Jack Kingston

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado; and I want to commend him on words well said. I appreciate everything that he is doing to help free the people of Iraq as a new Member of Congress. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about a number of things. I want to read a letter from an Iraqi woman. I want to read a letter from Charlie Daniels. I wanted to talk about a French company that has nearly a $1 billion catering contract to the U.S. Marine Corps, and I want to talk about Iraqi violations of the Geneva Convention. First, let me read a rather spirited letter from Charlie Daniels. We know Charlie Daniels is the songwriter who wrote The Devil Went Down to Georgia, among other things. He is great playing the fiddle, and he is a great American. So this is Charlie Daniels' letter, open letter to the Hollywood bunch. I am going to read directly from the letter. Okay, let's say just for a moment you bunch of pampered, overpaid, unrealistic children had your way and the USA did not go into Iraq. Let's say that you really get your way and we destroy all of our nuclear weapons, stick daisies in our gun barrels and sit around with some white wine and cheese and pat ourselves on the back, so proud of what we have done for world peace. Let's say that we cut the military budget to just enough to keep the National Guard on hand to help out with floods and fires. Let's say that we close down our military bases all over the world and bring our troops home, increase foreign aid, and drop all trade sanctions against everybody. I suppose that in your fantasy world, this would create a utopian world where everybody would live in peace. After all, the great monster, the United States of America, the cause of all of the world's trouble, would have disbanded its horrible military and certainly all of the other countries of the world would follow suit. After all, they only arm themselves to defend their country from the mean USA. Why, you bunch of pitiful, hypocritical, idiotic spoiled mugwumps. Get your head out of the sand and smell the Trade Towers burning. Do you think that a trip to Iraq by Sean Penn did anything but encourage a wanton murderer to think that the people of the USA didn't have the nerve or guts to fight him? Barbara Streisand's fanatical and hateful rantings about George Bush makes about as much sense as Michael Jackson hanging a baby over a railing. You people need to get out of Hollywood once in a while and get into the real world. You'd be surprised at the hostility you would find out here. Stop in at a truck stop and tell an overworked long- distance trucker that you don't think Saddam Hussein is doing anything wrong. Tell a farmer with a couple of sons in the United States military that you think the United States has no right to defend itself. Go down to Baxley, Georgia, and hold an antiwar rally and see what the folks down there think about you. You people are some of the most disgusting examples of a waste of protoplasm I've ever had the displeasure to hear about. Sean Penn, you are a traitor to the United States of America. You gave aid and comfort to the enemy. How many American lives will your little fact-finding trip to Iraq cost? You encourage Saddam Hussein to think that we didn't have the stomach for war. You people protect one of the most evil men on the face of this earth and you won't lift a finger to save the life of an unborn baby. Freedom of choice, you say? Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. KINGSTON. It is interesting that the gentleman mentions that, because there is a degree of racism, I think, on the part of the peace activists of the world. The reason why I say racism is because would these people support a Saddam Hussein if he were in Paris? Would they do it if he were in Germany? No. They would denounce him quickly. But as long as he is in the Middle East, well, they have been fighting for years. Or if he is in, say, South Asia or something, well, they have been fighting for years; or if he is in Africa. How many times have we heard, they have been fighting for years, we cannot bring peace in the Middle East, like the people in the Middle East do not deserve peace; but the folks in Europe, that is the high standard to live by. To me it is just a double standard. I can only summarize it with racism. The gentleman mentioned Russia selling sophisticated, high-tech equipment to Iraq. We already are seeing in Congress that we have the supplemental budget coming, and it is going to be to fund the military operation as well as the humanitarian operation. As a result of the humanitarian operation, I am already seeing a gold rush. I am seeing companies actually start lobbying for contracts. That bothers me a lot when we have one missing in action today, seven captured, and eight casualties American and 18 British. Yet what really bothers me is some of these countries are not American countries and they are not English countries and they are not Australian; they are not coalition countries. I have one example, though, of a company. USAID, which is a foreign aid branch, it does a lot of good things, but it is going to let some humanitarian contracts go, and French and German companies will be eligible to compete for it. That bothers me a lot, that they will be able to profit from this war.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, we want to talk a little bit about the situation in Iraq tonight and a number of other subjects. Mr. Speaker, I am joined by the distinguished gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Beauprez), a businessman and new freshman. The gentleman is on his way to take his daughter to dinner, and, as a father of two daughters, that takes high priority. So let me yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Beauprez.)

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I am reading a letter from Charlie Daniels which I think I am certainly allowed under the rules to do. Not that I would ever argue with the distinguished parliamentarian, particularly the one on your right, but I believe I can read a letter.

Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the Speaker. I am still in quotes, Mr. Speaker, and probably it is very appropriate for the Speaker to point out that I am reading a letter, open letter to Hollywood written by Mr. Charlie Daniels, one of America's most popular entertainers. I am going to continue with that, back to the quoted letter. Well, I'm going to exercise some freedom of choice of my own. If I see any of your names on a marquee, I'm going to boycott the movie. I will completely stop going to the movies if I have to. In most cases, it certainly wouldn't be much of a loss. You scoff at our military whose boots you are not even worthy to shine. They go to battle and risk their lives so ingrates like you can live in luxury. The day of reckoning is coming when you will be faced with the undeniable truth that the war against Saddam Hussein is the war on terrorism. America is in imminent danger. You're either for her or against her. There is no middle ground. I think we all know where you stand. What do you think? God bless America. Unquote, Charlie Daniels. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues can get this off the website. However, due to technological ethics, I am unable to give out that website number, but if somebody would call my office, I would be glad to give it to them. Mr. Speaker, here is a guy who is one of the American-dream-type success stories, came up the hard way. I believe Charlie Daniels went to the University of Chicago, so he is not exactly just this country boy from back home on the farm that Hollywood would scoff at. But this is a guy who has really made it pretty big in the entertainment world, knows the Hollywood bunch because he calls them up front and he writes a letter like that to give us an idea of what he thinks. Now, Mr. Speaker, I am going to read another letter by a woman named Katrin Michael. She is member of Women for a Free Iraq, a Washington- based advocacy group. She wrote this for Newsday, but I read it in the Savannah Morning News. I am going to again quote from this. As an Iraqi woman who wages peace and has fought in war, I am compelled to support a U.S.-led action to remove Saddam Hussein. After 26 years of resistance against Saddam, I have come to the conclusion that only forces from outside Iraq can bring an end to the nightmare of his rule. The stories of Saddam Hussein's brutality are all true. Ethnic cleansing, summary imprisonment and execution, torture and rape are all part of the nightmare. I know this from personal experience. My father founded an Iraqi peace movement, a crime for which he was murdered. At the time I was 14 years old. I was arrested by the regime merely because I joined the Iraqi Women's League. I was not the only young girl arrested for such a trivial offense. Later, I joined the Kurdish resistance, even though I was, in their eyes, a mere woman and a Christian. I traveled in disguise to Baghdad and around the country to organize opposition to Saddam. When I was injured in one of his chemical bombardments against hundreds of Kurdish villages in 1987 and 1988, I was forced to flee to a refugee camp in southern Turkey where I stayed until I finally reached freedom in the United States in 1997. I continue to suffer to this day from lung, nerve and eye damage caused by these weapons. No one in Iraq is immune from Saddam's brutality, not even the closest members of his own family. He even executed two of his own sons-in-law in 1996. A commonly used form of torture is to bring a detainee's female relative, preferably his wife, daughter or mother, and gang rape her in front of him. Members of the Iraqi opposition in exile receive videotape of tapes of their female relatives in Iraq being raped. Women who criticize or merely offend Saddam are accused of being prostitutes and regularly beheaded in public. His son, Uday, often leads these beheadings. They occur in Baghdad as well as in smaller villages throughout Iraq. The heads of the executed women are hung on the doors of their houses for all to see. I am saddened when I see people who sincerely care for the fate of the Iraqi people resist the American-led effort to remove Saddam and restore hope for the Iraqis. We cannot do it alone. Iraqis had their closest brush with freedom in 1992 during Operation Desert Storm. I regret, as do most Iraqis, that the United States and its allies allowed Saddam to squash this resistance and remain in power. Those who care about peace and justice for the Iraqis should not make the same mistake again. Saddam will never leave power willingly. He will never give up his weapons and allow the Iraqi people to live in freedom. That is the end of the letter, Mr. Speaker, but I want to restate one more time that this was written by an Iraqi woman who was raised in Iraq, who was part of the peace movement, who has come to the conclusion that only a U.S.-led action will remove Saddam Hussein, and that is the only way that the world will be rid of him. I think that is so important, Mr. Speaker, because there are a lot of well-meaning people who are against the United States action. There are a lot who are not so well-meaning. A lot of people just have a gripe with George Bush, and they find the war a convenient vehicle to air their opinion. There are a lot of people who do not like the United States of America and, again, they find the war a convenient excuse to air their opinion on that. But then there are a lot of people who are absolutely sincere: peace first, peace only, negotiations. Yet what this Iraqi woman is saying, who has been there and has been injured by Saddam Hussein, is we cannot do it alone, we have to have a U.S.-led coalition. Today, Mr. Speaker, in Basra, we did find out that there was an uprising and at this point it has not continued, but I think that it will, and I think in the days and weeks ahead we are going to see more and more Iraqi citizens coming out of their hiding places and facing Saddam Hussein and joining the resistance against him. Now, I have been joined by our friend from Miami, Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart). I want to yield some time to him. I have a couple of other topics I want to talk about surrounding Iraq. One of them has to do with a French company that has a lucrative contract with the Department of Defense feeding 55 garrisons throughout America. I also want to talk about the House Resolution that we passed today urging Iraq to comply with the Geneva Convention. But the gentleman has been a very active freshman Member of Congress and has a lot of issues he has been working on, too. So I yield to him to jump in on this or switch topics or whatever pleases him.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, also, are they not making a buck or profit, things like that, but they have had a lucrative oil contract in Iraq they did not want to disturb. That it is clear France is not after some noble or high ground about peace, but it simply boils down to profit. If the gentleman would like to make any closing comments, I need to actually make an engagement.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, before we begin, let me yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt), the distinguished former district attorney from Boston, to finish his statement.

Mr. KINGSTON. I want to thank the gentleman for those words, Mr. Speaker. It is interesting, today we had a great moment where all Members, Democrat and Republican, came together on the issue of Iraq complying with the Geneva Convention, which of course they are not doing. Each day there is a new revelation. There was a very tender moment today as we in Congress saw the pictures of the prisoners, the American POWs, that Iraq had filmed. As the gentleman knows, it was very gruesome. First, the cameras panned on some dead soldiers, soldiers who at least three of them had a shot right in their forehead; young men, strong men, men in uniform, men with their dog tags around their necks and the blood that was on their chests, in some cases. It was a very sobering, very gut-wrenching scene to see. Then, apparently in the same room, but it was not clear, were the live prisoners. Iraqi TV or whoever the reporters were were interviewing them and asking them a lot of questions. There seemed to be some pushing and shoving in the room. It seemed that there were a lot of people. We could tell by the look in these American prisoners' eyes that they did not know if they were going to be alive the next minute, or make it through the night, or what was going to happen to them. It seemed like utter confusion. What struck me, among other things, is that even in Somalia, and we all have read or seen ``Blackhawk Down,'' which I think was a great depiction of that battle. When they had the captive helicopter operator, he was still allowed to get the International Red Cross to come in. Yet in Iraq they do not even let the Red Cross in to see our prisoners. Today, on a bipartisan basis, we debated, and we will vote on it tomorrow, House Concurrent Resolution 118, which I had, I guess I am not going to say the honor, which would be the usual word, but I offered it, along with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes). I represent the Third Infantry in Hinesville, Georgia, and he represents Fort Bliss in Texas, where the members of 507th Maintenance Division were from, supporting the Third Infantry. Just to see the House come together and say, you know, this is absolutely not right, and we are going to put the folks from Iraq on notice that they will be tried as war criminals as soon as possible. If that means waiting until the war is over, fine; but if we can get them out of there before then, they will be tried as war criminals. We made that statement to them, number one. Number two, we assured our troops that we are watching and we are with them in thought and in spirit, and we are going to do everything that we can to get them out of there alive. Number three, we sent a signal to the international community, the French, the Germans, the Chinese, the Russians, those who were so quick to denounce the United States of America and this action. Well, there are 164 countries that have signed the Geneva Conventions going back to 1949. Let these countries now step forward and denounce Iraq, who incidentally is a signer of the Geneva Conventions; and let the world community find something that they can agree on in the form of these seven soldiers who are captured as we speak tonight.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great Georgian and an outstanding American citizen. I am proud to recognize Mr. Garland Thompson in the United States Congress for his invaluable contributions to his community, his state and his nation. Mr. Garland Thompson was born on June 5, 1928 in Soperton, GA. His dad operated as a one-horse share cropper until he could save enough money to buy a small farm. Garland grew up on the farm planting row crops. Garland showed signs of the talent, determination and achievement that have been the hallmarks of his career at an early age, when he graduated from Soperton High School. He then attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and then University of Georgia where he earned his Bachelors degree. He then attended the University of Georgia School of Banking as well as the L.S.U School of Banking. He met his wife, Anita, in Macon and they married in June, 1943. They have four children; Kirby, Andy, Beth and Tim and five grandchildren; Betsy, Macie, Kip, Katie and Trent. Mr. Garland Thompson was employed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 12 years in Wilkinson County, before serving 37 years in banking between C&S Bank in Dublin, GA, and Sun Trust Bank in Douglas, GA. Mr. Thompson has served on the Douglas-Coffee County Industrial Authority board for the past 21 years. He has also served as Interim President and Director for the Douglas-Coffee County Chamber of Commerce. Thirty years ago Coffee County was 90% dependent on their agriculture base. Today, they have a widely diversified economy that boasts about $200 million in the industrial base and $200 million in the agriculture base. As Garland says, ``it's about 50/50 now and we are extremely blessed''. Garland has retired but still serves on the Georgia State Soil & Water Commission, SubBelt Exposition, ABAC Alumni Board of Directors, and has served on the Vo-Ag Advisory Committee, Georgia Extension Advisory Commission, and the G.T.E. Advisory Board. He is also a consultant on the U.S. 441 Economic Development Council. It is my distinguished pleasure today to honor Mr. Garland Thompson for his service and dedication to Coffee County and its citizens. He remains an inspiration to us all.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me. I just want to say, when the Republicans took over the Congress in 1995 and became the majority party, they started working on our budgets. Probably since then almost every single Democrat has voted against every single budget, it is fair to say. It is always because of the seniors, it is because of veterans, it is because of the children, it is because of the teachers, because of education, because save the whales, killing baby seals. It does not matter. If they want to vote no, they find good reasons to vote no. The reality is that despite all the gloom and doom, here is the Medicaid budget under the Republican majority. It has grown by 76 percent. Here is the transportation budget. Under Republican control, it has grown by 76 percent. Here is the veterans benefits. Under Republican control, it has grown by 51 percent. Why is that important, Mr. Chairman? Because not one Democrat voted for it. Here they are coming down to the floor saying, we are the champions of this, we are the champions of that, yet they have voted against all the budgets that increase the spending. Here is Medicare. There is a 56 percent under Republican control, an increase. Where are the Democrat votes? They are voting no on every single budget ever since our majority has taken over. Here comes another budget. We are going to increase some of these very important areas for our seniors, for our national security, for our homeland security, for our troops overseas. Again, where are the Democrats? It is the same parade we have been seeing nearly 10 years now: voting no, scaring the people back home, scaring the vulnerable members of our society by saying these budgets do horrible things. The reality is that the budget takes care of the critical needs of our society. It takes care of defense, it takes care of Social Security, it takes care of homeland security, it takes care of unemployment. Yet the Democrats are focused in on the fact that we are asking some very wasteful government bureaucracy to reduce their budgets by one cent, one penny on the dollar. We do that routinely to Americans back home. As families, as taxpayers, we often have to cut our budget. I find it unbelievable, and only in this town are people suggesting that bureaucracy cannot find one cent on one dollar outside of these very critical areas.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, imagine if we could rewind the tape, we could rewind it back to September 10, 2001. We are sitting around looking at the world. We know that in 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed. We know that 17 Americans were killed when the USS Cole was bombed in Yemen. We know that two embassies in Africa have been bombed. We have withdrawn from Somalia. If it was September 10, 2001, and we were taking a sober assessment of the world, what would we do differently? Particularly what would we do differently as respects the events of September 11? Mr. Speaker, obviously we cannot rewind the tape ever, but the reality is we are sitting potentially on another September 10 date right now. We have been in this world for a long time. We are looking at a world where Saddam Hussein had 90 days from April, 1991, to disarm after withdrawing from Kuwait and after the U.N. action that we know of as Desert Storm. We know that in the 12 years that followed April 19, 1991, he flaunted the weapons inspection process. We know that weapons inspectors such as Scott Ritter quit in disgust. We know that it was criticized. We know that he went 4 years without having U.N. weapons inspectors. We know that indeed 17 U.N. resolutions have gone by. Our President has been very patient with the U.N. diplomatic process. It is too bad that it failed. It is too bad that maybe the U.N. could have stepped forward a little bit stronger during any of the time in the last 12 years, but that did not happen. Maybe the future of the U.N. should be debated in another Chamber at another date. The reality is Saddam Hussein has chemical and biological weapons, and has tried to get nuclear weapons. We know that he has murdered hundreds of his fellow men. We know that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch estimates that there is something like 70,000 to 150,000 people who have disappeared in Iraq, which is more than any other country in the world. We know that in the year 2000 they implemented tongue amputations as a way of dealing with their enemies. We know that he uses torture. We know that he drills people. We know that he rapes people. He films things like this and shows it to family members. We know that, indeed, he has killed some of his own family members. The message from the United States of America to the people of Iraq is that the enemy of Iraq is not the United States of America; rather, the enemy of Iraq is their own government; very specifically, Saddam Hussein. We in America stand against oppression. We in America stand for the liberation of the people of Iraq. We in America stand for our own homeland and national security, and we in America stand for our own troops, who at this moment are abroad and ready for action. I hope that in the 11th hour of this long process Saddam Hussein decides to step forward and save his country as he knows it and to help support another regime. I hope we do not have to pull the trigger; but should we need to do that, we will be successful. We will liberate the people of Iraq. We will do the right thing. Mr. Speaker, let me close with just saying that on this very critical hour in our history, we all say a prayer for our troops, and we all stand behind our troops. God bless America.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to enter into this discussion about the budget because I think it certainly is a worthy one in a time when our Nation has been attacked and is working hard against terrorism and to protect our domestic States from threats. We are at war. The reality is this is what our budget does. From fiscal year 2002 to 2003, there was a 7 percent increase. From 2003 to 2004 it will be about a 3 percent increase, with about a 5.5 percent increase in defense and in homeland security; there will be increases in unemployment insurance because of the economy; there will be increases in Social Security and, of course, a big increase in Medicare because of the prescription drug benefit that the President is pushing. Yet at the same time, we do need to tighten our belts. That is the way to attack the deficit. I am glad to see that the Democrats are interested in the deficit after all of these years. What I would hope is that we can come together on a bipartisan, wartime budget and put the interests of the troops first, of the economy, of homeland security, of our seniors, and yet, at the same time, tighten our belts here in Washington within the government bureaucracy. I look forward to that process.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. But we really appreciate what they are doing. I think it is so important for these wives and the families in my area, and I know in California that the gentleman has lots who are deployed, same thing. Mr. Speaker, switching gears slightly, I always pick up the paper here, and one would think that it is the United States and Tony Blair, not the United States and Great Britain, but just Tony Blair, oh, and Jack Straw; but one would think it is just a couple of us out there fighting Saddam Hussein. Here is a list of countries: Albania, Angola, Australia, Bahrain, Britain, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Guinea, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Lithuania, Macedonia, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen who have all expressed support of the Bush policies towards Iraq. Why is that not in the paper? And in my colleague's opinion, is it important for us to wait out the U.N.? I think we are on number 17 in terms of resolutions now. Keep in mind, the very first resolution going back to April 1991 called for disarmament within 90 days; and it did not say, and we are having to come prove the case against you, it says you have got to show us that you have disarmed. What is the gentleman's view?

Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the gentleman from California.

Mr. KINGSTON. I certainly appreciate the Speaker's leadership and patience. Does either the gentleman from Florida or the gentleman from California have any closing remarks? Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. KINGSTON. I believe that we all are elected, be it a House or a Senate Member, or even a State representative back home, a county commissioner or a mayor, you are elected to vote, to take a position and not play parliamentary games, which is what has been going on.

Mr. KINGSTON. If I may ask the Speaker, you can make a factual statement about the other body; is that correct?

Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, also, how much time do we have left?

Mr. KINGSTON. Nationally Hispanic and Latino groups overwhelmingly have supported Miguel Estrada.

Mr. KINGSTON. Yes.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, let me ask the gentleman a personal question. If it was the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart) instead of Mr. Estrada, and the gentleman had all of his qualifications, do you think that they would let you through based on what you are saying?

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, again, this is not about lawyers; but it is about access, and it is about doctors. I want to read a few more statistics from various papers. This is from the Business Journal of Portland, January 10, 2003. In three of Oregon's more rural counties, John Day, Hermiston, and Roseburg, families have either lost all access to obstetric care or their services have been drastically reduced. Here is something from Amarillo-Globe News, October 30, 2002. According to a Texas Medical Association poll of Panhandle doctors, 61 percent have plans to retire early, and 83 percent said they use defensive tactics in practicing medicine because of fear of being sued. And then in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 6, 2003, in South Texas a pregnant woman was forced to drive 80 miles to a San Antonio doctor and hospital because her family doctor in her more rural hometown had recently stopped delivering babies because of malpractice concerns. It is something that I am glad this House is looking at. We need a balanced bill. People certainly have the right to defend themselves. They need access to the courtroom, but the courtroom should not stifle access to the emergency room. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart) has joined us now. And we have been talking about taxes, Iraq and jobs; and we started out talking about the nomination of President Bush of Miguel Estrada to the D.C. District Court. I had cited the gentleman from Florida in saying he was accused of not being Hispanic enough, and yet here is a guy who has graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, Columbia University, Harvard Law Review. He has practiced before the Supreme Court 15 times, he has worked for Republican and Democrat administrations, came from Honduras when he was 17 years old, but for some reason there are those in the House and the Senate who do not like him. In fact, did I hear a Member say earlier that the House Latino Conference, did they take a position on this guy?

Mr. KINGSTON. Last year when a different party was in charge of the other body, we passed lots of legislation that died, lots of legislation that was not allowed to come out on the floor for a vote. It seems that those same folks who lost the majority because of their inability to make decisions are at it again and it is absurd. Hey, vote the guy down. Have the guts. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. KINGSTON. I want to ask the gentleman, and I see that we have been joined by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart), did California run out of lawyers when you stopped the frivolous lawsuits?

Mr. KINGSTON. Madam Speaker, we need to be sure we get that in the Record; that she inherited her mother's brains.