[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 27, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H4068]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1010
                              AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, it has been very interesting the last couple 
of weeks. I have been listening to my colleagues on both sides talking 
about the debt, the deficit, spending, cutting, all of this, going on 
and on. Then I got to thinking, and I heard about this book and I went 
out and bought the book. The book title is ``Funding the Enemy: How 
U.S. Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban,'' by Douglas Wissing. The book is 
a must-read for the American people.
  I want to share a synopsis of this book:

       With the vague intention of winning hearts and minds in 
     Afghanistan, the U.S. Government has mismanaged billions of 
     development and logistics dollars, bolstered the drug trade, 
     and dumped untold millions into Taliban hands.

  That is the sobering message of this scathing critique of our war 
effort in Afghanistan by investigative journalist Douglas Wissing. 
According to Wissing, America has already lost the war. It draws on the 
voices of hundreds of combat soldiers, ordinary Afghans, private 
contractors, aid workers, international consultants, and government 
officials. From these contacts, it became glaringly clear, as the 
author details, that American taxpayer dollars have been flowing into 
Taliban coffers.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to read to you a critique of the book given 
by former State Department foreign service officer Peter van Buren:

       Sober, sad, and important, ``Funding the Enemy'' peels back 
     the layers of American engagement in Afghanistan to reveal 
     its rotten core: that United States' dollars meant for the 
     country's future instead fund the insurgency and support the 
     Taliban. Paying for both sides of the war ensures America's 
     ultimate defeat.

  Mr. Speaker, I bring this to the floor for this reason: I continue to 
be amazed that both sides want to continue to spend $10 billion a month 
in Afghanistan. It is borrowed money from the Chinese, and there is no 
concern. We just spend more and more money to support President Karzai, 
who is a corrupt leader. And as this book says, have the American 
taxpayer bankroll the Taliban.
  The American people have said in poll after poll: Bring our troops 
home now. As many as 72 to 73 percent of the American people say bring 
our people home now. Our soldiers have won the war. Bin Laden is dead; 
al Qaeda is dispersed.
  I hope that Members of Congress will find the time to read this book, 
and I hope the American people will read this book and be outraged, as 
I am outraged, how our taxpayers are funding the Taliban so they can 
kill Americans.
  Wake up, Congress. Let's get together and bring our troops home from 
Afghanistan and do what's right for the American people. But more 
importantly, do what's right for our men and women in uniform.
  Mr. Speaker, I close by asking God to please bless our men and women 
in uniform, to please bless the families of our men and women in 
uniform. And God, within Your loving arms, hold the families who've 
given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. I ask God to 
bless the House and Senate, my friends on both sides, that we will do 
what is right in the eyes of God. And I ask God to bless President 
Obama that he will do what is right in the eyes of God. And I will ask 
three times, God please, God please, God please continue to bless 
America.

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