[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9721-9722]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NOT SIZABLE, SWIFT OR SIGNIFICANT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Woolsey) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, tonight the President of the United States 
has an opportunity to show the bold leadership that the American people 
are crying out for regarding Afghanistan. Tonight he will announce how 
many troops will be redeployed out of Afghanistan. This must not be, as 
early reports are indicating, a token withdrawal, bringing only as few 
as 5,000 troops home now and 5,000 troops home by the end of the year, 
because that number falls tragically and painfully short of what the 
national security and moral decency demands.
  There are many interpretations, Mr. Speaker, of ``sizable, swift or 
significant'' as the requests have been for him in his drawdown, but 
none of those interpretations go so low as 5,000 now and 5,000 by the 
end of the year. ``Sizable, swift or significant'' is not what 5,000 
troops would accomplish. Ten thousand troops doesn't even bring us to 
where we were before the surge.
  That is not a new way forward in Afghanistan. We were promised a new 
way forward in Afghanistan, and it is going to take 18 months just to 
get even that much done. How many times are we going to move the 
goalposts? Anything less than a major shift in Afghanistan policy will 
be a huge disappointment to the Americans who are paying for it in 
blood and treasure.
  Clear, strong majorities of our country believe it is time we finally 
end this awful foreign policy blunder. This is not a partisan stance. 
You just heard Congressman Walter Jones from North Carolina. This is 
common sense. Several Republicans in this body oppose this war. Even 
some of the Republicans running for President have expressed concern 
about continuing the military occupation much longer.
  It is simply not acceptable to ask for more patience and more time 
for this strategy to work. You mean 10 years isn't enough? How many 
families were missing a seat at the table on Father's Day this weekend 
because we kept giving this dreadful policy one more chance?
  Afghanistan casualties are on the rise, Mr. Speaker, with 2011 on 
pace to be the deadliest year yet and 43 percent of fatalities having 
occurred since the surge began a year and a half ago. How many more 
people have to die, Mr. Speaker, both U.S. servicemembers and Afghan 
citizens, before we say enough? How many more lives have to be 
destroyed? How many more young Americans have to leave limbs behind in 
Afghanistan? How many more have to come home ravaged by post-traumatic 
stress? And how many more billions in taxpayer money do we have to 
waste for the privilege of having our people killed and our global 
credibility destroyed? For pennies on the dollar, we could fight 
terrorism the right way, with a civilian surge that emphasizes 
humanitarian and political aid and reconciliation.
  Mr. Speaker, it continues to pain me that we have to scratch and claw 
for every single dollar of Federal investment in the American people. 
One child nutrition program last week was held out there as an example 
of what we don't need--but we do. Also we are scratching to support 
health care, education, even support for veterans, but we still 
continue to waste $10 billion a month in Afghanistan. In the time I 
take to give this speech, roughly $1 million will fly out of the 
Treasury to pay for this war.
  Mr. Speaker, I implore the President to listen to the American 
people. Tonight is a moment where he can make history. End the war. 
Bring our troops home.

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