Opposes War in Afghanistan
Ron Paul Quotes.com
2010 Ron Paul Chapter 38

Opposes War in Afghanistan
Home Page   Contents   1 July 2010
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my very good friend from Lake Jackson, Texas (Mr. PAUL). (Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)


2010 Ron Paul 38:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this rule. Itís been described rather vividly on this side of the aisle how messy this process is, so I strongly oppose this.


2010 Ron Paul 38:2
Of course, I also strongly oppose the funding, especially for the funding for the war. This is a war that Iíve objected to for a very long time. This war is going badly. Itís not a declared war. We donít have a precise enemy. The Taliban is the spoken enemy, and yet the Taliban are individuals who have never committed terrorism outside their homeland. The Taliban is an outgrowth of the mujahadin, who we were at one time allies with, along with Osama bin Laden. So it isnít a very neat little war.


2010 Ron Paul 38:3
Here we are, we are the most powerful Nation in the world, the most powerful army ever organized in the history of the world. And yet we are fighting a war that essentially is not a war. Weíre fighting a war against individuals that have no tanks, no planes, no ships, no modern technology; and weíre not doing well. Thereís something wrong. If it were truly a war, a declared war and we knew who the enemy was, the war would be over.


2010 Ron Paul 38:4
The fact that the war is not over after 9 years, itís draining us, itís draining us of life and limb, itís draining us of funding. The wars in the Middle East have drained trillions of dollars, and we are suffering from a severe problem, a financial crisis here at home. So itís time that we start looking abroad and looking at what weíre trying to maintain. Weíre in over 130 countries, 900 bases. Itís unsustainable.


2010 Ron Paul 38:5
It was brought to attention this past week that we were having problems. If we were doing well in Afghanistan, we wouldnít be firing our generals. We want to put the blame on the generals. If we change the generals, everything is going to be okay.


2010 Ron Paul 38:6
But our generals are trained to fight wars. Theyíre not trained to be nation builders and social workers and policemen. So this is a war that I see is going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to win until we change our policy.

Previous     Next

Home Page   Contents   Concordance   Links