13th District on the Military
By: Blake Long
Updated: October 4, 2012
In the 13th District Congressional race Democrat David Gill faces Republican Rodney Davis.
We're asking the candidates a question regarding the military. The U.S. has suffered its 2000th casualty in Afghanistan. Should the U.S. pull out sooner than the planned exit in 2014?
David Gill:
"Yes, I think that we should be investing ourselves rather here at home then building infrastructure in Afghanistan. I think the original mission of capturing the perpetrators of 9/11 was a good mission. We've now accomplished that. President Obama did get done what needed to get done in terms of catching those perpetrators. I think we should be out of Afghanistan and we should be investing ourselves here and home and putting people to work here in America."
Rodney Davis:
"I think the U.S. generals on the ground should be the barometer that we use to determine when we should and shouldn't pull out. We can't leave Afghanistan without insuring that the lives that have been sacrificed are not left in vain. And, I believe right now in America, unfortunately I don't think we're listening to the generals on the ground. And to me as a policy maker, that would be the person I turned to first and get their opinion. And I look forward to, if I'm blessed enough to win in November talking to those generals on the ground and see what action and reactions they would like us as a Congress to take."


