[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 142 (Wednesday, November 19, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6121-S6122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO ABDUL-RAHMAN ``PETER'' KASSIG

  Mr. DONNELLY. Madam President, this is a speech I hoped to never give 
and one I give with an incredibly heavy heart. I wish to speak about a 
young man from my home State of Indiana, Abdul-Rahman Kassig, known to 
many who loved him as Peter or Pete. He was a Hoosier, a son of 
Indiana, and we could not feel more proud of him or lucky about the 
fact that he was one of us.
  Abdul-Rahman was a son of the United States of America who served our 
country and also served the world. He was a man of peace and healing 
and caring. Abdul-Rahman was with us for 26 years, and what he gave us 
during his life is so much greater and so much more important than how 
he died. The intensity and focus and desire to make a difference was 
the hallmark of Peter's life, and it stands in stark contrast to the 
cruelty and disdain for human life of the ISIL terrorists who took 
Peter from us.

  Every one of us is heartbroken for his parents Paula and Ed, who have 
lost their son in the most nightmarish of circumstances and have been 
the most extraordinary people during this whole situation. The world 
mourns the loss of Abdul-Rahman along with us. His life is one to be 
admired.
  As one of his teachers wrote to his parents: ``Peter's life is 
evidence that he's been right all along; one person can make a 
difference.''
  While we mourn the loss of our fellow Hoosier in America, we are 
rightfully angry about his murder and we hunger for justice, but we are 
challenged to face the fact that there are others still being held by 
these terrorists, and we must work and pray for those who continue to 
be held against their will.
  Today I want to talk about Abdul-Rahman--Peter. I know his wonderful 
parents Paula and Ed. They are extraordinary people. I was not lucky 
enough to meet Peter before he headed over to Syria to help provide 
emergency medical care there. However, through his folks and these many 
months, I feel as though I have gotten to know his spirit through his 
words, his actions, and the many stories from those who loved him. Some 
stories can be told, some stories can't be told, but he is an 
extraordinary young man in every way.
  This was a selfless, courageous young man with a big heart who saw 
suffering and wanted to help, and ultimately he laid down his life in 
service to others. If you look at these pictures, this is Peter at the 
ambulance that he worked on as an emergency medical technician, and all 
he did was try to make other people's lives better by helping them when 
they were injured and wounded. You will hear that when his organization 
ran out of money, he took his own money out of his own pocket to buy 
bandages, equipment, and gas for the van. That is the kind of guy he 
was.
  He was a son of Indiana, growing up near Broad Ripple as the only 
child of Paula and Ed. He graduated from Indianapolis North Central 
High School, spending his high school days as many kids in Wisconsin 
do--the home State of the Presiding Officer--running cross country and 
track and playing his guitar. He then served in the U.S. Army with a 
brief time in Iraq before being honorably discharged and enrolling in 
Hanover College back home in Indiana.
  Abdul-Rahman was described as an intense young man who was always 
ready to help his friends in need. One classmate from Hanover said, 
``From the moment you meet Abdul-Rahman, you know that he is a man that 
is destined for great things.''
  Abdul-Rahman left Hanover in 2009 for training and then certification 
as an emergency medical technician, followed by attending Butler 
University. It was during his time as a student at Butler that Pete 
traveled over to Beirut during spring break in 2012. While other kids 
were heading to Florida and

[[Page S6122]]

Texas and the Bahamas over spring break, Pete went to Beirut to try to 
help people.
  He saw the refugee crisis stemming from the Syrian civil war 
firsthand and decided to stay there.
  I wish to read some of what he wrote to his family and friends at 
that time about the decision he made. These are Peter's words:

       I do not know much, every day that I am here I have more 
     questions and less answers, but what I do know is that I have 
     a chance to do something here, to take a stand. To make a 
     difference. Yesterday my life was laid out on a table in 
     front of me. With only hours left before my scheduled flight 
     back home to the United States, I watched people dying right 
     in front of me. I had seen it before and I had walked away 
     before . . .
       I am staying in the region indefinitely. I am formally 
     requesting that I be withdrawn from my courses for the 
     remainder of the semester. I have had the conversation with 
     my parents and it was the easiest one we ever had. They knew 
     simply from the sound of my voice. I have never been freer, 
     more alive, happier, or better received than in this place.
       There is too much work to be done here. Too many people in 
     need of immediate help . . .
       This decision isn't one that everyone would make, most 
     people wouldn't I guess, but those of you that really know me 
     understand that this is what I was made to do. My whole life 
     has led me to this point in time.

  In May of 2012, Abdul-Rahman moved to Lebanon to work as a volunteer 
emergency medical technician, serving in a hospital in the region 
there.
  By September 2012, Abdul-Rahman, still in his young twenties, formed 
his own nongovernmental organization to even better help those in need 
around him. It was called the Special Emergency Relief and Assistance, 
or SERA.
  In the summer of 2013, Abdul-Rahman moved SERA's headquarters to 
Gaziantep, Turkey, where the organization provided first response 
assistance to refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war.
  SERA provided food and medical supplies to the refugee camps on both 
sides of the border. SERA also provided primary trauma care and first-
aid training to civilians in Syria so others could also provide that 
same care.
  When fundraising was not going as well as needed, Abdul-Rahman 
donated his own money, giving not only his time and his talent, but 
everything he had financially to keep it going and assist those 
suffering around him. He was working on a project for SERA when he was 
detained on October 1, 2013.
  When he was detained, he was traveling in the back of an ambulance on 
his way to Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria to help provide medical care. 
He was in the back of an ambulance when he was taken.

  Peter showed incredible strength while in captivity--demonstrating 
his love for his parents while reflecting on the possibility that he 
might not make it home.
  In a letter written while he was in captivity, and received by his 
parents in early 2014, Abdul-Rahman wrote:

       It is still really hard to believe all of this is happening 
     . . . as I am sure you know by now, things have been getting 
     pretty intense. We have been held together, us foreigners . . 
     . and now about half the people have gone home . . .
       I hope that this all has a happy ending but it may very 
     well be coming down to the wire here, if in fact that is the 
     case then I figured it was time to say a few things that need 
     saying before I have to go.
       The first thing I want to say is thank you. Both to you and 
     mom for everything you have both done for me as parents; for 
     everything you have taught me, shown me, and experienced with 
     me.
       I cannot imagine the strength and commitment it has taken 
     to raise a son like me but your love and patience are things 
     I am so deeply grateful for.
       Secondly, I want you to know about things here and what 
     I've been through straight from me so you don't have to 
     wonder, guess, or imagine (often this is worse than the 
     reality). All in all I am alright. Physically I am pretty 
     underweight but I'm not starved, & I have no physical 
     injuries, I'm a tough kid and still young so that helps.
       Mentally I am pretty sure this is the hardest thing a 
     person can go through, the stress and fear are incredible but 
     I am coping as best I can. I am not alone. I have friends, we 
     laugh, we play chess, we play trivia to stay sharp, and we 
     share stories and dreams of home and loved ones. I can be 
     hard to deal with, you know me. My mind is quick and my 
     patience thinner than most.
       But all in all I am holding my own. I cried a lot in the 
     first few months, but a little less now. I worry a lot about 
     you and mom and my friends.
       They tell us you have abandoned us and/or don't care but of 
     course we know you are doing everything you can and more. 
     Don't worry Dad, if I do go down, I won't go thinking 
     anything but what I know to be true. That you and mom love me 
     more than the moon & the stars.
       I am obviously pretty scared to die but the hardest part is 
     not knowing, wondering, hoping and wondering if I should even 
     hope at all. I am very sad that all this has happened and for 
     what all of you back home are going through.
       If I do die, I figure at least you and I can seek refuge 
     and comfort in knowing that I went out as a result of trying 
     to alleviate suffering and helping those in need.
       In terms of my faith, I pray everyday and I am not angry 
     about my situation in that sense. I am in a dogmatically 
     complicated situation here, but I am at peace with my belief.
       I wish this paper would go on forever and never run out and 
     I could just keep talking to you. Just know I'm with you. 
     Every stream, every lake, every field and river. In the woods 
     and hills, in all the places you showed me. I love you.

  If you look at the pictures, you can see Peter and his mom in this 
picture and Peter and his dad off fishing in Indiana. This is the story 
of Abdul-Rahman Kassig. Nothing you have seen on TV over the past 3 or 
4 days is the story of Abdul-Rahman Kassig. This is the story. Those 
are his parents and this is what he did--he devoted his life to others.
  He was a young man who was taken from us in the most barbaric way, 
yet whose life stands for all that is good in our world.
  Abdul-Rahman, we will miss you catching more fish than your dad Ed 
when you went out fishing together and then laughing with him and 
rubbing it in that you caught more than he did. Best friends right 
there.
  We will miss you giving your mom Paula a big hug and telling your 
parents how much you love them. Folks around the world and every 
American will miss you terribly, but we will never forget how kind you 
were to the sick and injured people you cared for and the sick and 
injured people you made well, and everyone whose hearts you filled with 
love and passion and laughter.
  This was a man all Hoosiers and everyone else was so proud of, who 
touched more people and helped more folks in his 26 years than most of 
us do in a lifetime.
  I will close with something that Paula Kassig said on Monday:

       Our hearts are battered, but they will mend. The world is 
     broken, but it will be healed in the end. And good will 
     prevail . . .

  Abdul-Rahman spent the last years of this life working for good, 
serving those in the greatest need in the most dangerous of situations 
because his fellow citizens of the world needed him. He truly believed 
good would prevail.
  Let us keep the Kassigs and those who are still currently being held 
against their will and their families in our prayers and thoughts.
  Abdul-Rahman, we have been humbled by your generosity and your love. 
May God bless you and may God bless the United States of America.
  I yield back and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________