Political Quotes

“I would like to say a word, if I could, about the nature of my objection. It has been now almost a year since the attack at Abbey Gate in Kabul in Afghanistan, almost a year since we lost 13 American servicemembers in that tragic attack, almost a year since hundreds of American civilians were left behind enemy lines, abandoned by this administration to fend for themselves against our enemies. And that attack claimed the lives, among the 13, of CPL Jared Schmitz, from Wentzville, MO. I was thinking of Corporal Schmitz again just the other day when I was driving past the bridge in Wentzville that will soon be named for him. I am glad that Corporal Schmitz is getting some of the honor that he deserves, but let's be honest. As his father said to me just hours after we learned of his death: What would be far better--far better, indeed--would be for Corporal Schmitz, who is a very young man, to be with us. He was just at the beginning of his service, just at the beginning of his life. And while he was proud, I am sure, to give his life for his country--it is what he volunteered to do--we owe it to him, I owe it to him, to try and find out why--why--this attack at Abbey Gate happened. How was it that a civilian evacuation was not ordered in time? Why was it that this administration ignored repeated warnings from military commanders on the ground about the dangers that were mounting in Kabul in Afghanistan? Why was the withdrawal a debacle?…”