Norman D. Dicks: “I support the amendment as well, and I appreciate the work of my friend and colleague from Virginia (Mr. Moran) and…”

“I support the amendment as well, and I appreciate the work of my friend and colleague from Virginia (Mr. Moran) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro on this issue. There are some reasons why these Mi-17 helicopters are sold to the Afghans. It's not just a blunder. It's because of the altitude of the country. There is a legitimate national security issue here that has to be addressed, and I think we do have helicopters, maybe not Black Hawks, but CH-47s, that can go to a higher altitude. I don't know how much more expensive they are or anything about it. But I just want to point out that, because I don't want people to have the impression that they just did this maliciously. There were some legitimate reasons for this.”