[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 26 (Thursday, February 16, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H813]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1110
    HONORING THE COURAGEOUS PATRIOTISM OF ACTIVE DUTY ARMY OFFICER 
                    LIEUTENANT COLONEL DANIEL DAVIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. McDermott) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, this country has many faces of bravery, 
and today I want to recognize the courageous patriotism of active duty 
Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis, who recently returned 
from a second tour in Afghanistan.
  He traveled thousands of miles throughout the country, patrolled with 
American troops in eight provinces, and spoke to hundreds of Afghan and 
American security officials and civilians about conditions on the 
ground.
  Convinced that senior leaders of this war, both uniformed and 
civilian, have intentionally and consistently misled the American 
people about the conditions in Afghanistan, Davis wrote an 84-page 
report challenging the military's assertion that the war in Afghanistan 
has been a success.
  This report, which I read, was written at great risk to Lieutenant 
Colonel Davis' military career and personal life, and it forces us to 
confront uncomfortable truths about the war in Afghanistan and about 
the decision-making that has led us to our current situation.
  Davis reports:

       Senior-ranking U.S. military leaders have so distorted the 
     truth when communicating with the U.S. Congress and American 
     people in regards to conditions on the ground in Afghanistan 
     that the truth has become unrecognizable.

  I strongly encourage every Member of Congress to read this report as 
soon as possible. It's like the Pentagon papers in its power. After 
reading it, you will find it impossible not to heed Davis' advice to 
hold public congressional hearings on the state of the Afghan war.
  More than 5,500 Americans were killed or wounded in Afghanistan in 
2011 alone. ``How many more soldiers,'' he says, ``must die in support 
of a mission that is not succeeding?'' That is his question. Each and 
every one of us ought to ask himself or herself this difficult 
question. Even our intelligence agencies are skeptical about the Afghan 
war--if it is salvageable and if our objectives are realistic.
  Last month, a National Intelligence Estimate given to President Obama 
painted a bleak picture about our efforts in Afghanistan. At current 
levels of foreign assistance by the U.S. and Europe, which will be hard 
to sustain under the budgetary pressures, the NIE does not forecast 
rapid improvements in Afghan security forces or governance or in the 
removal of the Taliban.
  I fear that we have forgotten the difference between respect for our 
military leaders and unquestioning deference to them. Questioning the 
war's strategies and objectives and consequences all too often 
discredits one's patriotism and impugns one's motives. Yet that 
unflinching assessment is precisely what the lieutenant colonel 
implores us to do.
  After 10 years in Afghanistan, what is the wisest course for us now?
  Sadly, we cannot even begin to answer that question because the 
rampant over-classification of information has made it nearly 
impossible for Congress to fully oversee, evaluate and to, perhaps, 
recast our war efforts.
  Recently, declassified information about the Afghan war exposed 
brutal realities that have been withheld from the public--American 
troops incidentally and accidentally killing Afghan civilians, 
widespread corruption in the U.S.-backed Karzai government and 
revelations about Pakistan's assistance to Afghan insurgents, to name 
just a few.
  Not every American has traveled 9,000 miles and witnessed what 
Lieutenant Colonel Davis has seen, heard, and understood; but we can in 
this body, and must, begin to investigate the charges of deception and 
dishonesty in his report. For our democracy to work, congressional 
officials and the public must have access to this type of information.
  The American public, which bears the extraordinary cost of this war 
both in money and in pain, deserves to know the truth. The ancient 
Greek playwright Aeschylus cautioned: ``In war, truth is the first 
casualty.''
  It is time to reclaim the truth of our war in Afghanistan by having 
congressional hearings. They should begin now. Some of us believe we 
ought to bring the troops home more quickly than the President, but we 
have to have hearings so that the American public will understand why 
it is this action should be taken.

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