[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 84 (Wednesday, June 6, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H3485]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          SMART SECURITY: BY HELPING PEOPLE, WE HELP OURSELVES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Woolsey) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, last week, a bipartisan group of Members 
convened a panel discussion on Capitol Hill. Actually, it was an 
informal hearing about the Afghanistan war. One of the speakers was 
Lieutenant Colonel Danny Davis who, after two tours in Afghanistan, has 
courageously come forward, speaking truth to power with his assessment 
of the situation on the ground and his belief that the war is wrong.
  I wish more of my colleagues had been there to hear what Lieutenant 
Colonel Davis had to say. He talked about the arrogance and 
stubbornness that allows our country to continue this military 
occupation long after it's proven futile. He discussed the strain and 
stress we put on our Armed Forces. And, as he explained, the Taliban 
are stronger now than they were. Push them down, he said, and they pop 
up in another area.
  After the most powerful military surge in the history of 
civilization, we still haven't been able to keep them down. This 
shouldn't be a major revelation. When will we learn? We are emboldening 
the very radical forces that we're trying to defeat.
  It's common sense that thousands and thousands of occupying U.S. 
troops will breed and do breed resentment and drive the Afghan people 
straight into the arms of the Taliban. Every additional day that we 
keep boots on the ground in Afghanistan is another day that the Taliban 
wins over more recruits and poses a greater threat to our safety and 
our interests.
  Here's a novel idea, Mr. Speaker. How about we win over the Afghan 
people instead of alienating them and giving them common cause with 
insurgents? How about we move to implement a SMART security agenda 
where war is the very last resort?
  Under SMART Security, we would emphasize diplomacy and development. 
We would seek peaceful conflict resolution instead of military force. 
And instead of launching drone attacks on troubled nations half a world 
away, SMART Security would have us empowering and investing in the 
people who live there. And why? Because it's the right thing to do. 
Absolutely. But also because the goodwill it engenders works to our 
benefit because, by helping people, we help ourselves.
  The foundation of SMART Security is the recognition that killing more 
people will not make us safer, that it will undermine our national 
security instead of contributing to it. But if we help send Afghan 
girls to school, if we help Afghan women get proper prenatal care, if 
we help Afghanistan rebuild its infrastructure and its economy, these 
are the things that will advance in our interests, and our security 
will be better off.

                              {time}  1020

  A more Democratic, more prosperous Afghanistan is one where the 
extremists can't get a toehold, where the Taliban can't exploit and 
feed off people's desperation. And by the way, Mr. Speaker, we can do 
SMART Security at a fraction of the cost of our current approach--
pennies on the dollar.
  Humanitarian aid is a lot more cost effective than weapons systems 
and military occupation. The current Afghanistan policy has been given 
a chance to work, and it has failed spectacularly. The time for 
patience, after more than a decade of war, has long since come and 
gone.
  As a matter of moral decency, fiscal sanity, and common sense, it's 
time now to bring our troops home.

                          ____________________