On October 29, 2013 Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina asked for and was granted permission to address the United States House of Representatives for a few minutes regarding the situation in Afghanistan.
“Mr. Speaker, at this point in our Nation’s history, I believe both parties will acknowledge that we have major economic issues facing our country. As Congress just recently came to a temporary resolution which raised the debt ceiling by $230 billion, it is incredible to me that we still found $30 billion in aid to send to Afghanistan and $1.6 billion in aid to send to Pakistan.”
“Mr. Speaker, at a time when America is drowning in debt, this is completely unacceptable. And even more important than the money are the American lives that have been lost–six in the time the government was shut down and one the weekend after. As we work to fix our national problems, we should be wise enough to follow the lead of the nations who have interfered in Afghanistan before us–England and Russia are only two examples–and stop wasting lives and money on a country that will never change. History tells us that it is time to bring our troops home”, he said.
“I want to thank ABC News for their effort each Sunday morning during “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” to faithfully list the names of the Americans who have been killed in Afghanistan, just as they did during the Iraq war. It is with sadness that I report that they have added seven names to this list over the last 3 weeks. Mr. Speaker, on the poster beside me are the faces of two little girls, Stephanie and Eden, whose father, Sergeant Kevin Balduf, from Camp Lejeune Marine Base, which is in my district, was killed in Afghanistan. He and Colonel Palmer, from Cherry Point Marine Air Station, also in my district, were trying to train the Afghans to be policemen. One of the trainees turned their pistol on Palmer and Balduf and killed both of them. So these little girls are standing at Arlington Cemetery with their mom holding their hands”, said Rep. Jones.
“Perhaps more disheartening is the fact that two of the most recent deaths in Afghanistan also were an example of Afghans that we were trying to train killing Americans. We were just trying to help them”, said Rep. Jones (source: congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov).
Congressman Jones is a senior member of the powerful House Committee on Armed Services.
See website: Corruption in Afghanistan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Afghanistan