John Cornyn: “I wish to talk about the global war on terror here for the next few minutes, and to recount some very good progress we…”

“I wish to talk about the global war on terror here for the next few minutes, and to recount some very good progress we happen to be making in Iraq and that the Iraqis appear to be making. I realize that because the news is not as bad as it once was, it has now fallen off the front page of the newspaper. Yet I think it is very important not only to our national security but because we are being asked to support our men and women in uniform in a variety of ways that we keep close track of the developments occurring both in Afghanistan and in Iraq. That is the subject of my comments. First, I acknowledge a report from the Associated Press indicating that one of al-Qaida's top commanders in Afghanistan, and a key liaison of the Taliban, Abu Laith al-Libi, was apparently killed in military action at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Reports indicate he is actually the fourth person in command of the al-Qaida and the Taliban, right after Osama bin Laden, al-Zawahiri, and Mullah Omar, demonstrating that we continue to take the fight on the offensive against the very people who are responsible for perpetrating the murder of 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001.”