[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 127 (Wednesday, September 19, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H6071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       END THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, for several years now I have come to the 
floor of the House and called for an end to the war in Afghanistan, the 
longest war in the history of the United States. I have been joined by 
others--some Democrats, some Republicans, some liberals, some 
conservatives--who have consistently raised their voices in opposition 
to the war.
  Today, once again, I stand here in the aftermath of more senseless 
killings of Americans, not only by Taliban forces, but by forces 
associated with the Afghan Government--a government we support and are 
told to trust.
  It is hard to believe that in the midst of a Presidential campaign so 
little is being said about the war. During the Republican National 
Convention, nominee Mitt Romney never once mentioned the war or the 
troops in his acceptance speech--not even a sentence, not a phrase, 
nothing. As one who has been to Afghanistan twice, met with our troops, 
talked to returning veterans and been to visit them in the hospital, I 
find that silence shocking and offensive.
  I also find offensive the fact that this House of Representatives has 
refused to even debate this issue. When the Department of Defense 
authorization bill came to the floor earlier this year, the Republican 
leadership of this House refused to allow a bipartisan amendment that I 
and Walter Jones of North Carolina offered. That amendment called for 
an accelerated withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. The 
chairman of the Rules Committee at the time said there were a lot of 
other important issues to be debated on the defense bill. My question 
is: What in the world is more important than this war?
  The Afghan Government is one of the most corrupt in the world. Our 
troops have already accomplished their mission, not only ridding 
Afghanistan of al Qaeda, but killing Osama bin Laden. By the way, they 
got him in Pakistan, not Afghanistan. So why are we still there?
  There is a culture in Washington that engulfs both Republicans and 
Democrats; it is a culture that makes it easy to go to war but 
impossible to get out.
  There is no question that ending the war in Afghanistan will be 
messy; there is no nice, neat way to do it. There will be no signing of 
a peace treaty, no grand parade.
  The President tells us that we will turn over control of security 
operations to the Afghans by 2014, but it is unclear how many U.S. 
forces will remain or what their role will be.
  And Mitt Romney says nothing.
  Mr. Speaker, there ought to be a major portion of this Presidential 
campaign dedicated to the issue of Afghanistan. Vague deadlines or 
generalities no longer suffice. Too many brave American service men and 
women have paid with their lives. And while candidates talk about the 
debt our government carries, no one points out that we borrow the 
billions to pay for this war. We don't even pay for it; it goes on the 
credit card. And we've been doing this for over a decade in this 
Congress. We can't spend one additional penny to feed hungry children 
or create a single job or build a single bridge without finding an 
offset; yet when it comes to war, there are no offsets, no new revenue, 
just another blank check. Something is terribly wrong with this 
picture.
  Finally, I would remind my colleagues here in the House that we are 
all responsible for this war, and we are complicit in the silence, lack 
of debate, and lack of oversight. That is wrong. We owe our service men 
and women so much better. We owe this country better.
  End the war and bring our troops home now.

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