Mark Kennedy: “I am here to applaud this Chamber for passing the Radio Free Afghanistan bill, because the battle we are in right now is…”

“I am here to applaud this Chamber for passing the Radio Free Afghanistan bill, because the battle we are in right now is not just to win this war militarily, but we have to win the hearts and minds of those young boys and girls playing out in the street or playing in the dirt and thinking about what are they going to be when they grow up. We cannot have them saying they want to grow up to be a bin Laden; that they want to grow up to be a terrorist. We need to have them thinking about wanting to grow up to be a farmer, to be a teacher, to be a truck driver, a doctor, and get the ideas in their head of the freedom that we enjoy here and have them yearning for that freedom. So this is a country that has spread our way of life and our philosophy throughout many parts of the world. We need to make sure they in Afghanistan know that we hold out our hearts and prayers to them; that there is a better life waiting for them. We need to inspire their young, and all the people of Afghanistan, for the future.”