House Proceeding 10-08-09 on Oct 8th, 2009 :: 0:53:20 to 0:58:25
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0:53:17 to 0:53:38( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: level best to help the president keep that promise, too. thank you, madam speaker, i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. ms. kaptur of ohio. mr. gohmert, texas.

0:53:20 to 0:58:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Thaddeus G. McCotter

0:53:39 to 0:53:59( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: without objection, t is recognized for five minutes. mr. mccotter: madam speaker, right now people are fighting and dying for a free afghanistan. they deserve an answer for the crux of the matter, are we in to win? i believe we must be. my answer stems from a broad strategic vision focused by three fundamental principles. one, america's security is from

0:54:00 to 0:54:20( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: strength, not surrender. two, our greatest strength rests in expanding liberty to the oppressed to ensure freedom for ourselves. and, three, we are targets of tyrants and terrorists not because of our actions but because of our existence. helping the afghans free themselves from the taliban's tyranny and al qaeda's terrorism

0:54:21 to 0:54:43( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: is a moral good unto itself. to retreat from or compromise this noble goal in the cause of human freedom will not only be a betrayal of the afghans, it will endanger our own birth right as a free people. our allies, our rivals and enemies will witness our lack of conviction and by so dishonoring ourselves, we'll squander our

0:54:44 to 0:55:04( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: allies' trust and incur our enemies' emboldened depravities. iran continues its pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to wield them. a defeat in afghanistan will condemn generations yet born to the terrorism of an iranian regime protected by a nuclear umbrella. victory in afghanistan will further iran's necessary containment by democracies

0:55:05 to 0:55:25( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: opsed to terrorism. unable to expand its sway, iran's ability to coax our rivals into opposing sanctions and aiding of nuclear pursuits will have an end and within its own borders, the regime will falter. and like the soviet union, ultimately implode beneath the weight of its own people's aspirations for freedom.

0:55:26 to 0:55:48( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: regarding afghanistan particularly, general stanley mcchrystal has affirmed victory remains within reach. what form will it take? my view is that the richly diversified people of afghanistan desire a decentralized democracy that is opposed to terrorism and is engaged with their neighbors and allies. to this end, america, nato and the u.n. must renounce the

0:55:49 to 0:56:09( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: fraudulent elections and have an honest election. this is essential to reassuring the afghans that their representative government and the coalition's intentions in their homeland are legitimate and benevolent. as this process proceeds, we must make clear you the new democrat's governing principle is local control. every nation, especially one as tribal as afghanistan, has

0:56:10 to 0:56:30( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: traditional roots of order, springing from and connections -- connecting the individual and family to the country. without an enduring history of a trust in a centralized rule from kabul, only an explicit enduring commitment to local control will soothe afghans' resistance to eir government's existence.

0:56:31 to 0:56:54( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: it also intermeshes with coalition forces, counterinsurgency operations. the brilliant counterinsurgency strategy in iraq, coalition forces must defeat the enemy's violence and intimidation of afghans. as the security situation stabilizes, coalition forces and police and army personnel must

0:56:55 to 0:57:17( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: people to facilitate stainble deve institutions. in some, they will separate afghans from the enemy by proving the moral and practical superiority of locally rooted democracy over nilistic terrorism and tyranny. importantly, reconstruction efforts must not be limited to afghanistan. with the enemy infesting western

0:57:18 to 0:57:40( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: tribal regions of pakistan, the coalition must also engage with that nation's people and government in preeveryonive reconstruction. rolling blackouts, food shortages and other programs affecting pakistanis must be ameliorated. this will stop pakistanis from viewing themselves as unwilling con scripts and a proxy army being used by the coalition.

0:57:41 to 0:58:01( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: it will stabilize pakistan's government, will demonstrate the coalition's commitment to the well-being of pakistan citizens and will empower the pakistani arm to more actively and effectively eradicate safe havens in their nation which constitute a threat to democracy in afghanistan and pack stanl.

0:58:02 to 0:58:22( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: surrounded by fr coalition forces, the enemy will be uprooted from its haven with nowhere to hide and will be crushed. this is the sin op sis of the broader scriege concept. may we all ever remember america's greatest security is liberty. and let us pray the obama administration supports general

0:58:23 to 0:58:26( Edit History Discussion )

Thaddeus G. McCotter: mcchrystal's plan for victory so that with we and future