[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1] [House] [Pages 383-384] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]THE TRAGIC MISADVENTURE IN IRAQ The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sestak) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. SESTAK. Madam Speaker, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks against the United States, I was sent on the ground for a short period of time to Afghanistan. As a Navy admiral, I saw what needed to be accomplished. Eighteen [[Page 384]] months later, I returned on the ground and saw what had not been done because we tragically changed the focus of our attention and our resources to Iraq. Now, Afghanistan has become once again prey to terrorists and the Taliban have moved back into the southern ungoverned regions and the provinces. Because of this failure to have our legal or political or security structures there that we were trying to support be established, we were unable to have economic activity, the education take root so that we would be able to harness the efforts to have livelihoods established and an infrastructure in place, to overcome what General Eikenberry, our U.S. commander who was the NATO commander earlier last year said, ``Where the road ends, the Taliban begin.'' Secretary of Defense Gates has recently said that we will place 3,000 troops into Afghanistan because of the possible spring offensive of the Taliban. That is too little and way too late. We have to be able to bring the infrastructure into those ungoverned regions so the Taliban once again cannot provide a safe haven for al Qaeda, that is presently in a safe haven because of this tragic misadventure in Iraq, within Pakistan. But more to my point today, I do not understand the criticism of a very good Secretary of Defense, Secretary Gates, that the United States wants to point at NATO and say you have not met your commitment in Afghanistan when, in fact, potentially a little known fact is that the United States itself has not met its own requirement for trainers and mentors of the Afghanistan National Army and the Afghanistan National Police. In fact, we are 63 percent short of our goal. That's 2,400 troops. It all began in Afghanistan. And if we are to look back there 2 years from now and another tragedy would have been planned by the al Qaeda in another safe haven, whether Pakistan or Afghanistan, how can we say, as a senior commander said, ``In Iraq we do what we must; in Afghanistan we do what we can?'' The right strategic template is as Winston Churchill said, ``Sometimes it's not enough to do your best; sometimes you have to do what is required.'' It is required to ensure that the education, the economic activity, the wells, the reconstruction can be accomplished, but you can only do that in a secure enough environment. That, again, is one of the tragedies of this misadventure of Iraq. ____________________