Congressman Graves: “We Are A Nation At War.”
Congressman Tom Graves (R-GA-14) delivered a speech in support of the 2017 Defense Appropriations bill that will fund military assets needed to fight militant Islamic terror. You can see the speech below and the full text of his remarks below the fold.
Remarks by Congressman Graves as prepared:
Mr. Chairman, we’re considering this critical legislation in the wake of the horrific terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida, in which 49 innocent people were killed and 53 wounded by a terrorist who pledged loyalty to the Islamic State.
We are a nation at war with militant Islamic terrorism and that’s why this legislation is so important. It provides our brave men and women in uniform with the resources they need to defeat the enemy.
For example, the bill includes my provision to speed the replacement of a critical radar system and aircraft, known as JSTARS. The technology, which is stationed at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, significantly enhances the ability of our warplanes and other military assets to target enemy combatants and help protect our soldiers on the ground by detecting threats and allowing for better coordinated, more effective support. This bill also prevents the retirement of the A-10 Warthog aircraft, the most potent close air support platform in our arsenal and a key tool in fighting the Islamic State.
Additionally, this bill strengthens Georgia’s military installations, along with the communities they support. With more than 100,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen in Georgia – the fourth largest military population in the nation – I am proud to support our men and women in uniform by supporting this legislation, and I commend Chairman Frelinghuysen for his outstanding work on this bill.
About Author
nsmith
Father. IT Geek. Former 14th District GOP Chairman (2015-2017). Former Walker GOP Chairman (2009-2013). Resident of Chamblee. American. Georgian. Conservative.
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If he wants money for a never-ending war, he can’t whine about how “we can’t afford X” anymore.
This last tragedy needs a real debate about policy, not political grandstanding. Below are some issue that need a real conversion over simple fire up the base BS…
1) Mental health issues
A) How many more tragedies before we start treating this like a serious health issue over pretending some one can just shake it off?
B) Can we not make it easier to admit people with obvious issues who are not safe ti themselves and or society?
C) Can we not make sure their freedom is tied to strict use of medicine when they are not safe to be free?
2) Can we not add some new rational new gun policy with taking away rights of law abiding gun owners?
A) We have systems to extend and monitor credit worldwide in less than 3 seconds, can we not verify people buying guns on terrorist watch list? The system we designed for the payment industry way more complicated.
B} Can we not agree on a rational amount of bullets in an automated clip?
C} Can we not agree felons and people with severe mental illness, terrorist watch list should not be able to buy guns?
3) Civil liberties
A) Can we all agree if people are calling for the death and destruction of race, religion,sexuality….this goes beyond free speech?
B) Can we not agree that we have people who are enemies of the state and should be treated differently than a common criminal?
C) Can we all agree that extreme fundamentalism of any religion should not be tolerated? You a have the right to practice your religion, but your religion cannot be used as a weapon to take away rights of people to marry, assemble in public, make private decisions……?
D) How far do we push the laws of monitoring social media and cell phones without trashing civil liberties?
4) Policemen of the World Foreign Policy?
A) Is our intervention in places like the Middle East, Africa…..making the problem worse or better?
B) Drown strikes that kill numerous civilians, is it making the problem worse or better?
C) Regime change foreign policy has it made the problem worse or better?
E) Can we even afford the current foreign policy strategy?
This is just a start, but the above needs to be discussed?
The thing that disappoints me most about this speech of his is the perceived need to lie in order to get the funding he wants. The jury is still out on what went down in Orlando, but it’s looking more and more like this guy acted without the help of a multi-national terrorist outfit. He may have claimed he was ISIS…but what evidence supports that he actually was aided by them? Also troubling is the notion of another war against an idea…The War on Terror. Has nothing been learned from the debacle of the last administration…the one that enable ISIS to flourish in the first place?
What a sad commentary it is. Using fear seems to be the only tool in the kit for the GOP; scare the old folks and the know-nothings (the base). Unfortunate because the A-10, despite being 40 years old, can own a battlefield as well today as ever before. Why not just make the case that it’s the best platform for the money?
You are missing a major part of the strategy…..Isis targets mentally unstable people to be lone-wolfe attackers.
…..Isis targeting misfits and mentally ill to commit lone-wolf terror attacks, claims UK police chief…….
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-targetting-misfits-mentally-ill-commit-lone-wolf-terror-attacks-claims-uk-police-chief-1497968
He also said he supported Hezbollah, a mortal enemy of ISIS so no, he had no contact with the Islamic State. He was as has been said, trying to cover up his own sexuality.
As for us agreeing on gun policy, majorities support semi-automatic gun bans, huge majorities support expanded background checks, but as long as the congress is held hostage by the gun lobby nothing will change…screw the will of the people.
Gay on gay crime, is that like black on black crime, misfits on misfits, crazies on crazies, it only counts when opposites collide?
It is too early to determine any ISIL influence on this mass shooter or domestic terrorist if you will. Early reports from the FBI state that in 2013 he claimed allegiance to both al Qaeda and Hezbollah, which would not be possible. One is Sunni and the other is Shia. And yes he was a natural born citizen just like Rizwan Farook in the San Bernardino massacre, Dylann Roof in the Charlotte racial massacre, or Robert Lewis Dear’s massacre at a Planned Parenthood office, as was Wade Michael Page’s slaughter in a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski, Eric Rudolph… The media and politicians pick and choose which of these are labeled as terrorists but I didn’t see a call to arms on all of them, did you?
It may turn out that this was a guy driven more by denial of his own homosexual tendencies than his religion. The FBI has every incentive to find that his actions were aided and abetted by ISIL/S. It is their job to prevent domestic terrorism. Again, most of this is speculation and it is too early in the investigation to determine his motivation.
What is NOT too early to determine is that it is illegal for the US Military to be used to deter DOMESTIC terrorism within our borders. To use this incident to even suggest that it is a reason to push through a DEFENSE budget without having a meaningful debate on what their real mission should entail is beyond moronic and it is pandering almost on the same scale as the budget itself.
“media and politicians pick and choose which of these are labeled as terrorists”
Muslim killers are terrorists. Black killers are thugs. White killers are sick.
yep. sounds about right.
You forgot “Female killers are psychotic/black widow man haters”
Skip the semantics and proceed to disposition…
Take out Muslims extrajudicially.
Lock up blacks and throw away the key.
Get whites the treatment they need.
Our military is unequipped to fight an ideology.
AP news: John Brennan, CIA Director wants to send operatives West on this and is concerned with western immigration programs being used to smuggle Isis in.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CIA_DIRECTOR_ISLAMIC_STATE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-16-03-38-24