Joe Cunningham: “Mr. Chairman, I know Members are anxious for the debate to quit, but in the 8 years I have been here I do not think…”

“Mr. Chairman, I know Members are anxious for the debate to quit, but in the 8 years I have been here I do not think there is very many things as important as what we are discussing here today regardless of what side colleagues come down on the issue, and I think there is a strange dichotomy for people that basically do not support the military, understand it or even, in some cases, loathe the military. They find themselves in a strange dichotomy. They try to use the vehicle of the military, which they have not supported, for a humanitarian issue, and I understand that. But I think in many cases those decisions have been faulty and inept. I agree that it is an absolute mistake to tell an enemy that we are not going to use ground troops if we are trying to change his heart and mind, that we are only going to conduct an air war. I mean it is absolutely ludicrous. I spent 20 years planning the invasions of Southeast Asia in European countries. One would never do that. I am against putting in ground troops for other reasons, but to tell one's enemy that they are not going to do that is foolhardy. It limits actions and allows him to prepare for other things and put that aside. And I have heard that we ought to leave it up to the military. The military, the Pentagon, recommended that we not conduct air strikes in the first place.”