[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 178 (Thursday, November 7, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6455]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           President Erdogan

  Mr. President, on ISIS, next week President Trump will welcome 
Turkish President Erdogan to the White House. Frankly, it is 
confounding that President Trump is rolling out the welcome mat to an 
autocrat whose recent actions have threatened our allies and partners.
  For over 5 years, American and coalition troops, including our Syrian 
Kurdish partners, worked shoulder to shoulder in northern Syria to 
bring ISIS to the brink of defeat. But after the President's calamitous 
decision to green-light Erdogan's military operation and precipitously 
withdraw American troops, Turkish forces and their proxies have 
advanced far into northern Syria, committing atrocities without 
accountability. It is a shameful betrayal of our Syrian Kurdish 
partners, and it has thrown our efforts to defeat ISIS into chaos. At 
least 100 ISIS detainees have reportedly broken out of prison and 
disappeared, and they could be very dangerous to us in our homeland.
  While we are glad that terrorists like al-Baghdadi have been taken 
off the field, a fundamental question remains: What is the 
administration's plan to secure and defeat ISIS?
  It is unacceptable that a month into this crisis, the President has 
chosen to welcome Erdogan to American soil before explaining to 
Congress his plan to defeat ISIS. So ahead of Erdogan's arrival next 
week, I and several of my Democratic colleagues are sending a letter to 
President Trump demanding that he submit to Congress a comprehensive 
plan to secure the enduring defeat of ISIS.
  There are questions that need to be answered immediately. How many 
ISIS members have been accounted for in the wake of our withdrawal? How 
are we going to stabilize former ISIS territory? What training will we 
give to the forces on the ground to continue fighting ISIS? These 
questions need to be answered at once. They are far more urgent than 
welcoming an autocrat who just bullied the President into giving him 
everything that this autocrat wanted.