[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H10330-H10332]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SOMEONE PLEASE WAKE ME UP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Garrett) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, someone please wake me up. I think I am 
having a nightmare.
  What if I told you that, in the Middle East now, there is a place 
where Christians, Muslims, Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Yazidis--women and 
men--all sit together at the same table, as the result of the 
beginnings of a democratic process where tolerance and pluralism is a 
core value, and where we have seen safety, security, and prosperity 
emerge from the ashes one of the most horrific conflicts of the modern 
age. What if I told you that.
  What if I told you that a foreign state actor spent $10 million a 
month, to our reckoning, to influence thought in Washington, D.C., 
alone, to tell lies about this fledgling, tolerant democracy in the 
Middle East.
  What if I told you that the very Iranian regime that took the lives 
of American women and men on the battlefield in Iraq was celebrating 
right now along with Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad and Turkey's 
neo-Ottoman fascist Erdogan.
  I can tell you all those things because they are true.
  Someone please wake me up. I think I am having a nightmare.
  I just spent my Thanksgiving and 2 weeks of my life--a lot of money 
and a lot of time--away from my family to meet with brave people 
spanning multiple ethnicities who, like the First Continental Congress, 
have the recognition of exactly no foreign governments as a legitimate 
emerging government; who are different from you and me only by virtue 
of the happenstance of fate that they would be born somewhere as 
opposed to another place; who have quite literally shed the lifeblood 
of their children on battlefields that most Americans have never heard 
of, from Deir ez-Zor, Manbij, Jarablus; people who fought, bled, and 
died in homes that their families had inhabited in the Kabul River 
valley, the Jazeera province; and who were the tip of President Trump's 
spear in rooting out the combat components of a radical, warped, 
hateful ideology embodied by Daesh or ISIS.
  And today, without warning, we said good luck.
  The Syrian Democratic Council is not a Kurdish experiment in north 
and eastern Syria. It is an experiment that was largely started by 
Kurds, yes, but it is an experiment that includes men and women from 
across the ethnic and religious diversity of the region.
  What we read about in any publication that comes out of Turkey, which 
has about the worst press freedom on the planet, is how the PKK has 
been engaged in terrorist activity in Turkey, and anyone affiliated 
with the PKK by virtue of the accident of their birth as a Kurd is 
somehow a terrorist. Folks, this is not true.
  I met with everyone, from chief executives down to city councils. 
When you go to Deir ez-Zor, where the bulk of the population is Arab, 
the city council is Arab. And when you go to Manbij, the leadership is 
Arab. And when you go to Jazeera, the leadership is Kurdish and 
Christian, and it is male and female.
  This Chamber that we stand in, in this venerated body, exists not 
only because of the blood and sweat and tears of innumerable Americans 
not only in the Revolution but throughout our history, but also because 
foreigners were willing to stand up in support of an idea that was 
freedom and self-determination: Lafayette, Pulaski, Kosciuszko, von 
Steuben--German, Polish, French.
  Yet again, we betray those who have shed their blood to advance 
American policy.
  Look, don't make the commitment to begin with. It is one thing to 
learn that the United States has equivocated on its policy and people 
died. It is another thing to learn that the United States is 
equivocating on its policy and people with whom you have broken bread 
are about to die.
  I told them when I was there: I am here on my own time. I do not 
formulate American policy. I happen to be a Member of Congress, but, by 
God, I will stand up and be heard so that you might have the right that 
was bequeathed to you, not by a political administration anywhere, but 
by God, to live free of fear, to sleep soundly in your ancestral home, 
to worship or not worship as you choose.
  Ain Issa is the name of the town where, by happenstance, the Syrian 
Democratic Council has put some functions of its government. Ain Issa 
translates to English as the ``Eyes of Christ.'' You can't make this 
up.
  In my entire life, I have been proud of the 1 in 26 luck that I had 
to slip from the womb the son of Lois and Tom Garrett in the 
Commonwealth of Virginia, born in Georgia, in the greatest country on 
the face of the planet.
  But how many times must we muck up the endgame: the bloodletting in 
Cambodia and Laos, the purges in Iraq after 1991, the betrayal of the 
Kurds in 1985, the ignoring of vindictive revenge killings in 2004, the 
encouragement and then withdrawal in 2017.
  Ironically, Mr. Speaker, the Russians are far more loyal friends than 
the Americans are. It is beyond me.
  Somebody wake me up. I am having a nightmare.
  To say that ISIS is defeated and that was our sole mission is, at the 
very least, to exhibit a complete lack of understanding of what is 
going on, on the ground.
  I stood on the front lines near Jarablus by a building that was shot 
up that day by the Free Syrian Army, who we funded, at a military post 
manned by people of various ethnicities. And the Free Syrian Army did 
this while the Turkish military watched.
  Iranians seek to build a land bridge to the Mediterranean. Hezbollah 
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Iran--it functions in Israel--and is 
the only terrorist organization I know of that has taken human life on 
every single inhabited continent--Oceania, Australia, Asia, Europe, 
Africa, South America, North America. And we are just opening up the 
door.
  Eighty-seven people were killed in Deir ez-Zor province within 24 
hours on either side of the time I visited. This wasn't a long time 
ago. This was Thanksgiving.
  This fight is long from over. Frankly, if I am an ISIS recruiter, the 
idea that, ``Look, the Americans are leaving,'' will only strengthen 
their position.
  So let me make this metaphor, Mr. Speaker. We have a patient. That 
patient is Syria. It is stricken with four cancers. There is the regime 
in Russia; there is Turkey; there is Iran; and there is ISIS. We have 
just eradicated the bulk of one cancer, dropped the scalpel, left the 
surgery room, and declared that the patient is healed.

[[Page H10331]]

  Candidly, the people in north and eastern Syria would be far better 
off if we had never come to help, because the brave women and men who 
have stood up to lead a democratic movement have identified themselves 
for extermination.
  I sat down in Manbij with the military council, with an individual, 
it is my understanding, who was attacked with an IED the next day, and 
we have declared victory. This was 2 weeks, 3 weeks ago.
  So let me be clear, and let me counter some propaganda. When the only 
people celebrating this decision are Turkey, Iran, and Russia, it might 
be a bad decision. When you hear that the Syrian Democratic Council and 
the forces in north and eastern Syria are Kurds, that defies the 
reality on the ground, the reality that I saw, and the people with whom 
I spoke.
  The definition of insanity, Mr. Speaker, is doing the same thing 
again and again and expecting a different result. Let me tell you what 
I know, so that a month from now, I can say, ``See, I told you so,'' 
and maybe I will have that because 4-plus-or-minus million people in 
north and eastern Syria won't even have so much as their homes.

                              {time}  2130

  Turkey is going into Manbij. They have been telling us that for a 
month. They said: We have got to get the Kurds out of Manbij. Guess 
what? The Kurds aren't controlling Manbij. The Syrian Democratic 
Forces, which includes some Kurds, are in Manbij, but they are out.
  This is like post-World War II Japan or Germany saying: You need to 
get the African-American soldiers out of Berlin. It is racist on its 
face, ridiculous, and denies the reality on the ground, and apparently, 
nobody in the decision-making scheme has bothered to figure out what 
the actual truth is.
  So the Turks are going into Manbij. Now, what will that look like? 
Well, we know what happened in Afrin and al-Bab. They fly the Turkish 
flag over the courthouses. They have changed the street signs to honor 
Ottoman sultans. I can show you a video, Mr. Speaker, of a paramilitary 
police force raising their right hands in a Hitleresque salute 
shouting: ``Long live Erdogan,'' in Turkish. This is on Syrian soil.
  The children are educated in a different language. And the hospital 
in Afrin, which used to have a sign outside in Kurdish and Arabic, now 
has a sign outside in Turkish. In Jarabulus, the commanders with whom 
we spoke said when Turkey came in and said they rooted out ISIS, we 
looked through the field glasses the next day and lo and behold, the 
same people that were there the day before in ISIS uniforms were there 
in uniforms sanctioned by Turkey.
  Oh, by the way, I just learned that we are going to sell $3.5 billion 
worth of Patriot missile batteries to Turkey to go along with the F-35 
fighters that I guess they can use to bomb the sovereign nation of Iraq 
like they did last week in U.S. F-16s, perhaps this time more 
effectively. This is insanity.
  And I am not anti-this administration. I am not anti-this President. 
I am anti-foolish policy that will cost human lives that will be 
perpetuated and exacerbated by foolish foreign policy which preceded 
it.
  I am not suggesting we attack anybody. I am suggesting we don't turn 
and walk away. People who depended upon us and took us at our word are 
going to die, and we are worried about what we get for Christmas.
  I mean, I don't have words. So, Mr. Speaker, I don't know what more I 
can do. But I will not stop.
  With great power comes great responsibility. Contrary to what some 
people might say, we live in a great Nation. Our policy sucks. And to 
walk away from commitments that we made because it is politically 
convenient is beyond shameful. This matters. Iran is giddy. Erdogan is 
giddy. The Russians have punked us, to use the jargon of the day. And 
the band played on.
  I don't know. Somebody wake me up. I am having a nightmare. I mean, I 
represent the citizens of the Fifth District of Virginia, and I love 
them. I love my district. But I value human life, and I believe that if 
we make commitments, we should keep them. And if human life is lost 
because we can't keep our word, we need to take a long, hard look at 
exactly who we are.
  Mr. Speaker, with that, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Gohmert).
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I just want to applaud my friend's efforts 
on behalf of people who have counted on us. The 2 weeks he spent over 
there have been invaluable to the people who were counting on us. Some 
of that time was spent with a dear friend named Dave Eubanks.
  Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin 
(Mr. Grothman).
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I will just take a minute of your time to 
follow up on what Congressman Garrett just said. It seems to me, in my 
lifetime--I am not an expert on foreign affairs--there are good things 
the United States has done, and bad things. But the worst things are, 
when people who are counting on us, people who we set up and relied on 
us, we decide to leave them to whatever will happen.
  I think, in particular, a much bigger thing is when we stopped 
funding people in Vietnam. Obviously, during the Obama administration 
leaving Iraq, we left all sorts of people who were our friends, and 
created a huge vacuum. I am just very afraid today, and I would 
encourage President Trump to reconsider the decision to withdraw what 
troops we do have in the Syrian area because we have a lot of allies 
who felt they could count on the United States, whom I am afraid now 
will be left to whatever other forces in the region--who are not 
friendly to Western values--left to whatever they want to do with them. 
And I hope that is being taken into account right now.
  Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. 
Poliquin).
  Mr. POLIQUIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Garrett for the opportunity to 
address the House.
  Mr. Speaker, it is the responsibility of the United States House of 
Representatives, this body, and also the United States Senate, to 
protect our families. There is nothing more important as dictated by 
the United States Constitution, than to protect our families.
  Mr. Speaker, we have one heck of a problem on our southwest border 
with Mexico: in California, New Mexico, and Arizona. We have a very 
dangerous and very unhealthy situation just on the other side of the 
fence, in particular now, with Mexico. I am asking the President 
tonight, if he is watching, to please, publicly ask the House 
Republicans, while we are still in the majority, please ask us to pass 
a real strong border security and immigration bill.
  We did this several months ago. Goodlatte-McCaul One, as they called 
it, got 193 votes. It has everything that the President wanted, his 
four pillars and a heck of a lot more. Why in the world do we want to 
negotiate for peanuts when we can have the whole ball of wax?
  Goodlatte-McCaul One, has $25 billion, Mr. Trump, $25 billion for 
border security, including the wall where necessary; $25 billion--not 
$5 billion--$25 billion over 5 years. It ends the visa lottery. It 
reins in chain migration, and it reforms the asylum process.
  It is more than the President wants. This will happen, Mr. Speaker, 
only if the President of the United States publicly asks House 
Republicans to pass this bill or something really close to it.

  The votes are there. Over the past 2 weeks, I have talked to every 
single member of the Republican Conference, 235 Members of the House. I 
have spoken to every single one, except for about five or six. We have 
the votes to do this. It is not too late, but it is getting late.
  After the Democrats take control of this body, they have told us what 
they will bring or try to bring to the President's desk. It will not be 
what the President wants. It will not be what America wants.
  It will be some form of open border, sanctuary cities, and amnesty. 
There is no better deal. There is no longer an opportunity to hold out 
for a better deal. We have the votes to pass Goodlatte-McCaul One or 
something real close to it.
  But I ask the President, he must publicly ask the House to do it. 
That will give enough of our Members the support they need to vote for 
it, and it will cause leadership to act.
  Again, why would we want to negotiate for peanuts when we can get the

[[Page H10332]]

whole ball of wax? I appreciate and I thank Mr. Garrett very much for 
yielding to me.
  Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Gohmert).
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Virginia has 8\1/2\ 
minutes remaining.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, Tom Garrett, for 
arranging this Special Order. He is on his way out, and he cares so 
deeply about this country and this country's allies that he would put 
his life at risk and go and spend time with another American hero.
  In fact, Dave Eubanks is a hero, and he is someone who has dedicated 
his life as a Christian, as an American, trying to make the lives of 
others in the world better, and I thank my friend, Congressman Garrett, 
for spending that time with him. We shouldn't turn our back on our 
friends.
  Sometimes it seems that Mr. Erdogan is not our friend, but we 
certainly have had a tremendous amount of friendship and lives lost in 
the Kurdish community, standing up for us, with us, in defense of 
freedom.
  That is important. And I also want to address the issue of the wall 
on our southern border. It appears clear, since we lost over 70,000 
American lives last year--that is more than all of the precious 
American lives we lost in the whole time of the Vietnam war--and we 
lost those in 1 year from drugs.
  Most of those drugs coming across our southern border in the form of 
opiates and other hallucinogens, including fentanyl, are coming from 
Mexico. So if you want to see another 70,000 Americans die again next 
year, you don't want a wall. Let's not build a wall.
  If you would like to have illegal aliens continue to pour into this 
country in the hopes that they will be able to vote illegally, you 
don't want a wall, even though you supported one in the past. You don't 
want one now because you may get those votes if you can stop a wall 
from being built.
  If you want Mexico to remain as a country with so much incredible 
potential whose people are suffering and keep the people of Central 
America suffering at the hands of the drug cartels, you don't want a 
wall. Because if we build a wall where we need it, we build a fence 
where we need it, we totally secure the border, what happens? The 
money, by the tens of billions, pouring into the drug cartels south of 
the border dries up.
  That means the corruption in Mexico and south of there dries up. That 
means Mexico, with its incredible national resources--the natural 
resources of that Nation are incredible. Its location, actually, for 
commerce is even better than the United States.

                              {time}  2145

  It sits between two continents. It sits between two oceans. Its 
potential is unlimited. But what limits it is the corruption from the 
drug cartels that America is continuing to fund.
  So do you want that to continue?
  Yeah, you don't want a wall.
  Our elected leaders in the House and the Senate--the Republican 
elected leaders in the House and Senate--were not in favor of a wall or 
total border security in the last election in 2016. It was unfortunate.
  The President knew and heard the voice of the American people, and he 
echoed it. But that is why back in September of this year at our 
conference--and I know it wasn't popular and people didn't like me 
saying it--but I had to make clear, it was clear to me, if we don't get 
money for a wall, then the people, the voters that put President Trump 
in the White House will not come out in the same numbers, and we will 
not likely remain in the majority. I said it 2 weeks in a row, and the 
response was to cancel that last week of votes before the election.
  We didn't fund the wall. We said: Oh, let's wait until December.
  My comment then was: This will be my 14th December in Congress, and I 
have lived through 13 where we were told we will fight in December.
  We have yet to fight in December.
  Now is the time. I know people want to go home. I want to go home. 
But this is our chance to protect America for our future. Let's help 
the President keep our promise. Let's help him keep our promise.
  I know the Speaker and the majority leader were not big on this 2 
years ago, but most of America heard commercials from our majority 
leaders saying: Help Kevin McCarthy and President Trump build the wall.
  Well, now we need Americans to help remind our Republican leaders to 
help our President build the wall like we said. If that doesn't happen, 
I don't think the Senate can count on being back in the majority. They 
won't be. It is that serious.
  I have heard that the feeling in the Senate among Republicans now is, 
let's not do reconciliation so we only have to pass the money for a 
wall with 51 votes. We don't want to do that.
  If you don't do that, get money passed for the wall, then you are not 
coming back in the majority. Maybe you would enjoy the minority. Get 
used to it. That is where you are heading in 2 years.
  It doesn't have to be that way. We can still have the White House in 
2020. We can still have a majority in the Senate in 2020. We can get 
the majority back in the House in 2020. But if we drop the ball on this 
biggest campaign promise, then we are not going to have the majority in 
either the House or the White House.
  And that, to quote my friend from Houston, my fellow former judge, 
that is just the way it is.
  Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, very quickly back to Syria, if anyone tells 
you that this is Turks versus Kurds, they should tell Sheikh Bandar, 
the leader of thousands of Arabs who fight alongside the Kurds and the 
SDF. If anyone tells you it is Turks versus Kurds, they should tell 
that to Commander Johannes, the leader of thousands of Christians who 
fight alongside Arabs and Kurds.
  This is not a Kurdish experiment; it is a human experiment. It is an 
experiment in democracy. We made a commitment. We should keep our word.
  Mr. Speaker, if anyone is watching, I hope they will contact their 
political leaders and ask them to stop the sale of Patriot missiles and 
F-35s to the aggressive Turks. I hope they will know the Iranian 
military is on the ground in Syria right now everywhere in the form of 
the IRGC, except the place that we are about to abandon.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the men and women across the world who stand up 
for the basic idea that all people are endowed by their creator with 
certain inalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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