[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 60 (Thursday, April 6, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2779-H2782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REINING IN THE RADICAL ISLAMISTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Gohmert) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, it is always a privilege to be in this last 
bastion of civility. Sometimes it hasn't been all that civil, but it 
has been a place where the rules were supposed to be enforced.
  I know there are all kinds of wild allegations being thrown around. 
People seem to enjoy throwing them at this White House, but I think we 
all owe a debt of gratitude to the President this week. This has been a 
very big week, as an article by Kaitlan Collins from The Daily Caller 
points out: our President hosting three foreign leaders this week in 
what could be a big moment for foreign policy. Well, this was dated 
April 2.
  One guest that he invited that I am so grateful that President Trump 
invited was the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. It has been 
my privilege with some of our other colleagues, and I have had other 
occasions alone to visit with him in Cairo. I am just so grateful he 
was invited because Egypt is doing everything it can. The leaders of 
Egypt right now are doing all they can to try to prevent an 
international caliphate that is dominated and enforced by radical 
Islam.
  In years past, when I brought up that there are some radical 
Islamists who are wanting to create a new Ottoman Empire--and I think 
it is an indictment of some of our schools, both secondary and college 
level, that more people are not familiar with world history. So I 
referred some reporters to a map. Go look at a map, look at where the 
Ottoman Empire was, look at what countries were included in that 
empire, and look at what the Islamic State is trying to do, what al-
Qaida had tried to do, and what radical Islam, with really Muslim 
Brotherhood playing a powerful role in trying to create part of that 
caliphate, you look at what they have done, advances made, and it is 
very clear that those who wanted a new Ottoman Empire that many thought 
was over 100 years or so ago, we would never see the rise of radical 
Islam controlling so much of north Africa and Europe.
  Then, of course, during World War II, radical Islamists raised their 
heads. They had something in common with Hitler. Many don't realize 
that radical Islamist leaders were allied with Hitler because they 
shared what? A common hatred for Jewish people. They both wanted Jewish 
people annihilated. They wanted a genocide. They wanted them wiped off 
the Earth. In the early days, the United States, to our discredit, did 
not do enough to help the

[[Page H2780]]

Jewish people who were the target of that genocide, both by radical 
Islamists but largely led by Hitler himself.
  So when that great June uprising in Egypt that was completely 
peaceful by the Egyptian people--the only real violence was instigated 
by the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Muslim Brotherhood continues to this 
very day to plot and to strategize to try to take back over the country 
of Egypt. With over 90 million people or so in Egypt with such a 
critical location, the Nile River running through Egypt, being right 
there at the Suez Canal, being right there at the gate of the Middle 
East, being at the gate to north Africa from the east, it is a critical 
linchpin for any radical Islamist who wants to start with a caliphate.
  Of course, the true radicals, though they have some disagreements 
over what real radical Islam is, they all agree that to get back this 
worldwide caliphate, we actually must get Egypt back under radical 
Islamic control.
  Having met President el-Sisi, visited on a number of occasions, even 
before he was President, this is a man who wants to do the will of the 
people. He is also a man who has 20/20 vision when it comes to looking 
at the Muslim Brotherhood.

  It was rather tragic when President Obama and two Republican Senators 
started putting pressure on the 30-plus million Egyptians who made 
clear that despite Morsi, the Muslim brother leader who allegedly was 
elected despite the claims of fraud in the election that were not 
followed up on because of the threats that were made by the Muslim 
brothers that if you contest this election, we will burn Egypt down.
  But the 30 million after the election, once they saw Morsi was acting 
extra-constitutionally, he was taking powers that didn't belong to him, 
really kind of following the model of Chavez in Venezuela where, yeah, 
he got elected, and then he used that position to start knocking off 
and eliminating competition, pulling powers under himself. Morsi was 
doing that. And, of course, there is video of him taking marching 
orders from a radical Islamic leader. So some think he was more of a 
puppet at the whims of radical Islamic leaders.
  But that was such an incredible day for the world, when 30 million 
Egyptians, moderate Muslims, Christians, Jews, secularists, they went 
to the street. Some people are not aware, yes, there are Jews in Egypt. 
There is a millennia of history there. But they went to the street, and 
as I have mentioned before, Mr. Speaker, the Pope there in Cairo has 
told me on more than one occasion just how deeply emotionally moving it 
was to have secularists, Muslims, and Jews come up to him and say there 
in the streets as they marched together peacefully: We are so sorry for 
the way you have been treated by the Muslim Brotherhood. We are so 
sorry for the persecution that our leaders have inflicted upon you and 
Christians here in Egypt.
  What a great day for the world when they demanded, peacefully but 
demanded, the removal of the President who would be king, Muslim 
brother Morsi.
  And now we still have some in this country, former President Obama 
and others, who had such wrongheaded policies that put the world so 
much at risk by supporting Muslim Brotherhood, they complain that this 
President, our President Trump, doesn't know what he is doing. It 
appears to me he knows exactly what he is doing when it comes to 
radical Islam, to those who want an international caliphate, to those 
who are moderate Muslims, like President el-Sisi, who has actually had 
the courage to stand up, as I have not seen any national or 
international leader do, and tell a roomful of imams that it is 
critical that we get control of Islam back from the radicals who have 
hijacked it.
  It did a disservice when the last administration kept saying the 
Islamic State, the radicals in Egypt, radicals in Libya, al-Qaida, that 
they are not Islam. Well, yes, they are. And that is why President el-
Sisi had to make clear: We need to get our religion back. Baghdadi, who 
is head of the Islamic State, has made very clear that, yes, the 
Islamic State is Islamic, and if moderate leaders don't step up and 
rein in radical Islam, then this world is headed for disaster.
  Though we had some disagreements here recently on other matters, I 
still think that the media attention that is given claiming Trump is 
this crazy guy, that Donald Trump puts the world at risk, they are so 
reflective of the comments that were heard about a guy named Ronald 
Reagan when he was President.
  As I mentioned last fall in a private meeting with now President 
Trump, I said, you know, my study of American history seems to indicate 
that those Presidents who were considered by the media to be our 
smartest Presidents, when it came to foreign matters, foreign policy, 
they were some of the least effective.

                              {time}  1245

  In some cases, actually, terrible at foreign policy and foreign 
diplomacy, it seems that some of our most successful Presidents, when 
it comes to foreign policy, have been depicted as being just a little 
bit crazy.
  And I mention to now President Trump, if he will remember back to the 
days of ``Saturday Night Live'' when it was funny, they did skits about 
President Reagan. They enjoyed portraying President Reagan walking 
around as if he was in some daze or stupor, with his finger out asking 
where the red button is--``Where is the red button?''--like he was so 
anxious to start a nuclear war.
  But when you analyze the history of our Presidents and their 
effectiveness at foreign policy, I think you actually end up seeing 
that, when the world is a little bit concerned about a United States 
President being just a little bit crazy--``That guy is crazy enough, he 
may start a nuclear war''--it is a fantastic help to diplomacy, so that 
when a President like Reagan or Trump says, ``This is it. Don't do this 
because I will draw a red line,'' they can't be sure that he won't 
launch a nuclear war.
  So I hope that he won't take anything off the table. I think he has 
handled some of these issues very well. As he has said: I am not taking 
anything off of the table. I am not going to warn our enemies of 
exactly what we are going to do and when.
  That is wise counsel in handling foreign diplomacy.
  I am looking forward to the days ahead, because this week, in meeting 
with President el-Sisi, it sent a message to the world that President 
Obama refused to send, and that is we think we can work with President 
el-Sisi.
  He has his hands full. Egypt has a tough road ahead because they are 
trying to come back from what had become a quite socialized government 
in Egypt. A lot of people are on some form of welfare.
  It is always difficult, as one of the Caesars found, when you try to 
move people off of bread and circuses and get them to working so that 
they will find out they have value, provide self-worth. Every 
individual has value in God's eyes, and the Founders knew that. So 
let's get them working. Most everybody can do something. And leaders 
like President el-Sisi are attempting to do that.
  It was also an embarrassment for the United States, and those that 
are observing world affairs, to have noted that an incredible world 
event happened since President el-Sisi has been the head of the 
government in Egypt. They opened a second lane to the Suez Canal. There 
were top leaders from most all of the more powerful nations in the 
world. They came to honor Egypt and their incredible accomplishment of 
opening a second lane. It didn't go all the way the distance, but it 
allows for so much more traffic through the Suez Canal.
  I remember one conversation prior to that with President el-Sisi, 
when President Obama had promised Muslim brother leader Morsi: We will 
send you tanks. We will send you jets. We will send you money. We will 
send you Apache helicopters.
  President Obama was more than happy to send powerful weaponry that 
the Muslim brothers could use to go after Christians to weaponize the 
Sinai, as Morsi did.
  A lot of Americans had the wool pulled over their eyes, including 
some at AIPAC, who didn't realize, as they sent people around to 
support President Morsi, that: Oh, gee, we think he is a lot better 
than people are giving him credit for.
  I knew who he was. I know what he was. But some of the top folks at 
AIPAC did not realize you don't want

[[Page H2781]]

to be supporting a Muslim brother President or leader anywhere.
  And, in fact, we should do right here in the United States what Egypt 
did, and that is list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist 
organization. Now, it is true in the United States. Some of their 
leaders have said, oh, no, we don't want to get to violence, because 
the indications are they believe that they are making so much progress, 
and they really did. Under the leadership of President Obama, the 
Muslim Brotherhood made vast strides in power in the United States 
without violence, so they didn't want to jeopardize that.
  But as some of the documents that had been seized over the last 30 
years make clear: Yeah, we will use peaceful means as long as we can; 
but, of course, at some point, when we are no longer successful in 
gaining the upper hand in America, we will have to support violence to 
do the final takeover.
  But some people here get it. They understand the threat that the 
Muslim Brotherhood is.
  It is great that President Trump invited Egyptian President el-Sisi 
to be here to meet with him. And, Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the 
day when we have enough time to have President el-Sisi stand right here 
where Prime Minister Netanyahu has stood at least, I think, three times 
and where other great international leaders have stood and have spoken 
to a joint session. I look forward to the day when we have President 
el-Sisi stand here. The man is a true hero for the world, for everyone 
except the Muslim Brotherhood.
  President Trump also welcomed King Abdullah of Jordan, King Abdullah, 
leader of a majority Muslim country. And, of course, those who have 
studied the Bible know that so many of the Biblical references actually 
are right there in Jordan.
  Some wondered why President Obama didn't get much encouragement from 
those around him to go ahead and do a status of forces agreement with 
Iraq. We know that Iran was making so many of the IEDs, putting people 
and weapons inside the country of Iraq, while American soldiers were 
fighting, losing their lives, being maimed, losing arms and legs--our 
great heroes--carrying out the will of the U.S. Government.
  It seemed that President George W. Bush pretty well had a status of 
forces agreement teed up. He probably could have finalized it. For all 
the criticism that some heap onto President Bush, he is actually a very 
gracious man. Look at the time he entertained people at the White House 
and was so gracious. People like Ted Kennedy that would walk right 
outside and trash him after he had been so gracious to him.

  But he actually left a hanging curve ball for President Obama to hit 
after he came in as President. And from what I understood from people 
in the Bush administration, they thought this would help his Presidency 
come in and very quickly sign the status of forces agreement that 
should be easy to get done.
  But one of the things--well, there were two main things, it seems, 
from what I can figure out, that stood in the way of the status of 
forces agreement. One was President Obama really didn't want to leave 
troops in Iraq, not even a small force, to help solidify what we had 
taken away from the radicals. And he didn't use good judgment, which 
has now cost the lives of tens of thousands--hundreds of thousands of 
people in the Middle East because of his shortsightedness.
  Another reason that there is no status of forces agreement was an 
element I didn't realize until I was talking to my friend Joel 
Rosenberg, a great author, a New York Times Best Seller author. Joel 
has done so much fantastic research into Israel, Egypt, and the Middle 
East. His novels reflect so much history that is accurate.
  He was pointing out to me--and I had not seen it until he pointed it 
out and I started doing some research on it. But some of the crazies 
who think that the 12th imam, who was thrown in a well as a child 
around 10 years of age, is going to some day come back and take over 
and be the great Mahdi, the 12th imam, that unites the world caliphate 
and puts everyone under radical Islamic control of the Mahdi, the 12th 
imam, most of the 12th-ers believe, those who believe the 12th imam is 
coming back, some have said they have already seen him on short 
appearances.
  There are prophecies that the 12th imam will first come back and take 
charge in a small town. I believe it is pronounced Kufa. It is kind of 
like the Bible prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
  Well, those who believe the 12th imam is going to come back--and, 
actually as I understand, they do believe in Jesus. They believe he is 
going to fight at the right hand of the 12th imam, so they don't have 
anything close to the beliefs that Christians do and the orthodox Jews 
do. But the only way he can come back and begin the start of this 
reign, if he comes back to Kufa, there cannot be any infidel soldiers, 
infidels in the land, occupying the land.
  So if the United States had an occupying force in Iraq, it is going 
to impede the ability of the 12th imam to come back and start the 
beginning of the worldwide caliphate that will fall in place 
thereafter. And, of course, he is supposed to emerge from chaos.
  There were those in Iran at the top who thought--not rank-and-file 
people, but some at the top thought, look, he is supposed to come out 
of chaos. He will appear here in this small town and start the 
beginning of the accumulation of the world caliphate.
  So, in Iran, if you were a crazy top leader in Iran that believed 
that is where the 12th imam is coming back, you could not allow the 
United States--that they consider infidels, the Great Satans--you could 
not allow the United States to have a status of forces agreement so 
that we had what they consider infidel soldiers. So it wasn't 
anticipation that Iran would fight so hard to keep America from 
agreeing to keep soldiers in Iraq, and part of that is because 
President Obama did not allow people who had studied radical Islam.
  Now, he had Muslim brothers around him. That is what Muslim 
Brotherhood publication indicated in December of 2012, I believe is 
when that article came out, bragging about the six people that were in 
top positions, people like Imam Magid; and Elibiary, who was on the 
Homeland Security Advisory Council, the top advisory council for 
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. And I pointed out 
conflicts there that were disregarded and problems that his allegiance 
was not to us; it was for a more radical Islam, for the Muslim 
brotherhood at least.

                              {time}  1300

  Finally, when he tweeted out that the caliphate--the world caliphate 
is inevitable and Americans just need to get used to it, they finally 
decided to let him rotate off advisory council. But the Muslim brothers 
were bragging about the people they had in top positions that were 
advising President Obama.
  There are some holdovers in positions who were not top Muslim 
brothers, but they are in positions that I hope this President will be 
able to root out. And I think it helps a great deal that he talks to 
President el-Sisi, he talks to President Abdullah, because some of 
these radical Islamists are also a great threat to King Abdullah in 
Jordan, and we need him keeping peace on the eastern side of Israel.
  And then you also had the Chinese President come, and we have got to 
deal with China because they are a power and they own a lot of our 
debt.
  But I appreciate what was reported this week. Ali Waked at Breitbart 
reported from Tel Aviv:
  `` . . . Abdel Fattah Sisi's visit to the United States . . . will be 
an opportunity to undermine the Muslim Brotherhood's standing in 
Washington, a former Egyptian Ambassador to the United States said.
  ``Abdel Raouf al-Ridi told Egyptian paper Alshorouk that `Egyptian-
American relations are entering a new phase, and the degree of their 
success relies on Egyptian efforts.' ''
  He went on to say: ` ``Presidents Trump and Sisi can break the ice 
created during the Obama administration,' he said. `Without doing 
injustice to Obama, he adopted the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.' 
''
  He is talking about President Obama. President Obama would never 
admit that. Who knows whether he was taken in or really understood what 
he was embracing.

[[Page H2782]]

  But one other great thing that I want to express appreciation for is 
the President's steps on trying to stop illegal immigration into this 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, as I have talked about a number of times, having spent 
so much time all night on the border, the drug cartels control traffic 
coming into America, and they have people that they are smuggling in 
through their coyotes who actually get paid to bring them in. That 
money goes to the drug cartels and they coordinate. The drug cartels, 
according to the Border Patrol, coordinate sending in these groups of 
illegal aliens in the United States. They knew, when they sent a big 
group in on one or more rafts, that all of our border patrolmen would 
have to flock to that area and start processing them, go through their 
checklist of questions, and that is when they could send massive 
amounts of drugs in.
  So what President Trump is doing is a great favor to the United 
States. When he stops illegal immigration, he is not just stopping 
illegal immigration, he is stopping the ability to bring in drugs, 
making it more difficult. Oh, they are still coming, but it is a start. 
And I am grateful to the President for doing that.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________