[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2946-2947]
[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. Last week, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and I asked for a 
classified briefing on Afghanistan. Really, the only thing I can say 
about the briefing, because it was classified, is that I will continue 
to come to the floor and to say let's bring our troops home from 
Afghanistan.
  Also last week, we had two Army officers from Fort Bragg, North 
Carolina, who were in Afghanistan to train, and they were shot by the 
Afghan trainee at point blank range. This brings the count to 42 
Americans who have been killed in Afghanistan while working with the 
Afghans to train them to be police and soldiers. When you factor in how 
many coalition troops have been killed, along with the Americans, it's 
about 70. It is a totally impossible situation, as well as the fact 
that we continue to spend $10 billion a month there.
  I have beside me, Madam Speaker, a poster from the Greensboro News-
Record in Greensboro, North Carolina. The headline is ``Get Out,'' and 
there is an honor guard bringing a transfer case off the plane. The sad 
thing is that the day is on a Sunday in February 2011, and we're now in 
March of 2012. We continue to spend money that we cannot even account 
for. We send auditors to Afghanistan to try to account for the $10 
billion a month that is being given to Mr. Karzai so he can lead 
Afghanistan--buy some new roads and camps, I guess--while our troops 
are losing their legs, their arms, and their lives in a war that should 
be ended now, not later. We will, during the debate on the DOD bill in 
May, continue to try to bring amendments to the floor to bring some 
sanity to this involvement in Afghanistan.
  As I mentioned many times, a former marine commandant has been my 
adviser on Afghanistan, and he continues to talk about the fact that we 
are wearing out our military, the equipment, our manpower. Yet, there 
is a threat growing in the Pacific that we seem not to pay any 
attention to.
  Recently, Jim McGovern and I and John Garamendi and some others met 
with Lieutenant Colonel Danny Davis.

[[Page 2947]]

He is an active duty reservist who has been to Afghanistan. He returned 
just a couple of months ago, and had been over there for almost 10 
months. He has written articles saying that the Congress in these 
hearings with the military leadership is not getting the straight talk 
that we need to hear. Too many times they use the words: Well, the 
training of the Afghans is going pretty well, but it's fragile, it's 
real fragile.

                              {time}  1010

  Well, I'd like to say it's real fragile. No, it's even worse than 
that. You cannot predict what is going to happen in the country of 
Afghanistan. We had two marines from my district, Camp Lejeune, the 
Marine base in the Third District that I represent, that were over 
there.
  About 3 months ago, Sergeant Baldus and Colonel Palmer--Colonel 
Palmer being from Cherry Point Marine Air Station and Sergeant Baldus 
from Camp Lejeune, also, like these two Army officers--were training in 
Afghanistan. They were having dinner with the Afghan trainees, and that 
night one of the trainees stood up and shot and killed both of them.
  This is not fair to the American soldier, marine, sailor, airman, 
Navy, whatever, to continue to be in Afghanistan 11 years after it 
started. The money that we're going to cut here in America of the 
senior citizens and the children who need programs to have a better 
quality of life, we are going to cut their programs, but we are going 
to keep spending $10 billion a month in Afghanistan. It makes no sense.
  Madam Speaker, before I close, I would like to encourage every Member 
of Congress--who has the authority, should they want to implement that 
authority--to read the National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan 
that was published in 2011. It is classified, but every Member of 
Congress can take 1 hour--it's about 55 pages, I've read it--and read 
it. You need to read it, and then maybe you can help us make better 
decisions here on the floor about what in the world are we doing in 
Afghanistan spending Uncle Sam's money that he doesn't even have. He 
has to borrow his money from the Chinese to pay Karzai.
  Where does that make any sense? The American people do not think it 
makes any sense.
  We did a teletown hall about a month ago, and 66 percent of thousands 
of people that were on that call said bring our troops home now. Now, I 
realize that's the Third District of North Carolina, the home of Camp 
Lejeune, Cherry Point Marine Air Station and New River.
  Madam Speaker, I do want to close by asking God to please bless our 
men and women in uniform and ask God to continue to bless America.

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