[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23345]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             IT'S TIME FOR MORAL LEADERSHIP IN AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, President Obama has often said that America 
must restore its moral leadership in the world. He took a very 
important step toward doing that last week when he spoke at the United 
Nations. In his speech, the President called for a new era of 
engagement and diplomacy. He called for international cooperation to 
address such critically important issues as nuclear nonproliferation, 
climate change and economic recovery. He also spoke about banning the 
use of torture and his decision to close Guantanamo as examples of 
America's new desire to abide by the rule of law.
  I welcome the President's words. They show that President Obama is 
committed to peace and human rights. Those are the foundations of moral 
leadership. But now the President is facing the greatest test of his 
moral leadership as he reviews his strategy in Afghanistan.
  The generals are urging him to pour in more troops. I'm sure there 
are others who are telling him to escalate the fighting just so he can 
look ``tough on terrorism.'' But as the President makes his next 
decisions about Afghanistan, I would urge him to make the tough 
choices. I would urge him to base his decision-making on the following 
facts: the American people do not believe the war in Afghanistan is 
worth fighting and want to draw down the numbers of troops there. 
Sending in more troops will cause the Afghan people to see us as 
occupiers. And history has told us that the Afghan people always resist 
foreign occupations and always succeed.
  America cannot afford to pour billions of dollars more into a futile 
occupation when we are going through the worst economic crisis of the 
past 70 years. We cannot, in good conscience, ask our brave troops to 
take more casualties without a clear mission, and we don't have one. We 
cannot ask our military families to continue to sacrifice when they 
have already suffered so very much.
  And finally, we have no exit strategy. After the disaster of Iraq, 
the American people will not stand for another endless foreign 
occupation, one that will cost many lives and not make our country any 
safer.
  Afghanistan is a difficult problem, but the President still has good 
options. He can order the Pentagon to develop a troop redeployment plan 
and a timetable for withdrawal. At the same time, he can be bold and 
shift to a new mission that will be far more likely to succeed because 
it will actually have the support of the Afghan people.
  This new mission in Afghanistan would include economic development, 
education, infrastructure, humanitarian assistance, better governance 
and improved local policing and intelligence to hunt down extremists. 
This is what the Afghan people want from America so that they can have 
hope for a better future and reject violent extremism.
  Mr. Speaker, President Obama deserves credit for reviewing his 
decision earlier than expected to send more troops to Afghanistan. He 
is showing political courage, and he is showing an open mind by 
considering other alternatives. I urge him to choose a new course, one 
that will make our country proud and the world a much safer place.

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