[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 78 (Wednesday, May 20, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H3397]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 SYRIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I remember a few years ago 
visiting Israel, standing in the Golan Heights and looking to the 
border of Syria. At this time, our guide began talking about the 
peaceful protests in Syria, the beginning of an era of discontent.
  As I looked into the seemingly peaceful area, I never imagined the 
carnage that was to come: children who on that day attended school, 
filled with hope for the future and with dreams of becoming a 
businessman, a policeman, an architect, or any of the host of things 
building in the minds of such a young person at that age; children and 
parents who did not know that in a few short years, their lives would 
be cut down by a ruthless dictator, bent on keeping power at all cost.
  As the peaceful protests built in strength, Bashar al-Assad responded 
in violence. And so began what history will likely judge to be the 
start of among the most brutal times in Middle East modern history.
  Bashar-al Assad began using barrel bombs indiscriminately against 
innocent people and infamously gassed thousands who struggled to get 
that last breath of life, only to choke to death, completely aware that 
that breath would be their last.
  As family members died, others joined a group later dubbed the Free 
Syrian Army, a group the President referred to as a bunch of 
pharmacists, lawyers, and businessmen, all standing up to reclaim what 
was theirs rightfully, which was a free Syria. And they fight bravely 
for a free Syria today.
  Through the carnage of this terrible war, a more nefarious group 
began to assemble, a group not concerned with human carnage but 
inspired by it; a group not fighting to protect life but fighting to 
cut it down; and a group not inspired by freedom of religion but 
inspired by a hollow and a shallow world view. The group today is now 
known as ISIS.

                              {time}  1030

  Mr. Speaker, before the world paid any attention, this group occupied 
not just parts of Syria, but also Fallujah, an area fought with 
American blood and treasure to bring peace and stability to the people 
of Iraq. The border of Syria and Iraq was torn down, and the world 
continued to sleep.
  I called for America to lead airstrikes against this fledgling group 
at that time numbering in the low four figures. The reaction I received 
was not unexpected: people angry that I was interested in starting 
``Iraq War III.'' Yet as this cancer continued to grow, the carnage 
became worse, and today we find ourselves engaged in limited action 
against a group growing in numbers faster than they are being 
dispatched by our airplanes.
  Americans feel saddened that the areas that our brave military 
members fought so hard to win was being thrown away to political 
expedience, and I am one of those people. I spent a little bit of time 
in Iraq, on behalf of the United States Air Force, flying airplanes, 
and I just saw a week ago or a few days ago that Ramadi, the capital of 
Anbar province, where we saw so much success in the Sunni awakening, 
has fallen to ISIS.
  Now, by the way, Anbar and Ramadi serve as a transportation center 
for getting goods from Jordan and Syria into Baghdad and are resupply 
routes for ISIS. So we are seeing not overmuch success in Iraq. But 
lest we think this fight is limited to just Iraq, all we have to do is 
look all over the world and all over the Middle East and see ISIS' 
influence, from folks arrested near my district in the United States 
attempting to join and support ISIS, to the problems we see in Lebanon 
and in Saudi Arabia, and as we see ISIS grow and develop in Libya. This 
is something that, Mr. Speaker, the President has got to get a control 
on and reassert American leadership.
  We also see that these terrorist groups, these jihadist groups, are 
coming under the umbrella of ISIS, whether it is al Shabaab, Boko 
Haram, or al Qaeda in Yemen, or we see the Taliban beginning to join 
under this supposedly successful group.
  What is it we need to do to push them back? In Iraq, I believe we 
need to use the number of troops and the amount of military force 
necessary to destroy ISIS and not just necessary to follow the 
President's promise of no troops on the ground. I don't think we need 
another 200,000 troops in Iraq, and I haven't heard a single person 
actually ever suggest that, but we need to use what is necessary to 
push this back.
  By the way, the American military is fierce and desperate to do what 
needs to be done, and they are ready to do what the American people and 
the President calls on.
  Lastly, ISIS must be destroyed in Syria; and you can not destroy ISIS 
in Syria without destroying the incubator of ISIS, who is the evil 
dictator, Bashar al Assad. There are negotiations in progress now, but 
until the Syrian people know that the American people stand behind them 
through a no-fly zone and other means, ISIS will not be destroyed in 
Syria until that point.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for the President to stand up.

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