Lynn C. Woolsey: “President Obama is certainly doing the right thing when it comes to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti. He's responded…”

“President Obama is certainly doing the right thing when it comes to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti. He's responded quickly, he's responded effectively, and he's pledged that the United States will do all that we can do to alleviate the suffering of the Haitian people and to help them rebuild their lives. President Obama has shown that America stands for hope, decency, and human rights, which is, of course, the kind of moral leadership that the President of the United States must always show. But while the administration is getting it right in Haiti, we still have a lot of work to do in Afghanistan, where the President plans to ask Congress for $33 billion in emergency funding to pay for the escalation of the war there. Madam Speaker, we do need to appropriate more funds for Afghanistan, but not for more troops, because there is no military solution to the problem there. Sending more troops makes us look like occupiers, which will surely help the Taliban recruit more violent extremists, who will attack their own Afghani neighbors and the United States. So instead of investing in the military in Afghanistan, we need to invest in SMART security, which means investing in economic development, health, infrastructure, humanitarian aid, better law enforcement and governance. SMART security also includes helping the Afghan people to build schools so girls and women can be offered an education as well as the boys.”