[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 1 (Friday, January 3, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1-S2]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this morning, Iran's master terrorist 
is dead. The architect and chief engineer of the world's most active 
state sponsor of terrorism has been removed from the battlefield at the 
hand of the U.S. military. No man alive was more directly responsible 
for the deaths of more American servicemembers than Qasem Soleimani, 
the leader of the Quds Force within Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard 
Corps.
  Soleimani's schemes and his agents killed hundreds of American 
servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He personally oversaw the 
state-sponsored terrorism that Iran used to kill our sons and 
daughters. As we have seen in recent days and weeks, he and his 
terrorists posed an ongoing and growing threat to American lives and 
American interests.
  Soleimani made it his life's work to take the Iranian revolutionary 
calls for ``Death to America'' and ``Death to Israel'' and turn them 
into action, but this terrorist mastermind was not just a threat to the 
United States and Israel. For more than a decade he masterminded Iran's 
malevolent and destabilizing work throughout the entire Middle East. He 
created, sustained, and directed terrorist proxies everywhere from 
Yemen to Iraq, to Syria, to Lebanon. Innocents were killed. These 
sovereign countries were destabilized.
  In Syria this leading terrorist and his agents acted as strategists, 
enablers, and accomplices to Bashar al-Assad's brutal repression and 
the slaughter of the Syrian people.
  In Iraq, his violence expanded Iran's influence at the expense of the 
Iraqis themselves. His dark, sectarian vision disenfranchised countless 
Sunni Arabs and paved the way for the rise of ISIS.
  With ISIS largely defeated, Soleimani and his agents again turned 
their sights on controlling the Iraqi people, who through massive 
protests are rejecting not only a corrupt government but also Iran's 
influence over that government. Once again, there were Iran and its 
proxies facilitating violence against these peaceful protesters.
  For too long this evil man operated without constraint, and countless 
innocents have suffered for it. Now his terrorist leadership has been 
ended.
  Predictably enough, in this political environment, the operation that 
led to Soleimani's death may prove controversial or divisive. Although 
I anticipate and welcome a debate about America's interests and foreign 
policy in the Middle East, I recommend that all Senators wait to review 
the facts and hear from the administration before passing much public 
judgment on this operation and its potential consequences.
  The administration will be briefing staff today on the situation in 
Iraq. We are working to arrange a classified briefing for all Senators 
early next week.
  For my part, I have spoken to the Secretary of Defense, and I am 
encouraged by the steps the U.S. military is taking to defend American 
personnel

[[Page S2]]

and interests from a growing Iranian threat. I know I speak for the 
entire Senate when I say that my prayers are with all American 
diplomats, personnel, and brave servicemembers serving in Iraq and in 
the Middle East. I am grateful for their courageous service to protect 
our country.
  Right from the outset of this new year, it is already clear that 2020 
will require the Senate and our whole Nation to redouble our resolve to 
keep America safe in this troubled world.

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