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Massa Calls for Troops to Come Home From Afghanistan

By Evan Dawson / WHAM

Congressman Eric Massa is now calling for President Obama to bring American servicemen and women home from Afghanistan. Rep. Massa (D-29) made a passionate speech to his colleagues about the subject -- you can watch it on YouTube below.

Rep. Massa says that if President Obama follows the wishes of his military commanders and sends 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, it will be a mistake "on a par with a potential error the size of our initial invasion of Iraq."

There's more. Congressman Chris Lee (R-26) recently returned from a Congressional delegation visit to Afghanistan. Rep. Lee says his trip and his interactions with American soldiers only cemented his view that President Obama ought to agree to his generals' requests. Mr. Lee says the soldiers with whom he spoke made it clear that they've only been conducting the new strategy for less than a year, and they want more time and resources to succeed.

I had the chance to ask Mr. Massa about his colleague's statements, particularly in light of the fact that Mr. Lee recently traveled to Afghanistan while Mr. Massa has pledged not to spend taxpayer money by going on Congressional delegation travel. Mr. Massa told me that those trips are essentially worthless, and that Mr. Lee would only have seen what people in Afghanistan wanted him to see. In other words, Mr. Massa believes it's easy to get fooled when you make decisions based on such visits. "There is no real connection to what's going on on the ground," he tells me about these tours of war zones.

It's a stark example of how difficult a decision the president faces. You can watch my interview with Rep. Lee by clicking right here. Then, watch Rep. Massa talk about the pitfalls of making decisions based on delegation trips -- that video is in the top right part of this page. Just scroll ahead to the 2:50 mark.