Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Speaker, if we were in Afghanistan by ourselves, perhaps this debate would be worthwhile, but the fact is we are not. I am presently serving as the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The Afghan effort is a NATO-led effort. NATO, arguably, one, if not the most successful military alliances in the modern era, is not only involved with us as allies in Afghanistan, but we know that our military might is no longer a deterrent like it was most of my life, most of our lives, during the Cold War. With a doctrine of mutually assured destruction, even though you had the bipolar world of East versus West and even though you had the USSR and their buddies and the United States and our allies, there was this, not only feeling, but we were protected by our military might. 9/11 shattered that. These people who are trying to kill us don't care how many aircraft carriers we have, how many tanks we have, how many submarines we have. It doesn't matter. Therefore, if our military might is no longer our primary defense, what is? I would suggest that it is accurate, timely intelligence to know who, what, when, where, and how they want to try to attack us again so we can stop it. How do we maximize that defense? We do it through allies. We do it through friends of ours. The French really have the best intelligence network in northern Africa. They are helping. They are helping in NATO.”