Austin Scott: “You know, that certainly doesn't sound like cutting and running to me. It says sticking and staying, but sticking and…”

“You know, that certainly doesn't sound like cutting and running to me. It says sticking and staying, but sticking and staying smart. Nobody is running away from this war on terror. You cannot run away from it. We are simply talking about putting our resources where they need to be. We are talking about building a military and not dragging it down. Let me give you one example of where I am talking about where we will make choices. Democrats will not make this mistake. Right now we are facing our military. We are trying to make choices about air superiority versus ground superiority. It should not be one versus the other. We have got to have both. But here we have got right now, in my home district in Atlanta, Georgia, in the Atlanta metro area, I represent CBO county, Marietta, which is the Lockheed Martin base where we make the F-22s. Right now there is debate, the Army, the Air Force wants 318 F-22s. Well, we have got 75 already moving off the line, but they cut down their request now to about 125. If the Air Force says we need 318, we should make 318. That is what the military says we need in order to maintain the superiority. The F- 22 fights in the air and on the ground. We need that, but here is the rub. The rub is the Defense Department right now is saying we cannot even afford the 125. Why? Because the war in Iraq is making us choose between how we are going to fit our military. That need not be.…”