The War In Afghanistan

Floor Speech

Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, today the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, told Congress that he needed more troops to succeed in Afghanistan. He's probably right, just like Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki was right when he said we needed more troops in Iraq.

But just as we failed to ask the tough strategic questions about Iraq, it is my sincere belief that we are now failing to ask the tough strategic questions about Afghanistan.

Colin Powell said, ``When we go to war, we should have a purpose our people understand and support.''

Do we have that today in Afghanistan? Every time we send a young American over for a tour of duty, we are deciding to go to war over and over again. The question is, Does the American public understand and support that decision? Do we as a body understand and support the long-term strategy behind the war in Afghanistan? Or has the people's House gone on autopilot, deciding to debate only numbers and not the bigger questions of why, how, and when this Nation should go to war?

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