Matt Gaetz: “In this piece, it highlights five countries-- Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, and Gambia--where the very people…”

“In this piece, it highlights five countries-- Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, and Gambia--where the very people who led the coups were the very people who received this training from the United States. I would note that any comparison here to Afghanistan is sorely misplaced. This legislation provides one year to remove 900 people. That is far different than unwinding the double helix that was our multidecade engagement with Afghanistan. I agree with the sentiment that my colleague Mr. James stated, that our friends must trust us and our enemies must fear us. But what I have observed, after 20 years of American war in the Middle East and in North Africa, is that our enemies often mock us when we try to be the world's policeman and the world's piggy bank. That should not be the goal of our country. We should not be engaged in nation-building in Somalia, the Middle East, or elsewhere. These 900 U.S. troops have no end state. They are engaging in largely police force operations. I suggest they should come home, and a vote for this resolution would do that. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”