[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 24, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H4598-H4599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ENDLESS WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, the week before last, the 
greatly respected conservative columnist Thomas Sowell wrote:

       What lessons might we learn from the whole experience of 
     the Iraq war? If nothing else, we should never again imagine 
     that we can engage in nation building in the sweeping sense 
     that term acquired in Iraq--least of all, building a 
     democratic Arab nation in a region of the world that has 
     never had such a thing in a history that goes back thousands 
     of years.

  The week before last, the longtime conservative leader David Keene 
wrote in the Washington Times about our Middle East wars:

       The concept of U.S. national interests was stretched beyond 
     any rational meaning with the argument that ``democracies 
     don't go to war with democracies,'' so rebuilding the world 
     in our own image was seen as our ultimate national interest.

  Mr. Keene went on and said:

       America took on more than we could possibly handle. The 
     result is a generation of young Americans who have never 
     known peace, a decade in which thousands of our best have 
     died or been maimed with little to show for their sacrifices, 
     our enemies have multiplied, and the national debt has 
     skyrocketed.

  The week before last, the publisher of The American Conservative 
magazine, Jon Utley, wrote an article entitled: ``12 Reasons America 
Doesn't Win Its Wars.'' The Magazine said:

       Too many parties now benefit from perpetual warmongering 
     for the U.S. to ever conclude its military conflicts.


[[Page H4599]]


  Mr. Utley quoted conservative columnist Peggy Noonan, who wrote:

       We spend too much on the military, which not only adds to 
     our debt, but guarantees that our weapons will be used.

  She quoted one expert, who said:

       Policymakers will find uses for them to justify their 
     expense, which will implicate us in crises that are none of 
     our business.

  Conservative icon William F. Buckley, shortly before he passed away, 
came out strongly against the war in Iraq. He wrote:

       A respect for the power of the United States is engendered 
     by our success in engagements in which we take part. A point 
     is reached when tenacity conveys not steadfastness of purpose 
     but misapplication of pride.

  He added that if the war dragged on, as it certainly has:

       There has been skepticism about our venture, there will be 
     contempt.

  A couple of weeks ago, we saw an Iraq army, which we have trained for 
years and on which we have spent megabillions, cutting and running at 
the first sign of a fight. We should not be sending our young men and 
women to lead and/or fight in any war where the people in that country 
are not willing to fight for themselves.
  Mr. Speaker, fiscal conservatives should be the ones most horrified 
by and most opposed to the horrendous waste and trillions of dollars we 
have spent on these very unnecessary wars in the Middle East.
  Last week, 19 Republicans voted for a resolution saying that we 
should bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The Republican 
leadership of the Foreign Affairs Committee did not want any 
Republicans to speak in favor of that resolution, so Mr. Jones, Mr. 
Sanford, and Mr. Massie requested, and received, time from the 
Democratic sponsor, Mr. McGovern.
  I did not want to do that, but I at least wanted to point out today 
that there has been nothing conservative about our policy of permanent, 
forever, endless war in the Middle East.
  In his most famous speech, President Eisenhower warned us against the 
military industrial complex. We should not be going to war in wars that 
are more about money and power and prestige than they are about any 
serious threat to the United States. I think President Eisenhower would 
be shocked at how far we have gone down that path that he warned us 
against.

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