[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13436-13438]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
                     CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Bentivolio) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. BENTIVOLIO. Mr. Speaker, as I have said several times in recent 
weeks, I want to bring attention to the plight of Christians in the 
Middle East. Any person watching the news for the last several months 
will have seen an increasingly violent, chaotic, and unpredictable 
environment. The Middle East, and Iraq in particular, are not stable. 
This creates an enormous problem for Christians in the region.
  Chaldean Christians in Michigan and in my district have repeatedly 
raised the issue of ongoing persecution of Christians in Iraq. Just 
recently, the last remaining Christians were forced to flee. ISIS has 
taken the city. For the first time in well over a thousand years, 
Sunday mass is no longer being said.
  My colleague, friend, and mentor, Representative Frank Wolf, has 
characterized the situation facing Christians in Iraq as genocide. That 
analysis is about as accurate as it can get. Christians have been 
targeted and killed for their faith. What we are seeing is genocide, 
the eradication of a specific group of people, namely, Christians.
  ISIS is trying to wipe the face of Christianity from Iraq. Not only 
have they killed and pushed Christians out of territory that they 
control, they are also destroying the physical traces of Christianity. 
Churches, monasteries, and religious sites are being destroyed and 
desecrated. Even Jonah's tomb has been destroyed. And the shrine of the 
Prophet Seth has been blown up. As a Christian, it is an incredibly 
heartbreaking series of events that I have watched unfold.
  I have been an advocate for human rights and religious freedom since 
I took office, and what really bothers me is the fact that neither the 
President nor the State Department have addressed the challenges facing 
Christians in Iraq. Chaldean Christians in my district have been asking 
me what can be done for Iraqi Christians. But, as I have said many 
times before, there is only so much that can be done when the President 
has not taken action.
  The government and military of Iraq are weak, ineffectual, and unable 
to defend the people of their country. The U.S. withdrawal from Iraq 
has left a power vacuum that has allowed a group like ISIS to take 
control and force their radical beliefs on an increasingly large 
portion of the population. I am worried that what we have seen is only 
the beginning. Christians are being targeted now, but I suspect that 
they will eventually begin to target Muslims who don't share their 
beliefs as well.
  Radical Islamists are trying to shape and form an Iraq that adheres 
to their

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beliefs. They are destroying Iraq's cultural and religious heritage, 
its history. If they succeed, there will be nothing left of it.
  Chaldeans and Iraqi Christians don't want to leave Iraq, and many in 
my district wish that they never had to. However, it has become too 
dangerous to stay. When faced with forced conversions, death, and other 
forms of violence, most Christians have chosen to flee. Genocide is 
indeed a brutal thing.
  As I discussed in a previous speech on the House floor, there is a 
severe problem in U.S. foreign policy that needs to be examined. The 
U.S. began the Iraq war with the goal of ridding the region of a 
tyrannical government that didn't protect its people. However, a decade 
later, at the conclusion of the U.S. military mission in Iraq, the 
people are perhaps worse off than they were before the U.S. invasion.
  What did we miss? If the U.S. is leaving Iraq in a considerably worse 
state than when we arrived, there is something that went wrong. That is 
the question that needs to be asked and what needs to be considered. It 
is not that we can afford to make these kinds of mistakes; it is that 
people who live there absolutely can't afford the consequences.
  We need to put pressure on the Kurdish government to continue 
protecting the Iraqi Christians. We need to analyze where our foreign 
aid is going and whom it is going to. I have heard from many of my 
constituents, Chaldean Christians and others from Iraq, that the aid we 
are sending to Iraq is not making it to the Christian communities.
  If we are going to be giving foreign aid, humanitarian or otherwise, 
to a country or government in order to protect its people, then they 
better do it. If we are propping up a government or nation that doesn't 
protect its people from radical threats, religious and ethnic 
persecution, and genocide, then it is time to reevaluate that 
relationship and figure out a better path forward.
  I have said before and firmly believe, if countries in the Middle 
East are unable to provide security and stability for all of their 
people, then they will never be stable. They will continue to be at 
risk. We have to encourage stable societies, respect for religious 
freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. We can't just build strong 
governments and militaries or the U.S. will always face the problems we 
are seeing in Iraq.
  If Iraq's Christians are forced out entirely, I don't think there 
will be much hope left for the country. I would like to see Chaldean 
Christians and other Iraqis one day be able to return home. At the 
moment, I am not sure when that will be possible. That depends on 
Iraq's resilience and ability to manage radical threats. I will remain 
hopeful, and I ask that others also pray for those still there facing a 
dire situation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert).
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful to my friend for 
yielding, and I am very grateful for his strong stance on the issue of 
Israel and just wanted to add an exclamation point to the gentleman's 
comments.
  There has been a lot of discussion about Israel tonight and about 
what is being done against the interests of Israel, but, Mr. Speaker, I 
think it bears pointing out that this administration could do much to 
help our friend Israel. And that when anyone in this administration 
says to the world and, in particular, the people in the Middle East, 
including the terrorists in the Middle East, that we see Israel, a 
country whose leaders are elected, and Hamas, whose leaders are sworn 
to the destruction of Israel and the death of Jews, then the world gets 
the wrong impression. They get the impression that we see terrorism and 
love of life in Israel--terrorism by Hamas, love of life in Israel--as 
equals. That is a despicable thing to show the world from the United 
States, from any administration official.
  It is important that we let the world know that when a nation that is 
such a dear friend as Israel is attacked repeatedly by rockets intended 
to kill innocent children, women, others around the country, then they 
have the right of self-defense to go in and clean up those who would 
destroy them. That means, when they go in to shut down the tunnels by 
which terrorists are allowed to enter their country and kill people, 
that we don't have some do-gooder from the United States rush in and 
say: Hold on. Hold on. We realize you are destroying the tunnels that 
are allowing Israelis to be killed. We realize you are shutting down 
the rocket missile sites from which rockets are being launched to kill 
Israelis, but we want to give Hamas a breather so these terrorists, 
bent on killing Israelis, can regather their forces and get a better 
run at death to Israelis.
  That is a disastrous foreign policy. You don't put as equals 
terrorists and a country that loves life, and it loves life so much 
that, unlike any military operation I am aware of, it notifies the 
people they are about to bomb before they bomb so people can clear out. 
That is extraordinary.
  The burden of proof on Israel that is placed there by some in this 
administration and by others who love the terrorists and hate those who 
simply want to live in peace is unbearable. It is time the United 
States showed itself to be a friend of Israel.
  The good news is, in this body, in this House, and even at the other 
end in the Senate, though we disagree profoundly on so many issues, 
when Israel comes up, we are more unified on our friendship with Israel 
than we are about any other issue I am aware of. And that is how it 
should be.
  When the leader of Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu, came and spoke a 
few years ago right here at this podium, both sides of the aisle stood 
and applauded repeatedly. That is as it should be. As he pointed out 
right here, if Israel lays down its weapons, there is no Israel. If the 
Palestinians lay down their weapons, there is no war. The war ends. 
That is all they are asking for.
  I used to wonder why in the world did the Israelis try to give away 
land, try to buy peace, when every time they give away land they are 
attacked from that piece of land. After spending time in Israel, I 
began to understand. When you see the coffee shops, the different 
places where people would gather that would have someone loaded up with 
a suicide bomb, walk in and blow up as many innocent people as they 
could, or see an area and they would say that is where the terrorist 
bomber came walking up on the school ground, then you realize they are 
willing to even give away their precious land that God gave to them 
over 3,000 years ago if they can just buy a little peace. But the 
lesson should come back loudly: there has never been a time in Israel's 
history when it has given away land trying to buy peace when that land 
was not ultimately used as a staging area from which to attack it.
  I think it was pretty clear this administration showed its cards 
when, as a method of thumping, figuratively speaking, Israel, the FAA 
suspended flights into Tel Aviv. They were not at risk any more than 
other flights from American airlines around the world, especially in 
countries where there are terrorists. But it was a message to Israel 
that, hey, you better do what we tell you or we are going to hurt you 
economically. That message was clear and it wasn't missed by the 
Israelis. And then to have that followed by the Secretary of State 
putting a terrorist organization and a country that is one of our 
dearest friends together on equal standing was further insult to the 
injury, literal injury that this country had caused Israel.
  It is time that we recognize what my dear friend Mr. Bentivolio has 
said clearly. It is time we stand with Israel. It is time to make clear 
to Israel's enemies: You take on Israel, you take us on. You may not 
get that from this administration. They may still be playing patty-cake 
with terrorists, but in this Congress, from both sides of the aisle, we 
stand with Israel. I thank my friend so much for helping make that 
clear.
  Mr. BENTIVOLIO. I thank the gentleman from Texas for his wisdom on 
this and so many other important issues facing us today.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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