[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1691]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SUPPORTING OUR ALLIES

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, with the rise of ISIS--or ISIL--in Syria and 
Iraq, we have seen the brutality of Islamic extremism to an extent 
previously unimaginable.
  In just the last week, ISIL beheaded two Japanese citizens and 
revealed that a Jordanian pilot had been burned alive in a cage. This 
is why it is more critical than ever that we support our moderate 
allies in the region and praise their efforts to protect religious 
minorities.
  In Egypt, President el-Sisi recently became the first modern leader 
in the country's history to visit a Coptic Christian church on 
Christmas Eve. The cathedral he visited had been attacked just 2 years 
earlier by Islamic extremists. By contrast, in regions controlled by 
ISIL, groups that have lived in the same community for more than 1,000 
years have been killed or have fled for their lives.
  We must never forget that the mission of the extremists is not 
regional but global dominance, and it is aimed at all who refuse to 
submit to their harsh interpretation of their religion. We must stand 
together with leaders like the King of Jordan and the President of 
Egypt, who speak up and act to defeat Islamic extremism, and give them 
our strong support.

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