Jerry Lewis: “Mr. Speaker, I have never been more proud to be a Member of the House of Representatives than during a recent trip, when…”

“Mr. Speaker, I have never been more proud to be a Member of the House of Representatives than during a recent trip, when I had the privilege of chairing a delegation of 17 Members who traveled to Iraq, the largest delegation to travel there to this point. And, indeed, it was a delegation made up of liberals, of conservatives, of Democrats, Republicans, of people who voted against the war in the first place, of individuals who supported, very strongly, the President's position in the region. The map is different than the territory, the saying goes. And one really has to visit this country and see firsthand what has taken place there to get an understanding as to why America has such a vital and important role in the region. Indeed, it is my view that Iraq can become a model of developing countries within the region, where there is new opportunity for freedom, for enterprise, for democracy, for, in this case, the first time in their history. Indeed, during our travels, we had a chance to see absolutely the worst of the most significant totalitarian regime to operate in this shrinking world in modern times. Absolutely, this regime carried forward in a fashion that treated its people worse than or just at least as bad as the experience in Nazi Germany, as well as during the reign of Stalin.”