Mike Pence: “These are the stories, Mr. Speaker, that are not being told. These are the stories of compassion that are, however…”

“These are the stories, Mr. Speaker, that are not being told. These are the stories of compassion that are, however, reaching the Iraqi people. They may not make it on American broadcast television with great frequency, but they are reaching the hearts of the Iraqi people. You can see from this photograph, which is one of literally dozens I returned with, these men were construction workers at a USAID program, and some were attending a class on democracy. And we just stopped, and I think you can see even from this poor reproduction the warmth with which I was greeted by regular Iraqis. I share one anecdote. We walked into a classroom, they are holding these democracy classes all over Iraq, and they are probably at, what we would say in the United States as a 5th grade level, where they are teaching what it means to live under a constitution, what the Bill of Rights are. We went into one of these classes. They are all adults. And I walked in, and, of course, was listening in for a time as they spoke in Arabic. Then they rose and started to greet me and a few other Members of Congress. Several women wearing traditional garb walked up. I said, ``Do you speak English?'' They all said yes. They proceeded to share with me, and I have got them in my office, handwritten poems about what democracy means to them.”