Hoekstra's Opening Statement on the Global War on Terror Resolution
Washington,
Jun 15, 2006 -
Mr. Speaker, this resolution in front of us today is about an urgent proposition. We are a nation at war, a nation at war with radical Islamists. The war was not of our choosing, but it is the central struggle of our time, the first major conflict of the Information Age.
This debate is a defining one for the House and for our Nation. It is important to begin by explaining that the threats that we face are real. They are serious, and they are ongoing. We must address these threats by continuing to confront them aggressively rather than shying away from them because they are difficult. We begin the debate framing four fundamental issues that define the war with radical Islam.
First, our Nation is engaged in a long-term war. That war didn't begin on 9/11. We should maybe look back to 2/26. February 26, 1993, perhaps is when this war really did begin to come into focus. What happened on February 26, 1993? That was when the World Trade Center was attacked for the first time.
Second, al Qaeda views Iraq as a central front in its war against Western democracies. Bin Laden's stated goal is to establish a global Muslim caliphate whose historical center includes Iraq, and Zarqawi was operating in Iraq long before American troops entered that country.
Third, al Qaeda is a sophisticated enemy in the first war of the Information Age. In a war against terrorism, a critical battle is over intelligence. We must use every means at our disposal to obtain information about our enemies and counter their sophisticated information war.
Fourth, our Nation must recognize how this battle is evolving. We need to recognize the threat of home-grown terrorism, home-grown terrorism that has already been experienced in Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands and, most recently, Canada.
We are a nation at war. America has been in an armed struggle with radical Islam for at least 15 years. The first clear declaration was the attack on the World Trade Center, six dead, 1,000 wounded. The Khobar Towers were attacked in June of 1996. Our ambassadors were attacked in Kenya and Tanzania in August of 1998 and the USS Cole was attacked in October of 2000.
In 1996 bin Laden declared war against the United States in his fatwa. Throughout the 1990s, there were multiple attacks. Almost 300 people were killed, and there was a minimal U.S. response. No one in the 1990s connected the dots.
But this war is not just limited to the United States. It is a global war against Western democracies. Our enemies are active across the globe, and they must be countered across the globe, not just by the United States but by our allies.
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