[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10328]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND SYRIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Bentivolio) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BENTIVOLIO. Mr. Speaker, the crisis unfolding in Iraq is deeply 
troubling to the American people. The rapid fall of several cities in 
Iraq to terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS, 
has brought the militant group dangerously closer to establishing a 
caliphate that spans the northern sections of Syria and Iraq.
  ISIS has a reputation for brutality, including summary executions, 
beheadings, and, in some cases, crucifixions. The implications of the 
rise of ISIS for Iraq's ancient Christian community, along with its 
other religious minorities, is troubling.
  For years we have witnessed the decline of Iraq's Christian 
community. Thousands have fled in the face of targeted violence. Those 
who remained relocated to Mosul and the Nineveh plains. These areas 
were some of the last remaining havens for this beleaguered and 
brutalized Christian community in Iraq. In fact, Archbishop Warda, the 
Chaldean Diocese of Erbil, indicated this past Sunday that for the 
first time in 1,600 years there was no mass in Mosul.
  The thousands who fled Mosul face displacement, imminent danger, and 
a growing humanitarian nightmare, including access to clean water, 
food, fuel, and electricity.
  I urge the administration to engage with the Iraqi central government 
and the Kurdistan Regional Government to prioritize security and 
support for these vulnerable populations and provide emergency 
humanitarian assistance to those brutalized communities.
  If nothing is done, we will most certainly witness the annihilation 
of an ancient faith community. I call on our international community to 
stand together to protect the natural rights being persecuted by ISIS.

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