2009 Ron Paul 97:1
Mr. PAUL. I thank you for yielding.
I want to just make a couple of
points in closing. The statement at the
beginning of this war was made that
it’s different this time. Even though
the history is well known about Afghanistan
– it’s ancient history, but it’s
different this time because we’re different,
and it’s not going to have the
same result. But so far, you know, they
haven’t caught Osama bin Laden, and
we don’t have a national government,
really. We don’t have really honest
elections. We haven’t won the hearts
and minds of the people. There is a lot
of dissension, and it is a miserable
place. It is really a total failure, let
alone the cost, the cost of life and limb
and money. I mean, it is just a total
failure. The thought that we would
pursue this and expand it and send
more troops just blows my mind.
2009 Ron Paul 97:2
I just want to mention a couple of
things that I think are bad arguments.
One thing is we are involved there, we
have invested too much, and, therefore,
we have to save face because it would
look terrible if we had to leave. But it
is like in medicine. What if we, in medicine,
were doing the wrong thing,
made the wrong diagnosis? Would we
keep doing it to prove that we are right
or are we going listen to the patient
and to the results?
Mr. KAGEN. You would lose your license.
2009 Ron Paul 97:3
Mr. PAUL. Yes, that’s right. But it
seems like politicians don’t lose their
license. Maybe they should. Maybe
there will be more this year or something.
But the other argument they
make is, if you take a less militant
viewpoint as we all do that we’re not
supportive of the troops. The troops
don’t believe that. The troops I talk to
and the ones Mr. JONES talks to, they
know we care about them, and they
shouldn’t be put in harm’s way unless
it is absolutely necessary.
2009 Ron Paul 97:4
This other argument is, well, we have
got to go over there to kill them because
they want to kill us. Well, like I
mentioned before, it wasn’t the Afghans
that came over here, but if we’re
in their country killing them, we’re
going to create more terrorists. And
the more people we send, the more terrorists,
and the more we have to kill.
And now it’s spreading. That’s what
I’m worried about in this war.
2009 Ron Paul 97:5
There was one individual – I don’t
know his name – but they believed he
was in Pakistan, so he was part of the
terrorist group, the people who were
opposing the occupation. So they sent
15 cruise missiles, drones, over looking
for him. It took the 15th one to kill
him. But 14 landed, and there was an
estimate made that about 1,000 civilians
were killed in this manner. How
many more terrorists have we developed
under those circumstances?
2009 Ron Paul 97:6
I do want to have 1 minute here to
read a quote, and then I will yield
back. This quote comes from a Russian
general talking to Gorbachev, and
Gorbachev went into office in 1985, and
this was a year later. The general was
talking to Gorbachev. Just think,
Gorbachev was in office 1 year. He had
the problem. He was trying to get out.
He didn’t get out until 1989. But the
general says, “Military actions in Afghanistan
will soon be 7 years old,”
and told Mr. Gorbachev at a November
1986 Politburo session, “There is no
single piece of land in this country
which has not been occupied by a Soviet
soldier. Nonetheless, the majority
of the territory remains in the hands of
rebels.” It reminds me of the conversation
between Colonel Tu and Sumner
after Vietnam. And Sumner, our colonel,
says, You know, we defeated you
in every battle in Vietnam. And Tu
looked at him, and he said, Yes, I
agree, but it was also irrelevant.
