[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9920-9921]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         VICTORY IN AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. There's something that I'll personally 
never forget. That occurred in April, 2007. I'll get to why that is 
something I'll never forget in a second. That's when the majority 
leader, Senator Harry Reid, said of Iraq, ``I believe myself that the 
Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense and--you have to make your own 
decisions as to what the President knows--know this war is lost and 
that the surge is not accomplishing anything, as indicated by the 
extreme violence in Iraq.''
  As in 2007, Senate Majority Leader Reid was in a rush to the exits in 
Iraq and a rush to declare the war had been lost. Why was that 
important to me? Because I was in Afghanistan at that time--or a nation 
by Afghanistan--getting ready to fly a KC-135 aircraft into combat in 
Afghanistan. As I was on the treadmill exercising, I saw what the 
number four most powerful guy in politics said, and I felt it in my 
soul. I felt

[[Page 9921]]

anger. I knew that there was celebrating in the caves in Iraq and in 
the caves in Afghanistan because the United States said we were going 
to lose. Well, guess what? It took the brave leadership of somebody to 
say we will not lose in Iraq and we're on the verge of victory. We had 
a surge in Iraq. And today, it appears to be a more stabilizing 
situation, and hopefully in 10 years Iraq will be an example of 
democracy in the Middle East.
  Last night, I heard the President say nothing of the word victory in 
Afghanistan but talked about how this is the beginning of the end. 
General McChrystal recommended to the President that to win in 
Afghanistan, we need 80,000 additional troops. Mr. President, at a bare 
minimum, we need 40,000 additional troops. The President gave 30,000. 
And in giving the 30,000, he immediately gave a timeline for 
withdrawal.
  Now, I will tell you the Taliban are used to fighting for long 
periods of time, and they know that if they simply have to wait a 
couple of years, that is an encouragement to them. But I supported and 
support what the President was doing in Afghanistan up until last 
night, even though I believe he should have given the troops required 
for victory. But last night I saw that all the surge troops are going 
to be pulled out of Afghanistan, magically, by Election Day. As a 
military pilot and an Air National Guard pilot, I can tell you the 
soldiers are weary of war. The American people are weary of war. But 
leadership is not about saying, We're tired, we're going to quit. It's 
about standing up for freedom and standing against those that would 
destroy our way of life.
  I was in Afghanistan just a month ago talking to generals on the 
ground who say we literally have turned a corner in Afghanistan. It is 
bewildering to me that yesterday we send a message that we're wrapping 
this thing up and it's the beginning of the end before we have seen 
that victory arrive. Let me ask you, do you believe last night in the 
President's speech that the Taliban was sad to hear what he was saying 
or that they were happy to hear it?
  Ladies and gentlemen, just as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid 
couldn't have been in a bigger hurry for the exits to Iraq, he was 
proven wrong. So, too, if we stick this out will those that say we 
cannot win be proven wrong again. America has a vested interest in 
seeing an Afghanistan that can stand up against terrorism, that can 
begin to defend itself against terrorists who seek to overthrow their 
country, who seek to overthrow Pakistan, and can do so with limited 
U.S. help. That is how we begin to see victory. Or, we can just give 
up.
  I can tell you that as a military member and the military members 
I've talked to, we don't want to have to be there another day. But we 
also don't want to come home in any condition less than total victory. 
Let us finish the job. Let the generals on the ground have the tools 
they need to finish the job. How we get good news and turn that into an 
immediate pullout of Afghanistan is beyond me.
  Mr. President, I did not hear you once last night mention the word 
``victory'' in your speech. I hope that was a needless and sad omission 
from your speech and did not reflect what you believe in Afghanistan. 
Ladies and gentlemen, we can win. America only loses when we choose to. 
America will win in Afghanistan.

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