[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 13] [House] [Page 18164] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]AMERICA NEEDS TO TAKE OUR FOREIGN POLICY IN A DRAMATICALLY NEW DIRECTION (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.) Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, later this week will mark the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on our Nation. In the days after 9/11, Washington and the world united to respond to that attack by going after al Qaeda in Afghanistan. It was a success. But rather than continue that quest, President Bush chose to turn his attention and the attention of our military to Iraq. This was a huge foreign policy mistake that has stretched our military dangerously thin, left us unprepared for possible threats, damaged our credibility around the world, and allowed al Qaeda to regroup and become stronger along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Rather than focus on the greatest threat of terrorism along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the Bush administration has consistently diverted resources to Iraq. Mr. Speaker, as we remember the 9/11 attack this week, it's important that we recognize the foreign policy failures of the last 8 years so that we don't repeat them in the future. We must also recommit ourselves to going after the terrorists where they are, and that is the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, not Iraq. ____________________