[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 5, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1774]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

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                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 5, 2011

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, the war in Afghanistan will mark its 10 
year anniversary this coming Friday. After 10 years, it is clear money 
is being wasted on military spending and wars that aren't making us 
safer, and are doing nothing for ordinary people in Afghanistan and 
Pakistan and beyond. It's working people in Michigan, and throughout 
the rest of the country, who understand that--but unfortunately not 
enough of my colleagues in Congress.
  Sometimes it's only outside of Washington, DC, that the fundamental 
common sense of Americans shows up. This year the National Conference 
of Mayors passed a powerful resolution calling on the U.S. government 
to end the war in Afghanistan and to ``bring the war money home.'' It 
was the first time since the height of the Vietnam War, in 1971, that 
the Mayors took a clear anti-war position. The mayors understand that 
the money is there, but it's being diverted--away from jobs, away from 
the crucial investments in people that keep our workers employed, our 
children healthy, and our elders safe.
  Americans get it--64 percent of Americans already say that the war in 
Afghanistan is just not worth fighting. But it sure seems like no one 
is listening. Because just this year, taxpayers in my congressional 
district are paying about $172 million just for our share of the war in 
Afghanistan. That war isn't doing anything to make us safer--the CIA 
and all the rest of the intelligence agencies admit there are only 50 
or 100 al-Qaeda members even left in Afghanistan. But the numbers of 
civilian casualties are higher than they've been since this war began 
ten years ago.
  And that 172 million in tax dollars? If we weren't wasting it on a 
failing war in Afghanistan we could use that money for something that 
really might help keep us safe--like hiring 3,275 firefighters for a 
year. We could retrofit 53,807 houses in my district to provide 
renewable electricity. Those war dollars could cover health care for 
22,447 of our brave veterans, so many of whom are coming home from the 
wars with devastating physical and emotional injuries. Any of those 
things would keep us safer than wars that create more terrorists with 
every civilian casualty.
  We can't afford to keep fighting counterproductive wars. The wars in 
Afghanistan and Iraq and Pakistan are not keeping us safe. It's time to 
end them; it's time to spend the money we need to bring our troops 
safely and quickly home. We have too much to rebuild in our cities and 
across our country, to waste our hard-earned tax dollars. Americans get 
it. After 10 years, it's time to bring our troops, and our war dollars 
home.

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