Rep. Jason Chaffetz wants Obama to bring troops home from Afghanistan

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is calling on President Barack Obama to bring the troops home from Afghanistan. And if Obama insists on keeping them there, Chaffetz says he should commit all force possible and throw away "politically correct" rules of engagement to root out any remaining terrorist threats.

"Mr. President, it is time to bring our troops home," Chaffetz said in a speech Monday at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.

His comments came a day before Obama was scheduled to announce his long-awaited Afghanistan policy.

"We're talking about having nearly 100,000 troops in Afghanistan," Chaffetz said. "If the mission is to root out al-Qaida, we do not need to risk the lives of tens of thousands of troops to fulfill it."

He added, "If our mission in Afghanistan is simply to protect the populace and build the nation, then I believe the time has come to bring our troops home. … I am opposed to nation-building. I do not believe it is the role and responsibility of the United States of America to be involved in every aspect of the globe."

A main problem, Chaffetz said, is, "I think we have lost sight of the mission" in Afghanistan. He said it is not clear why U.S. troops are there if they accomplished the goal of ensuring the country is no longer a safe haven for terrorists.

"We've got to define the mission," he said.

While Chaffetz said he personally wants U.S. troops to come home, he said if Obama decides to keep them there he should use all resources possible in Afghanistan so America can secure it and leave as quickly as possible.

"We either go big, or go home. War is ugly. It is difficult. It is gruesome. It is brutal. You try not to do it (wage war), but when you do, you go big or don't go. You go with everything you can possibly bring to bear, win the fight and go home," he said.

Chaffetz complained about current rules of engagement that he said endanger troops — such as not allowing them to fire unless fired upon, even if they see someone aiming at them.

"A politically correct war is a lost war," he said. "If you are not going to allow the men and women who are there in harm's way to do what they need to do, we're going to put them in greater jeopardy."

Chaffetz said he likes an idea of former Marines Corps Commandant Chuck Krulak to use "hunter-killer teams" and what Chaffetz says would be "rules of engagement that allow them to root out the enemy to suppress any al-Qaida entrenchment."

Chaffetz noted that he has traveled to Afghanistan and talked to top generals there. He said he wanted to announce his own stand on Afghanistan before Obama so that he would not be accused possibly of simply opposing the president's stand.

Chaffetz said America faces other greater threats than Afghanistan, and the nation should focus on them.

For example, he said, Iran "represents the most immediate, genuine threat to world peace" through development of its nuclear program. "The time to take out this threat is now," he said, adding that may not necessarily mean military action but perhaps leading boycotts on Iran petroleum.

He also said terrorism internationally is a continuing threat, as is growing national debt that is largely financed by China and other countries that he said could choose to put the U.S. economy at risk.

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