[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 55 (Tuesday, April 17, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H1852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, like my colleagues in the House, I was home 
for the last 2 weeks on our Easter break. It continues to amaze me why 
we in Congress do not listen to the American people.
  I represent the Third Congressional District of North Carolina--the 
home of Camp Lejeune Marine Base, Cherry Point Marine Air Station, 
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and over 60,000 retired veterans. Not 
one person has said to me that we need to stay in Afghanistan. I'm not 
exaggerating, Mr. Speaker. Everyone I saw and had a conversation with, 
when the issue of Afghanistan came up, said, Get out. Get out now.
  That's why I wanted to be on the floor today, because the 
administration keeps saying, Well, in 2014, in 2014.
  Yesterday, when driving back to D.C., I was listening to C SPAN, and 
I heard an interview with Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey. I have 
a lot of respect for both men, but it was kind of vague when Secretary 
Panetta said to the reporter who asked him our plans for 2014, Well, 
you know, we're hoping that we can train the Afghans to stabilize their 
own country.
  Mr. Speaker, I say this respectfully: That's an iffy proposition at 
best.
  In a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, only 30 percent of the 
American people say the war has been worth fighting. The citizens of 
this country are tired of sending their loved ones to die for a country 
we have not been able to change in a decade. I'll even go further and 
say this: It has never changed in the history of Afghanistan going back 
to Alexander the Great. So why are we still there? Again, people say, 
Well, we've got to stabilize the country.
  We can't even stabilize America's economy.
  Sometimes it gets a little bit ridiculous when I look at all the 
money being spent overseas, particularly in a country like Afghanistan, 
and we say to the people of eastern North Carolina and to the people in 
the 50 States, We don't have money to fix your infrastructure; but yet, 
Mr. Karzai, you corrupt leader, we are proud to keep sending you $10 
billion a month.
  Talking about Mr. Karzai brings me to an editorial written by Eugene 
Robinson, a syndicated columnist, and it's titled, ``Afghanistan and 
Indefensible Costs.'' I feel that Mr. Robinson, who wrote this in 2010, 
could be writing it right now in 2012, and it would have even more 
meaning. I quote from Mr. Karzai:

       The time has come to reduce military operations. The time 
     has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in 
     Afghanistan . . . to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily 
     Afghan life.

  This is what President Karzai said to the Washington Post. In his 
column in 2010 that he could be writing today, in April 2012, this is 
what Mr. Robinson said in response to Karzai:

       All right then. Let's save American lives and a ton of 
     money. Let's oblige him.

  Mr. Robinson, thank you.
  I hope and pray that this Congress, when we debate the DOD bill in 
May--and we have amendments from both sides saying that we must have a 
more defined end to this involvement in Afghanistan--that we will pass 
some of these legislative amendments.
  Mr. Speaker, I've got so many of these posters. I've brought with me 
today one of a tragic scene of a soldier, marine, airman, Navy, 
whatever it might be, in a coffin, going to his or her grave. That 
brings me to my last point: the ``Body of War,'' which is a production 
by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro. I'm going to be talking more about 
this, because this young man is paralyzed from his breast down, and 
about what he has to go through to live. This Congress needs to meet 
its constitutional responsibility. Any other involvement by our country 
needs to be a declaration of war.
  Mr. Robinson, thank you again.
  And I close. God, please, God, please continue to bless our men and 
women in uniform, the families of our men and women in uniform, the 
wounded and their families. And God, please continue to bless America.

                          ____________________