[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15464-15465]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        RUSSIA'S ATTACK ON SYRIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I had no intention of coming 
to the floor and actually speaking this morning--I have a committee 
hearing, in fact--until I saw the news.
  Now, let me paint a picture just briefly. Every day there are men, 
women, and children that live in a nation called Syria that wonder if 
the next barrel bomb is going to come and drop in their neighborhood. 
Now, this isn't a barrel bomb targeted, by the way, at any real 
opposition. It is targeted at inflicting the maximum amount of pain on 
innocent civilians so that a brutal dictator by the name of Bashar al-
Assad can ruthlessly, heartlessly keep power for himself in a country 
that does not want him.
  We know that Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own 
people. Young kids were choking and gasping for air, knowing that this 
was their last breath and knowing that their dreams of becoming a 
doctor, a police officer, maybe a teacher, was cut short by this 
ruthless, heartless man, Bashar al-Assad.
  You know, Mr. Speaker, the President said a few years ago, almost 
divisively, that the opposition to Bashar al-Assad is just a bunch of 
doctors, lawyers, and pharmacists, as if that were a bad thing.

                              {time}  1030

  I believe that a bunch of doctors, lawyers, and pharmacists in charge 
of Syria today would be a very good thing. Mr. Speaker, about 2 weeks 
ago I stood in this Chamber and gave just a 1-minute address and said: 
Let me be clear. There is one reason and one reason only that Russia 
finds itself in the Middle East and one reason and one reason only that 
Russia finds itself in Syria, and that one reason is to prop up this 
brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad.
  Now, let me remind people that ISIS would not exist in Syria had it 
not been for Bashar al-Assad brutally cracking down on the opposition, 
the peaceful opposition of his own people, but today we see that ISIS 
calls Syria home and we find ourselves engaged--albeit halfheartedly--
in a war against ISIS because of this brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad. 
I stood in this Chamber and warned that the reason Russia is there is 
to prop him up.
  Now, I told you that this morning I had no intention of coming onto 
the floor, Mr. Speaker, except this morning I saw the news that Russia 
has begun airstrikes in the Middle East. Now, if they were striking 
against ISIS, some could maybe argue that, hey, this is an opportunity 
to unite a world coalition. But it appears that, actually, the Russians 
have struck the doctors, lawyers, and pharmacists that are the loyal 
opposition for a free Syria against Bashar al-Assad.
  This is not a Russia interested in defeating ISIS for the sake of the 
peace of the world. This is a Russia interested in rebuilding the 
Soviet empire and propping up their dictators in the Middle East, 
regardless of that dictator having killed a quarter million of his own 
people. This is not a choice between Bashar al-Assad or ISIS. Mr. 
Speaker, to defeat ISIS, you must defeat Bashar al-Assad. The two 
choices are not separate. They are one and the same.
  Sometimes in my party's Presidential debate I hear candidates, one or

[[Page 15465]]

two in particular, that say Assad is our best choice in the Middle 
East. Mr. Speaker, if you would allow me, as a Christian, to say, as a 
follower of Jesus myself, no Jesus Christ I follow would call a man who 
brutally murders 250,000, at least, of his own people, especially women 
and children--no Christ I follow would call that man an ally or a 
friend in any way.
  This is not a choice that is just one layer deep. This is a 
complicated situation in the Middle East that must be handled with 
American leadership. Mr. Speaker, I hope that the President sees this 
as an opportunity to reassert America's role in the Middle East. It 
doesn't mean he has to send 300,000 troops back into the Middle East. 
Not a single person I have heard on either side of the aisle has 
suggested even once another 300,000 troops in the Middle East.
  What is being suggested is that, in the absence of American 
leadership, chaos, violence, death, and poverty follow suit. What we 
are seeing in the Middle East is a lack of American leadership and a 
situation spun out of control.
  Mr. Speaker, I know George W. Bush has taken his licks for his policy 
in the Middle East, but at the end of the George W. Bush 
administration, if you looked at the Middle East then compared to the 
Middle East today, it is no comparison.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope I wake up tomorrow and hear on the news that 
President Obama has said that America will reassert its leadership in 
the Middle East, but I won't hold my breath.

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