[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 176 (Tuesday, December 1, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H13375]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE PROTRACTED WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

  (Mr. GRAYSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GRAYSON. Mr. Speaker, as we await the President's speech 
regarding Afghanistan, there's a point that I wanted to make; and as is 
so often the case, that point is better made by somebody else. So I 
yield to Chinese General Sun Tzu, who wrote the following words 2,500 
years ago:
  ``In war victory should be swift.
  ``If victory is slow, men tire, morale sags. Sieges exhaust strength; 
protracted campaigns strain the public treasury.
  ``If men are tired, morale low, strength exhausted, treasure spent, 
then the feudal lords will exploit the disarray and attack. This even 
the wisest will be powerless to mend.
  ``I have heard that in war, haste can be folly. But never have I seen 
a delay that was wise.
  ``No nation has ever benefited from a protracted war.''
  Mr. Speaker, that was true 2,500 years ago, and it's true today. We 
do not benefit from the protracted war in Afghanistan.

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