[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H68]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         IRAN IS A TERROR STATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cuellar). The Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, as a terror state, Iran is no 
friend of the United States or our allies. For three decades, Iran has 
been a leading state sponsor of terrorism and an eager empire builder. 
Its history of money laundering, terrorism, and murder of U.S. soldiers 
is undeniable.
  Last week, the President, as Commander in Chief, took the legal and 
decisive action when he eliminated terrorist combatant leader Qasem 
Soleimani from the battlefield. Across the years in the region, this 
man of murder has the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocents on 
his hands.
  To refer to this combat operation as an assassination or to offer 
moral equivalence between Soleimani and a state-sponsored terror 
organization with a rule-following nation actively engaged in the 
family of nations is laughable.
  In my view, Soleimani ranks up there with the worst exporters of 
terror in the region, including the likes of Osama bin Laden or al-
Baghdadi, the most recent demised head of ISIS.
  Over these three decades, the United States and our allies have faced 
greater and more violent Iranian or Iranian proxy attacks orchestrated 
by the terror general Soleimani against the United States and our 
allies, dating as far back as 1983, when Iran's proxy Hezbollah 
committed the Beirut, Lebanon, bombing, killing 241 marines.
  Soleimani, Iran, Hezbollah, and their thirst for violence is well 
documented and undeniable. In the face of this record and their very 
aggressive actions of the last few weeks, including the killing of an 
American contractor, targeting of U.S. forces, attacking Saudi Arabian 
oil operations, disrupting shipping in the Persian Gulf, shooting down 
an American drone, and then blatantly and aggressively attacking our 
Embassy in Baghdad, President Trump has been quite restrained during 
the course of that record.
  However, the killing of an American contractor and orchestrating that 
storming and destruction at the American Embassy in Baghdad and the 
eminent planning of additional threats that this Congress learned the 
details of yesterday and attacks potentially on American troops or 
diplomats was the final straw.
  Mr. Speaker, the provocateur is Iran, not President Trump. The 
assassin is Soleimani, not President Trump. The destabilizing force in 
the region is Iran, not the United States.
  Yesterday, President Trump reiterated that the United States does not 
seek to start a war with Iran. His recent actions have sent an 
unambiguous signal to Iran and their proxies: Harm Americans, pay a 
price.
  President Trump's objectives are clear: End Iran's export of terror; 
end its advancing regional ballistic missile capabilities; and prohibit 
their obtaining a nuclear weapon.
  Instead, President Trump encourages the Iranian people to assert 
their own aspirations and form a more open and pluralistic future for 
their children and their children's children. This rich, historic land 
deserves to return to a time when the beautiful, intelligent Iranian 
people chart their own course for good, as citizens of a country eager 
to be part of the family of nations.

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