Bill Delahunt: “No, the gentleman's remarks are excellent, and, Mr. Speaker, they are on point. The tragic reality is that this is an…”

“No, the gentleman's remarks are excellent, and, Mr. Speaker, they are on point. The tragic reality is that this is an American war, with some help from the British. This is becoming every day almost an exclusive American venture, both militarily and in terms of the reconstruction phase. A recent report indicated that Italy is prepared to withdraw its 3,000 troops come this fall. This fall is 2 months away. The coalition of the willing is ``getting out of Dodge.'' That is the tragic reality here. Because they are hearing from the people in their societies who are saying we do not want to participate. We find ourselves in a real conundrum. And my colleague was absolutely right, in the aftermath of 9/11 every single one of us stood here and voted in favor of going after al-Qaeda, in Afghanistan, along with the Taliban, and we prevailed. But then, then we became distracted and we took resources from Afghanistan. What is happening in Afghanistan? It has become a narco state. President Karzai has a terrible situation on his hands. And I know we all remember here that the day after 9/11 the entire world was with us. The French, their leading newspaper Le Monde, summed it up when it said ``Today We Are All Americans.'' We had that good will. And now? And now what do we see because of these policies? Well, I will tell you what we see. According to the independent nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, and the American people should know that that is an arm of the U.S.…”