[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 409]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        CRISIS IN MADAYA, SYRIA

  (Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to turn your attention 
to the crisis in Madaya, Syria.
  Since July 2015, this town has been under siege by the evil regime of 
Bashar al-Assad. It has deprived the citizens; it has starved them; and 
in the last month, at least 31 have died. Those who try to flee face 
indiscriminate barrel bombs and targets by the Assad regime.
  Bill Clinton once said that the greatest regret of his Presidency was 
inaction in Rwanda. Mr. Speaker, I fear that our greatest regret, both 
of this President and of this House, will be inaction in Syria. There 
are over 250,000 dead men, women, and children by the evil regime of 
Assad because they believed that to target women and children puts more 
collective pain than to target just fighters.
  Mr. Speaker, if we are going to destroy ISIS--and we all want to 
destroy ISIS--you cannot destroy ISIS with the existence of Assad. 
Assad is the greatest recruiter to ISIS that has ever existed. Whether 
it is ISIS today or the next iteration tomorrow, Assad must go for the 
sake of a free Syria.

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