[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6386-6387]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SYRIA

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to say, very briefly, a word 
about the situation in Syria. On May 13, 1994, a Senator from Illinois 
named Paul Simon was then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Subcommittee on Africa. His ranking Republican was Senator Jim Jeffords 
of Vermont. Senators Jim Jeffords and Paul Simon had been told that 
there was a looming genocide about to occur in Rwanda. They went on the 
phone together and spoke to U.N. General Romeo Dallaire in Kigali, 
Rwanda, in May of 1994. They asked: What can we do to stop the killing 
in Rwanda? General Dallaire said: If you would send 5,000 uniformed 
troops, I could stop this genocide.
  Senators Simon and Jeffords wrote to the Clinton White House 
immediately at that time and asked for the administration to call on 
the United Nations to act.
  Their letter said in part: ``Obviously there are risks involved but 
we cannot continue to sit idly by while this tragedy continues to 
unfold.''

[[Page 6387]]

  The Senators received no reply from the White House. In less than 8 
weeks, 800,000 Rwandans were massacred. Today, President William 
Clinton acknowledges that he should have done more--we should have done 
more. What happened in Rwanda was a classic genocide. Today, what is 
happening in Syria may not meet the classic definition of a genocide, 
but it certainly meets every standard and every definition as the 
looming humanitarian crisis of our time. The question before us and the 
United States is this: What will we do?
  I think it has reached the point where we must act. That is why I 
have joined three of my colleagues--fellow Democrat Tim Kaine of 
Virginia and Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John 
McCain of Arizona--and we have written to President Obama, urging him 
to call together world leaders and to establish a humanitarian zone--a 
safe zone, a no-fly zone--in Syria, where modern medical treatment can 
be provided and displaced persons can escape. We think it should be 
done under the auspices--I do--of the United Nations and that the 
United States can join other countries in providing a defensive 
security force.
  We need to turn to our NATO allies, such as Turkey. We need to reach 
out to Saudi Arabia, even Iran, and try to find an international 
consensus to spare the suffering and death which has been occurring now 
for years. We do not know the exact number of casualties. We estimate 
that some 400,000 may have died in Syria. Millions have been displaced.
  This is a picture of just one of the refugee camps to which the 
people of Syria have fled. I have visited camps such as this in Turkey. 
They are in Lebanon and Jordan. They cannot accommodate all of the 
people who are evacuating that country.
  Once every few months a friend of mine comes to visit in Chicago. He 
is an extraordinary man. His name is Dr. Sahloul. He heads up a group 
of Syrian Americans who travel to Syria on a regular basis. They have 
to sneak into the country--this war-torn country. As doctors, they are 
providing basic medical care to the victims of the violence that is 
taking place in Syria.
  Dr. Sahloul brings heartbreaking photographs to show me. The last 
photographs were of children who had been victims of barrel bombs, 
which Bashar al-Assad, the leader of Syria, drops on his own people. 
These are literally garbage cans filled with munitions and explosives 
that explode, killing civilian populations. The photos showed children 
who had been maimed, lost their limbs, and some had been killed by 
these barrel bombs that continue. Now Assad has decided to up the ante. 
He is including chlorine gas in the barrel bombs as well.
  These doctors try to save these children and save these victims. Many 
times they are operating on tables in abandoned schools. They are 
begging for medicines, which are at a high premium. Many times they are 
not successful. What will we do? What can the United States do?
  I hope that we can be part of an effort--an international effort--to 
provide safe zones for medical treatment and for the displaced persons 
in Syria. I hope to join with others on a bipartisan basis in urging 
that alternative.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota.

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