[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9909-9910]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              ISIS CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Newhouse). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, in the last couple of weeks, America has 
asked what is our strategy to defeat ISIS and what is the President's 
plan to prevent the spread of barbarism in Syria and Iraq?
  For all of our advancement in self-governance, the rule of law, and a 
betterment of people's lives, the world stands in shock at beheadings, 
immolations, crucifixions, sexual enslavement, and human suffering as a 
way of governance could exist on earth today.
  As the world has watched in horror, it has also looked to America. 
Where America leads, nations stand shoulder to shoulder; where America 
is absent, tyranny takes its chances and rears its ugly head--but who 
would have thought barbarity would emerge?
  Since last year, the President has been unable to articulate his 
strategy to aid our ally in Iraq to combat ISIS. As a combat veteran of 
Iraq that has had to watch my American and Iraqi friends die, that has 
had to handle the flesh and blood of battle, that has had to do 
terrible things to destroy enemies, that has had to watch the good 
people of Iraq suffer in absence of effective government, this is 
deeply personal.
  It is personal because I have lived among the Sunni Arab. I have 
celebrated his victories, his wedding, his birthdays, and his 
accomplishments. I have mourned as close Iraqi friends have died to 
acts of terror and mourned when Iraq's educated, intelligent, and free 
people have been expunged.
  The President's refusal to negotiate a status of forces agreement and 
decision to abandon Iraq in 2012 is largely responsible and aided ISIS' 
path to destruction in that country.
  We soldiers and servicemembers who have sacrificed so much in Iraq 
weep. We defeated Saddam's army, toppled the Ba'athist government, 
captured and brought a world tyrant to justice, fought an insurgency, 
and stood shoulder to shoulder with disenfranchised Sunnis and Kurds to 
restore control to Iraq's Government. We turned the country around with 
a military pause.
  The President used that pause for abandonment and political 
expediency; where we sacrificed, he quit. I speak for so many of the 
Iraq veterans when I say: Mr. President, you have hurt us deeply. You 
have torn a hole within us. We are at a loss to see the state of Iraq 
today.
  Now, as we ask what can be done, we see a strategy offered by this 
administration. I heard it yesterday in the House Armed Services 
Committee when Secretary of Defense Carter and Chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs Dempsey attempted to articulate it. I left more confused than 
when I entered.
  The President is offering a plan without vision or conviction. 
Indeed, Secretary Carter could not even name it, calling it the so-
called nine-line strategy. So-called? Do we not even have enough 
conviction to call the strategy some name? Is it our strategy or not? 
Are we so unsure of it that we do not even know what to call it? Then 
we were informed of the ``lily pad strategy.'' I suppose that is the 
one that makes us look like a bunch of toads.
  The nine lines, if we decide to actually call it that, this strategy, 
when taken together, is mostly passive and defensive. In my 21 years of 
military infantry service, I have never seen enemies defeated by 
defense.
  While passive measures are important, they are only complementary. 
The President is looking for nations in the Middle East to lead. Middle 
Eastern countries are looking to the United States for leadership. We 
cannot approach this problem like pushing a strand of wet spaghetti. 
Grab it by the front, and it will go where you want it to go.
  If Iraq and Syria were a crime-ridden neighborhood, this nine-line 
strategy would be like relying on neighborhood watches to physically 
fight criminals and restore leadership of the town. The mayor and 
police would then tell them, Well, if you clean up your neighborhood, 
then we will come and provide the protection that you require--if only 
life worked that way.
  The military can provide pauses, but we cannot provide an Iraqi 
collapse when the President pulls out all the protection necessary to 
sustain a nascent government. If the United States is not committed 
with a diplomatic, economic, and informational solution, all the 
heroics exerted by our men and women in uniform to provide a window 
will be squandered once again if we abandon our gains.
  Secretary Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dempsey spoke of 
trying to find people willing to fight in Iraq. There are plenty of 
them. The problem is they are Sunni Arabs and Kurds. They do not wish 
to live under ISIS; yet we will not organize them into a Sunni-Arab and 
Sunni-Kurd federation that would actually stand a chance of success and 
would be a deadly blow to the objectives of ISIS.
  They want to govern themselves because Baghdad cannot include them. 
They do not wish to live under ISIS' barbarity, and we should embrace 
them.
  In the interim, what can be done that is not passive? How about some 
of this? Cripple Raqqa. This town, it is clear, is the center of ISIS 
power. The President's Cabinet says: We are worried about collateral 
damage and civilian casualties.
  News flash, the most humane thing we can do to end the suffering of 
hundreds of thousands of people is cripple what ISIS draws its strength 
from; destroy their infrastructure, hammer the electricity capacity of 
that city, destroy the bridges on their roads of ingress and egress, 
take away the oil refining installations that they possess and use to 
fund themselves with millions of dollars of illegal cash.
  We have the ability to rebuild those later, but ISIS would be 
diminished deeply by their loss. The most humane thing we can do to 
protect civilians is defeat the barbarians, causing their suffering. 
That is true humanity. If the United States leads, others will stand 
shoulder to shoulder. Mr. President, we need you to lead.
  We hear talk about countermessaging. Well, here is something every 
American can help with. News stations, stop putting ISIS recruiting 
videos as B-roll on your newscasts. Replace it with crosshairs and 
explosions of their defeat, or show the world their acts of barbarity, 
instead, for the B-roll. Stop using their images and their propaganda 
for furthering American newscasts. Americans, write your local news 
stations and tell them to stop it.
  Iran, here is the cold reality and its impact on ISIS and Middle East 
unrest. Lifting sanctions on Iran will introduce tens of billions of 
dollars into

[[Page 9910]]

these war-torn nations and will destabilize the entire region. Mr. 
President, do not lift the sanctions on Iran. They must show good 
action before we show good will.
  Finally, we must go back to the drawing board on this so-called 
strategy of halfheartedness. Using American warriors should mean 
backing them with the full weight and might of this Republic.
  Mr. President, do you not realize that our enemies hear you loud and 
clear when you say you will not sign the Defense Authorization? 
Secretary Carter, do you not realize that we are still negotiating it 
between both Houses of Congress? Why do you say you support a veto when 
we are still in the process of its negotiation? By such actions, one 
thing is certainly clear: nothing is too good for the troops, and 
nothing is what they will get.
  Instead, lead, achieve, get an ISIS strategy worthy of this mighty 
Republic, sign the Defense Authorization, and let's get back to our 
constitutional requirement to provide for our Nation's defense.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their 
remarks to the Chair and not to a perceived viewing audience.

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