Gilbert Gutknecht: “it is my pleasure to be here on the House floor tonight to report to my colleagues and those who may be watching what I…”

“it is my pleasure to be here on the House floor tonight to report to my colleagues and those who may be watching what I learned over the last long weekend. I was privileged to go with Chairman Pete Hoekstra of the House Intelligence Committee to Iraq. It was my first trip to Iraq. It was a very eye-opening experience, Mr. Speaker and Members, one that I won't soon forget. Before I get started talking about that trip and some of the lessons that I learned while we were there, I would like to start with a quote. And I will come back to this later. The quote is: ``Do not try to do too much with your own hands. It is their war, and you are here to help them win it, not win it for them.'' I am going to come back to that quote later, Mr. Speaker, because I think it says so much about some of the things that we learned while we were in Iraq. Most importantly, I will come back and tell you who it was that originally said that. The first thing I want to say tonight, though, is an enormous thank you and congratulations to the brave Americans who serve the United States in uniform. When you get off the plane in Baghdad, you realize what they have to put up with, particularly during the summer. When the door opens on that plane, it is like opening the door of an oven. And there to greet you are bright young Americans, and they are in full uniform, helmets, heavy flak jackets.…”