[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3417-3419]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  PRESIDENT'S SYRIAN POLICY AND RUSSIA

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, briefly, the Senator from South Carolina 
and I discussed this announcement that Russia will begin withdrawing 
some military forces from Syria. It obviously signals Vladimir Putin's 
belief that he has bombed and killed enough of the opponents of the 
murderous Assad regime to assure Assad's survival.
  For 4 years, this administration--this President--stood by as the 
Assad regime slaughtered nearly half a million people in Syria. Then, 
when Assad appeared weak, it watched as Putin intervened militarily and 
protected his brutal regime, in a move that the President described as 
Putin going into a ``quagmire.'' Well, apparently now Vladimir Putin is 
leaving that ``quagmire,'' and he is leaving a solid Bashar Assad in a 
position of strength. He is leaving thousands of dead moderate 
opposition that he has indiscriminately bombed, and the United States 
has their begging bowl out, asking and pleading that they somehow reach 
some agreement again in Geneva.
  It is really embarrassing to watch this President and this Secretary 
of State as they continue to beg Vladimir Putin and his stooge Lavrov 
as they continue to place Russia in a position of influence they have 
not had since Anwar Sadat threw them out of Egypt in 1973.
  They now have a major role to play in the Middle East. They have a 
military base. They have a naval base. They have upgraded airfields, 
and they have now solidified Bashar Assad's position in power.
  Is there anybody who believes that Russia will agree to an 
arrangement that Bashar Assad or his stooge doesn't remain in power? Of 
course not. Aren't we tired of begging Vladimir Putin? Aren't we tired 
of watching the United States and the young men we trained and equipped 
being bombed by Vladimir Putin and killed and murdered? Don't we 
sometimes grow a little tired of that? It is no wonder that the United 
States of America has no standing and no influence in the region.

[[Page 3418]]

  I don't often quote from the New York Times. I would ask my colleague 
if he has seen this:

       The Russian move may . . . be a reflection that Mr. Putin 
     is now supremely confident in Mr. Assad's renewed stability 
     and can afford to step back a bit and play statesman. Mr. 
     Putin has achieved many of his main goals: bringing Russia 
     back to center stage as a global power; preventing, on 
     principle, regime change by outside powers, particularly 
     Western ones; gaining a stronger foothold in Syria; picking 
     off Russian jihadists on the Syrian battlefield; and 
     strengthening Mr. Assad.

  I wish to ask my friend from South Carolina: Isn't it obvious what is 
going to happen next; and that is, an increase in fighting in eastern 
Ukraine, more Ukrainians slaughtered while we refuse to give them 
defensive weapons, but just sufficient amount of violence and killing 
to prevent the United States of America or the Europeans from taking 
any significant action? Indeed, won't there now be pressure on the part 
of the special interests and the industrialists, particularly in 
Germany, to lift the sanctions on Vladimir Putin?
  Mr. GRAHAM. I think you are right, I say to Senator McCain.
  Let's look at what our military leaders say rather than just look at 
what political people think. General Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff, in a hearing you chaired today was asked: What is 
Putin up to? What do you think he is trying to do here?
  He said: Well, all I can tell you is the reason he came into Syria 
was to destroy ISIL and help fight ISIL. He has proven that he did not 
do that. He didn't try to do that.
  So what General Dunford said was that basically Putin lied about why 
he came to Syria. If he is leaving Syria, the job against ISIL is far 
from done. But I think you nailed it, I say to Senator McCain. The job 
of propping up Assad has been accomplished.
  So what General Dunford said is that the reason that Putin came into 
Syria was not to destroy ISIL but to help his stooge, his puppet Assad. 
He believes he achieved such military superiority on behalf of Assad by 
bombing the people we trained that he can now leave.
  So at the end of the day, he is not leaving. A naval base and an air 
force base will be in Syria. He said: We are withdrawing our forces, 
but, of course, we will have a naval presence and an air base.
  Here is what I would say. If he needs to help Assad in the future, he 
will. Geneva has become a joke. There is no way you are going to 
negotiate a successful agreement when Assad is backed by Russia and 
Iran. The opposition has been abandoned by the United States and the 
free world. The Russian President has bombed the people the American 
President trained to take Assad out.
  Mr. McCAIN. What does the Senator from South Carolina think that does 
to our reputation when we arm, train, and equip young men, send them in 
to fight, ostensibly against ISIS or Bashar Assad--although, in this 
case ISIS--and we stand by and watch the Russians slaughter them from 
the air?
  Mr. GRAHAM. I think it sends a signal that you can't rely upon us. 
You have two training programs--one by the CIA and one by the 
Department of Defense. The people trained outside the Department of 
Defense have been wholesale slaughtered by the Russian air attacks, and 
we have done nothing about it.
  What does the region say? We have two enemies--Assad and ISIL. Our 
unwillingness to confront Assad has created a sense of abandonment in 
the entire region. Assad is a puppet of Iran. Iran is the mortal enemy 
of the Sunni Arab states.
  So what has the President accomplished here? He said Assad must go. 
He trained people to help take him down. Russia came in and said Assad 
will not go. They have attacked the people we have trained, and we 
basically have abandoned the free Syrian opposition.
  Now we are in Geneva talking about a peace agreement where the whole 
balance now is in Assad's favor. Does anybody really believe there is 
military jeopardy for Assad? And without his being in jeopardy, how do 
you get an agreement the Syrian people can live with? If Assad or his 
henchmen stay in power, how do you ever end the war in Syria?
  So what we have accomplished is that we have given the Russians more 
influence in the Mideast than at any time since 1973. We have allowed 
Iran basically to dictate the terms in Damascus. We have jeopardized 
our relationship with our Arab partners. We have put in question 
Americans' reliability in terms of the people inside of Syria.
  The Syrian policy of Barack Obama has done enormous damage. Without 
Russia being involved, none of this would have happened.
  Mr. McCAIN. The tragedy of all of this, I would say to my friend, is 
that when the United States of America was required to stand up because 
of the commitment of the President of the United States if the Bashar 
Assad regime had used chemical weapons and slaughtered--it is the 
gruesome pictures that you and I have seen--and then backed off, that 
was one of the seminal moments that American credibility disappeared. 
Here we are now still refusing to arm, train, and equip young men to 
fight against Bashar Assad and, in fact, making them pledge that they 
would only fight against ISIS. It is not ISIS that is barrel-bombing 
them. It is not ISIS that is dropping chemical weapons. It is not ISIS 
that has brought in thousands and tortured and beaten and killed. ISIS 
is our enemy. ISIS is evil. But to somehow excuse the behavior of 
Bashar Assad with the Russians' indiscriminate bombing is one of the 
most disgraceful chapters in American history in my view.
  Mr. GRAHAM. To build on this, several years ago Russia took by force 
Crimea. This was not a fair election. It is pretty hard to have a fair 
election when there is a Russian tank parked in front of your yard. 
Good luck saying you don't want to go to Russia.
  We have done nothing other than sanction Russia. Russia is still 
engaged in provocative behavior. We told him not to go into Crimea. We 
told him not to dismember Ukraine. He did. He is stronger, not weaker. 
We told him not to use military force to help Assad, who is the Butcher 
of Damascus. He did. We pleaded with him not to attack non-ISIL 
targets. He did. He destroyed the opposition to Assad. Russia is in 
league with Iran. So the biggest winner of Russia's involvement on the 
ground in Syria has been the Iranians, which is the most destabilizing 
group of people in the entire Mideast. The biggest loser has been the 
free Syrian opposition, the Syrian people themselves, and close behind 
is the American reputation in the region.
  I want the administration to know that your handling of Syria has 
been a disaster on multiple levels. It has emboldened Iran. It has made 
Russia stronger. We are losing credibility in the region at a time when 
the region needs leadership. If you go to Geneva and you close out a 
peace deal that is a joke that allows Assad or somebody--Bob Assad, not 
Bashar Assad--to stay in power, if you allow a peace agreement where 
the Iranians control Damascus and Russia has a naval and air force base 
and more influence than we do, what have you accomplished?
  I hope and pray the administration will stop this insane desire to 
bring Syria to a conclusion where the conclusion is going to make the 
whole region subject to blowing up. A successful conclusion is not 
having Iran being the dominant force inside of Syria, Russia having 
more influence, an air base and a naval base, and the Syrian people 
losing the ability to replace their tormenter, and ISIL having a magnet 
for future recruitment, which is an Iranian-backed Assad. That is not a 
successful outcome.
  What do you think, I ask Senator McCain?
  Mr. McCAIN. For the last 5 years, we have been writing a shameful 
chapter in American history. To sum all of this up, leading from behind 
doesn't work. If America leads from behind, somebody else is going to 
be in front. If the United States leaves conflicts and creates vacuums, 
then bad things happen.
  Look at a map of the Middle East in January of 2009, when this 
President came to the Presidency of the United

[[Page 3419]]

States, and look at that map now--the way ISIS has metastasized, the 
way hundreds of thousands have been murdered and millions are on the 
march as refugees. We still have apologists for this leading from 
behind, a policy which is described as ``Don't do stupid stuff.'' This 
is the result of leadership that has left the scene in a way that we 
have not seen since the 1930s, in the days of Neville Chamberlain and 
``peace in our time.''
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________