Political Quotes

“a little over 5 years ago, I was in the war in Afghanistan, first on the ground for a very short period of time, and then I returned in charge of an aircraft carrier battle group. I saw a just war. Eighteen months later, I went back to Afghanistan, on the ground again, and saw what we had not accomplished because we had diverted our attention and our resources, our Special Forces, our Psychological Operation Forces, our Civil Affairs Forces, those and our attention were diverted to the tragic misadventure in Iraq. To me, Afghanistan is a poster child for what we have failed to do, and that is to remain engaged throughout this world, to be ready here at home in order to provide for a strong defense in support of our diplomacy of engagement. I am not antiwar. I am pro-security. And that is my concern, that Iraq is every day seriously degrading the strategic security of America. It is why I believe that there is a different strategy to redeploy from Iraq with a date that is certain, one that is out there in order to change the behavior of those nations in that region, give them a different incentive to work towards stability so that as we redeploy over a fixed timetable, we will leave behind a state that is fairly stable and that is not failing.”