Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with my colleagues the text of a letter I sent today to President Obama, Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen, and all other parties in the administration charged with executing the war effort. I will enclose in my correspondence to the administration a copy of a letter from a constituent who is a mother of six children, all of whom are currently serving or have served in the U.S. military. I submit for the Record a copy of my original letter to the President as well as a copy of the letter from my constituent. My letter today to the administration will read, in part, ``I implore you to consider my constituent's views--the views of an `American mother with children glad to serve our country,' and to move swiftly to establish an Afghanistan-Pakistan Study Group, modeled after the Iraq Study Group, to bring `fresh eyes' to the war effort in Afghanistan. ``The group would be comprised of nationally known and respected individuals who love their country more than their political party and would serve to provide much-needed clarity to a policy that increasingly appears adrift. ``Candidly, after reading yesterday's Washington Post piece adapted from Bob Woodward's Obama's Wars, I have serious concerns that the needed clarity about our aim in Afghanistan ever existed within the administration.…”