Walter Jones

Mr. JONES

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

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. 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. JONES

Mr. JONES. 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. JONES

Mr. JONES. 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. JONES

Mr. JONES. 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).

Mr. JONES. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. JONES. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

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

Mr. JONES. 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. JONES. 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).

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

Mr. JONES. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. JONES. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. JONES. 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.)

Mr. JONES. I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.

Mr. JONES. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. JONES. I continue to reserve my time.

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

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

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. 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.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, last week Secretary of Defense Gates spoke at West Point, and I would like to quote one comment from his speech: ``In my opinion, any future Defense Secretary who advises the President to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should `have his head examined,' as General MacArthur so delicately put it'' years ago. Again, this is Secretary Gates. I have great respect for Secretary Gates. I think he is one of the true outstanding Secretaries of Defense this country has ever had. Mr. Speaker, the reason I'm here today, I bring a photograph of a flag-draped coffin--it's called a transfer case--being escorted off a plane at Dover Air Force Base. Mr. Speaker, it is time to bring our troops home. They have been in Afghanistan for over 10 years. I would also say it is time that this Congress met its constitutional responsibility to debate war and whether we should be there or bring our troops home. In recent weeks, I was very concerned to hear our government and military leaders saying that it could be 2014 before we start significantly downsizing our troops in Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, that brings to my mind trips to Walter Reed in Bethesda. So I will ask this question: How many more young men and women must lose their legs, their lives for a corrupt government that history has proven will never be changed? Why should they be dying and losing their legs for Karzai, who doesn't even know that we're his friends? It makes no sense. I will quote a highly decorated retired military general who has been advising me on Afghanistan for the past year: ``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. What do we say to the mother and father, the wife of the last marine killed to support a corrupt government and corrupt leader in a war that can't be won?'' Mr. Speaker, these are words from a general that fought in Vietnam for this country, that reached the highest he could in the branch of service where he served. Mr. Speaker, as you know, I represent the Third District of North Carolina, the home of Camp Lejeune Marine Base. Recently, I was with a marine who has served this Nation for years. He shares my concern about getting out of Afghanistan. So I asked this marine if he would write me a letter, and this is what he wrote: ``Congressman Jones, 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 for too long.'' I will quote end, Mr. Speaker, of his letter to me: ``The Afghanistan war has no end state for us. 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.'' His name is Dennis G. Adams, Lieutenant Colonel, Retired, United States Marine Corps. Mr. Speaker, before I close, I want to remind those on the floor of the House today that I hope, if you haven't had the chance, that you will go to Walter Reed in Bethesda to see the young men and women that will never walk again, to see the young men and women that maybe will not ever think properly again because of PTSD and TBI. And I want to remember the young soldier, 22 years old, a private in the United States Army, who before I walked in the room, the escort, Major Mack, said to me: This soldier has no body parts below his waist. They've all been blown away. So, Mr. Speaker, it's time for the Congress to meet its responsibility and demand a debate on the floor of the House about bringing our troops home from Afghanistan. Mr. Speaker, in closing, as I always do, as I look at this beautiful photograph of a soldier who gave his life for this country and the escort team, God, please bless our men and women in uniform. God, please bless the families of our men and women in uniform. God, please hold in Your loving arms the families who have given a child dying for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq. God bless the House and Senate that we will do what is right in Your eyes for today's generation and tomorrow's generation. 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.

Mr. JONES

Mr. JONES. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.