Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: “a number of news sources have recently dedicated space and air time to headlines concerning our progress in the war on…”

“a number of news sources have recently dedicated space and air time to headlines concerning our progress in the war on terror, such as ``What the New York Times doesn't tell you.'' Indeed, as we all have had occasion to note in some of our Nation's widely read news publications, the editorial rule is often there is no news like bad news. But in these Halls of Congress, no such rule abounds, so truth-telling must begin here. Since the brutal terrorist attacks of September 11, the United States has responded with policies that offer a pragmatic approach to the challenges that we face in the region today. These have included taking the fight to the terrorists and their supporters, denying them the resources and safe sanctuaries, keeping them on the run so that they cannot target us at home, all while simultaneously assisting the developing Middle East democracies so that they can become a bastion of stable, free market democratic societies and as a means of addressing the root causes of terrorism and Islamic extremism. As Chair of the House Subcommittee on Central Asia and the Middle East, I am proud of the success that these policies have enjoyed, particularly in the frontline states in the war on terror of Iraq and Afghanistan.…”