[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3] [Senate] [Pages 3531-3532] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS ______ SENATE RESOLUTION 476--DESIGNATING MARCH 25, 2008, AS ``GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY: A NATIONAL DAY OF CELEBRATION OF GREEK AND AMERICAN DEMOCRACY'' Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. Stevens, Mr. Levin, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Mikulski, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Reed, Mr. Reid, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Smith, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Biden, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Allard, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Bingaman, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Carper, Mr. Casey, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Craig, Mrs. Dole, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Feingold, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Gregg, Mr. Hagel, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Sununu, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Warner, Mr. Obama, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Bayh, Mr. Martinez, Mr. Inouye, and Mr. Salazar) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to: S. Res. 476 Whereas the ancient Greeks developed the concept of democracy, in which the supreme power to govern was vested in the people; Whereas the Founding Fathers of the United States drew heavily on the political experience and philosophy of ancient Greece in forming a representative democracy; Whereas Greek Commander in Chief Petros Mavromichalis, a founder of the modern Greek state, said to the citizens of the United States in 1821 that ``it is in your land that liberty has fixed her abode and . . . in imitating you, we shall imitate our ancestors and be thought worthy of them if we succeed in resembling you''; Whereas, during World War II, Greece played a major role in the struggle to protect freedom and democracy by bravely fighting the historic Battle of Crete, giving the Axis powers their first major setback in the land war, and setting off a chain of events that significantly affected the outcome of World War II; Whereas Greece paid a high price for defending the common values of Greece and the United States in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Greek civilians during World War II; Whereas, throughout the 20th century, Greece was 1 of only 3 countries in the world, outside the former British Empire, that allied with the United States in every major international conflict; Whereas President George W. Bush, in recognizing Greek Independence Day in 2002, said, ``Greece and America have been firm allies in the great struggles for liberty. . . . Americans will always remember Greek heroism and Greek sacrifice for the sake of freedom. . . . [and a]s the 21st century dawns, Greece and America once again stand united; this time in the fight against terrorism. . . . The United States deeply appreciates the role Greece is playing in the war against terror. . . . America and Greece are strong allies, and we're strategic partners.''; Whereas President Bush stated that Greece's successful ``law enforcement operations against a terrorist organization [November 17] responsible for 3 decades of terrorist attacks underscore the important contributions Greece is making to the global war on terrorism''; Whereas Greece is a strategic partner and ally of the United States in bringing political stability and economic development to the volatile Balkan region, investing over $20,000,000,000, creating over 200,000 new jobs, and contributing over $750,000,000 in development aid to the region; Whereas Greece was extraordinarily responsive to requests by the United States during the war in Iraq, immediately granting the United States unlimited access to Greece's airspace and the base in Souda Bay, and many United States ships that delivered troops, cargo, and supplies to Iraq were refueled in Greece; [[Page 3532]] Whereas Greece actively participates in peacekeeping and peace-building operations conducted by international organizations including the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe; Whereas, in August 2004, the Olympic games came home to Athens, Greece, the land in which the games began 2,500 years ago and the city in which the games were revived in 1896; Whereas Greece received worldwide praise for its extraordinary handling during the 2004 Olympics of more than 14,000 athletes and more than 2,000,000 spectators and journalists, a feat Greece handled efficiently, securely, and with famous Greek hospitality; Whereas the unprecedented security effort in Greece for the first Olympics after the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, included a record-setting expenditure of more than $1,390,000,000 and the assignment of more than 70,000 security personnel, as well as the utilization of an 8-country Olympic Security Advisory Group that included the United States; Whereas Greece, located in a region in which Christianity mixes with Islam and Judaism, maintains excellent relations with Muslim countries and Israel; Whereas the Government of Greece has had extraordinary success in recent years in furthering cross-cultural understanding and reducing tensions between Greece and Turkey, as seen most recently with the January 2008 visit to Turkey by the Prime Minister of Greece, Kostas Karamanlis, the first official visit to Turkey by a Prime Minister of Greece in 49 years; Whereas Greece is a key energy security hub that delivers gas to Europe via the Turkey-Greece-Italy Interconnector; Whereas Greece is a world leader in the assimilation of immigrants, with immigrants having grown to more than 10 percent of people employed in Greece; Whereas Greece and the United States are at the forefront of the effort to advance freedom, democracy, peace, stability, and human rights; Whereas those and other ideals have forged a close bond between the governments and the peoples of Greece and the United States; Whereas March 25, 2008, marks the 187th anniversary of the beginning of the revolution that freed the people of Greece from the Ottoman Empire; and Whereas it is proper and desirable for the people of the United States to celebrate this anniversary with the people of Greece and to reaffirm the democratic principles from which both Greece and the United States were born: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate-- (1) designates March 25, 2008, as ``Greek Independence Day: A National Day of Celebration of Greek and American Democracy''; and (2) encourages the people of the United States to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. ____________________