Full Text of HR0824 97th General Assembly
HR0824enr 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION 824
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The United States of America was attacked in a | 3 | | well-coordinated operation by a group of terrorists on | 4 | | September 11, 2001; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Almost 3,000 innocent men, women, and children | 6 | | were killed as a result of the airplanes that were hijacked by | 7 | | the terrorists and subsequently crashed into the World Trade | 8 | | Center, the Pentagon, and an open field in Shanksville, | 9 | | Pennsylvania; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The terrorists were proven to be members of the | 11 | | terrorist organization known as al-Qaeda, which was lead by | 12 | | Osama bin Laden; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, The al-Qaeda terrorist organization had operated | 14 | | for years from sanctuary locations based in Afghanistan; the | 15 | | group conducted numerous acts of terror over the years against | 16 | | U.S. targets both on the U.S. mainland and in other locations | 17 | | throughout the world, which had been planned in those sanctuary | 18 | | locations; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, In order to disrupt and destroy the al-Qaeda | 20 | | terrorist organization and capture or eliminate its leaders, it | 21 | | was necessary to attack the organization's sanctuary bases; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, In October of 2001, the United States military, | 2 | | acting under orders issued by Commander-in-Chief President | 3 | | George W. Bush, attacked al-Qaeda sanctuary bases in | 4 | | Afghanistan in conjunction with local Afghan forces opposed to | 5 | | the terrorist organization operating in their country; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The United States military, in the finest | 7 | | traditions of America's fighting forces, had great success in | 8 | | disrupting, dispersing, and destroying al-Qaeda operations and | 9 | | eliminating many of its senior leaders; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, President Barack Obama, succeeding President Bush | 11 | | as Commander-in-Chief, did continue and strengthen the efforts | 12 | | to completely destroy al-Qaeda; such efforts resulted in the | 13 | | killing of Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, bringing | 14 | | the world's leading terrorist to justice for the many acts of | 15 | | murder which he and his organization carried out; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The United States, having joined forces with | 17 | | nations from around the world, led an effort to stabilize | 18 | | Afghanistan by supporting infrastructure projects beneficial | 19 | | to all Afghans and by helping the Afghans understand the | 20 | | positive benefits of equal rights for all, judicial due | 21 | | process, and the rule of law; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, After more than a decade of extended military | 2 | | operations to enhance security and with contributions of | 3 | | hundreds of billions of dollars of nation-building resources | 4 | | having been put into the country to foster development, much | 5 | | progress has been made toward the goals of a free and secure | 6 | | society within Afghanistan; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, While this progress has come at a high financial | 8 | | cost, it has also cost the lives of more than 1,500 brave | 9 | | American service members and dozens of fighting forces of other | 10 | | nations, all of whom made the ultimate sacrifice in service to | 11 | | their country; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Despite this progress, it appears from recent | 13 | | events involving all the International Security Assistance | 14 | | Forces (ISAF) that the presence of the United States military | 15 | | and that of other countries, as well as the civilian | 16 | | consultants that are working to help the Afghan people, has not | 17 | | been accepted by a broad spectrum of the Afghanistan | 18 | | population; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, This lack of acceptance places all foreign | 20 | | military and civilian consultant personnel in grave danger, | 21 | | which results in an inability for those personnel to properly | 22 | | conduct the types of operations in which they are engaged; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, There is already in place a plan to withdraw most | 2 | | forces from Afghanistan in the 2014 time frame; therefore, be | 3 | | it
| 4 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 5 | | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 6 | | we urge the President and Congress to begin an expedited | 7 | | withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan, to the fullest extent | 8 | | possible consistent with strategic military objectives, thus | 9 | | accelerating the current withdrawal plan set in place; and be | 10 | | it further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be sent | 12 | | to the President, the Speaker of the United States House of | 13 | | Representatives, and the President pro tempore of the United | 14 | | States Senate.
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