Joe Courtney: “Thank you, Congressman Sutton, for yielding. And I just want to follow up with my friend from the Armed Services…”

“Thank you, Congressman Sutton, for yielding. And I just want to follow up with my friend from the Armed Services Committee about the lack of strategic balance that presently is occurring right now in Iraq and Afghanistan. In late August, German authorities arrested three terrorists who were plotting a major attack on an American military installation in Germany. Where were they trained? Well, we know the answer. They were trained in northern Pakistan, in that region of the world where our own military and intelligence officials have identified the real threat to Europe and the U.S. in terms of where future hits are going to take place. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, I was in Afghanistan in May. We had briefings from military commanders over there who have said that training camps are in full level of activity, and they made a flat prediction that we are going to see attempted attacks emanating from that region of the world. Let's step back. We have 26,000 troops in Afghanistan; 165,000 troops in Iraq. Is this a strategy that is really aimed at what is in the national interest of this country?”