[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 134 (Thursday, September 18, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5734-S5735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CONTINUING RESOLUTION AND ISIL

  Mrs. BOXER. Thank you so much, Madam President.
  I am here because I want to respond to the colloquy that was held on 
the Keystone Pipeline, but before I go there, I do want to make remarks 
about the very important vote we are going to be taking today both to 
keep the government open and to give the President the ability to train 
and equip vetted Syrian moderates so they can help us take the fight to 
ISIL.
  It is my privilege to serve on the Foreign Relations Committee. I 
have served on it for a very long time, and yesterday we had an 
important hearing where the Secretary of State laid out the President's 
plans for how we are going to meet this threat posed by ISIL.
  I have to say, before I explain the three options you have as an 
American as far as which option you embrace, I think I need to lay out 
the view of this organization ISIL or ISIS. There are different ways to 
describe them. They are an outgrowth of Al Qaeda in Iraq, which came 
about because of the catastrophic Iraq war that was based on false 
premises, that put us in the middle of a civil war, and created the 
worst sectarian tensions. One of my proudest moments was voting no on 
that.
  Then the Bush administration said Saddam Hussein was involved with 9/
11, that he had nuclear weapons, and none of it was so. None of it was 
so. As a result we got in the middle of this war.
  We were told it would last 6 months, and then a year went by, another 
year, years, years, years, and it became one of our longest wars, and 
4,000-plus Americans dead, tens of thousands wounded, some with very 
serious wounds--they will never get over them--and I would say well 
over $1 trillion that drew us into a terrible recession when we had 
previously had surpluses. What a nightmare. So that is the beginning of 
ISIL, an outgrowth of Al Qaeda.
  There were two authorizations for the use of military force that I 
got to vote on. One of them was right after 
9/11 when I voted to go after bin Laden and Al Qaeda and any other 
affiliate organization that would come out of Al Qaeda. That is one I 
voted for. That is why I believe the President has the authority, based 
on that document, to move forward and take the fight to ISIL.
  The other authorization for use of force was permission to go into 
Iraq and go after Saddam Hussein. I voted no on that.
  I think it is important to the American people to remember why we are 
facing trouble, but it is what it is. There are some who say--because 
there are three approaches here--do nothing. There are some who say do 
nothing. My view is: How can we possibly do nothing in the face of a 
group that has beheaded two innocent freelance journalists? How can you 
do nothing in the face of a group that sells 14-year-old girls as 
slaves? How can you do nothing in the face of a brute, ISIL, who, if 
they don't sell a 14-year-old as a slave and they let her live, give 
her to a warrior as a reward? How do we sit back and do nothing?
  We saw what they did to minorities, the Yazidis. They said: Either 
you convert, flee, or we will kill you.
  We cannot sit back. They did it to Christians, Yazidis. They did it 
to Turkmen. They have taken hostages including more than 40 Turkish 
hostages. We don't even know the count or what are the nationalities, 
but we know their intent. This is a quote from them, that they are 
going to make sure their thirst for American blood is quenched. This is 
a sick situation, and to the people who say do nothing, I say to them: 
I understand your concern for unintended consequences, but don't count 
me in your camp, because I cannot do that.
  I am so cautious when it comes to voting to go to war. I know it is 
not easy. We don't know every single thing that can happen, what can go 
wrong. Things do go wrong. But my view is in this case if I were to sit 
back and say I am too afraid, I am too nervous, that is exactly the 
wrong signal to send a group of terrorists such as this. I have never 
seen a group like this. So one path is to do nothing.
  The other path is to start up the Iraq war all over again. Colleagues 
in this Chamber, pounding the table: Troops on the ground. Send our 
American troops back. No way, no way. I am not going to send our troops 
back to the middle of a civil war. What we are going to do is another 
way--President Obama's strategy, which is the moderate strategy here. 
It is to take our intelligence, our strategy, our Air Force assets, and 
make sure those in the region who have the most at stake--remember, 
ISIL has killed more Muslims than anybody else--that they will be the 
boots on the ground. We see that strategy is working in Iraq.
  It is early. We don't know how it is all going to go. But we have 
started this strategy where they will take back key pieces of 
territory--a dam, very important--and we seem to be able to coordinate 
well with the Kurds and the Iraqi forces.
  Clearly our President is right when he says this is about the whole 
world. The whole world has to care about this, because this is about, 
truly, civilization, and every civilized person has to stand up against 
this. What the President is doing with the Secretary of State and our 
Vice President is they are building coalitions. For the first time we 
see the Arab nations coming forward.
  So when I vote today for the continuing resolution, I want it to be 
clear to my constituents--and they are not all going to agree with me, 
I know that--that I am in favor of this strategy. I am in favor of 
training the moderate Syrians to take the fight to ISIL on the ground. 
And I can tell you because I was in Turkey in August--I had the 
privilege of meeting with the head of one of the moderate Syrian 
organizations. His comments were very strong that ISIL is absolutely 
going against the moderate Syrians. So it is very important that the 
moderate Syrians are able to fight back against ISIL. That is what we 
are voting for today, to allow the President to vet, train, and arm the 
moderate Syrian opposition to the Syrian President and also in that 
regard go after ISIL.
  I know everything is complicated in life and nothing is the perfect 
solution, but if I could say rhetorically, what is wrong is to do 
nothing. What is wrong is to go back into the Iraq war. What is right 
is to organize the world through a coalition, use the American assets--
because no one can do what we can do--but on the ground in the combat 
mission, utilize the regional forces.
  I wanted to be clear today where I stand. There are three choices, 
and I choose the path President Obama has put together. I think the 
vote in the House was a very important vote yesterday because it showed 
there is a majority of Democrats and Republicans who can come together.

[[Page S5735]]

  Following that, we were in the House this morning to hear the 
President of Ukraine. It was very touching and very moving. President 
Poroshenko laid out in the most beautiful language, I thought, because 
of its simplicity, the beauty of freedom and what they are fighting 
for. What I loved so much about it was the fact that his speech united 
everybody in the room. There wasn't one group that sat down or didn't 
stand up to express their appreciation for what his countrymen are 
going through.
  I hope we can get behind this President in this fight against the 
terror group that is probably the best-funded terror group ever in 
existence, the most barbaric I have ever seen. I hope there will be a 
good vote today. I think that would send a very important message that 
we are sincere and will bring more people to our coalition.

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