Cole Statement on President's Afghanistan Address

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement in response to President Obama's remarks in Afghanistan:

"I appreciate the fact that the president took the chance to visit Afghanistan for the first time in 17 months and address the American people on the war for the first time in over a year.

"In the long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, our troops have done much to make our country safer and the world better. They have toppled the Taliban, brought Saddam Hussein to justice, left a functioning democracy in Iraq, killed dozens of terrorists including Osama bin Laden and degraded al-Qaeda's capabilities.

"Both Presidents Bush and Obama can take credit for these achievements, but both surely know that these battles were won by the soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors, reservists, guardsmen, intelligence officers and security forces who fought them. The credit and the gratitude of the American people belong to those brave men and women in uniform and to the families who have sustained and supported them in their long and repeated deployments.

"This is an important moment of transition in the ongoing war on terror. But it would be a mistake to think that war is over. There are still those who would strike at America. And we still depend on our brave fellow Americans in uniform to stand between the American people and harm's way."