House Proceeding 09-22-09 on Sep 22nd, 2009 :: 0:10:35 to 0:15:50
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0:10:32 to 0:10:53( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: 24 for five minutes eac. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? ms. woolsey: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into the following members may be permitted to address the house

0:10:35 to 0:15:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lynn C. Woolsey

0:10:54 to 0:11:14( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: for five minutes, to revise and extend their remarks, and include therein extraneous material. ms. woolsey, califor ms. kaptur, ohio. mr. defazio, oregon. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house, the following members are

0:11:15 to 0:11:37( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: recognized for five minutes each. ms. woolsey of california. the gentlelady is recognized for five minutes. ms. woolsey: thank you, speaker. madam speaker, a report written by general mcchrystal, the commander of american and nato forces in afghanistan, was

0:11:38 to 0:11:58( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: leaked to the press yesterday. in this report general mcchrystal warns that the conflict in afghanistan will likely result in failure if we don't send in for troops. adam speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the

0:11:59 to 0:12:19( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: house will be in order. ms. woolsey: in this report, general mcchrystal warns that the conflict in affling will likely result in failure if we don't send in more troops. the leak was an apparent a attempt to put prsure on the white house and the presidency

0:12:20 to 0:12:41( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: to escalate the conflict but to its credit the administration didn't go there and did not cave in. president obama said that he is skeptical that sending in more troops will do any good, and he said that, and i quote him, he said, i'm certainly not somebody who believes in indefinite

0:12:42 to 0:13:04( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: unquote. madam speaker, i'm relieved that we have somebody in house who will think long and hard before sending america's men and women into harm's way. but the president will certainly face a lot more pressure in the coming weeks to increase troop levels. i urge him to resist the idea

0:13:05 to 0:13:26( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: very good reasons. first, there is no military solution in afghanistan. we tried it for over eight years, our troops have fought with incredible skill and courage, but sending in more troops will only fuel anti-americanism and it will convince the afghan people that

0:13:27 to 0:13:47( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: the united states is an occupying force that must be resisted. second, poll after poll shows that the american people are overwhelmingly opposed to sending more troops to afghanistan. and a majority now believes the war in afghanistan is simple and

0:13:48 to 0:14:09( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: that it is not worth fighting. they the war was simple, they thought it was a simple answer. it was simply not worth fighting. and third, madam speaker, we cannot afford to keep pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into this conflict. we need every one ever those dollars to meet our urgent domestic needs here at home.

0:14:10 to 0:14:30( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: we need to use our resources to dig out of the recession not dig into a quagmire in afghanistan. for all these reasons, the president and his advisors must rethink our mission in afghanistan and look at changing our strategy. the rand corporation has produced a study of extremist

0:14:31 to 0:14:51( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: groups that should help us develop the right rand studied the history of 648 extremist groups, finding that military force was effective against these groups only 7% of the time. two strategies that worked better were negotiated political settlements and the use of

0:14:52 to 0:15:14( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: intelligence and police agencies to dismantle extremist networks. comned these two strategies were effective 83%, 83% of the time. that's about 12 times better than the military option. rand also applied its analysis to the current situation in

0:15:15 to 0:15:36( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: afghanistan and concluded that policing and intelligence would be the backbone of u.s. efforts against al qaeda in that region. that's why police and th intelligence are two key components of my national security plan which is described in house resolution 363, the smart security platform for the 21st century.

0:15:37 to 0:15:50( Edit History Discussion )

Lynn C. Woolsey: my plan also emphasizes onomic development, infrastructure, jobs, education, and better governancer for afghanistan. madam speaker,y refusing to be rushed into sending more troops to afghanistan, president obama