Matt Gaetz: “It is a great honor to participate in this debate with my esteemed colleague, Mr. Meeks, of the Foreign Affairs…”

“It is a great honor to participate in this debate with my esteemed colleague, Mr. Meeks, of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and with a great patriot such as Mr. James of Michigan. I welcome the American people to the second part in a legislative series we are conducting about all of the places on the planet Earth where Congress still believes that 9/11 justifies current U.S. troop presence in 2023. The first in that series was Syria. I came to this floor, only got about 103 votes, but I made the argument that our troops were essentially sitting ducks, guarding oil extraction operations where their presence was known and where their location was easily identifiable. I called for a withdrawal. That withdrawal was defeated. Then what happened is precisely what I predicted, more U.S. casualties from Iranian drones, exactly what I said would occur. It is with no joy I say that. I know all of us would take any policy decision we could to reduce U.S. casualties, and I think this debate will present an excellent opportunity to reflect on Somalia in that light. There are currently 900 U.S. troops in Somalia, give or take, and this resolution would bring them home. Somalia is a country of 17 million who have been tortured at times by Al-Shabaab, a group of roughly 7,000 hardened fighters and even more sympathizers. But to logically believe any of the arguments that my colleagues are making, you have to believe that 900 U.S.…”