Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
October 15, 2003 -- Page: S12569

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, one of the biggest successes in Iraq in the past month has been the first day of school for millions of Iraqi children. America's service men and women worked with local partners to refurbish the schools that were destroyed under Saddam Hussein's regime so these children could experience the freedom that comes with learning. One example of this progress involves soldiers from the 1st Armored Division's 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, who did an immense amount to improve the quality of life for Iraqi children. Led by Squadron Commander LTC Charles Williams, the soldiers focused their efforts on 25 schools around the rim of Baghdad. The schools had been neglected by the former regime.

They were in a sad state when 1AD forces arrived in Baghdad several months ago. The desks were in pieces. The blackboards were broken. There were no doors on the rooms and there were no ceiling fans. There was very poor lighting or no lighting at all. The squadron took charge. Their engineers came forward. American contractors and local Iraqi contractors worked together to repair the schools.

Over the past few months the schools underwent a dramatic change: Walls were painted. Electrical wiring and plumbing were fixed. Glass was replaced. Security bars were installed in windows and school supplies were issued.

I have some pictures that show better than any words could some of the progress that is being made. This is a picture of Mahmoud Al-Jabouri, a former Iraqi Army general who worked with the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Division in repairing the schools in Baghdad. He is giving a speech for the first day of classes at Dufaf Al-Neil primary school. The progress our troops have been making in working with Iraqi citizens enabled this school to open. It was a joint effort. We can see the children at the opening day of the school with our soldiers and the former Iraqi general.

Look at the excitement on the Iraqi faces as soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment helped an Iraqi schoolgirl cut the ribbon at a ceremony celebrating the first day of school. These children are so excited, as they see their world opening up. Iraqi children at Dufaf Al-Neil school hold up the markers they received along with other gifts from soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Regiment. Everyone can see that these school supplies have opened a new world for these children. Their liberation cannot be overemphasized.

Aside from the new facilities, there is something else the American forces have provided for these children. They have ended the fear and terror that Saddam Hussein instilled in Iraqi schools. I want to read an excerpt from a National Review article from October 13. This is stunning.

..... there will be no mysterious disappearances from the classrooms. No teachers and pupils will be found dead in school doorways. ..... Teenage school girls will not be abducted and taken to one of the many harems maintained by Uday, Saddam's sadistic elder son. .....

We could hardly imagine how these children went to school living in fear that they might be abducted and taken into Uday's harem; that their teachers might be killed in the doorway for something that they could not even imagine they had said or done wrong. Not only are we opening these schools with new school supplies and painted walls and lighting, but we have taken the fear from these children that when they go to school, something horrible will happen.

Our Armed Forces are performing heroic acts every day, trying to ensure that the Iraqi people are free and working toward self-government. Step by step, normal life in Iraq is being established as basic services are restored and hope is reborn.

What we are doing in Iraq is going to change the Middle East. It is going to give people in this country a taste of freedom, and others will see it. It will be a message bigger than anything we could say would happen. It is the results that we are working for, and the President is committed to that result.

That is why we are debating a supplemental appropriation that would bring freedom to this country and begin to spread it throughout the Middle East.