Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member and the chairman for all of the hard work they are putting into this very important piece of legislation. It is part of the job that we must do in Congress.
My amendment prohibits funds in the bill from being used to provide assistance to Pakistan. Since 9/11, we have given Pakistan well over $30 billion, the majority of which goes to military and security services of Pakistan. And Pakistan has used those services to murder and oppress their people, people like the heroic Baloch people or the Sindhis, who are struggling for freedom under Pakistani oppression.
It is a grotesque charade for us to suggest that our aid is buying Pakistani cooperation in the war on radical Islamic terrorism or in anything else. The Pakistani Government is neither our friend nor shares a common interest with our country. They are hardcore, two-faced enemies of our country.
If you don't believe that, then take a close look at what has happened to Dr. Afridi, a Pakistani medical doctor who helped pinpoint the location of Osama bin Laden and continues to languish in a Pakistani prison. This is because Dr. Afridi helped us bring to justice Osama bin Laden for the slaughter of 3,000 Americans on 9/11.
Last year, I came here to speak on this same issue, and this has been something we have been calling on. If the Pakistanis wanted to show a sign of good faith that they really were our friends, they would have released Dr. Afridi a long time ago.
While Dr. Afridi continues to remain in prison, we continue to provide weapons and cash to his tormenters. Arresting him and now keeping him in prison is a slap in the face to Americans and an insult to the families of those who died on 9/11.
Given the miserable human rights track record of the Pakistani Government--as well as the ongoing struggle of the people of Pakistan, who are seeking their own self-determination and freedom, such as the Baloch and Sindhi minorities--this is morally wrong for us to continue to give weapons and assistance to this dictatorial and corrupt government.
Unless my amendment passes, our aid will continue to strengthen and bolster a government that has committed crimes against their own people, and we will be then basically giving money to a government that not only represses its own people but, through its support of terrorism and terrorist organizations, threatens the people of the United States as well as those peoples elsewhere.
I would ask my colleagues to vote for this amendment.
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Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Chairman, how much time do I have remaining?
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Mr. ROHRABACHER. Let me just note I respect the chairman's leadership and the hard work he is putting in on this as well as the ranking member. This is a needed piece of legislation, and I respect that. Our primary job is to watch out for the security of our country, and this bill is supposed to address that. That is one reason why I have decided that unless the Pakistanis prove to us that I am wrong by simply releasing Dr. Afridi, basically they are insulting us, they are insulting the victims and the families of 9/11, and the fact is they can't even do this.
If they can't even do this, how do we expect them not to be supporting terrorism behind the scenes, which many of us believe the Pakistanis are guilty of? I suggest that what more can they do--who will trust us around the world if we let our friends like Dr. Afridi linger and let them sit there in a dungeon? Here is the man who helped us get Osama bin Laden, and the Pakistanis won't even let him out of jail. He is an American hero, for God's sake. What more can they do to us before we cut them off from all the billions of dollars of aid we have given them? I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution, this moral resolution.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
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