[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 708]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            BOOKS, NOT BOMBS

  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, I want to call the House's attention to the 
work of Greg Mortenson, who has built schools in Pakistan and 
Afghanistan and written two bestsellers about it. Mr. Mortenson has a 
lot to say about the power of education to dramatically improve the 
lives of people, especially girls and women, and how education can 
bring peace to the world.
  Mr. Mortenson began his work in Pakistan, where he originally went to 
climb K2, the world's second-tallest mountain. After the climb, he was 
very ill, and he was helped by the people of an impoverished village. 
To thank them, Mr. Mortenson built the town's first school. He wrote a 
widely acclaimed book about the project called ``Three Cups of Tea: One 
Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time.'' Mr. 
Mortenson then went on to build schools in Afghanistan.
  So far, he has built 131 schools, educating 58,000 children with a 
special emphasis on education for girls. He has written a second book 
about his remarkable work entitled, ``Stones Into Schools: Promoting 
Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.''

                              {time}  1930

  Mr. Speaker, in a recent interview with Bill Moyers, Mortenson 
explains how the education of girls can transform lives and whole 
countries. He said, and I quote, ``The education of girls has very 
powerful impacts on society. Number one, infant mortality is reduced. 
Number two, the population is reduced. And, number three, the quality 
of health improves.''
  Mr. Speaker, he also explained how the education of girls can be a 
powerful weapon against terrorism. He said, ``Culturally, when someone 
goes on jihad they should get permission from their mother first. If 
they don't, it's very shameful. But when women are educated, they are 
less likely to encourage their sons to get into violence. I've seen 
that happen over the last decade in rural areas of Afghanistan and 
Pakistan.''
  Mr. Speaker, in fact, Mortenson said that when men leave the Taliban, 
it's often because their mothers said what you're doing is not a good 
thing. It's not in the name of Islam. He went on to say, ``I ask widows 
and women in rural areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan, what do you want? 
They say, we don't want our babies to die, and we want our children to 
go to school.'' Mr. Speaker, he said, ``we need to listen to those 
women. It doesn't mean we just go around the world holding hands and 
drinking tea and having peace.'' Actually, I would say, as an aside, 
why not.
  But he continued that he really did ``believe that there's a lot of 
power behind love and compassion and resisting and listening to 
people.'' Now, some people might call Mr. Mortenson a fuzzy-brained 
peacenik, but he isn't. Far from it. He opposes the Taliban and he 
believes that there's a place for American troops in Afghanistan. His 
books have even influenced our military commanders, including General 
McChrystal and General Petraeus.
  Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has 
made Mr. Mortenson an adviser. So Mr. Mortenson isn't saying let's pick 
up and leave Afghanistan and sing ``Kumbaya.'' But he does want to 
change our mission there, as I do. He wants to see much more emphasis 
on diplomacy, economic development, better policing, a better legal 
system to protect women's rights and of course, more schools.
  These are some of the cornerstones of SMART security, which I've been 
advocating because, Mr. Speaker, President Obama is sending 30,000 more 
troops to Afghanistan. It will cost $1 million per year to support each 
of those soldiers. Greg Mortenson says that we could build 30 to 40 
schools with $1 million and educate up to 30,000 young people for the 
cost of one soldier. I think that's a far better way to win the hearts 
and minds of the Afghan people and defeat violent terrorism.
  Mr. Mortenson is really on to something. I think we should all listen 
to what he has to say. There has to be a smarter way.

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