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Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, it is true, Qadhafi is a bad guy. He needs to go. But the problem is for those who say will this mean the end of the Bush doctrine, well, I don't know that this President has really been enforcing the Bush doctrine. But the problem is, as my friend Mr. Burton pointed out, we don't know who is going to replace Qadhafi.
It is not in our national interest to help what may be another Iran, with Khomeini and Ahmadinejad coming to power, and especially when we are releasing oil at a time when that oil should be saved in case it all goes to blazes in the Middle East and we don't have any coming from there.
Now, I am not crazy about the exceptions either--the search and rescue, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, aerial refueling and operational planning--because this administration is probably going to describe everything they do as falling into those exceptions. But it is a step in the right direction. And some have said, and I know their hearts and I know they mean well, we want to support our troops, and I don't like it when people say let's back out and let's cut funding when troops are in harm's way.
I have talked to enough troops who want somebody in Washington to say, this is insane, don't get us involved, because they are good soldiers; and when they get their orders, they are going to salute and they are going to go follow through on the orders.
We are the body that must step forward and say, Enough. Mr. President, we are not responsible to the Arab League, to NATO or to the U.N. We are responsible to the American people.
So though I don't like the exceptions, I will vote for this. It is taking a step in the right direction.
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