[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 15050-15051]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 SYRIA

  Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, I come to the floor to talk for a short 
period of time about Syria, which is, although not dominating our 
conversation here--lead stories in both the Washington Post and the 
Wall Street Journal are deeply disturbing.
  First, I would like to point out that on the front page of the Wall 
Street Journal today there is an article titled ``Syrian Regime Chokes 
Off Food To Town That Was Gassed.'' I repeat: ``Syrian Regime Chokes 
Off Food To Town That Was Gassed.''

       Government forces are tightening the noose around one of 
     the suburbs gassed by chemical weapons in August, raising 
     concerns of a fresh humanitarian crisis as residents forage 
     for olives, grapevine leaves and other basic foods.
       Pro-regime fighters--

  That is Bashar al-Assad's killers--

       have encircled about 12,000 people, mostly civilians but 
     also including some rebel fighters, in the town of 
     Moadhamiya, according to local and international aid workers, 
     opposition activists and people interviewed on Monday in a 
     government-controlled section of the town.

  This is a town that is strategically important to both sides because 
the flow of humanitarian and military aid flows through this particular 
area for those who are fighting in Aleppo and in Damascus.
  The story goes on:

       ``We won't allow them to be nourished in order to kill 
     us,'' said a 24-year-old pro-regime paramilitary in the 
     government-controlled section. . . . ``Let them starve for a 
     bit, surrender and then be put on trial.''

  These are the same people, apparently government forces, that are 
``cooperating'' with us on chemical weapons, that are allowing 
inspectors to come in to gather the chemical weapons. So they have 
12,000 people encircled, that they have already gassed, 1,400 of them, 
400 children in the same town. So now they are going to starve them. 
Like the fighters said, ``Let them starve for a bit, surrender and then 
be put on trial.''
  It is remarkable. An opposition activist inside the rebel-held side 
of the town who was reached by Skype said the situation is so dire now 
in the rebel-controlled area that people are subsisting on whatever 
they can forage locally, including olives, grapevine leaves, fresh 
mint, and figs.
  So here we have the latest result of our wonderful and much heralded 
agreement on chemical weapons. They killed, in this town, 1,400 people, 
400 of them children, with gas. Now they are going to kill 12,000 more 
with conventional weapons: bombs, guns, tanks, knives. Brutality and 
torture has characterized their behavior for a long period of time.
  It seems to me it is a little bizarre. It is a little bizarre that we 
are hailing this cooperation from Bashar Assad on chemical weapons, and 
meanwhile the slaughter goes on: 110,000 dead, 1 million children 
refugees, the surrounding countries being destabilized, and, of course, 
the refugee camps are terrible situations to which we have not given 
the assistance that we should.
  I urge all of my colleagues, if they had the opportunity, to visit 
one of these refugee camps and hear the stories of the murder, the gang 
rapes, the torture that is the official doctrine of Bashar Assad, not 
random acts of violence. The defectors from Bashar Assad's military 
will tell you that is their training and indoctrination and 
instructions.
  So the second article today is from the Washington Post. ``CIA 
ramping up covert training program for moderate Syrian rebels.''

       The CIA is expanding a clandestine effort to train 
     opposition fighters in Syria amid concern that moderate U.S.-
     backed militias are rapidly losing ground in the country's 
     civil war.
       But the CIA program is so miniscule that it is expected to 
     produce only a few hundred trained fighters each month even 
     after it is enlarged, a level that officials said will do 
     little to bolster rebel forces that are being eclipsed by 
     radical Islamists in the fight against the government of 
     Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

  Here is the interesting part.

       The CIA's mission, officials said, has been defined by the 
     White Houses's desire to seek a political settlement, a 
     scenario that relies on an eventual stalemate among the 
     warring factions rather than a clear victor. As a result, 
     officials said, limits on the agency's authorities enable it 
     to provide enough support to help ensure that politically 
     moderate, U.S.-supported militias don't lose but not enough 
     for them to win.

  Picture these young people who are fighting in Syria today. The 
official U.S. policy is that they will provide weapons but only enough 
so they cannot win. Those people are being slaughtered. They are being 
murdered. They are dying. Some 110,000 have died. I am not sure how 
many of them were actual fighters. The official U.S. policy, according 
to the Washington Post, is that they want them not to win.
  It is hard to motivate people to fight for a cause that we are not 
willing to help them win.

       The agency has trained fewer than 1,000 rebel fighters this 
     year, current and former U.S. officials said. By contrast, 
     U.S. intelligence analysts estimate that more than 20,000 
     have been trained to fight for government-backed militias by 
     Assad's ally Iran and the Hezbollah militant network it 
     sponsors.

  So we have trained 1,000. We are going to do about 100 a week, I 
guess, something like that. More than 20,000 have been trained by the 
Iranians, who are all in, and we expect them to be able to continue 
fighting.

       The CIA is ramping up its effort . . . it was clear that 
     the opposition was losing, and not only losing tactically but 
     on a more strategic level.

  Congressman Mike Rogers, whom I respect a lot, Chairman of the House 
Intelligence Committee, said there is a--

       . . . high degree of frustration . . . with the Syrian 
     strategy. The situation in Syria is changing faster than the 
     administration can keep up. U.S. support for moderate 
     opposition groups is less than robust and has been hobbled by 
     inconsistent resource allocation with stated goals.
       CIA veterans expressed skepticism that the training and 
     weapons deliveries will have any meaningful effect. In 
     Jordan, operatives involved in training and arming rebels 
     lament that we're being asked to do something with nothing.

  I would like to quote some articles:
  ``Al-Qaeda expands in Syria via Islamic State.''

       A rebranded vision of Iraq's al-Qaeda affiliate is surging 
     onto the front lines of the war in neighboring Syria, 
     expanding into territory seized by other rebel groups and 
     carving out the kind of sanctuaries that the U.S. military 
     spent more than a decade fighting to prevent in Iraq and 
     Afghanistan.

  We left Iraq. Iraq is now deteriorating. Thousands of people are 
being killed literally every month. Now we see Al Qaeda coming from 
Iraq in larger and larger numbers.
  Finally, I would like to mention the Wall Street Journal article from 
some time ago:
  ``Iranians Dial Up Presence in Syria. Shiite Militiamen From Across 
the Arab World Train at a Base Near Tehran to Do Battle in Syria.''

       At a base near Tehran, Iranian forces are training Shiite 
     militiamen from across the Arab world to do battle in Syria--
     showing the widening role of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard 
     Corps in Syria's bloody war.
       The busloads of Shiite militiamen from Iraq, Syria and 
     other Arab states have been arriving at the Iranian base in 
     recent weeks, under cover of darkness, for instruction in 
     urban warfare and the teaching of Iran's clerics, according 
     to Iranian military figures and residents in the area. The 
     fighters' mission: Fortify the Syrian regime of President 
     Bashar al-Assad against Sunni rebels, the U.S. and Israel.

  So here is what we should take away from all this recent reporting: 
Despite the recent agreement on chemical weapons, that agreement does 
nothing to address the underlying conflict in Syria, which not only 
continues but is getting worse and worse.
  So, my friends, as the administration trumpets this deal of chemical 
weapons, the fact is that the slaughter goes on. It is clear to these 
people whom I

[[Page 15051]]

have spoken with personally, tragically their morale is badly damaged. 
They believe they have been abandoned. The ongoing tragedy and massacre 
continues in Syria. The United States will pay a very heavy price in 
the future unless we do something rather dramatic.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that after the 
quorum call I be recognized.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill 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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