[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2358-2359]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, today the Republicans held a conference--the 
Democrats do the same thing during the week, talk about issues--and I 
had a couple of minutes to remind our Speaker of the House, John 
Boehner, whom I like, think the world of him, that as he was talking 
about the domestic policies of the President and how many of them seem 
to be failed policies, I said, well, how about the failed policy in 
Afghanistan?
  I had written the Speaker back in November asking him to please take 
just a few minutes to talk to a retired marine general who has been my 
adviser on Afghanistan for 3 years. He agrees with me, the general 
does, that we're not going to win anything there; we just let our 
precious resources, our children, go there and lose their legs and 
lives, for what, we don't know.

[[Page 2359]]

  I asked the Speaker--we did it in a bipartisan way. In fact, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan), who will be speaking shortly 
after me, we did a bipartisan letter, three Democrats and three 
Republicans, asking Mr. Boehner and also Ms. Pelosi to go read the 
National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan that came out in 
December.

                              {time}  1020

  If they would read it, they would be better informed and better 
understand those of us who want to get out.
  I had emailed the commandant of the Marine Corps who has been my 
adviser. He is retired now. Right before the burning of the Koran in 
Afghanistan--what I'm going to share for the record is an email that 
happened before the burning of the Koran. I quote the general:

       Attempting to find a true military and political answer to 
     the problems in Afghanistan would take decades, not years, 
     and drain our Nation of precious resources--with the most 
     precious being our sons and daughters.

  Simply put, the United States cannot solve the Afghan problem, no 
matter how brave and determined our troops are. We need to bring our 
people home and prepare for the real danger that is growing in the 
Pacific.
  Mr. Speaker, I read that today in the conference. As you know, Mr. 
Speaker, we only have 1 minute and a lot of Members want to speak on 
different subjects. In addition, I did get time to read from a VSO team 
leader. The VSO team leader happens to be a young marine officer. VSO 
means village stability operation. This young marine, this team leader, 
emailed a friend of mine who emailed to me:

       If you ask me if it's worth a single American life to build 
     governance here in Afghanistan, I would have to say no.

  Sometimes it is very perplexing to me in terms of just where is the 
outrage in this country. I've seen so many wounded from my district of 
Camp Lejeune, of marines and soldiers who have lost legs and arms. I 
have even seen four young men that have no body parts below their 
waist. They are living and they will live, but they have nothing below 
their waist.
  I don't know where the Congress is, quite frankly. We're going to be 
there until 2014 unless we get out sooner. I've got a feeling we'll 
probably be there a little bit longer than 2015, knowing the way both 
parties feel about this. There's nothing we're going to change. Karzai 
half the time doesn't like us; the other half he does. It is all about 
the $10 billion a month. He wants that money to buy some roads and fur 
caps and stick some money in foreign countries so when his 
administration collapses in Afghanistan, he's got some money to fall 
back on.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm just going to take another minute and then I'm going 
to close.
  In Marine Times recently there was an article called: ``TriCare Costs 
Would Jump in Budget Plan.'' If we forget our veterans of yesterday and 
our veterans of today, I think God will punish America. These young men 
and women and now the older veterans are older men and women and did so 
much for America to make it the greatest Nation in the world because 
they were willing to sacrifice and give of themselves. But if we're 
going to continue to borrow money from China to send $10 billion a 
month to Karzai, $120 billion a year, that to me is a sin, quite 
frankly.
  We need to wake up in this country and figure out if we're going to 
fix our problems. We should start right here in America and fix our 
problems before we worry about the world's problems. Seventy-two of our 
servicepeople have been killed by the trainees in Afghanistan that they 
were trying to train to be policemen or soldiers. Seventy-two have been 
shot or killed by the people they were training. Where in the world 
does that make any sense? It doesn't make any sense. It is time for 
America to wake up and demand that Congress get our troops out now, not 
in 2014.
  Before I close, as I always do, I ask God to please bless our men and 
women in uniform. I ask God to please bless the families of our men and 
women in uniform. I ask God in His loving arms to hold the families who 
have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. I ask God 
to bless the House and Senate, that we will do what is right in the 
eyes of God for His people here in the United States of America. I ask 
God to please bless the President of the United States, that he will do 
what is right in the eyes of God for God's people here in the United 
States.
  And I close three times: God, please, God, please, God, please 
continue to bless America.

                                Congress of the United States,

                                Washington, DC, February 10, 2012.
     Hon. John Boehner,
     Speaker, House of Representatives, U.S. Capitol, Washington, 
         DC.
     Hon. Nancy Pelosi,
     Democratic Leader, The Capitol, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Speaker and Democratic Leader: I would like to 
     bring your attention to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis' 
     recent assessment of the situation in Afghanistan that was 
     published in the New York Times on February 6, 2012 
     (attached). It is vastly different than the one that the U. 
     S. Congress has been receiving from the Obama Administration. 
     Many of us have read the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) 
     for December 2011 and found it supports Lieutenant Colonel 
     Davis' analysis. We encourage you to read the NIE as well.
       Therefore, we think that Lieutenant Davis' analysis merits 
     attention by the relevant committees of jurisdiction in the 
     U. S. House of Representatives and we respectfully request 
     that you encourage the relevant Chairmen to hold hearings as 
     soon as possible and invite Lieutenant Colonel Davis to be a 
     witness. As we withdraw from Afghanistan, it is vital that 
     the Congress hear another perspective from what we have heard 
     for over ten years. Thank you for your careful consideration 
     of our request.
           Sincerely,
     Walter B. Jones,
       Member of Congress.
     Jimmy Duncan,
       Member Congress.
     Jim McGovern,
       Member of Congress.
     John Garamendi,
       Member of Congress.
     Timothy V. Johnson,
       Member of Congress.
     Barbara Lee,
       Member of Congress.

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