[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13300]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           THE SYRIAN CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I'd like to thank President Obama for his 
considered judgment in the matter of Syria, and for not headstrong 
rushing the United States to military action.
  I thank him for his consultations with Members of Congress in both 
Chambers, and for allowing the American people time to express their 
views. We must all weigh the consequences and repercussions of 
unilateral U.S. action.
  As the world's greatest military power, we must employ our power 
wisely, and only with good measure. I have every confidence that our 
U.S. military can perform any task to which they are ordered 
successfully, and we owe them our deepest respect and gratitude.
  I also want to thank and acknowledge the government of Russia for 
early reports we are learning about regarding discussions under way to 
rid Syria of weapons caches of danger both to Syria as well as our 
global community.
  Both Russia and the United States, as the world's premier nuclear 
powers, hold awesome responsibilities to move our world to a more 
peaceful and stable posture. Surely, we must focus that effort on the 
very unstable set of states across the Middle East.
  Russia and our country both have suffered from terrorist attacks and 
well understand the consequences of unresolved conflict and terrorists 
preying on unstable states.
  My hope is that the Russian initiative gains momentum. And let all 
nations of goodwill on our globe find a way forward to address the 
tragic consequences of the Syrian civil war, starting with greater 
humanitarian assistance to refugees that have flowed into adjoining 
nations like Jordan and Lebanon and Turkey, straining some of those 
nations' abilities to even hold their own internal affairs together.
  Surely, our world can better address the human suffering that is 
evident to anyone who's paying attention. Surely, surely, all 
reasonable world leaders can find a better way forward for Syria and 
for us all.

                          ____________________