Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, Monday I had the honor and the humbling experience of visiting Walter Reed Hospital. I met three young men that all three have lost both legs above the knees. And actually, one of them I engaged about Afghanistan, and he, with his wife there with him, believes that we have done just about all we can do, and certainly he has done more than that: he has given his legs for this country.

That leads me to wanting to read just a paragraph of an editorial by Eugene Robinson that was in the North Carolina papers, and the title of his column is ``Afghan Strategy: Lets Go.'' And I will read the last paragraph of his column:

``We wanted to depose the Taliban regime, and we did. We wanted to install a new government that answers to its constituents at the polls, and we did. We wanted to smash al Qaeda's infrastructure of training camps and safe havens, and we did. We wanted to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, and we did. Even so, say the hawks, we have to stay in Afghanistan because of the dangerous instability across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan. But does anyone believe the war in Afghanistan has made Pakistan more stable?''

Mr. Robinson, you're right, it is not more stable because we are in Afghanistan. Perhaps it is useful to have a United States military presence in the region. This could be accomplished, however, with a lot fewer than 100,000 troops; and they would not be scattered across the Afghan countryside engaged in a dubious attempt at nation-building. The threat from Afghanistan is gone. Bring the troops home.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know what the President will say tonight, and I wish the President well. But Mr. Gates has been saying all weekend--and he did testify before the Armed Services Committee in February and said it would be the latter part of 2014, maybe 2015, before we start bringing a substantial number of our troops home.

Mr. Speaker, I say to the House of Representatives, both parties, let's come together and join in the McGovern-Jones bill, and let's start bringing our troops home and say to the President we don't need to be there until 2014-2015. As Eugene Robinson says, we're not going to change anything. History has proven you will never change Afghanistan. They don't want to change themselves. Quite frankly, the Taliban are Afghan people; it's a civil war.

And, Mr. Speaker, as I have done before, I have the poster that has a flag-draped coffin being carried by the Air Force at Dover Air Force Base. Mr. President, you're a very smart man. You can call the shots on this war in Afghanistan. Say to the American people tonight that we will be home before 2014-2015.

Mr. Speaker, I say in closing, may God bless our men and women in uniform. May God bless the families of our men and women in uniform. May God, in his loving arms, hold the families who have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I ask God to bless the House and the Senate, that we will do what is right in the eyes of God for his people here in America. And I ask God to give wisdom, strength, and courage to the President of the United States, that he will do what is right in the eyes of God for his people.

And I close three times: God please, God please, God please continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, national syndicated columnist Eugene Robinson recently wrote a piece titled, ``Afghan Strategy: Let's Go.'' It appeared in the June 11 Raleigh News and Observer. I would like to share some of Mr. Robinson's thoughts with the House.

He began his column with this: ``Slender threads of hope are nice but do not constitute a plan. Nor do they justify continuing to pour American lives and resources into the bottomless pit of Afghanistan.''

And he closed this column with these words: ``We wanted to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, and we did. Even so, say the hawks, we have to stay in Afghanistan because of the dangerous instability across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan. But does anyone believe the war in Afghanistan has made Pakistan more stable?''

Mr. Speaker, these are not my words, again. These are the words of Eugene Robinson who's nationally known and respected, and he is a liberal. He's not a conservative. But the point he's making is exactly right. How many more young men and women have to give their life for a corrupt leader?

I would like to ask my colleagues on both sides to join Jim McGovern of Massachusetts--I am a cosponsor of this bill. It's H.R. 1735, the Afghan Exit and Accountability Act. It gives a parameter to the President as to how we need to start bringing our troops out of Afghanistan before 2014 or 2015.

I look at this young man's face, Mr. Speaker. His name is Tyler Jordan. His father was killed in Iraq. I look at him and he represents all the children in America who are crying because their moms and dads are coming back dead. Many are coming back without arms and legs. So Tyler represents children in America who have their family, loved ones over in Afghanistan. It's time to bring them home, Mr. Speaker.

And then the other poster has the flag-draped coffin--they call it a transfer case--coming into Dover Air Force Base. How many more families in this country have to look at the flag-draped coffin of their loved one?

Mr. Speaker, that's why I hope both sides will join Mr. McGovern and myself in H.R. 1735 because Mr. Gates has already said we will be in Afghanistan until 2014 and 2015. That's what Eugene Robinson is saying: How many more have to die in the next 3 or 4 years for a corrupt leader named Karzai that we're paying $8 billion a month to and we're cutting programs in America for children and senior citizens?

Mr. Speaker, again, I want to make reference to Tyler Jordan and his pain. I want to remember the flag-draped coffin and think how many moms and dads are having to be at the funeral home receiving the flag-draped coffin and, in many cases, cannot even look at their loved ones because they were killed in a horrendous way.

So, Mr. Speaker, I hope the American people will get behind H.R. 1735 and call their Members of Congress and ask them to join us in bringing our troops home before 2014.

Mr. Speaker, before I close, as I do all the time in my district and on the floor of the House, I will ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform. I will ask God to please bless the families of our men and women in uniform. I will ask God in His loving arms to hold the families who have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I will ask God to please bless the House and Senate that we will do what is right in the eyes of God for God's people here in America. And I will ask God to bless Mr. Obama, the President, that he will have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage to do what is right for the American people.

And I will close by asking three times: God please, God please, God please continue to bless America.

[From the News and Observer, Jun. 11, 2011]

Afghan Strategy: Let's Go

(By Eugene Robinson)

Washington, DC.--Slender threads of hope are nice but do

not constitute a plan. Nor do they justify continuing to pour

American lives and resources into the bottomless pit of

Afghanistan.

Ryan Crocker, the veteran diplomat nominated by President

Barack Obama to be the next U.S. ambassador in Kabul, gave a

realistic assessment of the war in testimony Wednesday before

the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Here I am using

``realistic'' as a synonym for ``bleak.''

Making progress is hard, Crocker said; but not hopeless.

Not hopeless. What on Earth are we doing? We have more than

100,000 troops in Afghanistan risking life and limb at a cost

of $10 billion a month, to pursue ill-defined goals

whose achievement can be imagined, but just barley?

The hawks tell us that now, more than ever, we must stay

the course--that finally, after Obama nearly tripled U.S.

troop levels, we are winning. I want to be fair to this

argument, so let me quote Crocker's explanation at length:

``What we've seen with the additional forces and the effort

to carry the fight into enemy strongholds is, I think,

tangible progress in security on the ground in the South and

the West. This has to transition--and again, we're seeing a

transition of seven provinces an districts to Afghan

control--to sustainable Afghan control. So I think you can

already see what we're trying to do--in province by province,

district by district, establish the conditions where the

Afghan government can take over and hold ground.''

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a Vietnam veteran and former

secretary of the Navy, pointed out the obvious flaw in this

province-by-province strategy. ``International terrorism--and

guerrilla warfare in general--is intrinsically mobile,'' he

said. ``So securing one particular area . . . doesn't

necessarily guarantee that you have reduced the capability of

those kinds of forces. They are mobile; they move.''

It would require far more than 100,000 U.S. troops to

securely occupy the entire country. As Webb pointed out, this

means we can end up ``playing whack-a-mole'' as the enemy

pops back up in areas that have already been pacified.

If our intention, as Crocker said, is to leave behind

``governance that is good enough to ensure that the country

doesn't degenerate back into a safe haven for al-Qaida,''

then there are two possibilities: Either we'll never cross

the goal line, or we already have.

According to Obama's timetable, all U.S. troops are

supposed to be out of Afghanistan by 2014. Will the deeply

corrupt, frustratingly erratic Afghan government be ``good

enough'' three years from now? Will Afghan society have

banished the poverty, illiteracy and distrust of central

authority that inevitably sap legitimacy from any regime in

Kabul? Will the Afghan military, whatever its capabilities,

blindly pursue U.S. objectives? Or will the country's

civilian and military leaders determine their self-interest

and act accordingly?

The fact is that in 2014 there will be no guarantees.

Perhaps we will believe it incrementally less likely that the

Taliban could regain power and invite al-Qaida back. But that

small increment of security does not justify the blood and

treasure that we will expend now and then.

I take a different view. We should declare victory and

leave.

We wanted to depose the Taliban regime, and we did. We

wanted to install a new government that answers to its

constituents at the polls, and we did. We wanted to smash al-

Qaida's infrastructure of training camps and safe havens, and

we did. We wanted to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, and we

did.

Even so, say the hawks, we have to stay in Afghanistan

because of the dangerous instability across the border in

nuclear-armed Pakistan. But does anyone believe the war in

Afghanistan has made Pakistan more stable? Perhaps it is

useful to have a U.S. military presence in the region. This

could be accomplished, however, with a lot fewer than 100,000

troops--and they wouldn't be scattered across the Afghan

countryside, engaged in a dubious attempt at nation-building.

The threat from Afghanistan is gone. Bring the troops home.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for introducing this resolution.

It is just so ironic that on May 26, a CNN poll found that the majority of the American people, 55 percent, believe Congress, not the President, should have final authority for deciding whether the United States should continue its military mission in Libya.

Yes, American people, you are exactly right, and that is why we need to support Mr. Kucinich's resolution.

It has been amazing to me that I have heard so much debate today about NATO's feelings--NATO's feelings. Well, how about the feelings of the American people? How about the people that pay the taxes in this country, how about their feelings? Isn't it time their feelings come first?

That is why I sincerely believe, and I wanted to be on the floor today because--and I thank Mr. Boehner, the Speaker of the House, for presenting a resolution, but that does not do it. That does not do it.

The Constitution says that Mr. Kucinich is right with this resolution. The American people say that he is right with this resolution. The American people are calling on the Congress

to meet their constitutional duties and to vote for this resolution.

Madam Speaker, before I close, I want to say again to Mr. Kucinich, thank you for taking the lead on this. This should actually be the only resolution we are voting on, but let's show the American people that we believe in the Constitution and let's support Mr. Kucinich's resolution.

Mr. Speaker, like most of my colleagues in the House, on Memorial Day I had the privilege to speak to two different groups down in the Third District of North Carolina, which I represent. One of the events comes to mind down in Beaufort, North Carolina. There were well over 150 people there--most of them obviously were veterans or family of veterans, and a couple of families whose loved ones didn't come home from previous wars.

That brings me to the point that last week Jim McGovern and I offered an amendment to create a formula to bring our troops home from Afghanistan, and I want to thank the 26 Republicans who voted for that amendment. We came within six votes of creating a formula for the President to bring our troops home before 2015.

Mr. Speaker, at these two events down in my district, I had veterans line up when I finished to come up to say, ``We agree with you on your position to bring our troops home from Afghanistan.'' And even at one event I got a very strong applause when I mentioned the McGovern-Jones amendment and how close we came to create a formula to bring our troops home.

Mr. Speaker, they said to me, well, why did we go into Afghanistan? Bin Laden, he was responsible for 9/11, he's dead now. Al Qaeda, which had a large presence back in 2003, 2004 in Afghanistan, is now diminished. Now these are the veterans talking to me. I'm not a veteran. But my statement was, you're right. Our country is financially broke, we've spent over $8 billion, we can't pay our bills, and yet Mr. Karzai--who's corrupt to begin with, the leader of Afghanistan--we always seem to find $8 billion a month to send to him. It makes no sense.

So Mr. McGovern and I and people on my side and his side, we're going to continue to work to create an atmosphere and environment to encourage President Obama not to wait until 2015.

That's exactly what Secretary Gates said to the Armed Services Committee, on which I serve: ``In February of 2015, we will start bringing home our troops.'' Well, then, Mr. Speaker, how many more will have to die, lose their legs and their arms in the next 4 years? It's only 2011, and we're talking about 2015?

I can tell you our military has won the war many, many times. As you can see, this is a paper not even in my district, Greensboro, North Carolina, where Mr. Howard Coble is from. This is an editorial a few weeks ago and it says, ``Get Out,'' and there's a flag-draped coffin/ transfer case being carried off the plane by soldiers or airmen.

So it is time that this Congress come together in a bipartisan way and bring our troops home.

I see the families down at Camp Lejeune, which is in my district. I talk to them. I listen to them. They think they have done their job. They think it's time to come home.

So, Mr. Speaker, as I do all the time on the floor of the House when I'm 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 dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. I ask God to please bless the House and Senate that we will do what is right in the eyes of God for His people in this great Nation. I will ask God to give wisdom, strength, and courage to Mr. Obama that he will do what is right in the eyes of God for this great Nation.

And I will ask three times: God please, God please, God please continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, like most of my colleagues, I had the opportunity to speak to a number of veteran groups on Memorial Day in my district. As always, I was very humbled when I stand before those who have fought for this Nation and the families whose loved ones did not come back from wars.

I would like the House to know that when I talked about the McGovern- Jones amendment to get our troops out of Afghanistan, the statement received very strong applause, showing the very strong support of the veterans of the Third District for getting our troops home from Afghanistan. After my comments, I had many of these veterans come up individually who wanted to

talk to me, expressing their support and telling me that they agree with McGovern and myself.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the 26 Republicans who voted in favor of the McGovern-Jones amendment last week. I believe we came within 11 votes of passage. Mr. McGovern and I will continue to fight until there's a definite plan to bring our troops home before 2015.

Bin Laden is gone, and there is zero al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan. We have done our job.

In closing, I would like to quote Leslie Gelb from his May 9 article in The Wall Street Journal: ``Afghanistan is no longer a war about vital American security interests. It is about the failure of America's political elites to face two plain facts: The al Qaeda terrorist threat is no longer centered in that ancient battleground, and the battle against the Taliban is mainly for Afghans themselves.''

Mr. Speaker, I have with me, as I have many times--the true cost of war is those who die, and those who lose their arms and legs, and those who are paralyzed and blind for the rest of their life. Beside me is a very, very frank picture of war. It is an Air Force honor guard at Dover Air Force Base with the officer in charge saluting the transfer case that is covered with the American flag.

I would say, Mr. Speaker, to both parties, how many more have to die in the next 4 or 5 years before we as a Nation and we as a Congress wake up to the fact that Karzai is a corrupt leader? He has a corrupt government. We are spending $8.2 billion a month to prop him up. And yet, Mr. Speaker, on this floor of this House, I've been part of many, many debates where people are saying, well, we've got to cut the senior citizens, we can't keep their programs going; we've got to cut the children so they can't get milk in the morning at school.

We make sure that Karzai gets his $8.2 billion every month in Afghanistan for what we can't even account for.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. McGovern and I will again this summer have an amendment on the floor to bring our troops home from Afghanistan. And I will say to the moms, the dads, the wives, and the husbands who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan, you have won the war. The war is over. Bin Laden is dead, and al Qaeda does not exist in Afghanistan anymore.

So, Mr. Speaker, before I close, as I do always on the floor, as I look at this poster with the flag-draped coffin, I will ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform. I will ask God to please bless the families of our men and women in uniform. I will ask God, in His loving arms, to hold the families who have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. I will ask God to please bless the House and Senate, that we will do what is right in the eyes of God for His people and this great Nation. I will ask God to please give wisdom, strength, and courage to President Obama, that he will do what is right in the eyes of God for this Nation.

And I will say three times, God please, God please, God please continue to bless America.

Mr. Chairman, on May 9 this year in an article in The Wall Street Journal--the title is ``Mission Accomplished''--the article stated al Qaeda is no longer based there in Afghanistan and the Taliban must be beaten by Afghans themselves. This is why it is the right time to support the McGovern amendment. It's a reasonable, balanced plan to bring our troops home from Afghanistan.

Mr. Chairman, 2 weeks ago Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Palmer and Sergeant Kevin Balduf, two Marines from my district, were shot and murdered by an Afghan officer while trying to train the Afghans. Here are these two great men, fathers, trying to train the Afghans, and somebody within the training area kills them, murders them. Yes, let's keep staying there. It's all worthwhile.

Mr. Chairman, the reason this amendment is so important is because Secretary Gates back in February at the Armed Services Committee made this statement. I am going to paraphrase it. That is why we believe that beginning in 2015--2015--the United States can, with minimal risk, begin reducing active duty end strength. 2015.

To quote the retired Marine Corps general that I respect so much, and I didn't serve in the military, and I quote him, ``What do we say to the mother and father, the wife, of the last Marine or soldier killed to support a corrupt government and a corrupt leader?'' The American people are tired and fed up. But let me say more importantly than the American people are our military; they are tired and fed up.

The wife of this sergeant who was murdered trying to train the Afghans, he had emailed her the day before. And I read the email. ``I don't trust them. I don't trust them for anything. Not for anything at all.'' And he died the next day, leaving two little girls. God bless our men and women in uniform.

Support the McGovern amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of striking section 1034.

I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan for this time. I was so concerned about this provision that I contacted a professor that I know very well, Jules Lobel, a noted constitutional professor at the University of Pittsburgh. And at my request, he has examined this provision and has provided me the following analysis. Again,

I cannot give all the analysis because of limited time, but I want to read this point to you:

``Section 1034 authorization for the President to use force against any group or individual that he determines is associated with al Qaeda or the Taliban is overbroad and could potentially permit a President to expansively use force against terrorist groups around the world. Under international law, you cannot kill someone anywhere in the world simply because of their association with an entity against which you are at war, although under certain circumstances, you can detain them, if captured. This authorization is too vague and expansive.''

I hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will look at this very carefully and join us in trying to strike this provision. Again, I thank the gentleman from Michigan for this time.

Section 1034 is mixing up two different things--detention authority and the authorization to use force--and could therefore authorize something which the Administration has not yet claimed the power to do. The Administration's March 13 filing in court recognized this distinction, and explicitly limited that filing to its authority to detain people at Guantanamo:

``This position is limited to the authority upon which the Government is relying to detain the persons now being held at Guantanamo Bay. It is not, at this point, meant to define the contours of authority for military operations generally, or detention in other contexts.''

But the new authorization, with the Chairman's remarks, takes a government position that was ``limited'' to the authority to detain persons at Guantanamo, and uses it ``to define the contours of authority for military operations generally'', which has potentially expansive and unforeseen consequences in the future. Congress should not be authorizing war against all groups vaguely ``associated'' with Al Qaeda anywhere in the world, even if, in certain circumstances we can detain persons captured in battle who are associated with the enemy, or persons who are detained by other nations and transferred to us.

Moreover, the Administration's detention authority over persons detained at Guantanamo is subject to habeas review by federal courts. Therefore, a person who the government claims is ``associated'' with the enemy in such a manner as to justify detention, can challenge the government claim in court. However, a Presidential use of force against associated forces around the world would not likely be subject to judicial review, and therefore Congress could be authorizing essentially unfettered Executive discretion in using force against unnamed and undefined people or groups worldwide, under standards that the Administration has thus far not clearly defined.

Second, even were the provision limited to detention, it would still be problematic. The Obama Administration's claim to detention authority is more limited in some respects than Bush Administration's was, and that some judges of the D.C. Circuit would allow. But there remain disputes over the breadth of the government's power to detain people as enemy combatants who are captured outside of any battlefield or are detained because they are ``supporting'' or ``associated'' with the enemy. The Supreme Court has not yet decided these issues. This bill seems to affirm the Obama Administration's and D.C. Circuit view, and apply it to detainees more generally, although it adds vagueness because the chairman says that ``this affirmation is not intended to limit or alter the President's existing authority pursuant to the

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark and pay tribute to the opening of the North Carolina a Veterans' Park. As the Representative of the Third District of North Carolina, I bear the heavy burden of watching Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Coast Guardsmen deploy from Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station, New River, Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base to protect our Nation's freedoms. I have and continue to support their efforts through legislation and advocacy on their behalf.

Even before our Nation was founded, North Carolinians have answered the call of duty to their Communities, State and Country and continue to answer the call in response to terror, tyranny and disaster. On July 4, 2011, the 235th celebration of our independence, the City of Fayetteville will unveil the North Carolina Veterans' Park to celebrate all North Carolina members of the Armed Forces, who continue to sacrifice their today for our tomorrow.

The park is located in Fayetteville, home to Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base, from which brave men and women deploy to place themselves in harm's way to defend our way of life. The City and the designers of the park have commemorated each phase of service; leaving civilian life and swearing the oath to protect the Constitution, to the time spent serving; to the time that they separate from active or reserve service, when the warrior returns to civilian life.

The dedication and devotion of the citizens of the Tar Heel State are etched in the annals of this great Nation. North Carolinians are feared by their enemies, trusted by their allies and revered by those they serve. The opening of this park is a fitting tribute to all those who have served, are serving, will serve or have a loved one who has served.

I congratulate the City of Fayetteville for the building and dedication of this fine tribute.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Miss Abby Keene.

She is freshman at Southern Wayne High School in Dudley, NC. Abby is currently an active member of the Southern Wayne High School FFA and is currently working with training a goat for the goat exhibition and show. She is preparing for a land judging contest in which she will be a judge. Prior to her diagnosis she was a cheerleader, softball player and dancer.

In the fall of 2009 after a routine exam by their family doctor, Abby was found to have an enlarged spleen. Further test revealed that she suffers from a rare liver disease named Primary Sclerosing Cholangitit (PSC). PSC is a liver disease of the bile ducts and is very rare in children and even more rare to be diagnosed in a female. The only known treatment is a transplant and she is currently on a waiting list for a transplant at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA.

Abby's mother Deon has teamed up with COTA (Children's Organ Transplant Association) along with friends, neighbors, local churches, fire department/rescue units, Grantham Grange, Southern Wayne High School FFA, and other local civic groups to raise $50,000 for Abby to receive a transplant. On May 14, 2011, Eureka Christian Church is hosting a BBQ lunch and dinner, followed by an auction of donated items. Abby is hoping to return to her active roles upon completion of her liver transplant.

Mr. Speaker, today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Miss Abby Keene and wish her the best in her upcoming future.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 270 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, as many people know, and I do not say this with pride, but for years, I've been signing letters to the immediate and extended families of those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. I have signed over 9,966 letters. It is a constant reminder to me of the high cost of war.

Our country is in deep financial trouble. It continues to amaze me that we would raise the debt ceiling, spend money we don't have and cut much-needed programs from our seniors and children while we continue to spend $8 billion a month in Afghanistan.

Karzai is a corrupt leader. His government is corrupt. He has stated that he would rather side with the Taliban than the United States. This is based on an article in the Washington Post on December 8, 2010. What sense does it make to sacrifice our young American lives, our money and our resources for a man who does not want our troops in his country? It simply does not make any sense at all.

According to a March 15 Washington Post/ABC News Poll, 73 percent of Americans want our troops out of Afghanistan this summer. Last week, every Member of Congress received an Associated Foreign Press article from Congressman Peter Welch. I do not have time to read the whole article, but let me share some excerpts from his letter to each of my colleagues and his colleagues, and I will quote the letter from Congressman Welch.

``I want to draw your attention to a recent Associated Foreign Press article detailing the funneling of USAID dollars to the Afghan Taliban, reportedly making Western reconstruction funds the main source of income for insurgents.

``According to the story, an estimated 10 percent of the cost of every development project is used to pay off the Taliban. The United States has spent $56.1 billion in Afghanistan since 2002.''

Mr. Speaker, let me remind the Congress and the American citizens that the Taliban are killing and maiming American soldiers and marines. It is time that this Congress debate the Afghan war and to bring our troops home. Here we are talking about cutting spending for programs that help the American people, but yet we continue to send billions and billions of dollars to a corrupt leader. It doesn't make sense. Mr. Speaker, we could save American lives, which is the most important, but also $8 billion a month if we were to bring our troops home from Afghanistan.

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to come to the floor once a week, and I will bring photographs in the way of posters to remind the American people and my colleagues in Washington of the price of war. Right beside me now is the Air Force Honor Guard at Dover bringing a hero home in a transfer case, which is known as a coffin as well, flag draped.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for this Congress to debate the issue of bringing our troops home from Afghanistan. How much longer can we afford to give lives of our young Americans to a corrupt leader? It makes no sense. I want my colleagues in both parties to awaken.

Jim McGovern, Democrat, and Walter Jones, a conservative, will soon have a bill that we will put on the floor to debate bringing our troops home. I want the American people to join us in bringing our troops home.

Mr. Speaker, as I do always when I close, I will ask God to please bless our men and women in uniform. I will ask God to please bless the families of our men and women in uniform. I will ask God in His loving arms to hold the families who have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And, Mr. Speaker, I will ask God to please bless the House and Senate that we will do what is right in the eyes of God for the American people. And I will ask God to give wisdom, strength and courage to President Obama that he will do what is right in the eyes of God for His people.

And I will close by asking God three times, please God, please God, please God, continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, last Tuesday, Congresswoman Sue Myrick and I went to visit the wounded at Walter Reed. These trips are always a vivid reminder of the true cost of war. Seeing the men and women who have lost limbs for this country make we wonder how many more are going to be in that hospital, both at Walter Reed and Bethesda, with severe wounds.

After hearing Secretary Gates, and I have great respect for Secretary Gates, but he has made it clear that we will be in Afghanistan until 2014. He said it will be 2014 or 2015 before we can start substantially bringing down the number of troops in that country. Here we are in Washington battling right now about the 2011 budget, what should we do or not do and cut this and cut that, yet we seem to find $8 billion a month for a corrupt leader in Afghanistan named Karzai. He's corrupt and his government is corrupt. Yet we're saying to the American people, if you're a senior, we can't be sure that you can get a sandwich at the senior citizen center in your county. We're saying to the children that cannot afford milk at home, there will be no programs for you. But yet we can find $8 billion a month for a corrupt leader in a country in a war that we cannot win.

Our troops have already won, but history says you will not change Afghanistan--and I won't go through the history because of time. One day Karzai likes American troops being over there and the next day he doesn't like American troops being there. In fact, in December 2010 in the Washington Post, and I will paraphrase this, Karzai said to General Petraeus:

I have three main enemies--the Taliban, the Americans, and the international community. If I had to choose a friend today--and again, this is the President of Afghanistan--I would choose the Taliban.

They're the ones killing Americans and blowing their legs off and their arms off. How much longer does this have to go on?

I say to my colleagues in both parties, join Representative Kucinich, Ron Paul and myself--and many others--let's bring our troops home.

I have a photograph here, Mr. Speaker, that was in the Raleigh, North Carolina, paper about a year ago. This is a young Army sergeant. His legs are gone. They've been blown off. His right arm has been blown off and he has a left arm. He is what they call a triple amputee. His lovely wife is there pushing the wheelchair.

Mr. Speaker, it's time for the American people to say to those of us in Congress, do not keep our troops there until 2014, 2015, 2016 for a corrupt leader. It's time to bring our troops home.

I have the fortune of representing Camp Lejeune Marine Base in my district. I talk to the Marines, who are as brave as brave can be, that have been there three, four and five times. I've talked to the families as they're breaking up, the families when their loved one has committed suicide upon returning from Afghanistan. It's time to bring them home. How many more will be like this sergeant, without legs, without arms?

Mr. Speaker, last week on Tuesday, Sue Myrick and I saw two young men, one from Florida and one from Nevada, that have no body parts below their waist. The body parts are gone. Everything is gone. Wake up, Congress, and let's bring our troops home from Afghanistan.

My close is this, Mr. Speaker: 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. Mr. Speaker, I ask God to bless the House and Senate, that we will do what is right in God's eyes. I will ask God to give wisdom, strength, and courage to President Obama that he will do what is right in the eyes of God. And I will ask three times: God please, God please, God please continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, a couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to vote to bring our troops home from Afghanistan. It was Mr. Kucinich's resolution that many of us hoped that my party would have joined. We only had eight Republicans vote to bring our troops home this year from Afghanistan.

Mr. Speaker, what is so ironic, we sit on this floor and we debate cutting the budget, doing this and that, and yet we are supporting a corrupt leader named Karzai in Afghanistan.

In fact, I want to share with the people that a former Marine general is my confidential adviser. I don't have permission to use his name. I could, I guess, but I don't have his permission. This is what he said in a recent email to me:

``What do we say to the mother and father, the wife, of the last soldier or marine killed to support a corrupt government and corrupt leader in a war that can't be won?''

Let me share with you, Mr. Speaker, a couple of comments from the leader of Afghanistan, President Karzai, on March 12, 2011, in The New York Times:

``I request that NATO and America should stop these operations on our soil,'' he said. ``This war is not on our soil. If this war is against terror, then this war is not here'' because there is no terrorism here on our soil.

Karzai further stated, on December 8, 2010, in a meeting with Petraeus and Eikenberry, that he now has three main enemies: the Taliban, the United States, and the international community. He said, ``If I had to choose sides today, I'd choose the Taliban.''

This is the leader of a country where our young men and women are going and getting killed and losing their legs and their arms. It makes no sense, Mr. Speaker.

According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll on March 15 of this year, 73 percent of Americans no longer think the war in Afghanistan is worth fighting. Mr. Speaker, 73 percent of the American people say the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting.

I was very disappointed when Secretary Gates recently spoke to the Armed Services Committee, which I serve on, and I would like to read his quote because we are going to be there until about 2014 or 2015 unless this Congress demands that we start bringing our troops home. This is his quote:

``That is why we believe that, beginning in fiscal year 2015, the U.S. can, with minimal risk, begin reducing Army active duty end strength by 27,000 and the Marine Corps by somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000. These projections assume that the number of troops in Afghanistan would be significantly reduced by the end of 2014, in accordance with the President's strategy.''

Mr. Speaker, we are going to be there until 2014 or maybe even 2015.

I also would like to show this poster. This was in the Greensboro, North Carolina, paper called the News & Record on February 27, 2011. There's a flag-draped coffin coming off a plane, Mr. Speaker, and the paper in Mr. Howard Coble's district said, ``Get out.'' Get out of Afghanistan before it's too late. And it's a black hole with no end to it.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to read from a letter from a marine down in my district, Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He served 31 years and retired as a colonel in the United States Marine Corps.

``I urge you to make contact with all of the current and newly elected men and women to Congress and ask them to end this war and bring our young men and women home. If any of my comments will assist in this effort, you are welcome to use them and my name,'' Dennis G. Adams, Lieutenant Colonel, Retired, United States Marine Corps.

Mr. Speaker, before I close, yesterday, with Congresswoman Sue Myrick, I went to Walter Reed Hospital to visit the young soldiers and marines who have lost their legs, their arms. Two of them that we saw, Mr. Speaker, have no body parts below their waist. No body parts below their waist. And here we are supporting a corrupt leader of a nation that, quite frankly, will never be a nation. It is a country.

It is not a nation. It never will have a national government. Why are we wasting $7 billion a month in Afghanistan, and our young men and women are coming back with broken bodies?

Mr. Speaker, it is time to get out of Afghanistan. I close by asking 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've 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. And I will ask God to please bless the President, that he will do what is right in the eyes of God.

And I will say three times, God, please, God, please, God, please continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) for yielding me half of his time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we are debating how long we are going to be in Afghanistan. Recently, Secretary Gates testified before the Armed Services Committee, which I serve on, and said that he thought by 2014 we could start substantial reduction in our troop strength in

Afghanistan, 2014, that it might be 2015, 2016.

That's why this debate and this resolution is so important, not important for those of us in the House, but important for our military and the American people.

And Mr. Kucinich did make reference to The Washington Post-ABC poll that was taken a couple of days ago that said 73 percent of the American people said it's time, this year, to bring our troops home.

In addition, I would like to share a quote from the leader of Afghanistan, Mr. Karzai. He's our man in Afghanistan. All right, now, he's our man. This was his quote 3 days ago: ``I request that NATO and America should stop these operations on our soil,'' Karzai said. ``This war is not on our soil. If this war is against terror, then this war is not here. Terror is not here.''

The number of al Qaeda and their presence in Afghanistan is about 20 or 30. Most of them are in Pakistan. I would agree with that. But this debate is critical.

Before I reserve the balance of my time, I want to share very quickly a letter from a retired colonel who's a marine that lives in my district: ``I am writing this letter to express my concern over the current Afghanistan war. I am a retired marine officer with 31-plus years of active duty. I retired in 2004 due to service limitations, or I am sure I would have been on my third or fourth deployment by now to a war that has gone on too long.''

And I'll go to the bottom of this: ``It makes no sense if we're there 4 years or 40. The results will be the same.''

And he closed his letter this way: ``This war is costing the United States billions of dollars a month to wage, and we still continue to get more young Americans killed. The Afghan war has no end state for us.

``I urge you to make contact with all the current and newly elected men and women in Congress and ask them to end this war and bring our young men and women home. If any of my comments will assist in this effort, you are welcome to use them and my name.

``Respectfully, Dennis G. Adams, Lieutenant Colonel retired, United States Marine Corps.''

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we will be debating this probably in 2015 or 2016. If I am not here, somebody else will be, because that is how long we are going to be there.

This general that served in the Marine Corps that has advised me for 11 months, back in November I asked: ``What do you think about 4 more years?''

I am just going to read part of his email:

``I do not believe that 40 more years would guarantee victory, whatever that is; so 4 will do nothing. The war is costing money and lives, all in short supply.''

I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan).

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am grateful that we are having this debate from both sides, those that want to stay there for another 4 or 5 years versus those of us who would like to bring our troops home. I want to put a face on this debate if I may, Mr. Speaker.

This young man's name is Tyler Jordan from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is attending his father's funeral. He was a gunnery sergeant, Phillip Jordan, who was killed for this country. The 6-year-

old little boy, you can't see his eyes, but they hurt. They're pained.

How many more Tyler Jordans are going to be waiting for their daddy or mom to come home to be buried if we stay there 4, 5, 6, or 7 more years? And that is what has been indicated by the leadership of the military and this administration.

How many more moms and dads and wives and husbands are going to be at Dover Air Force Base to receive the remains of their loved ones? That is why this debate is so important, and why we need to have a date and a time to start bringing them home.

My last poster: this absolutely handsome couple. The marine went out with PTSD. His beautiful wife, Katie, and his little boy. Last year at Camp Lejeune, McHugh Boulevard, he pulls his car over in the middle of the day, and he shoots himself in the head and kills himself.

How many more Tom Bagosys will commit suicide? How many Tyler Jordans will not have their daddies coming home? How many moms and dads, wives and husbands will be at Dover to see those in a flag-draped coffin?

I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Chaffetz).

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California, I have great respect for him in many, many ways. We talk about we've got to enhance the governance of Afghanistan. Well, this is President Karzai's quote from March 12, 2001. I have read it before, but I want to submit it for the Record:

``I request that NATO and America should stop these operations on our soil,'' Karzai said. ``This war is not on our soil. If this war is against terror, then this war is not here. Terror is not here.''

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at the present time, I would like to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul).

(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).

I continue to reserve my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield myself 3 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to say to every Member that has been on the floor that served in our military, thank you and God bless you, as I say all the time to those who are overseas for this country.

Because I did not serve, I sought out a Marine general that every Marine that spoke on the floor today, if I said his name--but I don't have permission--they would salute him. They know him.

Let me share with you what this Marine general said to me back in November when I told him I read an article in The New York Times that an Army colonel was saying, Oh, the training of Afghans is going so well. So I emailed him. This is a six-point response, and I am going to read three very quickly:

``Continued belief that we can train the Afghan army to be effective in the time we have is nonsense. The vast majority cannot even read. They are people from the villages hooked on drugs, illiterate, and undisciplined. The South Vietnamese soldiers were much better trained, and they could not stem the tide.''

He further states, ``What is the end state we are looking to achieve? What are the measures of effectiveness? What is our exit strategy? Same old questions, no answers.''

He closed by saying this: ``What do we say to the mother and father, the wife, of the last Marine killed to support a corrupt government and a corrupt leader in a war that cannot be won?''

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich).

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, and I, along with other colleagues, held a press conference to announce House Concurrent Resolution 28, which would require the President to withdraw all United States Armed Forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2011.

Last month's USA Today/Gallup poll, 72 percent of Americans favor congressional action this year to bring our troops home from Afghanistan.

This week the Rasmussen Report finds that 52 percent of voters want our troops home from Afghanistan this year. To quote this poll, ``A majority of voters, for the first time, support an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan or the creation of a timetable to bring them all home within a year.''

Fourteen months ago, I asked a retired military general to advise me on Afghanistan. I have asked him for his thoughts, and I will read some of them to you. Back in November, I emailed this general and I said, What do you think about the possibility of being in Afghanistan for 4 more years?

Mr. Speaker, he replied, ``I do not believe that 40 more years would guarantee 'victory,' whatever that is; so 4 will do nothing. The war is costing money and lives, all in short supply.''

Mr. Speaker, there is a retired lieutenant colonel in Jacksonville, North Carolina, which is in my district, who served in the United States Marine Corps for 31 years. His name is Dennis Adams. He wrote me a letter, and the last paragraph of the letter I would like to read to the House.

``I urge you to make contact with all the current and newly elected men and women to Congress and ask them to end this war and bring our young men and women home. If any of my comments will assist you in this effort, you are welcome to use them and my name.''

Mr. Speaker, I want to show the faces. I want to show the faces of war and the faces of pain.

This is a young man whose name is Phillip Jordan. At the time of his father's death--his father was a gunnery sergeant--he was 6 years of age. I wish the people could see the eyes of this young boy, 6 years of age, with a folded flag under his arm and the coffin that is following right behind him. This is war. Children feel war as adults feel war.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to show a poster from the honor guard at Dover walking a transfer case, which most people know is a coffin. It's the remains of an American hero off the plane. This again is war and the pain of war.

Mr. Speaker, this is a beautiful, handsome couple. It's a young marine, his wife, and his child. This young marine had been deployed so much that he developed PTSD. A year ago, on the main drag at Camp Lejeune known as McHugh Boulevard, he committed suicide. He stepped out of the car, he put a gun to his head, and he committed suicide.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that the Congress would join Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Paul, and others in this House and let's have a debate, and let's vote. Let's meet our constitutional responsibility, and let's bring our troops home before we break the military. It is time to bring our troops home from Afghanistan.

Mr. Speaker, 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 to love the families who have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq, and I ask God to please bless the House and Senate that we would do what is right in the eyes of God. I ask God to give wisdom, strength, and courage to President Obama that he will do what is right in the eyes of God.

And three times I will ask, God please, God please, God please continue to bless America.