[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 162 (Tuesday, October 15, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5778-S5779]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            TURKEY AND SYRIA

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, now on Turkey and Syria, a major issue 
that deserves the Senate's attention this week and that shows we can, 
again, fulfill our constitutional obligations as well as help the 
American people. One thing we are going to be talking about this week 
is President Trump's precipitous and dangerous decision to withdraw 
from northern Syria.
  A few weeks ago, the President abruptly announced that the United 
States, which has long maintained a presence in northern Syria to root 
out ISIS terrorists, would stand aside, and Turkey launched a military 
incursion into the region. For years, a global coalition of the United 
States and our partners and allies, particularly the stout Kurds in 
Syria, have worked tirelessly and sacrificed much to defeat ISIS. Now, 
in only a matter of days, the President's quick, unstudied, and ill-
advised Syria decision has jeopardized all of that progress.
  For years, American soldiers have fought hard and some have given 
their lives to vanquish ISIS. For years, our great military and 
diplomatic leaders have strategized about how to get rid of ISIS, and 
in one fell quick and unthought-out swoop, the President has undone 
that. It is despicable. It is dangerous.
  The consequences have already proven dire. Bashar al-Assad, the 
Syrian dictator and war criminal, has strengthened his position 
greatly, cutting a deal with the Kurds and moving his forces into the 
gap left by our withdrawal.
  Who else has benefited from President Trump's ill-thought-out, 
precipitous, and wrongheaded action? Iran, his greatest enemy, one of 
our great enemies in many ways. As you know, I am no friend of the 
Iranian Government.
  Iran has benefited. Who else has benefitted? President Putin. Russian 
troops have now swept into the region, according to reports. Russia 
envies the oil in northern Syria that it might control.
  When the President does some kind of action, it makes everyone 
scratch their heads, and if it benefits Putin, one doesn't know if he 
is doing it to actually help Putin or if he just doesn't get it. I tend 
to think it is often the former, unfortunately.
  Our Kurdish partners are paying the ultimate cost of their betrayal, 
and tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced. Maybe most 
concerning of all, reports say that more than 10,000 ISIS fighters 
currently held and guarded by the Kurds could walk out of their cells. 
By pulling out of northern Syria, President Trump has encouraged 
nothing short of an ISIS jailbreak.
  I say this to my fellow Americans. Some may say: We don't want any 
troops anywhere. Bring them all home. We don't care.
  Well, I care. Most people care.
  But some might say: I don't care what happens to the Kurds.
  The one thing everyone should care about, whatever their views on 
geopolitics in the Middle East and in Syria, is our own security. We 
have spent a decade of treasure and often lives rooting out ISIS. Why? 
Because ISIS presents a danger to our homeland. We, in New York, know, 
more than anybody, how a small group from far away could do huge damage 
and kill thousands of innocent Americans here. And now President Trump, 
through this thoughtless action, is allowing ISIS to gain new strength. 
What is going on here? This is a threat to our own national security 
here in our homeland, and we must do everything to stop it.
  And who is the most angry at the President? From what I am told, our 
own military is. Our own military, who have fought shoulder-to-shoulder 
alongside the Kurds, watching the Kurds risk and lose their lives to 
help protect Americans--they weren't even consulted. The military 
wasn't even consulted. You heard what General

[[Page S5779]]

Mattis said. He may be the most respected military leader we have, even 
though he is in retirement. He said: This makes it much more likely 
that ISIS gains strength and can hurt us.
  What the heck is going on here? This transcends any ideological 
differences we may have--whether we agree with President Trump or 
disagree and whether we think he is a good President or think he is an 
awful President. This goes beyond that. What is going on?
  After Republicans spent years criticizing our former President, 
President Obama, for simply failing to recite the phrase ``radical 
Islamic terror,'' then our Republican friends should be apoplectic at 
what the President has done. It is not simply reciting this phrase. The 
President, through his actions, whether it is inadvertent or not, has 
made radical Islamic terror more real and more dangerous.
  In one fell swoop, President Trump has deserted our partners, 
emboldened three of our chief adversaries, provided a lifeline to ISIS 
fighters who have been taken off the battlefield, and put American 
troops and America in harm's way. Truly, this is one of the most 
thoughtless and dangerous policy changes that President Trump could 
have made. That it was made seemingly on a whim--without consulting our 
military commanders, without notifying Congress, and, most egregiously, 
without thinking its consequences through--makes it even more alarming.
  We have entered a dangerous moment, my friends. It is increasingly 
clear to everyone that the President's erratic decision making has 
endangered our national security and the security of our partners and 
allies around the world. Strong sanctions, while good and justified, 
will not be sufficient in undoing that damage, nor will they stop the 
consequences stemming from the ISIS jailbreak.
  So the first step, as Congress returns, is for Democrats and 
Republicans to join us in passing a resolution making clear that both 
parties demand that the President's decision be reversed.
  This is bipartisan, but our Republican colleagues have a special 
place here because they will have far more success in getting the 
President to reverse course and change his views. There is a solemn 
obligation on every one of the 53 Republican Members here.
  They know it is dangerous. Are they going to still be afraid to 
criticize President Trump? They have not, so far, but this resolution 
is the strongest action we can take.
  Ultimately, of course, the only person able to immediately stop this 
tragedy from unfolding is the President himself. The President made the 
decision alone. He alone is responsible for its consequences. President 
Trump, hopefully, importuned by Congress, Democrats and Republicans in 
the House and Senate, will use this moment--must use this moment--to 
step up, admit his grave mistake, and correct course.
  I yield the floor.

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