Madison, WI — U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) spoke with Ali Velshi on MSNBC last night following his Tuesday visit to Fort McCoy.
“Fort McCoy is a really well-run operation. By the weekend, they’re going to have some people going into communities throughout the country. This is our obligation, and it’s also our opportunity to thank the people who protected our soldiers who were in Afghanistan for 20 years. They and their families now are out of harm’s way with the Taliban, and we’re going to make sure that they’re a part of this country.”
“These refugees have been really great at Fort McCoy. There’s been nothing but great stories. They’re getting vaccinated. In fact, the capacity is 13,000 people, and one person has turned down the COVID vaccine. Wouldn’t you like to see that in the United States population? They’re ready to be a part of this country. They served and protected our soldiers for many, many years. Any kind of rhetoric about whatever background they may have, we have to remember, if we want to ever be able to work with another country, in a future situation, we’re going to have to deliver. And I think right now, this country is certainly lifting both its hands and hearts to those people.”
“It’s going near perfect in the transition, and now they’re finding 50,000 places across the country to host folks. This is really important that we get it done right, and we’re on the right track. I give President Biden a lot of credit because he made a very tough but important decision to leave Afghanistan, and at the end of the day, people agree with that decision.”
“Joe Biden got things done by August 31st as he said, and we’ve got ourselves out of this situation. I just hope that the next time someone decides they’re going to go into a country that’s very different than the United States, that they don’t do what Dick Cheney and George Bush did, which is think that we’re going to leave with a bunch of Dunkin Donuts and Disneylands. That was never going to happen, and it’s the right thing to get out of there, but let’s make sure we pause next time someone looks at nation-building in a country like this.”
