Congresswoman Barbara Lee: once the lone voice against the Afghanistan war

[Guardian] In 2001, Lee was the only vote in Congress against the war, just days after 9/11. Eleven years later, she's not gloating With her voice cracking and the nation still in mourning Barbara took to the floor of the House of Representatives on 14 September 2001, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, to give the sole speech and deliver the sole vote in Congress against the Afghanistan war.

Almost 11 years on, Lee's speech sounds incredibly prescient.

"We are not dealing with a conventional war," she said. "We cannot respond in a conventional manner. I do not want to see this spiral out of control … If we rush to launch a counterattack, we run too great a risk that women, children and other noncombatants will be caught in the cross-fire … Finally, we must be careful not to embark on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target. We cannot repeat past mistakes."

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