Political Quotes

“Mr. President, that is a great question. They are called night letters. Let me tell you how this works. I was in Kandahar with the rule of law field forces, and we were trying to build up the capacity of their judges in Kandahar. The judges were being killed in large measure, so it was pretty hard to find anybody who wanted to be a judge. We hardened the site, and we put some American troops, along with Afghan soldiers, to try to get a judiciary up and running in a really hot spot. We had a couple of police stations that were being overrun, and we tried to get people to go back to the police stations. The night letter was delivered to some of the leaders who were buying into what we were doing. I don't speak Pashto, but these night letters were from the Taliban saying: We are watching. The Americans will leave you. They will leave you, and we will remember you. I know what the night letter looks like because I saw one, but here is the difference--I never got one. Imagine what it would be like if you woke up tomorrow and the enemy of your country, which is trying to take your country down, is telling you and your family: We are watching you. We are coming after you. You are hiding behind the Great Satan, and the Great Satan will abandon you. I can tell you what it would do. It would make those letters real, and they will take this failure to help people who helped us and make it really hard in the future for us to defend our Nation. The night letters are going to increase.…”