[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[House]
[Page 31846]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     END THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN NOW

  (Mr. GRAYSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GRAYSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in favor of peace. I am joined 
in that by nearly 100,000 people who have signed a petition urging 
Congress to stop the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. This is the 
petition from the group Rethink Afghanistan.
  President Obama has decided to send more than 30,000 extra troops to 
Afghanistan at a cost of more than $100 billion a year, but America 
cannot afford a war that does not make us safer; and Congress has the 
power to stop that escalation. Vote ``no'' on any spending bill that 
would send more troops to Afghanistan.
  I agree with that petition. It took only about 1,000 Special Forces 
troops to overthrow the Taliban in 2001. Why would we need 100 times 
that many to keep them out now? This occupation is an 18th-century 
strategy against a 14th-century enemy.
  We have done enough to help and secure the Pashtuns, the Tajiks and 
the Hazara. It's about time we start to think of ourselves. Instead of 
spending billions on the war, we need to spend it on America. End the 
war now.

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