[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11149]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 BRING OUR TROOPS HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I plan to come to the floor at least once, 
maybe twice a week until we get our troops home from Afghanistan. I do 
that because I have the privilege to represent the Third District of 
North Carolina, the home of Camp Lejeune Marine Base, Cherry Point 
Marine Air Station, and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. I have been 
privileged, since I didn't serve, to have great relationships with 
active duty and retired marines in the district.
  I want to share with this House, Mr. Speaker, that we continue to 
support a corrupt leader and a corrupt government. Just recently, the 
half brother of Mr. Karzai, Wali Karzai, was murdered in Afghanistan. 
This only reinforces the fact that Afghanistan is in a fragile 
situation at every level of their government. It is in chaos, quite 
frankly.
  Just this week, I spoke with a Marine colonel who has been to 
Afghanistan three times. He was in my office on Tuesday, and he shared 
the same sentiments as the retired Marine general who has been advising 
me for 20 months. Recently, I emailed the general and I said, Please 
give me your ideas of what Mr. Obama has proposed in bringing 10,000 of 
our troops out in July and then another 23,000 next year, 2012. This is 
what he emailed back to me, Mr. Speaker, and I read:
  ``I think the timeline is too long. I think he needs to increase the 
number of troops coming out of country, more and quicker.''
  Another point he made in his email is: ``Get real with `training' an 
army and police force. All we are doing is training eventual new 
members of the Taliban. Trainers are doing a wonderful job, but we 
don't have the time to `make' an army.''
  And, Mr. Speaker, then it was kind of sad the way he closed: Every 
day somebody from our country dies--a marine, a soldier, an airman, 
Navy, whatever.
  Mr. Speaker, I bring posters to the floor--I have probably 12 now 
that I want to bring to the floor every time that I speak--to remind 
the House that there is pain in war.
  The wife to my left on the poster is in tears. The little girl, who 
is about 2 years of age, she doesn't understand why this Army officer 
is kneeling before her with a folded flag. Yet I would say to the 
little girl: When you grow older and you're old enough to know, your 
daddy was a real hero, Sergeant Jeffrey Sherer, who gave his life for 
this country.
  Mr. Speaker, that leads me to share with the House an editorial that 
was written about 4 weeks ago by Eugene Robinson, and the title is, 
``Afghan Strategy: Let's Go.'' And I want to read from his editorial:
  ``Slender threads of hope are nice, but they do not constitute a 
plan. Nor do they justify continuing to pour American lives and 
resources into the bottomless pit of Afghanistan. The threat from 
Afghanistan is gone. Bring the troops home.''
  This, again, is an editorial from Eugene Robinson.
  Mr. Speaker, with our Nation in such a financial crisis, the people 
of the Third District of North Carolina, which I represent, ask me many 
times when I'm home on the weekends: Why are we still in Afghanistan? 
Why are we still spending $10 billion a month to prop up a corrupt 
leader and there's no future in Afghanistan?
  We're not going to change history. History has always said to these 
great nations like America: You go into Afghanistan, you're never going 
to change anything.
  The Congress needs to join those of us on both sides of the aisle 
when we debate trying to bring our troops home from Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, before I close, again I want to make reference to the 
wife in tears and the little girl looking up at the Army officer 
wondering, Why are you giving me this flag? Young lady, your daddy was 
a hero.
  I close, Mr. Speaker, by saying to God, please bless our men and 
women in uniform. God, please bless the families of our men and women 
in uniform. God, please, 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. God, please give wisdom, strength, and courage to President 
Obama, that he will do what is right.
  And three times, God please, God please, God please continue to bless 
America.

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