Haley Barbour Questions U.S. Presence In Afghanistan: ‘What Is Our Mission?’
WASHINGTON — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) attempted to distinguish himself from his potential 2012 rivals on Tuesday night by endorsing cuts to defense spending and questioning the large U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
“What is our mission?” Barbour asked, according to Politico. “How many Al Qaeda are in Afghanistan? … Is that a 100,000-man Army mission? I don’t think our mission should be to think we’re going to make Afghanistan an Ireland or an Italy” or a Western-style democracy.
Barbour made the remarks in a speech to the Scott County GOP in Quad Cities, Iowa on Tuesday. Earlier in the day he appealed to the state’s party faithful at an event with the Iowa Federation of Republican Women.
Huffington Post
3/16/11
Magnolia Tribune
