On the recordMarch 17, 2011
I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Speaker, first I would like to say to every Member that has been on the floor that served in our military, thank you and God bless you, as I say all the time to those who are overseas for this country. Because I did not serve, I sought out a Marine general that every Marine that spoke on the floor today, if I said his name--but I don't have permission--they would salute him. They know him. Let me share with you what this Marine general said to me back in November when I told him I read an article in The New York Times that an Army colonel was saying, Oh, the training of Afghans is going so well. So I emailed him. This is a six-point response, and I am going to read three very quickly: ``Continued belief that we can train the Afghan army to be effective in the time we have is nonsense. The vast majority cannot even read. They are people from the villages hooked on drugs, illiterate, and undisciplined. The South Vietnamese soldiers were much better trained, and they could not stem the tide.'' He further states, ``What is the end state we are looking to achieve? What are the measures of effectiveness? What is our exit strategy? Same old questions, no answers.'' He closed by saying this: ``What do we say to the mother and father, the wife, of the last Marine killed to support a corrupt government and a corrupt leader in a war that cannot be won?'' I reserve the balance of my time.
