House Proceeding on Feb 14th, 2007 :: 6:05:23 to 6:11:06
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5:59:28 to 6:05:23( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Robin Hayes

6:05:12 to 6:05:23( Edit History Discussion )

Robin Hayes: in this region will have consequences for future generations that will outlive those of us in congress today. great leaders acknowledge mistakes, learn and chart a new course. for the sake

6:05:23 to 6:05:35( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: of future generations and to keep faith for the generations that built america, let us be a nation of great leaders. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's

6:05:23 to 6:11:06( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Norman D. Dicks

6:05:35 to 6:05:50( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: time has expired. who seeks recognition. mr. hunter: i would like to yield to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. saxton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for

6:05:50 to 6:06:03( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: as such time as he may consume. mr. saxton: i thank the gentleman for yielding. let me begin by saying that i have observed several speakers here during this debate who i'm sure in good faith made

6:06:03 to 6:06:18( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: the representation that they did that the short-term redeployment or surge was not a recommendation of the iraqi -- of the iraq study group. this is a copy of the report of the iraq study group.

6:06:18 to 6:06:33( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: and on page 73, there is a discussion of increasing troop levels in iraq. and the iraqi study group did, in fact, suggest that a substantial increase of 100,000 or 200,000 troops would likely

6:06:33 to 6:06:50( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: be not a good idea. however, they say this, and i quote, we could, however, support a short-term redeployment or surge of american come bat forces to stabilize baghdad or to speed up

6:06:50 to 6:07:04( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: the training or aquimming mission if the u.s. commander in iraq determines that such steps would be effective. and so i would say to my friends, that is in fact, the case, so i hope that

6:07:04 to 6:07:19( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: puts that matter to rest. this resolution, i suspect, has been drawn up as a well meaning resolution. there have been some suggestions here today that it's political in nature, and i don't

6:07:19 to 6:07:33( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: know if that's true. but i would hope that it is a good well-meaning resolution. i have been here now for well over 20 years. i'm in my 23rd year and i have learned a lot about the house. this is

6:07:33 to 6:07:47( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: a great system. we do great work here, and we usually do it right. sometimes we make mistakes. and on many issues, we make corrections to those mistakes. when we pass tax bills, months lateror a year

6:07:47 to 6:08:03( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: later, we'll make some technical corrections to the tax bill, because we didn't do it quite right. in other cases, if we spent too much money, we can come back and reduce it in a future year.

6:08:03 to 6:08:16( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: but i would suggest to my friends who support this resolution that it's a start down a road, that at some point could have disastrous effects. and so we want to make sure -- i'm sure you

6:08:16 to 6:08:30( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: want to make sure that you get this right. i would like to walk you through some reasons why i think that this is a long -- that this takes us in the wrong direction. in fact, there's much

6:08:30 to 6:08:41( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: evidence to point to the fact that the enemy is watching what we're doing, that they have learned from our past mistakes, and that theyr in fact, hoping that this resolution passes for some

6:08:41 to 6:08:53( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: fairly obvious reasons. let me go through four case studies that we have made about similar situations. first, a situation in lebanon. lebanon was a wonderful country. it was a democracy. had a parallelment.

6:08:53 to 6:09:10( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: had christians and muslims living together, sharing power. and in the middle 1970's, things began to change. the big change was that fundamentalist islam came to town. hezbollah came to town.

6:09:10 to 6:09:21( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: and in 1975, a war erupted, which has been called a civil war. it was the emergens of militia groups, sectarian violence and civilian massacres. sounds familiar. in 1982, the u.n. sent in

6:09:21 to 6:09:38( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: a multinational force to try to quell the violence. and on october 23, 1983, the marine bar action was bombed by hezbollah with a support of iran. the best description of it i've heard or read

6:09:38 to 6:09:46( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: comes from a description by some navy seals who were sleeping in their bunker on the beach, not in the baracks. and the magnitude of the explosion to hear them describe it was something to be

6:09:46 to 6:10:01( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: hold. and it shocked america. and in 1984, we withdrew our marines, the remainder of the peacekeeping force was gone by april of 1984. there was no serious u.s. retaliation for the beirut bombing.

6:10:01 to 6:10:15( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: the civil war continued until 1990. hezbollah emerged from a loose coalition of shia groups and with iranian assistance, quickly grew into a strong fighting force in lebanon. that's case number

6:10:15 to 6:10:28( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: one. case number two, we've got troops today in afghanistan. if things had happened somewhat differently a couple of decades earlier, they might not be there at all. but in the mid 1980's,

6:10:28 to 6:10:41( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: the afghan resistance builds momentum with muslim fighters to recruit a jihad against the soviets. and we all have read about that resistance movement. it was fierce. and we actually helped

6:10:41 to 6:10:52( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: them. and in 1989, the soviets had hat enough, just like we had had enough in lebanon, and the soviets withdrew. from 1989 to 1992, the afghan civil war continued until the government of

6:10:52 to 6:11:06( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: afghanistan fell. in 1993 and 1994, the taliban came along. and they gained power. in 1996, osama bin laden moved back to afghanistan and forges an alliance between al qaeda and the taliban. since

6:11:06 to 6:11:19( Edit History Discussion )

then, we know the history very well of afghanistan. a void was there to be filled, and the fundamentalist islamists filled it. i would like to turn to the third case study, the case study