[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 332-334]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

prayer

[[Page 333]]

meetings to pray that God would bring relief to Egypt and turn the 
country back over to the Egyptian people and let them govern their 
country and have their country back, take it away from Morsi.
  As I sat and listened to Pastor Maurice, who leads a 4,000-member 
Evangelical church in Egypt, as they were gathering for prayers on the 
night of June 29, he said to the other pastors who had been regularly 
coming together to pray: I am going to lead the prayer tonight. I am 
going to be in charge of the prayer tonight.
  So they agreed. They gathered together and Pastor Maurice offered 
this prayer. He said: God, we have been praying daily for relief from 
Egypt. I am tired of waiting. I don't want to wait any longer. I want 
this relief tomorrow.'' It is the night of June 29, 2013. ``God, bring 
us this relief tomorrow.''
  That was the eve of the relief that came. By June 30, the following 
day, the streets and every city began to fill in Egypt. Tahrir Square 
became full again. People poured into the streets of Egypt, and they 
poured into the streets on June 30, July 1, July 2, and July 3.
  The numbers of people in the streets in Egypt that came out to 
protest were estimated at 33 million people out of 83 million 
Egyptians. Now, think of that. If we had that same percentage come out 
in the streets of America, we would have 125 million people in the 
streets of America, Mr. Speaker.
  It was a massive turnout in Egypt. And something had to happen. They 
pleaded with General el-Sisi: Will you take over in this country? We 
can't take this any longer. We have got to have some leadership. We 
have got to have somebody in charge of our country, Egypt.
  General el-Sisi demurred. He said: No. I don't want to do this. I 
don't want to step in. Finally, by the 3rd of June, he relented and 
stepped in with the military to bring order in Tahrir Square. That 
turned out to be a move that stabilized Egypt.
  Shortly after that, they stabilized Egypt. They had more peace in the 
streets. There was still trouble. The Muslim Brotherhood was still 
attacking people.
  There were still arrests of some of those who had been violent take 
place in the square that had been attacking people. But they installed 
an interim President and put some stability into the government. This 
is early July of 2013.
  Myself and a couple of other Members went to Egypt over the Labor Day 
break in September 2013. We met with the interim President in one 
meeting, in a different meeting with the Pope of the Coptic Church, in 
a separate meeting then with General el-Sisi, and in a separate meeting 
with Mr. Moussa, who was the chairman of the committee that was writing 
a Constitution.
  I remember each of those meetings in a distinct way. The Coptic Pope 
said: We are praying for the people who are killing us. We are not 
going to be sucked into a civil war in Egypt. We are praying for them 
and are asking God to forgive them, which I thought was a very high 
level of faith that I don't know that I could reach, Mr. Speaker. I was 
very impressed with the Coptic Pope.
  We met with Mr. Moussa, who described the Constitution they were 
drafting, but he said it is up to the Egyptian people. They have got to 
ratify it.
  And as we met with General el-Sisi, I recall asking him a series of 
questions: If this Constitution is ratified and a legitimized civilian 
government takes charge in Egypt, will the military take orders from a 
civilian President or a civilian prime minister and a civilian 
parliament?
  He looked me in the eye and he said: Yes. The military will.
  So I didn't know at the time--and I don't think he knew at the time--
that he would eventually become a candidate for President and actually 
be the one issuing the orders to the military. But he has kept his 
word.
  As he promised to me and others promised to me, they would ratify a 
Constitution, they would elect a national leader or President, and once 
the Constitution was ratified and the President was elected, they would 
then have elections and seat a parliament or a legislative body.
  Within their Constitution they wrote the language that said, of the 
roughly 100 churches that have been destroyed--mostly by the Muslim 
Brotherhood--they would use Egyptian tax dollars to rebuild those 
churches.
  I am here tonight, Mr. Speaker, to say thank you to President el-Sisi 
of Egypt, thank you to Mr. Moussa and those others that worked on the 
Constitution, and to congratulate the Parliament in Egypt that is now 
seated as of yesterday. Their country is put in place now so that the 
Egyptian people are finally in charge of their country again.

                              {time}  2015

  And when I am asked why does our administration support the Muslim 
Brotherhood, I am going to continue to give the same answer: The 
American people support the Egyptian people. The Egyptian people don't 
support the Muslim Brotherhood. They have proven that over and over 
again. The leadership that the Egyptians have elected has proven that 
they have given their word, they have kept their word, they have 
performed in the fashion that they said.
  And as I have gone back now a couple of times since then, most 
recently last spring, in about March or April, at some significant 
expense, I might add, I remember sitting down with President el-Sisi, 
and he said a couple of things that I think that we should remember, 
and I believe he wanted me to convey them here on this floor, Mr. 
Speaker; and that is that, he gave a speech January 1 of last year at 
Al-Azhar University, in the center of Muslim thought, and here is the 
message that he delivered.
  The message was this, he is asking a rhetorical question, and it was: 
Is it possible to accept the idea that the whole world must die so that 
Muslims can live? That is verbatim, Mr. Speaker. It is a rhetorical 
question. It is the most powerful rhetorical question that I believe 
that I have heard.
  And, of course, he rejected that idea. He understands that Muslims 
and Christians and Buddhists and atheists and agnostics and all the 
religions need to live on this world together, and he is looking for 
that kind of peace and stability, so that no religion is persecuted, no 
religion is being murdered while they are going to someone else's 
funeral, or their wedding. And that happened also in Egypt, Mr. 
Speaker.
  So I want to thank President el-Sisi for his commitment. And I would 
add, also, that he made another statement that I think we also need to 
think about, Mr. Speaker, and that is, he said they, speaking of the 
Muslim Brotherhood, they are trying to establish and impose divine law 
on all the world.
  When he looked at me he realized it didn't quite register, and he 
said, sharia law. They want to impose sharia law on the entire world. 
And he put his head down, almost between his knees, as he sat there, 
and shook his head in rejection.
  I am convinced we can work with this man. He is a dedicated Muslim 
who is a peaceful leader, who understands this picture of the world the 
way it sets.
  When I look at the work that was done by Ataturk in Turkey, how he 
provided a bridge between the East and the West, and that has been 
drifting back a bit the other way under Erdogan, but I believe that 
President el-Sisi has the skill set, the convictions, and the 
foundation to, one day, with the right kind of support, the support of 
the United States of America and the free world and the Middle East, 
could become the Ataturk for the world to bring about that bridge 
between the Muslim world and the Christian world and the West.
  If we fail in that effort to do that outreach and tie these bonds 
together, these bonds that go back through history, a long ways back, 
Mr. Speaker, if we fail, then I am afraid there will be a tremendous 
amount of bloodshed.
  If we succeed, I believe we can eliminate and forestall a significant 
amount

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of bloodshed and bridge over this division that is coming at us. And he 
deserves and needs our help to defend himself from terrorists that are 
attacking from all directions, from Sinai and everywhere else.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate your indulgence here tonight.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

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