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Hot Topics:
IRAQ
& SMART Security Platform for the 21st Century Platform
Floor Statements
To Watch Video of Lynn's Iraq Floor Statements,
please click on Watch Video below
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We Must Create, Not Destroy (#312)
Watch Video | | May 12, 2009 | |
| The recent news from Afghanistan is particularly troubling. American bombs killed Afghan civilians last week. Of course our troops are doing what they can to avoid civilian casualties, but bombs have a large footprint, and innocent people are being killed and injured along with the enemy.
Last week's incident has angered the people of Afghanistan, as it would, and some are demanding the withdrawal of American troops from their country. Anti-American sentiment is spreading.
This terrible tragedy, Madam Speaker, proves once again that war is not the way to win hearts and minds, and it proves that violence is the least effective way to achieve our national security goals and to keep our country safe.
That's why I've called upon President Obama to change our mission in Afghanistan. Instead of military solutions, I've asked him to focus on reconciliation, on economic development, humanitarian aid and diplomatic efforts.
President Obama is under a great deal of pressure to expand our military involvement in Afghanistan, but I also know that he is a man of peace, not war. So I'm hopeful that he will begin to rely more and more on peaceful solutions to the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well before things get out of hand.
The President has already taken some important steps towards peace. He is encouraging civilians and military reservists to go to Afghanistan and to Pakistan to help with development projects.
He's also announced that he will go to Egypt next month to deliver a speech to the Muslim world. This will be an important opportunity for the President to hold out the hand of friendship and to spread good will.
The speech in Egypt will be the second time that President Obama has spoken directly to the Muslim people because last month he addressed the Turkish Parliament where he declared, and I quote him, ``The United States is not and will never be at war with Islam.'' He promised to ``seek broader engagement with the Muslim people based on mutual interests and mutual respect.''
He then quoted an old Turkish proverb that says, ``You cannot put out fire with flames.'' And he said, ``The future must belong to those who create, not those who destroy.''
I agree with the end of destruction wholeheartedly. That's why I propose a comprehensive new national security plan called the SMART Security Platform for the 21st Century. Instead of violence and destruction, it emphasizes diplomacy, international cooperation, conflict prevention and nuclear nonproliferation.
This SMART Security Platform would eliminate the root causes of violence by supporting democracy building, global health, better educational opportunities, particularly for girls and women, and development aid and debt relief for countries.
It calls for a broad range of policies to stop the spread of conventional, biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. It would deny hundreds of billions of dollars every year to irresponsible regimes by ending our Nation's addiction to foreign oil. And it strengthens international intelligence and law enforcement so we can track down and stop individuals involved in violence while still respecting human and civil rights.
These are the steps that will put America back on the moral high ground, where we will be in a much better position to lead the world toward peace.
Madam Speaker, the Turkish proverb is right. You cannot put out fire with flames. That's what we learned in Iraq, and that's what we're learning again in Afghanistan.
It's time for a new strategy that recognizes that creating, not destroying, is the best way to make our future safe and to make the future of our children safe and the future of our world as well. |
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