Phil Gingrey: “Mr. Speaker, in recent days many of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle have come to the floor of the House…”

“Mr. Speaker, in recent days many of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle have come to the floor of the House to criticize the President's policies on Afghanistan and Iraq. The rhetoric of the minority side of the aisle is paltry at best, and tonight I would like to try to set the record straight. The two chief arguments of the Democratic Party that I believe are based on faulty logic are these: first, America has lost its focus on the war on terrorism in Afghanistan; and, second, President Bush has failed to build a true international coalition to fight this war. Let us point to the administration's Afghan focus. First and foremost, we in the Congress must make the distinction between less cable news coverage and less administrative attention to the situation in Afghanistan. Despite what many would have us believe, the success stories coming out of Afghanistan are not only remarkable, but they far outnumber the negative ones. Negative stories make the news, but the positive ones are there as well. And native Afghans are returning to their homeland in droves now that the country has been liberated from the oppression of the Taliban.”