[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 9, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H7865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    AMERICA NEEDS TO TAKE OUR FOREIGN POLICY IN A DRAMATICALLY NEW 
                               DIRECTION

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, later this week will mark the seventh 
anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on our Nation. In the days 
after 9/11, Washington and the world united to respond to that attack 
by going after al Qaeda in Afghanistan. It was a success. But rather 
than continue that quest, President Bush chose to turn his attention 
and the attention of our military to Iraq.
  This was a huge foreign policy mistake that has stretched our 
military dangerously thin, left us unprepared for possible threats, 
damaged our credibility around the world, and allowed al Qaeda to 
regroup and become stronger along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. 
Rather than focus on the greatest threat of terrorism along the 
Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the Bush administration has consistently 
diverted resources to Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, as we remember the 9/11 attack this week, it's important 
that we recognize the foreign policy failures of the last 8 years so 
that we don't repeat them in the future. We must also recommit 
ourselves to going after the terrorists where they are, and that is the 
Afghanistan-Pakistan border, not Iraq.

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