[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 16, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H1412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 121

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Gabbard) is 
recognized for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the 
minority leader.
  Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week there were a few very 
important votes that occurred on complex issues that I would like to 
discuss here today. They were with regards to H. Con. Res. 75 and H. 
Con. Res. 121, which is the one I will discuss now.
  Make no mistake. H. Con. Res. 121 is a war bill. It is a thinly 
veiled attempt to use the rationale of humanitarianism as a 
justification for overthrowing the Syrian Government of Assad.
  Similar resolutions were used in the past to legitimatize the regime-
change wars to overthrow the governments of Iraq and Libya. I will have 
no part of it. I voted ``no'' on H. Con. Res. 121. I voted ``no'' 
against more unnecessary interventionist regime-change wars.
  We all know that Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, is a brutal 
dictator. But this resolution's purpose is not merely to recognize him 
as such. Rather, it was a call to action. Specifically, it is a call to 
escalate our war to overthrow the Syrian Government of Assad.
  For the last 5 years, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and 
others have been working hand in hand in that war to overthrow the 
Assad Government, supposedly for humanitarian reasons. But I ask: How 
has this war to overthrow Assad actually helped humanity?
  Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed. Millions have 
become homeless refugees. Much of the country's infrastructure has been 
destroyed.
  Terrorist organizations like ISIS, al Qaeda, and others have taken 
over large areas of the country and are engaging in genocide.
  Now the same people who are behind this war to overthrow Assad want 
to escalate that war, and this resolution is an attempt to gin up 
public support for that escalation.
  This resolution urges the administration to create ``additional 
mechanisms for the protection of civilians,'' which is really coded 
language for the creation of a so-called no-fly zone or safe zone.
  The creation of this no-fly zone or safe zone in Syria would be a 
major escalation of the war. Doing this would cost billions of dollars, 
require tens of thousands of ground troops, and a massive U.S. air 
presence. It won't work.
  Furthermore, it will likely result in a direct confrontation between 
the United States and Russia. Fortunately, President Obama has thus far 
opposed implementing such a so-called no-fly zone and has resisted 
pressure to escalate this war in this way,
  The fact is that the main areas currently in Syria where Christian, 
Alawites, Druze, Yazidis, and other religious minorities can practice 
their faith without fear of persecution are in the Syrian territories 
where Assad maintains control.
  Therefore, the overthrow of Assad would worsen the genocidal 
activities by ISIS and al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations 
against Christians, Alawites, and other Syrian religious minorities.
  If the U.S. has learned nothing else from Iraq and Libya, we should 
have learned that toppling ruthless dictators in the Middle East 
creates even more human suffering and strengthens our enemy, groups 
like ISIS and other terrorist organizations in those countries.
  It is undeniable that, in both Iraq and Libya, humanitarian 
conditions today are far worse than they were before those governments 
were toppled and ISIS and other terrorist organizations are far more 
powerful with greater strongholds, causing even more suffering.
  If the U.S. is successful in its current efforts to overthrow the 
Syrian Government of Assad, allowing groups like ISIS and al Qaeda and 
other terrorist organizations to take over all of Syria, which is what 
will happen, including those Assad-controlled areas where Christians 
and other religious minorities remain protected, the United States will 
be morally culpable for the genocide that will occur as a result.
  This is exactly what happened when we overthrew Saddam Hussein in 
Iraq. It is what happened in Libya when we overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. 
To do the same thing over and over and expect a different result is the 
definition of insanity.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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