Ted Poe: “the French president addressed a joint session of Congress today, and he, like General Lafayette before him, talked…”

“the French president addressed a joint session of Congress today, and he, like General Lafayette before him, talked about the American soldier, the warrior's courage, determination, resilience and love of freedom more than life itself. As we approach Veterans Day, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's words are appropriate to show how the world, that has benefited from the American GI, view our military. He said this morning: ``The men and women of my generation heard their grandparents talk about how in 1917 America saved France at a time when it had reached the final limits of its strength. ``The men and women of my generation heard their parents talk about how in 1944 America returned to free Europe from the horrifying tyranny that threatened to enslave it. ``Fathers took their sons to see the vast cemeteries where, under thousands of white crosses so far from home, thousands of young American soldiers lay who had fallen not to defend their own freedom but the freedom of all others, not to defend their own families, their own homeland, but to defend humanity as a whole.'' Mr. Speaker, the world's freedom fighter has always been the American soldier. And that's just the way it is.”