Judd Gregg: “I want to talk on this piece of legislation but, more importantly, on the overall approach we take toward fighting…”

“I want to talk on this piece of legislation but, more importantly, on the overall approach we take toward fighting terrorism as a nation. First off, as to this bill, which is obviously an extraordinarily expensive bill--over $80 billion, much of which goes to support our forces in Iraq, which is absolutely critical, and some of which goes to assisting in the rebuilding of Iraq--many of my colleagues and others have questioned the dollars going to the rebuilding of Iraq and whether that is an appropriate way to spend American tax dollars. I think, however, we have to look at this issue not from the standpoint of whether it is benefiting Iraq but whether it is benefiting us, the American people. I don't think there is any question but that it benefits the American people. Our purpose here is to defeat terrorism. Our purpose here is to undermine the capacity of those people who would use violence against Americans and against our system and against our Nation. We learned from 9/11, regrettably, that there are, unfortunately, groups out there who subscribe to what is known as Muslim fundamentalism, who are willing to pervert the Muslim faith, and who wish to pursue actions of violence against us as a nation, and against Americans as people, simply because we exist.”