[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 22 (Thursday, February 3, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E103]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DENOUNCING RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR MONGERING

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PAUL A. GOSAR

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 3, 2022

  Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to address the drumbeat for 
war in Eastern Europe we have been listening to for weeks now.
  For over two weeks the American people have watched with intense 
concern and uneasiness the heightened tensions between Ukraine and 
Russia.
  It is not so much the border issues between these nations that 
concerns Americans, but the loose talk of the Biden Administration to 
involve the United States in a hot war against Russia.
  Americans do not dread that territorial disputes are taking place 
over 6,000 miles away. They dread that the Biden administration may 
involve them in another costly, stupid war, one with potentially 
devastating results for their families.
  The foreign policy issues of Eastern Europe are complex, but the law 
is not. The Constitution of the United States, written plain as day in 
Article I, Section 8, Clause 11, gives Congress the so le power to 
declare war.
  No one else.
  Not the president, not the lifelong bureaucrats in the State 
Department, or the diversity-trained generals in the Pentagon, and 
especially not the quote-unquote ``experts'' educated beyond their 
capacity.
  Only the people's elected representatives.
  I have served in this body for over a decade, and it's clear to me 
that Congress has no interest in picking up its constitutional 
prerogative or making itself accountable to the voters.
  In their absence, I believe the need for action must devolve to the 
states. Federalism requires as much.
  In Arizona, State Senator Wendy Rogers has introduced a bill called 
the Defend the Guard Act. It stipulates that unless Congress has 
formally declared war, Arizona National Guardsmen are prohibited from 
being deployed into active combat overseas.
  Rogers is a retired Lieutenant Colonel who served for twenty years in 
the U.S. Air Force. And I think she speaks for a lot of soldiers who 
are tired of being sent into undeclared, no-win wars that go on for 
decades.
  One of America's finest soldiers, two-time Medal of Honor recipient 
and Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, said of our troops, ``We 
Americans who will protect our flag should have a voice in where it is 
flown.''
  I agree.
  The United States of America has the greatest, bravest fighting force 
in the history of the world.
  And if Congress has one ounce of respect for their courage and 
sacrifice, and the founding document they swore an oath to defend with 
their lives, we would vote before ever sending them into battle.
  Our names should be on the dotted line before their boots ever hit 
the ground, whether in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world.
  And until Congress declares war as required by the Constitution, not 
a single Guardsmen from Arizona or any other state should be deployed 
into combat.
  I believe Arizona ought to be the first state to pass the Defend the 
Guard Act and lead the way in protecting our sons and daughters in 
uniform from federal abuse and challenge this Congress to start 
following every part of the U.S. Constitution.
  If history has taught us anything it is this: we have lost trillions 
of dollars and tens of thousands of American lives fighting ridiculous 
wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. We have the best military force 
in the world and some of the most inept military leaders. And to be 
fair, the political rules imposed on our military leaders, the so 
called Rules of Engagement, deprive our military of a clear path to 
victory. Indeed, the political aspects of those wars, to ``build 
nations'' or to win hearts, is as inane as it was unsuccessful. War is 
to destroy the enemy, not build nations.
  Historical failures of Western countries confronting Russia 
militarily in Eastern Europe in the winter taught us the foolhardiness 
of such an effort. We cannot make the same mistake, in a conflict which 
we have no justification to be in to begin with.
  Most critically, the United States has no interest to protect there. 
Certainly no interest strong enough to risk war with Russia.
  I denounce the war mongering.

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