[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 19, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H1571]
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, this week is the 10th anniversary of the 
unnecessary war in Iraq. I urge my fellow Members and the American 
public to watch MSNBC's documentary, ``Hubris: The Selling of the Iraq 
War,'' on Friday night of this week at 9 o'clock. The documentary sheds 
light on the manipulated intelligence that got us into Iraq.
  Unfortunately, we have not learned from all we lost in Iraq, as 
President Obama has also committed us to an additional 10 years in 
Afghanistan thanks to a strategic security agreement he made without 
Congress voting on it or even debating it.
  This weekend I read two articles that really spoke to the corruption 
happening in Afghanistan. One was an AP article I read in my hometown 
paper titled: ``U.S. Helicopter Crashes in Afghanistan Killing One.'' 
And the other is from The New York Times titled: ``Afghans Protest U.S. 
Special Forces: Complaints about Night Raids Sparked Cause for 
Withdrawal.''
  I will quote from the first article:

       The crashes come as United States officials are grappling 
     with tough talk from President Hamid Karzai whose recent 
     anti-American rhetoric has complicated relations at a time 
     when international troops are withdrawing from the war.

  The article continues saying:

       Karzai started the week by accusing the United States and 
     the Taliban of being in collusion on two deadly suicide 
     bombings last weekend in an effort to create instability and 
     give security forces an excuse to stay.

  Karzai is one person we cannot trust, and yet we are funding him $8 
billion a month. The New York Times article states that Karzai issued a 
statement that ``referred to U.S. forces in Afghanistan as `infidels,' 
'' echoing language used by the Taliban.
  Mr. Speaker, I just do not understand why more Members of the House 
are not more concerned about President Obama's 10-year security 
agreement to keep our troops in Afghanistan until 2024--10 more years 
after 2014--2024. It makes absolutely no sense. We are financially 
broke as a Nation.
  I am currently in the process of finding out exactly how much money 
it is going to cost the American taxpayer to keep our troops in this 
corrupt country for another decade past 2014. Whether the cost is $1 or 
$1 trillion is too much.
  Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and I have introduced H.R. 125, the 
Congressional Oversight of Afghanistan Agreement Act of 2013, to make 
sure that the President does not bypass Congress as he continues to do, 
but gives us a chance to debate any security agreement that will keep 
our troops in Afghanistan past 2014.
  Mr. Speaker, it is our job as Representatives to make sure the voices 
of the American people are being heard, and it is only fair that we 
have a debate in Congress on how long our country's future involvement 
with Afghanistan will continue.
  Mr. Speaker, as always, I bring down a poster that shows the cost of 
war. In this case, you can see these marines, Mr. Speaker, carrying a 
coffin, a flag-draped coffin. How many more coffins have to be carried 
by the soldiers and the marines and the airmen and the Navy of this 
country when the American people demand that Congress pull our troops 
out of Afghanistan? It is too long to be there until 2014; it is too 
long to be there until 2024.
  May God bless our men and women in uniform, and God please wake up 
Congress to bring our troops home.

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