To require the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to Congress outlining the United States exit strategy for United States military forces in Afghanistan participating in Operation Enduring Freedom.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of H.R. 2024, the Commercial Motor Vehicle Advanced Safety Technology Tax Act of 2009. This bill is an important step toward improving safety in the commercial vehicle industry. It offers tax credits to incentivize businesses to implement proven safety systems for their fleet. These market-ready technologies will help reduce the number of truck-related crashes, injuries and fatalities on our Nation's roads.

H.R. 2404 addresses a number of critical concerns. First, it identifies widely recognized technologies that are proven to increase safety on our roads. Brake stroke monitoring, collision warning, lane departure warning and vehicle stability systems are proven to reduce collisions, rollovers and crashes resulting from brake failure. We know from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's, FMCSA, 2006 Large Truck Crash Causation Study that these are the most prevalent types of large truck crashes.

Second, during these challenging economic times, there is no better way to move businesses in the right direction on increasing their safety systems than to provide tax incentives, reducing their financial burdens. This is especially important considering that 95 percent of all trucking companies have fewer than 20 trucks, making almost the entire industry one composed of small businesses.

Finally, this bill takes an appropriate long-term view of emerging safety systems technology by allowing the FMCSA or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to add qualified safety systems for this tax incentive, once they are proven to significantly enhance the safety or security of drivers and vehicles. I strongly believe that GPS navigation devices for trucks should be made eligible for this incentive. In order to certify this technology as a proven safety system, I have asked the FMCSA to study the effectiveness of GPS navigation devices for trucks and their ability to improve safety for drivers and vehicles. In addition, I have asked the Federal Highway Administration to ensure that any real-time information programs implemented by the Department of Transportation include truck safety as one of its major determinants of effective real-time data collection and dissemination.

There are cutting edge technologies in the navigational device, mapping software and data collection industries that are available and deployed to fleets right now. However, with so many small trucking companies and owner/operator small businesses, not all fleets have access to these sophisticated systems. In addition, challenges remain in the industry with respect to timely and accurate data collection specific to trucks, including changing road conditions or restrictions, as well as grade inclines and declines. There is also a lack of information dissemination to drivers, fleet managers and dispatch centers with no real national framework for real-time data, especially for interstate trucking needs. Unfortunately, my district has seen the tragic consequences of these gaps first hand.

Last September, a tractor trailer filled with over 75,000 pounds of onions was routed onto the Angeles Crest Highway in Southern California, State Rte. 2, by a driver using a GPS navigation device seeking the shortest route to his destination. The Angeles Crest Highway is not suitable for tractor trailers due to its turns and grade inclines and declines. However, the road is often used by drivers as a short-cut in order to avoid congestion on 1-210 and 1-5. With his brakes losing function on the decline into the City of La Canada Flintridge, the driver lost control of the truck and it plowed through one of the main intersections in the city, through a parking lot, and fortunately only resulted in one injury. Earlier this month, on April 1, an eerily similar accident took place at exactly the same location, but the result was tragically fatal. A driver was using the same Angeles Crest Highway short-cut. His brakes were seen smoking, indicating they had burned out on the steep grade of the road. He hit a vehicle, killing Angel and Angelina Posca, a father and his 12-year-old daughter; struck several more vehicles seriously injuring a dozen more individuals, three critically; and crashed through a bookstore in a local shopping center, causing significant property damage. While the investigation is ongoing, we know that there was a GPS navigation device in the cab of that truck.

In the aftermath of these accidents, our local leaders in La Canada Flintridge have been working tirelessly to find solutions that will prevent this kind of accident from happening again in our area and in any other community across the country. I am very pleased that CalTrans banned truck traffic on Angeles Crest Highway for 90 days and that they are now working with the city and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on mitigation measures that will ensure this road remains free of trucks. I also applaud California State Assemblyman Anthony Portantino and State Senator Carol Liu for introducing State legislation to prohibit, with specified exemptions, truck traffic on the Angeles Crest Highway. I am honored to be working alongside our local leaders in pursuing all means necessary to improve safety on our roads. Like them, I am committed to seeing real-time information provided to drivers through GPS navigation devices that can relay the kind of information drivers need to make the safest decisions on the road.

I strongly believe we must partner cutting-edge safety systems with the kinds of incentives provided in this bill to improve truck safety on our roads. I want to thank my colleagues Mike Thompson and Geoff Davis for providing the leadership they have on this issue and am proud to join them in this effort. I encourage all my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, just last week, the House approved a $96.7 billion spending bill that provides funding for our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. I joined many of my House colleagues in voting for this funding. Our men and women in uniform and troops in the field deserve the best training and equipment our Nation can provide.

While America's military personnel faithfully conduct their mission abroad, elected officials here in Washington should take seriously their responsibility to develop a viable, long-term strategy for these operations. I have always voiced my support for the United States military action to topple the Taliban in Afghanistan following the tragedy of September 11. Yet, nearly 8 years later, I am concerned that the United States has not articulated a clear strategy for victory or an end point to our efforts in that country.

Because of this concern, I join more than 70 Members of Congress in cosponsoring H.R. 2404, Congressman Jim McGovern's legislation to require the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to Congress outlining the exit strategy for the United States military forces in Afghanistan. Without focus and targeted objectives, adding more manpower to our efforts in Afghanistan could cause the United States to go the way of many great armies and leave our troops in never-ending, no-win situations.

Many world leaders have noted that military action in Afghanistan alone is not going to free us of terrorism. Colonel Douglas McGregor, a veteran of Vietnam, put it well when he recently wrote for the Armed Forces Journal: ``When national military strategy fails to answer the question of purpose, method and end state, military power becomes an engine of destruction, not just for its intended enemies but for its supporting society and economy, too.''

The United States continues to devote its blood and treasure in Afghanistan while the Afghan Government has yet to purge itself of many who are funneling support to the Taliban. Meanwhile, here at home, money and manpower are needed to address our Nation's serious economic concerns and to protect our citizens from the violence at our southern border with

Mexico where drug wars are growing more dangerous every day. Given the problem our Nation faces at home, we need to make wise decisions about how we spend our money and military resources abroad.

Andrew Basevich is a West Point graduate, a retired Army colonel, a Vietnam and Gulf War veteran, a professor, and a military historian. Mr. Speaker, he is also the father of a son who gave his life in Iraq in 2007. In an article he wrote for the American Conservative, titled ``To Die for a Mystique: The Lessons our Leaders didn't Learn from the Vietnam War,'' I quote Mr. Basevich: ``Americans today profess to `support the troops,' but that support is a mile wide and an inch deep. It rarely translates into serious or sustained public concern about whether those same troops are being used wisely and well. With the long war already this Nation's second most expensive conflict, trailing only to World War II, and with the Federal Government projecting trillion- dollar deficits for years to come, how much can we afford, and where is the money coming from? The President who vows to `change the way Washington works' has not yet exhibited the imagination needed to conceive of an alternative to the project that his predecessor began.''

Mr. Speaker, again, that is from the father of a son who died in 2007 for this country. It is essential that the President work with his military commanders and with the Congress to develop the best strategy for achieving our goals and for wrapping up our military commitment in Afghanistan. I hope that many of my colleagues in both parties will join me in cosponsoring Congressman McGovern's legislation, H.R. 2404.

Before closing, 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, a child who has died for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. I close three times by asking God: Please, please, please, God. Continue to bless America.

Madam Speaker, last week, Congressman Jim McGovern introduced H.R. 2404, legislation to require the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to Congress, outlining the exit strategy for our United States military forces in Afghanistan.

I am an original cosponsor of this bill, which now has 78 cosponsors. I became a cosponsor of this bill because it has been nearly 8 years since the United States began its military operation in Afghanistan, and I am concerned that there is no clear strategy for victory or end point to our efforts in that country. Without focused and targeted objectives, adding more manpower to an effort in Afghanistan could cause the United States to go the way of many great armies and leave our troops in a never-ending, no-win situation.

I have heard from many Vietnam veterans who are concerned that Afghanistan could become the next Vietnam. For example, Andrew Bacevich is a West Point graduate, a retired colonel, a Vietnam and Gulf War veteran, and a professor of military history. He is also the father of a son who died in Iraq in 2007.

In an article published on May 18, 2009, in the American Conservative, entitled ``To Die for a Mystique: The Lessons our leaders didn't Learn from the Vietnam War,'' he wrote, ``In one of the most thoughtful Vietnam-era accounts written by a senior military officer, General Bruce Palmer once observed, 'With respect to Vietnam, our leaders should have known that the American people would not stand still for a protracted war of an indeterminate nature with no foreseeable end to the United States commitment.'''

He further wrote, ``General Palmer thereby distilled into a single sentence the central lesson of Vietnam: To embark upon an open-ended war lacking

clearly defined and achievable objectives was to forfeit public support, thereby courting disaster. The implications were clear: never again.''

He further wrote, ``Today, in contrast, the civilian contemporaries of those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan have largely tuned out the Long War. The predominant mood of the country is not one of anger or anxiety but of dull acceptance.'' . . .

`` To cite General Palmer's formulation, the citizens of this country at present do appear willing to 'stand still' when considering the prospect of war that goes on and on. While there are many explanations for why Americans have disengaged from the Long War, the most important, in my view, is that so few of us have any immediate personal stake in that conflict.''

Madam Speaker, while America's military personnel faithfully conduct their missions abroad, elected officials here in Washington should take seriously their responsibility to develop a viable, long-term strategy for these operations. I have spoken to many in the Army and in the Marine Corps who say that our Nation needs an end point to its war strategy. Many of these servicemembers have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan more than once, and their desire to serve this Nation is greater than ever, but the stress placed on our all-volunteer force and on their families cannot continue forever.

While the United States continues to devote its blood and treasure in Afghanistan, the Afghan Government has yet to purge itself of many who are funneling support to the Taliban.

Our men and women in uniform deserve to have the President work with his military commanders and with the United States Congress to develop the best strategy for achieving our goals and for wrapping up our military commitment in Afghanistan. I hope that many of my colleagues in both parties will join me in cosponsoring Congressman McGovern's legislation, H.R. 2404.

Madam Speaker, before I close, as I do every night on this floor, I ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform. I ask God to 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 close by asking God to continue to bless America.

Madam Speaker, I believe it is time to bring the United States Military's involvement in Afghanistan to a close. Last year I became a cosponsor of H.R. 2404, to require the President to issue a plan for withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2009; and I voted for an amendment to the FY2010 Defense Authorization Act to mandate the same. Although a majority of my colleagues did not join me in supporting those measures, H. Con. Res. 248 is not the right approach.

It is unrealistic to ask President Obama to remove military forces from Iraq within the next 30 days or even the next 10 months as H. Con. Res. 248 demands. Ending a war is unfortunately more complicated than beginning one. Even as a candidate in 2008, President Obama recognized an expedited withdrawal of troops from Iraq would take 15 to 24 months. Asking for a 10 month window for withdrawal from Afghanistan is unrealistic.

With thousands of Oregon Guardsmen currently serving in Iraq and hundreds more deploying to Afghanistan, such a resolution at this time, in this manner, would be inappropriate.