Washington, D.C.-Congressman Tom Cole made the following statement on the floor on July 6, 2004:

     Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about Iraq’s transition to democracy and what it holds for our future. Mr. Speaker, like all Americans, I was pleasantly surprised on June 28 when the Coalition Provisional Authority transferred power to the Iraqi interim government 2 days ahead of schedule. This was an important first step toward demonstrating that America fulfills its promises. Iraq is again a self-governing sovereign state. However, with that said, we face many challenges in the days ahead. The anti-democratic insurgency in Iraq is still a reality that we and the sovereign and legitimate government of Iraq must confront every day. Mr. Speaker, in dealing with this insurgency, we must first ask ourselves the questions that opponents of the war in Iraq often fail to raise: Who are the insurgents? And why do they hate us and the new government in Iraq? It is clear from studying this situation in Iraq, the insurgency is not made up of one group of people united around a common message. Rather, it is an insurgency based upon disparate groups with differing and conflicting agendas.

     It is clear that we face an unholy alliance of four different, but overlapping, groups: Baathists, radical theocrats, transnational terrorists, and common criminals. Each of these groups has differing objectives. The Baathists yearn for the day that they once again can control Iraq. This Fascist party formed the basis of the Hussein regime; and at its core it is corrupt, brutal, and antidemocratic. The radical theocrats and fundamentalists, like Moqtada al Sadr, desire the installation of a revolutionary theocratic government like that of Iran. Such a government will most certainly be anti-democratic and inherently repressive. Those who desire such a government do not have the support of the majority of Iraqis. The foreign fighters and transnational terrorists can be divided into two categories: the first is al Qaeda. The second is made up of disparate radicalized Islamic groups. We know what the objectives of al Qaeda are, as September 11 so clearly demonstrated. It wishes to drag the Muslim world into a war against the West. The other foreign fighters are recruited by radicalized clerics and have a similar vision of international jihad. The criminal elements in Iraq are undeniably part of the insurgency. While many thousands were unjustly persecuted in prisons under the Hussein regime, many prisoners were also legitimately criminals. Before the war began, Saddam Hussein saw fit to release a large number of these criminals to prey upon his own people. They form part of those opposing the legitimate government and the coalition forces.

     Mr. Speaker, the follow-up question that many opponents of the war fail to ask is, Why do these insurgents hate us? Mr. Speaker, the answer to that question is clear and straightforward. Our opponents hate us, the coalition, not because of what we do, but because of who we are. We represent individual liberty and democracy, two values that our terrorist opponents neither understand nor accept. If we take the time to examine each of these four insurgent groups, we will find their opposition to the coalition is built upon a rejection of individual liberty and democratic pluralism. The Baathists, of course, have never supported freedom or true democracy. Thirty years of their regime amply demonstrated they believe in an Iraq ruled by a strongman like Saddam Hussein and plundered by his Fascist followers. The radical fundamentalists for their part certainly do not believe in either freedom or democracy, unlike their mainstream Muslim brethren. They clearly support a regime ruled by a religiously radical minority. In this regime there will be no place for freedom or democracy. Al Qaeda, of course, will never stop hating us and despises the principles, which we believe are essential to Iraq’s future. The other foreign fighters also aim to create a state that will pursue a permanent jihad against the West. This jihad is antithetical to values like freedom and democracy. Finally, the criminal element of the Iraqi opposition is also opposed to the principles of freedom and democracy precisely because these principles do not empower them. The great weakness of all these opposition groups, Saddamists, transnational terrorists, theocrats, and common criminals, is that none of them offer an attractive future for the Iraqi people. None of these groups could compete in open elections or attain power in a genuine democracy. That is why they so fiercely oppose our efforts to create a free Iraq based on individual liberty, tolerance, and democratic elections.

     Mr. Speaker, our President is right: the key to victory in the war against terror is the spread of freedom and democracy throughout the Middle East. Our own security is intimately linked to the success of democracy in this troubled part of the world. The success of democracy and self-government in Iraq is the crucial first step to transforming and liberating the Middle East. That is why we must succeed in this critical battle of the forces of oppression and terror in Iraq, and that is why the opponents of the war in Iraq are so badly mistaken in their criticism of our current efforts. Success in Iraq will make America safer.