Senate Proceeding 10-14-09 on Oct 14th, 2009 :: 0:02:35 to 0:14:15
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Robert Byrd: c-span2. mr. byrd: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from west virgi recognized. mr. byrd: i thank the chair. mr. president, few subjects

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Speech By: Robert Byrd

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Robert Byrd: weigh more heavily upon a president of the united states than the decision to send

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Robert Byrd: america's sons and daughters into war. such a commitment demands the clearest of clear thinking,

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Robert Byrd: including a thoroughly dispassionate assessment of goals, objectives, in other

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Robert Byrd: words, risks, and strategies. this is difficult, difficult terrain for any american president, especially

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Robert Byrd: when faced with conflicting views from advisors, from congress, and from the american public.

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Robert Byrd: i have become deeply concerned that in the eight yea since the september 11 attacks the reason for the u.s. military

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Robert Byrd: mission in afghanistan has become lost, conmed -- consumed in some broader scheme of nation building, which has

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Robert Byrd: clouded our purpose our reasoning. general mcchrystal, our current military commander in

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Robert Byrd: afghanistan, has requested 30,000 to 40,000 additional american troops to bolster the more than 65,000 american troops already there.

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Robert Byrd: i am not clear as to his reasons reasons, and i have many, many questions. what does general mcchrystal actually aim to achieve?

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Robert Byrd: and so i am compelled to ask, does it really, really take 100,000 u.s. troops to find osama bin laden? if al qaeda has moved to

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Robert Byrd: pakistan, what will these troops in afghanistan add to the effort to defeat al qaeda? what is really, really meant by the term "defeat?"

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Robert Byrd: in the parlance of conventional military aims when facing a shadowy global terrorist network network? and what of this number, 100,000?

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Robert Byrd: does the number 100,000 troops does it include government civilians? does it include defense and security contractors?

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Robert Byrd: how many contrac contractors are already there in afghanistan? and how much more will this cost cost? how much in terms of how much in terms of american

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Robert Byrd: blood? will the international community step up to the plate and bear a greater share of the burden? there are some in congress who talk about limitinghe number

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Robert Byrd: of additional troo surge -- where have i heard that word before? -- until we surge to train more afghan defense forces.

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Robert Byrd: that sounds a lot like fence straddling to me. i suggest that we might better refocus our efforts on al qaeda and reduce u.s. participation in

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Robert Byrd: nation building in afghanistan. let me say that again. i suggest that we refocus -- in other words, take another look -- our

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Robert Byrd: refocus our efforts on al qaeda and reduce u.s. participation in nation building in afghanistan. given the lack

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Robert Byrd: of popularity the current afghan government, what guarantee is there that additional afghan troops and equipment will not produce an even

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Robert Byrd: hostile force? let me ask that question again. given the lack of popularity and integrity of the current afghan government, what guarantee is there that additional afghan troops and equipment will produce an even larger and

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Robert Byrd: better armed hostile force? there is no guarantee. the lengthy presence of foreign troops in a sovereign country almost always creates resentment

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Robert Byrd: and resistance among population. i am relieved to hear president obama acknowledge been mission creep in

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Robert Byrd: afghanistan hear the president express skepticism about sending more troops into afghanistan unless

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Robert Byrd: need to achieve our primary goal of disrupting al qaeda. i remain concerned that congress may yet succumb to military and

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Robert Byrd: international agendas general petraeus and general mcchrystal both seem to have bought into the nation building mission.

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Robert Byrd: by supporting a nationwide counterinsurgency and nation building strategy, i believe that they have certainly lost sight of america's primary strategic objective; namely, to

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Robert Byrd: disrupt and d defang -- in other words, pull the teeth right out of the i believe that they have certainly lost sight of amera's primary strategic

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Robert Byrd: objective to disrupt and defang american people american people from future