Joe Wilson: “It really is, and particularly with President al-Yawer. He was so outspoken in his appreciation for the dedication of…”

“It really is, and particularly with President al-Yawer. He was so outspoken in his appreciation for the dedication of our young people, of families who have lost heroes, who are protecting American people; and it was just heartfelt. It was the same heartfelt feeling that we actually did see, thank goodness, with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, who was here about 3 weeks ago to express the appreciation of the people of Afghanistan for their liberation and their ability now for probably the first time in history to establish a civil society. When I say 'civil society,' I am talking about one that looks out for the people and the country, and one of the highlights was to meet with the minister of health in Iraq. He had previously been the minister of education, and he was telling us one by one of the progress being made in regard to education. Thousands of schools have been renovated. These are not elegant schools with gymnasiums. These are largely one-room schoolhouses that have been repainted, many of them by the American military, with desks and with blackboards. In fact, 1 1/4 million book bags were distributed to the young people of Iraq from the United States Agency For International Development. Additionally, he told us that there are 293,000 teachers in Iraq. What we hear when we read the paper is that people are unemployed. That is all we hear; but there are 293,000 teachers, and it was incredible to me.…”