Bill Delahunt: “let us remember for a moment this it was practically a unanimous vote with one exception, over 400 Members of this House…”

“let us remember for a moment this it was practically a unanimous vote with one exception, over 400 Members of this House voted to support, the gentleman and I included, to support the intervention in Afghanistan because, clearly, there was a haven for the terrorists there. There were al Qaeda camps there. There was al Qaeda training there. But now let us stop for a moment and examine what has happened in Afghanistan. What has happened in Afghanistan, if this administration is really serious about the war on terror, we are facing a crisis in Afghanistan. They have the responsibility. I do not know if the gentleman is aware, but after the overwhelming victory by the military in Afghanistan, in the 2003 budget the dollars that were appropriated or recommended by the administration for reconstruction and support for Afghanistan amounted to nothing, not a single dollar. Fortunately, this House and this Senate appropriated some $800 million. But stop for a moment and realize that those that attacked the United States on 9/11, al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, those terrorists that were clearly posing an imminent and direct threat to Americans everywhere, and still do, are multiplying like fishes and loaves, were headquartered in Afghanistan and protected by the Taliban regime. It has been 2 years, and what is happening in Afghanistan?”