[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 164 (Thursday, November 5, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H12433]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REASONS TO LEAVE AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, this morning I was honored to go with five 
other Members, three Democrats and three Republicans, to have breakfast 
at the Pentagon with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The Secretary 
is a kind man and this was a very nice thing for him to do. I have 
great respect for Secretary Gates.
  The purpose of the breakfast was to discuss the situation in 
Afghanistan. When I got this invitation, I wondered if I should go, 
since I have been very much opposed to our war there. However, I 
decided that the only right and fair thing to do was to go listen to 
what he had to say.
  Unfortunately, I still believe that what we are doing in Afghanistan 
is a horrendous waste that we cannot afford. I also believe that 
Afghanistan is no realistic threat to us, unless our war there 
continues to anger so many people around the world.
  George C. Wilson, military columnist for Congress Daily, wrote 
recently: ``The American military's mission to pacify the 40,000 tiny 
villages in Afghanistan will look like mission impossible, especially 
if our bombings keep killing Afghan civilians and infuriating the ones 
who survive.''
  General Petraeus said this summer we should not forget that 
Afghanistan has been known as the ``graveyard of empires.''
  Congressional Quarterly reported on September 17 that members of both 
parties were ``fretting openly about a lack of progress in the 
conflict.''
  As much as Americans love our troops, we need to realize that the 
Defense Department is not just a military organization. It is also the 
world's largest bureaucracy. Every gigantic bureaucracy always wants to 
expand its mission and frequently exaggerates its challenges so it can 
get more money and personnel.
  The Taliban guerillas have almost no money, and a top U.N. 
antiterrorism official said recently that al Qaeda is having 
``difficulty in maintaining credibility.''
  National defense is the most legitimate function of our Federal 
Government. However, that does not mean Congress should automatically 
or blindly approve the Pentagon's every request or never criticize its 
waste.
  Much of what we are doing in Afghanistan is of a civic, charitable or 
governmental nature, like building schools and teaching agribusiness. 
But the Defense Department should not be the ``Department of Foreign 
Aid,'' or much of our military primarily a very large version of the 
Peace Corps.
  In March, the President promised a ``dramatic increase'' in our 
effort in Afghanistan, including ``agricultural specialists and 
educators, engineers and lawyers.'' Why, when we are $12 trillion in 
debt, are we spending mega-billions in Afghanistan doing practically 
everything for them? We are spending money we do not have on a very 
unnecessary war and jeopardizing our own future in the process.
  Many people think that all conservatives support this war. Well, I 
believe that there are many millions of conservatives who do not and 
who want us to bring our troops home, the sooner the better. In fact, 
this war goes very much against traditional conservatism.
  When I was in high school, I worked as a bag boy at an A&P grocery 
store making $1.10 an hour. I sent my first paycheck, $19 and some 
cents, as a contribution to the Barry Goldwater campaign. I am still 
one of the most conservative Members of Congress.
  But this war has required huge deficit spending, almost half a 
trillion in war and war-related costs for Afghanistan. Fiscal 
conservatives should be the people most upset about this. This war has 
spent mega-billions in foreign aid, because probably at least half of 
what we have done and are doing there is of a civic or charitable 
nature. Traditional conservatives have been the strongest opponents of 
massive foreign aid.

                              {time}  1845

  We went into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan under U.N. resolutions, 
yet conservatives have traditionally been the biggest critics of the 
U.N. Conservatives have traditionally been the biggest opponents of 
world government because it is too elitist and arrogant and too far 
removed from control by the people. We should not now support what is 
essentially world government just because it is being run by our 
military.
  I am a veteran and I am very pro military, but I am for national 
defense, not international defense. I know that the leaders of 
Afghanistan want us to keep spending hundreds of billions there, but we 
cannot afford it. We cannot afford it economically, and as far as I am 
concerned, it is not worth one more American life.
  I know that when leaders of the Defense Department and the State 
Department and the National Security Council all get together in their 
meetings, that all of the pressures are on getting involved or staying 
involved in just about every military, political or ethnic dispute all 
around the world. I know that they want to be considered as great world 
statesmen, but 8 years in Afghanistan is not only enough, it is far too 
long. It is time, Madam Speaker, to come home. It is time to start 
putting our own people and our own country first once again.

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