Hussein in effect has thumbed his nose at the world community, and I think the President is approaching this in the right fashion.'' That is Senator Reid, the now-minority leader in the Senate.

Let me give another quote about how the country felt in a bipartisan, unified, united front against international terrorism and against that state sponsor of terrorism that was Saddam Hussein. ``I can support the President. I can support an action against Saddam Hussein because I think it is in the long-term interest of our national security.'' That is a quote from NBC Meet the Press, Senator HILLARY CLINTON. There was bipartisan support because there was a realization that Saddam Hussein was so dangerous.

One last quote, Mr. Speaker. This is I think a very powerful quote. ``It would be unrealistic, if not downright foolish, to believe we can claim victory on the war on terrorism and a more secure world if Saddam Hussein is still in power 5 years from now.'' That sounds like I plagiarized President Bush; but no, that was by Senator JOE BIDEN in February of 2002

Again, as Senator JOE BIDEN said, and I think it is worthwhile reading that quote again. He mentions that we cannot claim victory, in his words, he says, ``the war on terrorism and a more secure world if Saddam Hussein is still in power.'' JOE BIDEN understood that Saddam Hussein, a state sponsor of terrorism, the leader of that terrorism, had to go for our national security and for the fight, as he said, against international terrorism.

It saddens me to see now how the very same people who I just read their quotes who were so united, who so supported this country's efforts in the fight against terrorism, including in the fight against Saddam Hussein, recognizing that he was a major state sponsor of terrorism, where Senator Biden says we cannot win or claim victory. And I will quote him again. ``It is unrealistic, if not downright foolish, to believe that we can claim victory on the war on terrorism and a more secure world if Saddam Hussein is still in power.''

Yes, that was the consensus. So what happened? I keep hearing now the country is divided. But the President has not changed his tune. The President agrees with what these fine Members of Congress from the other party said and believed and were sure of because they were right then. The United States is the source of good for the entire world. For all of the oppressed people, we are the source of good and the source of light, the beacon of light for the entire world.

When you had a regime like the Taliban or a regime like Saddam Hussein, it was a threat to our national security, as Senator Clinton said and as Senator Biden said and as Senator Reid said. But all of a sudden, when things get a little bit more difficult, then all of a sudden, oh, everything they said, everything they believed in, year after year, is thrown out the window because it is election season, because it is an election year.

The reality, Mr. Speaker, is that we are at war. The reality is that we have people, men and women in uniform, in harm's way doing an incredible job. The reality is we are winning the war against terrorism, against these evil thugs who murder, have murdered and would like to continue murdering Americans if they could.

I would like to talk about some of the many accomplishments, which is why we have not had another attack on U.S. soil despite the attempts of the terrorists because of what this Congress did under the leadership, the Republican leadership and the leadership of the President.

But before I go into more detail, I would like to yield to a man who is a leader on the fight for human rights anywhere around the world where human rights are violated, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp). It is a privilege to have you here, sir.

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Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. If I may, I would like to, because I think the gentleman from Tennessee brings up some really, really important points, I guess that some of the fine men and women on the Democratic Party side believe that if we just went away, if the United States just left the Middle East, I assume that would be stop supporting Israel, I don't know.

But if we just pulled back from the Middle East as some have said, some have said we should pull back to Japan, to Okinawa, which, by the way, in military terms for the Navy is farther away than the Navy yards here in Virginia. So in other words if we left there, if we were just good, if we just behaved, that these terrorists would leave us alone, that they would go away.

I mentioned a little while ago a list of attacks against America that were way before 9/11, way before we were in Iraq. But I guess some just believed naively that if we just left Iraq, just left Afghanistan, that everything would be hunky dory

Yet, I think it is important to kind of listen to what our enemy is saying. When you have Hezbollah leader Nasrallah saying, ``Death to America,'' and let me quote him, regardless, this is a quote, regardless of how the world has changed after 9/11, after the 11th of September, death to America will remain a reverberating and powerful slogan. Death to America.

I guess some believe that he doesn't really mean it, that if we just, I don't know, retracted from the world that they would go away, bin Laden, who, by the way, very cleverly, started a media campaign to try to divide our country, very effectively, I might add. Let me quote you about that, by the way, what bin Laden said. He said, al Qaeda intends to launch a, quote, media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government.

He also said that the media campaign, and I am quoting him now, aimed at creating pressure from the American people on the American Government to stop their campaign. There are some that, I guess, because they are naive, are doing exactly, exactly what our enemy says that has to happen in order to defeat the United States, in order to defeat the United States.

Let us be very clear that the terrorists' aim, the aim of the terrorists is total destruction of the United States of our way of life and everything that we believe in. It is not because we may have been in Iraq; it is not because we support Israel. All those things, obviously, upset them.

But let me quote Osama bin Laden again, where he says, quote, the war is for you or for us to win, talking about the West. If we win, if we win it, it means your defeat and disgrace forever. That is how they think.

So I don't understand how, when there was such a consensus, how everybody understood that, how the terrorists continue to do the same thing, how to kill Americans, but because of the efforts of this President and this Congress, they have not been able to do so here, and the terrorists continue to say what they are going to do.

How is it possible that some refused to listen, like I guess happened in the 1930s, when some refused to listen to Winston Churchill when he said there is an evil out there, the Nazis. They are not going to go away, we have to confront them.

So I kind of pose that as a question to my colleague from Tennessee, because I don't get it, I don't get it. How much clearer can the actions and the words of the terrorists be before some of our men and women get it, understand it. Realize that we are not the bad guys, we are the good guys. It is the terrorists that we are fighting, and they are not going to stop, they are not going to go away if we just send our troops to Okinawa and Japan and pretend that they no longer exist. I mean, I don't get it.

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Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Look, it is clear who our enemy is. It is clear that they have been there before Iraq, before the liberation of Iraq. Before Afghanistan, they were in Iraq. They have killed Americans for a generation. They are not going to go away if we just wish them to go away. But luckily we have had some great success. Is there a reason why there has not been an attack on American soil?

To talk a little bit about that, I would like to recognize a person who I greatly admire from the great State of New Jersey, but Mr. Garrett has been a leader, particularly on cutting government waste, on fighting for the little guy for small business. I would like to recognize him. Maybe he could tell us a little bit about why we are succeeding, why we haven't had an attack. What is it that we have done that is working.

With that, I would like to yield to Mr. Garrett.

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Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I thank the gentleman from Florida.

He mentioned how America had been attacked so many times with impunity, and yet some in this country still do not understand that we are at war. But listen to what our enemy is saying. Bin Laden calls the war against terrorism in Iraq the Third World War, and yet some in our country still refuse to admit that we are at war.

And he talks about how in Iraq the whole world is watching this war and the two adversaries, the Islamic nation on the one hand and the United States and its allies on the other. And he goes on to say, Mr. bin Laden does, it is either victory and glory or misery and humiliation.

What is hard for me to believe, though, is that Members of this body and of the Senate, and I think it is very important to be respectful of this institution, but there is a Member of the Senate who said that it would be unrealistic, if not downright foolish, in other words, you would be a fool, to believe that we can claim victory in the war on terrorism and a more secure world, that you would be a fool, according to this prestigious, recognized Democratic leader, if Saddam Hussein is still in power. You would be a fool is what Mr. Biden said. And yet now how is it possible

I would never say that those who said that and now have changed their minds are fools. But that is what Mr. Biden said. You would have to be a fool to believe that Saddam Hussein could have stayed in power and we could have been victorious in the war on terrorism. And I have a hard time believing how they don't unite with the President of the United States to support our troops on the field while we are at war.

Mr. Speaker, I will now yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.

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