Jack Kingston: “That is interesting that the gentleman raises that point. Having been to Afghanistan, I went over there a year ago and…”

“That is interesting that the gentleman raises that point. Having been to Afghanistan, I went over there a year ago and met with Mr. Karzai and folks from the Northern Alliance who were starting to form this new government. If there was ever a country that would have welcomed American colonization, it would have been Afghanistan. If that is what we were after, we could have done that; and we would not have to wait until this time. I am glad the gentleman mentioned, though, the hatred and the madness of Saddam Hussein. I am an Episcopalian, and every Sunday my minister Bart Robertson gives an admonishment to us, Make no peace with oppression. Why Americans would want to make peace with oppression is beyond me, but I wanted to read some things to the gentleman that he has kind of already mentioned. Between 1983 and 1988, Saddam Hussein murdered more than 30,000 Iraqi citizens with mustard gas and nerve agents. Human rights organizations have continually received reports from women who say that rape is routinely used by Iraqi officials for the purposes of torture, intimidation, and blackmail. In 2000, Iraqi authorities introduced tongue amputation as punishment for persons who criticize Saddam Hussein. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International estimates that Iraq has between 70- and 150,000 people who are unaccounted for. That is the most of any nation in the entire world. The mass executions are a choice of Saddam Hussein.”