September 8, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE, Vol. 155, Pt. 16 21103 our expanded military presence in Af- Rory Stewart, a former British diplomat who ants to the President, and they really ghanistan as a way to prevent al Qaeda teaches at Harvard when he is not running a haven’t been vetted. They haven’t been from ever coming back and estab- large aid program in Afghanistan. Mr. Stew- checked out thoroughly. lishing a safe haven, I would ask, are art describes the American military strategy One of those is a gentleman who was in Afghanistan as ‘‘nonsense.’’ we going to send more troops to Soma- I’m writing about these concerns because I appointed a special environmental ad- lia and Sudan and other countries that share them. I’m also troubled because offi- viser to the President. And, Mr. Jones, have provided safe havens for al Qaeda cials in Washington seem to make decisions who we have all heard about in the last in the past? based on a simplistic caricature of the few days, has been found to be an ad- Madam Speaker, there are no easy Taliban that doesn’t match what I’ve found mitted radical communist and leader. answers in Afghanistan. It is a com- in my reporting trips to Afghanistan and Now, that does not reflect well on the plicated place, from its people to its Pakistan. administration, and it does not reflect geography. I don’t pretend to have all Among the Pashtuns, the population is not well on the entire Government of the neatly divisible into ‘‘Taliban’’ or ‘‘non- the answers. Taliban.’’ Rather, the Pashtuns are torn by United States because we are not sup- But I do feel deeply that an esca- complex aspirations and fears. portive of the communist philosophy. lation of American military forces Many Pashtuns I’ve interviewed are ap- Now, Mr. Jones said that he was slan- there would be a mistake and would palled by the Taliban’s periodic brutality dered when he resigned, and that was not solve the many problems and chal- and think they are too extreme; they think the reason he resigned. So tonight I lenges of that country. I fear it would they’re a little nuts. But these Pashtuns also would like to put some things in the only further complicate matters at a admire the Taliban’s personal honesty and RECORD that show exactly why he very high cost to our troops and our religious piety, a contrast to the corruption should not have been appointed in the country. of so many officials around President Hamid first place. And I think it’s important Karzai. [From the New York Times, Sept. 6, 2009] Some Taliban are hard-core ideologues, that my colleagues understand that THE AFGHANISTAN ABYSS but many join the fight because friends or el- these czars and these people that are (By Nicholas D. Kristof) ders suggest it, because they are avenging being appointed really need to be prop- President Obama has already dispatched the deaths of relatives in previous fighting, erly vetted. And we certainly don’t an additional 21,000 American troops to Af- because it’s a way to earn money, or because want people that have a radical agenda ghanistan and soon will decide whether to they want to expel the infidels from their being put in positions of leadership. send thousands more. That would be a fate- land—particularly because the foreigners Jones was a founder and leader of the ful decision for his presidency, and a group of haven’t brought the roads, bridges and irri- communist revolutionary organization gation projects that had been anticipated. former intelligence officials and other ex- called Standing Together to Organize a perts is now reluctantly going public to warn Frankly, if a bunch of foreign Muslim troops in turbans showed up in my home- Revolutionary Movement, or STORM. that more troops would be a historic mis- That organization had its roots in a take. town in rural Oregon, searching our homes The group’s concern—dead right, in my without bringing any obvious benefit, then grouping of black people organizing to view—is that sending more American troops we might all take to the hills with our deer protest the first Gulf War. STORM was into ethnic Pashtun areas in the Afghan rifles as well. formally founded in 1994, becoming one south may only galvanize local people to In fairness, the American military has of the most influential and active rad- back the Taliban in repelling the infidels. hugely improved its sensitivity, and some ical groups in the San Francisco Bay ‘‘Our policy makers do not understand that commanders in the field have been superb in building trust with Afghans. That works. Area. the very presence of our forces in the The leftist blog Machete 48 identifies Pashtun areas is the problem,’’ the group But all commanders can’t be superb, and said in a statement to me. ‘‘The more troops over all, our increased presence makes STORM’s influences as ‘‘third-world we put in, the greater the opposition. We do Pashtuns more likely to see us as alien occu- Marxism (an often vulgar Maoism).’’ not mitigate the opposition by increasing piers. Speaking to the East Bay Express, troop levels, but rather we increase the oppo- That may be why the troop increase this Jones said he first became radicalized sition and prove to the Pashtuns that the year hasn’t calmed things. Instead, 2009 is al- in the wake of the 1992 Rodney King Taliban are correct. ready the bloodiest year for American troops riots, during which time he was ar- ‘‘The basic ignorance by our leadership is in Afghanistan—with four months left to go. rested. He said, ‘‘I was a rowdy nation- The solution is neither to pull out of Af- going to cause the deaths of many fine alist on April 28, and then the verdicts American troops with no positive outcome,’’ ghanistan nor to double down. Rather, we the statement said. need to continue our presence with a lighter came down on April 29. By August, I The group includes Howard Hart, a former military footprint, limited to training the was a communist. Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Afghan forces and helping them hold major ‘‘I met all of these young radical peo- Pakistan; David Miller, a former ambassador cities, and ensuring that Al Qaeda does not ple of color—I mean really radical: and National Security Council official; Wil- regroup. We must also invest more in edu- communists and anarchists. And it liam J. Olson, a counterinsurgency scholar cation and agriculture development, for that was, like, ‘This is what I need to be a at the National Defense University; and an- is a way over time to peel Pashtuns away part of.’ I spent the next 10 years of my from the Taliban. other C.I.A. veteran who does not want his life working with a lot of those people name published but who spent 12 years in the This would be a muddled, imperfect strat- region, was station chief in Kabul at the egy with frustratingly modest goals, but it I met in jail, trying to be a revolu- time the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in would be sustainable politically and mili- tionary.’’ 1979, and later headed the C.I.A.’s Counter- tarily. And it does not require heavy invest- Trevor Loudon, a communist re- terrorism Center. ments of American and Afghan blood. searcher and administrator of the New ‘‘We share a concern that the country is f Zeal Blog, identified several Bay Area driving over a cliff,’’ Mr. Miller said. communists who worked with STORM, Mr. Hart, who helped organize the anti-So- VAN JONES’ RADICAL PAST including Elizabeth Martinez, who viet insurgency in the 1980s, cautions that The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a helped advise Jones’ Ella Baker Human Americans just don’t understand the tough- ness, determination and fighting skills of the previous order of the House, the gen- Rights Center, which Jones founded to Pashtun tribes. He adds that if the U.S. esca- tleman from Indiana (Mr. BURTON) is advocate civil justice. Jones and Mar- lates the war, the result will be recognized for 5 minutes. tinez also attended a ‘‘Challenging radicalization of Pashtuns in Pakistan and Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam White Supremacy’’ workshop together further instability there—possibly even the Speaker, one of the important func- challenging white supremacy. collapse of Pakistan. tions of a President is to make sure Martinez was a long-time Maoist who These experts are not people who crave that the people he puts into important went on to join the Communist Party publicity; I had to persuade them to go pub- positions have no real background USA breakaway organization Commit- lic with their concerns. And their views are widely shared among others who also know problems that will cause the adminis- tees of Correspondence for Democracy Afghanistan well. tration to founder. This administra- and Socialism, the CCDS, in the early ‘‘We’ve bitten off more than we can chew; tion, this President, has appointed a 1990s. According to Loudon, Martinez we’re setting ourselves up for failure,’’ said whole bunch of czars and special assist- still serves on the CCDS council and is

VerDate Mar 15 2010 09:08 Apr 03, 2012 Jkt 079102 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 0688 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR09\H08SE9.000 H08SE9 wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with BOUND RECORD 21104 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE, Vol. 155, Pt. 16 September 8, 2009 also a board member of the Movement must begin to use all of the tools of Here are just some of the questions I for a Democratic Society, where she ‘‘smart power.’’ have been asked by the people of Texas. sits alongside former Weathermen radi- Smart power means improving police One: The health care bill seems to cals Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn. and intelligence work in the commu- cost too much. How are we going to One of STORM’s newsletters featured nities where extremists hide. Well- pay for it? This question brought much a tribute to Amilcar Cabral, the late trained Afghan policemen, who are fa- concern to the people in my district. Marxist revolutionary leader of Guin- miliar with local people, with customs The Congressional Budget Office says ea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands. and conditions, can often do the best that the pending House bill will cost The tribute is noteworthy because job of hunting down extremists. Smart anywhere from billions to even $1 tril- Jones reportedly named his son after power also includes regional diplo- lion to just implement. Cabral and repeatedly concludes every matic efforts, education, better govern- Tax increases are in the current plan e-mail with a quote from the com- ance, and a civilian surge of experts to pay for this bill, more spending of munist leader. and workers to support economic de- what we don’t have. I made a pledge to Jones then, of course, moved on to velopment in Afghanistan. These are my constituents not to vote for a bill environmentalism, and that’s the posi- the things that will give the Afghan that will raise taxes, and I haven’t. So tion that he took with the administra- people real hope for their future and how do we pay for this without a force- tion. But there is no question he is a eliminate the root causes of violent ex- fed tax increase on the American peo- radical and a member of the Com- tremism. ple? munist Party and has been for a long As National Security Advisor James Two: Why is this bill so confusing? It time and supported their goals and ap- L. Jones has said, This war will not be is written in a way that even the most proaches to government. won by the military alone. We tried reasonable people from even the same So I just would like to say, if I were that for years. The piece of our strat- political party can honestly disagree talking to the President tonight, Mr. egy that has to work in the next year on its meaning. The 1,017-page bill, if it President, please be careful who you is economic development. If that is not passes, will then allow the bureaucrats are appointing to these positions of done right, there are not enough troops to determine the meaning of the bill. leadership. It’s important for the coun- in the world to succeed. Also, Texans don’t want unelected bu- I know that President Obama and try; it’s important for your administra- reaucrats in this city making their Secretary of State Clinton agree that tion and the image of the United medical decisions on what services improving the lives of the Afghan peo- they get and don’t get. Can we get a States throughout the world as a bea- ple is the key to victory. They have clearly written bill that everyone can con of freedom, justice and democracy. pledged to do everything they can to understand? f help rebuild Afghanistan and show the Three: Why shouldn’t Congress, the Afghan people that we offer them a MOST AMERICANS SAY WAR IN czars and members of the Cabinet be better future than the Taliban. AFGHANISTAN IS NOT WORTH required to sign up for the public op- FIGHTING Madam Speaker, I and other Mem- bers of the House who oppose our occu- tion? If it is going to be so good for the The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a pation of Iraq watched for years as American people, shouldn’t everyone previous order of the House, the gentle- Congress did nothing to prevent that supporting this plan be required to be woman from California (Ms. WOOLSEY) disaster. But we still have time to get under the public option, like govern- is recognized for 5 minutes. it right when it comes to Afghanistan. ment officials? Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, I This time, let’s use smart power. It Four: People on Medicare are scared rise to express my deep concern about will save lives, save money, and make and afraid they are not going to receive the recent developments in Afghani- our country safer. any medical treatment. What is in the stan. Sadly, 51 American troops were plan to make sure there is no rationing f killed in August, making it the dead- of medical care for the elderly? liest month for the United States since PRESIDENT SHOULD HOST Five: Why not eliminate the hun- the conflict began 8 years ago. CONGRESSIONAL TOWNHALL dreds of billions of dollars of fraud and August also was the deadliest month The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a waste in our current Medicare system of the war for the combined coalition previous order of the House, the gen- before we tackle anything else? force. Many innocent civilians were tleman from Texas (Mr. POE) is recog- Six: All of the amendments offered in tragically killed in the air strikes dur- nized for 5 minutes. committee that would specifically re- ing the month of August, and there is Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, quire proof of citizenship to sign up for growing evidence that the recent elec- Congress will gladly welcome the this new government-run health care tions may have been marred by fraud. President tomorrow night to speak to a were defeated. Americans and legal Madam Speaker, for over 8 years we joint session of Congress about health residents should not be required to pay have relied almost exclusively on the care. All of us here have been asked for the health care of illegals. The bill military to stop violent extremism in hundreds of questions by our constitu- is confusing on this issue since it Afghanistan. But these recent events ents over the past month. The Presi- doesn’t require proof of citizenship. show that this strategy isn’t giving us dent is an innovator in communica- Seven: Small business owners are a victory on the ground or political so- tions. He tries new ideas and is a trend- afraid they will have to lay off people lutions to the problem. The American setter when it comes to new ways to be or shut their doors altogether if they people are beginning to recognize that in touch with the American people. are hit with more new taxes. What is relying on the military option alone So as the President addresses Con- the plan to protect small business from isn’t the best way to go. gress on his health care ideas tomor- bearing the brunt of new taxes for this The latest Washington Post-ABC poll row night, why doesn’t he take some health care idea? shows that 45 percent of the American health care questions from Members of Madam Speaker, these are seven of people want to reduce our forces in Af- Congress, questions that have been the questions I have been asked by the ghanistan, while only 24 percent want asked by the people we represent? people I represent, and I would hope to increase our forces. This latest poll After all, we call this the People’s the President could address some them from the McClatchy Newspapers came House, so why not address questions and questions by other Members of up with similar results. the American people have? Congress. The questions could be submitted be- Madam Speaker, does anyone really b 2000 fore the President speaks and he can believe that big government can do a It is clearly time, Madam Speaker, to choose the ones he wants to address. better job of running health care? It is develop a new strategy and a new mis- This could be a congressional townhall a glittering illusion to think our sion for America in Afghanistan. We hosted by the President. health care problems can be solved by

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