[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16446]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         BRING OUR TROOPS HOME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, a couple weeks ago, I had the privilege and 
the honor to visit our wounded at Walter Reed-Bethesda. It so happened 
that five marines from Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in my district 
were there. Four of the five had lost both legs--double amputees. And 
the one kid that had his leg blown off by an IED, I went into his room, 
as I did the other four, but this one had a question for me. His mom 
was sitting in the room. And he said, Congressman, why are we still in 
Afghanistan? And I told the young lance corporal, I don't know, I 
cannot answer it. I don't understand why we are not pushing the 
President to bring our troops home before 2014.
  And that leads me to a quote by Ronald Reagan from his book entitled, 
``An American Life: The Autobiography,'' based on Reagan's life. And it 
dealt with Lebanon, and he was the President at the time. ``Perhaps we 
didn't appreciate fully enough the depth of the hatred and the 
complexity of the problems that made the Middle East such a jungle. 
Perhaps the idea of a suicide car bomber committing mass murder to gain 
instant entry to paradise was so foreign to our values and 
consciousness that it did not create in us the concern for the marines' 
safety that it should have.
  ``In the weeks immediately after the bombing, I believed the last 
thing that we should do was turn tail and leave. Yet the irrationality 
of Middle East politics forced us to rethink our policy there. If there 
would be some rethinking of policy before our men die, we would be a 
lot better off. If that policy had changed towards more of a neutral 
position and neutrality, those 241 marines would be alive today.''
  I thank Mr. Reagan for his service to our Nation, and I thank him for 
those words. I wish both parties would listen to leaders like Ronald 
Reagan who understood that you're not going to change the Middle East 
no matter what you want to do or hope to do or pray to do. You can't do 
it, and you won't do it.
  Mr. Speaker, beside me are two little girls, one named Eden and one 
named Stephanie. They are at the graveside of their father, Sergeant 
Kenneth Bladuf, sergeant in the United States Marine Corps.

                              {time}  1010

  About 2 months ago, he was sent to Afghanistan, along with a Colonel 
Benjamin Palmer from Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, which is in 
my district also.
  One night, when they were having dinner with the Afghan trainees, one 
of the trainees pulled out a pistol and killed both of them. It is so 
ironic that the day before Sergeant Bladuf was killed, he had emailed 
his wife and he said, ``I don't trust them, I don't trust them, I don't 
trust any of them,'' and yet we keep spending $10 billion a month. 
We're going to cut programs from senior citizens and children in 
America. We can't balance the budget. But old Mr. Karzai, he'll get his 
$10 billion a month. The Congress needs to look at this and start 
bringing our troops home before 2014.
  Mr. Speaker, also in Sunday's paper, it says: ``Suicide bomber hits 
NATO bus; 17 people, including 12 Americans, are killed in the 
deadliest attack since the war began.''
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that we don't have to continue to go to Walter 
Reed-Bethesda and see all of these broken bodies. If we're going to be 
there until 2014, there are going to be a lot more broken bodies and 
dead young men and women. I hope the leadership of both parties will 
start joining those of us in both parties and bring our troops home 
before 2014.
  Mr. Speaker, again I state to all the children like Eden and 
Stephanie, be proud of your moms and your dads. But for those of us who 
are policymakers, we have the responsibility--not the generals, but we 
the policymakers--of sending our young men and women to die and lose 
their limbs for absolutely nothing but a corrupt leader.
  Mr. Speaker, I will close right now with the same closing I do all 
the time: God, please bless our men and women in uniform. Please bless 
the families of our men and women in uniform. God, in Your loving arms, 
hold the families who have given a child dying for freedom in 
Afghanistan and Iraq. God, please bless the House and Senate, that we 
will do what is right in Your eyes. Please bless President Obama, that 
he will do what is right in Your eyes for his people. And three times I 
will say, God please, God please, God please continue to bless America.

                          ____________________