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.
