Rodney Frelinghuysen: “on this very day 8 months ago, Prime Minister Tony Blair stood in this chamber and addressed a joint session of…”

“on this very day 8 months ago, Prime Minister Tony Blair stood in this chamber and addressed a joint session of Congress. He said, ``The spread of freedom is the best security for the free. It is our last line of defense and our first line of attack. ``And just as the terrorist seeks to divide humanity in hate, so we have to unify around an idea. And that idea is liberty. ``We must find the strength to fight for this idea and the compassion to make it universal. Abraham Lincoln said, `Those that deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.' '' Mr. Speaker, for over 2 decades Saddam Hussein denied freedom and liberty to the Iraqi people. He killed Kurds because of their ethnicity. He killed Shiites because of their religion. He killed Sunnis for their political views. And he even killed Egyptians, Kuwaitis, and Iranians because their lives meant nothing to him or his evil regime. Today, Saddam's regime is no more. Overthrown in May and pulled from a spider hole in December, Saddam is now in jail. America and its great military--made up of men and women from all branches of our Armed Forces including our resilient National Guard and reserves--recognized that our security and freedom was under direct threat from Saddam Hussein. With the strength of an international coalition, America took decisive action and set out on a clear mission: to defend America. Nearly one year later we are seeing the fruits of our work take hold.”