[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]




                     WORLD AIDS DAY AND AFGHANISTAN

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge today, 
December 1, as World AIDS Day when all of us focus on that devastating 
disease. I'd like to pay a special tribute to the Thomas Street Clinic 
in Houston, Texas, that for decades has served the hopeless and 
sometimes the helpless. I am so very glad that they are giving people 
life and opportunity.
  Thank you, Thomas Street Clinic. And I was delighted to introduce 
legislation in support of them.
  Mr. Speaker, on another topic very quickly, let me suggest that the 
President has been deliberative and thoughtful. It is interesting that 
those who criticize created the devastation and the havoc that is going 
on now in Afghanistan by taking away from our focus on Afghanistan 
after 9/11 and focusing on Iraq, a distracting war. Yet we love those 
who served, and we mourn for those we have lost.
  We now want not to mourn for more. We want to find a way that we can 
introduce diplomacy, democracy, and getting the Government in 
Afghanistan to take care of its own people.
  This is a war of insurgents. This is a civil war. And, therefore, we 
must find a way to handle this in a manner that serves all.

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