[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19098]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    WHY ARE WE STILL IN AFGHANISTAN?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, when we were home during the Thanksgiving 
break, like all my colleagues, I did as much as I could to be with the 
people of the Third District of North Carolina. The Third District is 
the home of Camp Lejeune Marine Base, Cherry Point Marine Air Station, 
and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and over 60,000 retired veterans in 
the Third District.
  Since coming back to Washington, I've done two town meetings by 
phone. What I heard while I was home during Thanksgiving and the two 
town meetings: Why are we still in Afghanistan?
  When I hear my colleagues in both parties talking about the problems 
facing the American people--unemployment benefits, extending the tax 
cuts for middle class America--we all grapple with, both parties, how 
we are going to pay for it.
  Well, there is a man in Afghanistan that is a crook and corrupt, who 
gets $10 billion a month that he doesn't have to worry about. Poor 
Americans are out here doing the best they can in a very difficult 
economy, and we can't help them, but we can help a corrupt leader in 
Afghanistan. It makes no sense. I hope that this Congress will come 
together and say to the President, let's not wait till 2014.
  How many more American boys and girls will have to die and give their 
legs in the next 3 years for a corrupt leader? I've asked the 
Department of Defense, and I wrote Secretary Panetta and asked him that 
question. Give me your projections of how many more young men and women 
will have to die and lose their legs. I hope that I get that response 
soon.
  That brings me to the point of a young marine I saw at Walter Reed/
Bethesda about 3 weeks ago. There were four marines from the Third 
District of North Carolina. Three have lost both legs, and the one that 
had lost only one leg, a corporal, mom sitting in the room, said to me, 
Sir, may I ask you a question? I said certainly you may. Why are we 
still in Afghanistan? And I looked at him and I said, I don't know why 
we're still there.
  Mr. Speaker, it makes no sense. The American people and the people of 
the Third District of North Carolina are saying, we have won; bin Laden 
is dead; al Qaeda has been dispersed all over the world.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time, as we debate these very difficult, complex 
issues for our Nation, that we get smart with our foreign policy. And 
smart means, let's don't try to police the world.
  History has proven you will never change Afghanistan. It will never 
change, no matter what we do or any other country tries to do.
  So, Mr. Speaker, beside me is a poster with a flag-draped coffin 
coming off the plane at Dover. And with humility I tell you today, Mr. 
Speaker, I've signed over 10,400 letters to families and extended 
families who've lost loved ones in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  I thank God that He has allowed me to have a heart large enough to 
feel the pain of war, because I've never been to war. But when I sign 
those letters, I feel the pain of the families, and I lick every 
envelope that I send.
  Mr. Speaker, with that, I want to close my comments by asking God to 
please bless our men and women in uniform, God to please bless the 
families who've lost loved ones fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. God, 
please bless the House and Senate that we will do what's right for the 
American people. Bless Mr. Obama that he will do what is right for the 
American people.
  And three times I will say, God, please, God, please, God, please 
continue to bless America.

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