Rep. Jones meets with veterans
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on August 16, 2011 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MICHAEL BETTS
Congressman Walter Jones answers a question during a question-and-answer period at the Alliance of Retired Military monthly meeting at Wayne Community College. Jones spoke to the veterans group Monday night.
Congressman Walter Jones unveiled a plan he said would save the country billions of dollars -- a simple strategy that could very well end the debt crisis and set the nation back on the right course.
But his message was one that some might not have expected him to deliver to the group of retired service members that invited the Republican to speak at Wayne Community College Monday evening.
"I would like to see outrage ... about getting our troops out of Afghanistan. That's $10 billion a month and it's borrowed money," he said. "For God's sake, let's get our troops out of there now."
Jones came to Wayne County on Monday to implore those who showed up to hear him speak to take action -- to make their voices heard "before it's too late."
"Don't fool yourselves, this country is in big trouble," he said. "A nation that continues to spend and spend and spend cannot survive."
And while he understands that "everything" will be on the cutting board when the debt "super committee" meets in September, the first cut, he said, should result in thousands of homecomings.
"What do have with Afghanistan? You want the responsibility to build their streets, their roads, their schools? Is that what we want to do? We can't even do that in Wayne County," Jones said. "2014 becomes 2015. 2015 becomes 2016. 2016 becomes 2017, and all of a sudden, you're there for 15 years. For the military that we're wearing out, say 'Bring them home now.'"
But ending the war, alone, won't solve America's financial woes, he added.
So it is time, he said, for citizens like those who gathered at WCC to force their representatives to make the tough choices necessary to prevent catastrophe at the expense of future generations.
"Be engaged, because where this country is tonight, we're in a hell of a mess," he said. "Ten years ago, we had a surplus in this country. It was squandered by George Bush in a war we never had to go into in Iraq and Mr. Obama has tripled what George Bush did.
"So I don't know what's gonna happen in October, but it's gonna be a tough, tough time in America. So you need to let your voices be heard."