Washington, D.C. – U.S. Congressman Steve King (IA-05) addressed his colleagues on the floor of the House of Representatives during debate on a resolution remembering the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The resolution passed the House, 395 to 22, with one voting present.

King voted in favor of the resolution.

Following is the text of his remarks:

Mr. Speaker,
Since the attacks by al-Qa’ida on September 11th, 2001, future attacks on American soil and around the world have been thwarted by intelligence gathered from terrorist detainees.  These terrorists have confirmed that al-Qa’ida operatives are relentlessly planning and pursuing future attacks against our citizens and infrastructure that could dwarf in comparison the destruction caused five years ago.

Information gathered from terrorist detainees has led to the capture of other al-Qa’ida terrorists, such as those held by the CIA and currently transferred to Guantanamo Bay. I have here some pictures of these individuals to help familiarize the Congress and the people with the kind of enemy that we are up against.

Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, commonly known as the mastermind of the 9-11 attacks, those cowardly attacks on the United States. There is a long list of the transgressions of Khalid Shakyh Muhammad, including his role in the failed Bojinka plot, which was designed to detonate explosives on commercial airliners over the Pacific. He asked Usama bin Laden for the manpower and the funds to carry out the attacks on the United States on 9/11. He plotted several other attacks, and he is right now in the custody of the United States of America, in the process of being brought to justice.

Abu Faraj al-Libi had direct operational responsibilities. He served as a trainer at al-Qa’ida training camps in Afghanistan. Another dangerous individual who has plotted against the United States, had no motivation from my value system to do so.

Another terrorist is Abu Zubaydah. Zubaydah, the third detainee here, at the time of his capture was trying to organize a terrorist attack in Israel, as well as he has been active in smuggling terrorists and dangerous chemicals for the purpose of manufacturing weapons into Afghanistan.

And then I would submit the fourth terrorist, being Ramzi Bin al-Shibh. Ramzi pledged allegiance to Usama Bin Ladin in person and accepted proposals to martyr himself in an operation against the U.S. Ramzi was the primary communications intermediary between the 911 hijackers and al-Qa’ida leadership in Afghanistan, relaying messages by email and cell phone. This man knows a lot about the terrorist network and I believe we have learned a lot from him but he needs to face justice as well.

Mr. Speaker, this is the face of the enemy in this global War on Terror. It is a unique war in our time. Past wars have always been against a clear enemy – which as been another sovereign nation.  We are now fighting a hateful ideology that infiltrates many different nations, unfortunately sometimes surveillance programs are not as tight as they need to be. We need to turn them up, Mr. Speaker.