Jerry Lewis: “I am rising this evening with no small amount of serious concern about the problems that are facing my constituents in…”

“I am rising this evening with no small amount of serious concern about the problems that are facing my constituents in my own district where literally the whole district is on fire. But a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take perhaps the largest delegation that has traveled to Iraq since we have been involved there, a group of Members numbering some 17 of us, a fabulous cross-section of the House: Democrats and Republicans, liberals, conservatives, Members who had voted against the war, Members who supported the war. But we saw many things in a relatively short trip, but one thing was absolutely certain. We all became convinced that Saddam Hussein absolutely is one of the most outrageous tyrants of modern time, rivaling Hitler's Germany, certainly rivaling that which the Russian leadership was all about. While we were there, we visited circumstances that reflect the worst of what this tyrant has done to his people, a people who have had no opportunity for freedom in their lifetime, a people who have been oppressed if they dared oppose him, and people who were killed in the tens and tens of thousands.”