[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2289]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   GET OUR TROOPS OUT OF AFGHANISTAN

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I serve on the Homeland 
Security Committee and have the privilege of serving on the committee 
dealing with foreign affairs here in the House.
  I rise today to, as usual, offer our deepest sympathy for all of our 
soldiers that have fallen in battle. But I am particularly outraged at 
the incidents that are occurring around the unfortunate burning of the 
Koran--for which our President appropriately extended his apology, as 
we would want if someone had burned Bibles. But it is outrageous for 
our soldiers to be in harm's way, for them to lose their life. It is 
time now for the Afghan national security forces to stand up and be 
security forces. It's time for President Karzai to indicate that he 
will not be driven out by the Taliban. And it's time for us not to 
allow the Taliban again to grip ahold of the Afghan people.
  This is a tragic and horrible situation. None of us would have wanted 
it to occur. But we cannot stand for our soldiers to be in the eye of 
the storm and be shot for something that they did not do, intentionally 
or individually.
  So I would ask that our soldiers be taken out of harm's way around 
any Afghan national security forces that we cannot vet and ensure that 
they are intending to do the right thing. We need to hear from 
President Karzai in a way that denounces this horrible action. And we 
must stand up to the Taliban and have a transition out of Afghanistan 
in which the Afghan national security forces are protecting their 
people, and they're allowed, in essence, to have a nation that protects 
women and children and families, and has the adherence to the law that 
requires human decency.

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