[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6761-6763]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 SYRIA

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Madam President, I rise to speak specifically about 
the alarming situation in Syria, where the regime of Bashar al Asad is 
pursuing a barbaric campaign of indiscriminate repression against the 
Syrian people.
  Over the past 2 weeks, the crackdown pursued by Asad has markedly 
escalated. There can no longer be any doubt about his intentions. As a 
report by a respected nongovernmental organization, the International 
Crisis Group, warned this week:

       The regime's hope appears to be that a massive crackdown 
     can bring the protestors

[[Page 6762]]

     to heel. . . . Such a course of action would entail loss of 
     life on a massive scale and it could usher in a period of 
     sectarian fighting with devastating consequences for Syria. 
     It could destabilize its neighbors. And, ultimately, it is 
     highly unlikely to work.

  Madam President, in the city of Deraa, the Asad regime has deployed 
tanks against the civilian population. It has cut off phone lines, 
water, food, and electricity, and deployed snipers--according to human 
rights groups--who have been firing at anyone who ventures outdoors. 
That includes young people who are sent outdoors by their families to 
try to buy food.
  In short, what we see in Deraa is a broad-based, indiscriminate 
assault by Asad's military forces against the people of his own 
country. The evidence is growing that international crimes are being 
perpetrated by Bashar Asad himself in the city of Deraa in Syria.
  The attack on Deraa is just one part of a course of a broader 
crackdown by Syrian security forces across the country--a crackdown 
that has left several hundred people dead. Tanks and military forces 
have been reported being deployed in other cities in Syria. According 
to Human Rights Watch, the number of arbitrary detentions of civilians 
and enforced disappearances around the country has skyrocketed in 
recent days as the Asad regime has swept up not only demonstrators but 
women, minors, and family members of activists. Another Syrian human 
rights group has documented more than 500 arrests in Deraa alone since 
last week, and thousands more nationwide have also been detained or 
disappeared arbitrarily.
  As the report by the International Crisis Group argued--the report I 
referenced before that came out earlier this week:

       The regime is also fanning the flames of sectarianism, 
     spreading rumors of impending acts targeting specific groups. 
     Sectarian tendencies no doubt exist in parts of the country, 
     but the authorities' tactics betray a determined and cynical 
     attempt to exploit and exacerbate them.

  What is most remarkable of all is that in the face of and despite 
these outrageous inhumane actions by the Asad regime, the people of 
Syria refuse to be silenced. They refuse to be intimidated. In the face 
of tanks and snipers, the people of Syria have continued to cry out and 
demonstrate for their fundamental human rights, and they have continued 
to do so peacefully. Moreover, despite the sectarian provocations by 
President Asad, the message of the protesters has remained steadfastly 
one of Syrian national unity.
  Tomorrow, Friday, it is expected that thousands of brave Syrians will 
once again take to the streets of their cities and towns in protest of 
the totalitarian dictatorship that currently controls their country. As 
they do so, I want them to know that the United States and the rest of 
the civilized world stands unequivocally on the side of the people of 
Syria in solidarity with them in their courageous struggle for their 
human rights. They should know also that we are increasingly confident 
that the people of Syria can and will prevail over the Asad regime.
  There is much we in the United States can and must do to help the 
Syrian people in their fight for freedom. Last week, the Obama 
administration issued an Executive order authorizing targeted sanctions 
against individuals and organizations responsible for the human rights 
abuses in Syria. The administration used this newest authority to 
sanction three Syrian officials, including Maher al Asad, the brother 
of Bashar al Asad. This was a very important action, and I thank and 
commend the Obama administration for taking it.
  There is, however, more that now can and must be done. To begin with, 
it is clear there are many more individuals in the Syrian Government 
than the three named so far who are responsible for the human rights 
abuses and worse that are taking place throughout Syria. It is urgent 
and essential that the Obama administration expand the sanctions to 
cover these additional Syrian officials.
  Members of the Syrian security forces and government must understand 
they face a choice in the days ahead. If they stick with the Asad 
regime and participate in the barbaric crackdown against their fellow 
Syrians, their names are going to be made famous around the world, and 
they will be held accountable.
  It is also critical that the United States impose sanctions on Bashar 
al Asad himself, for he is the head of the regime that is 
systematically carrying out large-scale human rights abuses. It is he 
who is directing his military forces to fire on his own people. Surely, 
it requires a willing suspension of disbelief to think the order to use 
military force against the Syrian people did not originate with the 
President of Syria himself--Bashar al Asad. He must be held 
accountable.
  I respectfully urge President Obama to speak out as soon as possible, 
directly and personally, about what is happening in Syria. The moral 
authority of the President of the United States matters enormously at 
historic moments such as the one in Syria now. Unfortunately, there are 
still many in Syria and throughout the Middle East who believe the 
United States is hedging its bets in Syria. It is time to put those 
doubts to rest.
  I have met over the last few weeks, as recently as yesterday, with 
Syrian dissidents, and I have heard the same question from them again 
and again: Why has President Obama not spoken out personally about what 
is happening in Syria?
  I say: The administration has made statements.
  They say: We need to hear and see the President and hear his voice--
President Obama--making clear his disdain and refusal to accept what is 
happening in Syria today.
  So I respectfully urge the President to answer these appeals by 
Syrian freedom fighters for support of their cause. I hope the 
President can make clear once again, as he did so effectively in the 
cases of Egypt and Libya, that Bashar al Asad has lost the legitimacy 
to lead Syria, and it is time for Bashar to go.
  The United States can also work with our allies and partners to 
increase international pressure on the Asad regime. Press reports 
indicate, I am pleased to note, that the European Union is preparing to 
put in place an arms embargo against Syria, and it is also considering 
targeted human rights sanctions against top Syrian officials. I 
fervently hope our European friends and allies take these and further 
steps to increase the pressure on the Asad regime.
  I am especially encouraged that the French Foreign Minister this week 
correctly called for Bashar al-Asad to be sanctioned directly himself, 
to tie up his economic assets, to limit his mobility. In addition to 
our EU partners, I wish to say I believe Turkey can also play a unique 
leadership role in the days and weeks ahead to support a successful 
democratic transition in Syria.
  No one has worked harder than Prime Minister Erdogan to encourage 
Bashar al-Asad to reform, to accept the legitimate demands of the 
Syrian people, and embrace democracy. Unfortunately, despite these 
efforts, Asad has ignored the wise counsel of the Turkish leader and 
refused to respond with action. I, therefore, hope President Obama will 
find a way to partner directly with Prime Minister Erdogan on 
developing a new strategy toward Syria, one that recognizes that 
despite our hopes and efforts, there will be no real progress as long 
as Bashar al-Asad remains in power in Damascus, a policy that aligns 
our two democracies--America and Turkey--unequivocally with the 
democratic aspirations of the Syrian people.
  We should also work with our allies on the U.N. Human Rights Council 
to ensure that the investigative mission to Syria, which was agreed 
upon by the Council last week, is undertaken immediately. Every day 
matters. We should work to refer Asad's regime to the International 
Criminal Court--again, as we did in the case of Libya.
  What the Asad regime is doing to the people of Syria looks every day 
more the mirror image of what the Qadhafi regime has done to the people 
of Libya. For its actions in the city of Deraa and throughout the 
country, the Asad regime deserves to be investigated by the 
International Criminal Court.

[[Page 6763]]

  I respectfully urge our own administration to use the diplomatic 
clout that we have at the United Nations to put what is happening in 
Syria on the agenda of the U.N. Security Council.
  I have no illusions about the challenges and obstacles that exist at 
the Security Council at this time to taking action with regard to what 
is happening in Syria, but we must try. If the Security Council fails 
to take up what is happening in Syria, perhaps because of the 
opposition of the Russians and the Chinese, it does so at the expense 
of its own international credibility and legitimacy.
  Finally, I hope President Obama will work together with our 
international allies to provide the Syrian people with the humanitarian 
assistance that they urgently need--food, water, and medical supplies--
and to restore communications linkages that the Asad regime has cut 
among the freedom fighters in various communities in Syria. Asad has 
cut them in an effort to prevent news and information about what is 
happening in Syria also from reaching the outside world.
  The situation in Syria is fast approaching the point of no return. 
The fact is, several hundred Syrians have been killed by Asad's 
security forces. This is a regime that I conclude is beyond self-
correction. Bashar al-Asad is not a reformer. He is a corrupt dictator 
and an inhumane thug and his regime has long been one of the worst in 
the Middle East. It is time for him to go.
  Let me conclude by adding that nearly a decade after the attacks of 
September 11, Americans and people throughout the world awoke Monday 
morning to a safer, better world with Osama bin Laden gone. It is 
fitting that Osama bin Laden has been killed just as Arab democracies 
across the Middle East and North Africa are being born, are coming to 
life. The peaceful, youth-driven democratic revolutions now taking 
place in Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya are the true repudiation of 
the extreme ideology that I will call bin Ladenism. To rid our world 
not only of bin Laden but of bin Ladenism, it is critical that we now 
do everything in our power to help the democratic forces in Syria and 
across the Middle East succeed, for it will ultimately be quite 
correctly and powerfully at the hands of his fellow Arabs and Muslims 
that the hateful and violent ideology of bin Laden and its 
manifestations of a different sort in dictatorships across the Middle 
East are finally discredited and abandoned on the ash heap of history 
where they belong.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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