[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 163 (Wednesday, October 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5809]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Turkey and Syria

  Mr. President, we are witnessing in realtime the collapse of American 
foreign policy in the Middle East. Five years of hard fighting in Syria 
to first destabilize and then to degrade ISIS has potentially been 
undone in one phone call. The President's abrupt decision to withdraw 
U.S. forces has abandoned the field to our enemies--ISIS, Iran, Putin, 
and Bashar al-Assad--and it has put our friends in danger, including 
two of the closest friends we have in the Middle East, the Syrian Kurds 
and Israel.
  I want to be very clear. The President's decision poses a threat to 
our national security here in the United States. By green-lighting 
President Erdogan's operation and abandoning the Syrian Kurds to face 
the onslaught on their own, the President has made an already fragile 
situation in northern Syria more dangerous and handed a ``get out of 
jail free'' card to potentially more than 10,000 ISIS fighters. ISIS 
has threatened the United States and our allies repeatedly, taken 
Americans hostages and executed them, and will undoubtedly continue to 
threaten our security if they experience a resurgence.
  We New Yorkers know best, unfortunately, how a small group of 
fanatics half a world away can do incredible damage and kill thousands 
of Americans here on our soil. Now, with ISIS prisoners escaping, 
unfortunately, the chances of that are increasing, not just according 
to me but to an expert like General Mattis.
  Make no mistake. The President's incompetence has put American lives 
in danger. Today, the House of Representatives will consider a 
resolution that condemns the President's decision and demands that he 
reverse course. It should pass with bipartisan support and should be 
the first order of business for us here in the Senate--the first order 
of business. Sanctions against Erdogan are fine and good. President 
Erdogan should be punished for his military adventurism and his 
aggression, but sanctions alone are insufficient, and they are 
particularly insufficient in regard to ISIS. Sanctions will not put 
ISIS fighters back on the run or back in their cells. They will not 
stop Iran and Putin's growing influence in the region, nor will they 
undo America's betrayal of our partners and allies. Sanctions can be an 
effective tool, but they are not the only tool, especially when the 
crisis in this case is of the President's own making. The simplest and 
most effective remedy would be for the President to admit his mistake 
and correct course.