House Proceeding 03-04-09 on Mar 4th, 2009 :: 0:57:25 to 1:02:10
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0:57:22 to 0:57:42( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: madam speaker, we owe this institution far more than we are giving it. let us vote for this will privileged resolution and give it the respect it derves. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. mr. duncan of tennessee for five minutes. mr. duncan: thank you, madam speaker. the president has announced that we will be sending an additional

0:57:25 to 1:02:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John J. Jr.Duncan

0:57:43 to 0:58:06( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: 17,000 troops to afghanistan, bringing our total there to approximately 55,000. a few days ago, i read a one-line mention in a story that the defense department, which now is the department of foreign aid was going to spend $100 milln to build a new road in afghanistan. i think our founding fathers will think we have flipped out

0:58:07 to 0:58:30( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: or lost our minds to spend $100 million to build a road in afghanistan, especially since we are over $11 trillion debt and thus we're spending money that we do not have. e $100 million is a tiny drop in the bucket of the billions and billions we have spent over there since 2001 and in an impoverished country that is no

0:58:31 to 0:58:52( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: real threat to us whatsoever. every giant bureaucracy is doing what it can to exaggerate i threats so it can get more money. that is what the war in afghanistan is all about, money and power, instead of any real threat. according to the congressional research service, we have spent $173 billion in afghanistan since 2001 and as far as i'm

0:58:53 to 0:59:14( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: concerned, it's pouring money do a rat hole. it is a complete waste. if there are any fiscal conservatives in the congress, they should be horrified of the waste going on over there. general petraeus said in an article a few days ago that the situation in afghanistan, despite all of this money has deteriorated earmarkedly in the past two years. those were his words.

0:59:15 to 0:59:36( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: he said, afghanistan has been known er the years as the quote, graveyard of empires and if we are not careful, it is going to help be the graveyard of our empire as well. a professor from the university of pennsylvania wrote recently about the money feeding frieny of the war on terror and he wrote this.

0:59:37 to 0:59:58( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: seven years after september 11, 2001, what accounts for the vast discrepancy between the terrorist threat facing america and the scale of our response? why absent any evidence is the war on terror so enormous, all-encompassing and expanding? the fundamental answer is that al qaeda's important

0:59:59 to 1:00:19( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: accomplishment was not to hijack our planes but our political system, the professor wrote. and he continued, for a multude of politicians, interest groups and professional associations, corporations, media organizations, universities and and local and state governments and the war on terror is now a major profit

1:00:20 to 1:00:40( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: center and a set of slogans and sound bites to be inserted into proper jets and contract proposals. and finally, the pressesor wrote, it has become a male strom of waste. now we have a national debt of $11 trillion and incomprehensible figure and the

1:00:41 to 1:01:02( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: g.a.o. tells us inddition we have over $55 trillion in unfunded future pension libets. it's not going to belong at all before we won't be able to pay our social security, medicare, veterans' pensions and all the things we have promised our people if we don't stop spending money in ridiculous ways and what does the defense department

1:01:03 to 1:01:24( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: tell us? what they want is more money to spend in afghanistan and more troops and every place else. bruce fine, who was a high ranking official in the reagan administration wrote just a few days ago in the "washington times" that it is ridiculous that we now have troops in 135 countries and approximately

1:01:25 to 1:01:45( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: 1,400 military installations around the world and said we should redeploy our troops to the united states. he wrote, quote, no country would attack our defenses and our capability would be in vince i believe. it would be at its zenith because soldiers would be fighting to protect americans lives. and he wrote this, the

1:01:46 to 1:02:07( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: redeployment would end the united states task in iraq, afghanistan and elsewhere and the foreign resentments our enemies created by unintended killing of civilians insighted by foreign occupation. the american empire should be abandoned and the republic restored. the united states would be

1:02:08 to 1:02:10( Edit History Discussion )

John J. Jr.Duncan: safer, fiscal year and wealthier.