Charles Boustany: “That delay really caused a lot of problems, particularly as the State Department tried to mobilize its part of the…”

“That delay really caused a lot of problems, particularly as the State Department tried to mobilize its part of the surge. It really froze their efforts for a while, and so there was a delay in getting those personnel on the ground to amplify what was being done from a security standpoint. And I was meeting yesterday with SSG Paul Gwimes in my office. He served with the 256th in Iraq. He told me, and I have seen this when I have gone over there on two previous occasions, our men and women watch these news programs, and they watch C-SPAN, and they hear what we say. And it has an impact. We need to do everything we can to support them.”