[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8176]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        CHEMICAL ATTACK IN SYRIA

  (Mr. HILL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, stories from the survivors of Assad's bombings 
and chemical attacks are almost impossible to read due to the grotesque 
descriptions of innocent people and children suffocating, foaming at 
the mouth, and suffering from seizures.
  If, in 2013, the Obama administration had taken decisive leadership 
against the use of chemical weapons, insisted on a U.N. strategy to 
isolate Assad and Russia, verified the elimination of Syria's chemical 
weapons stockpile, and created no-fly zones, we might have avoided 
500,000 innocent deaths and millions of refugees.
  Through his appropriate and proportionate bombing, President Trump 
told Assad that America will no longer ignore the unspeakable acts of 
violence against innocent people. We also learned that the U.S.-led 
coalition aircraft bombed, last week, pro-regime forces after they 
breached a deconfliction zone and advanced on a base occupied by U.S. 
special forces.
  I call on the United Nations to follow America's lead by pursuing a 
ceasefire in Syria, creating safe zones, and holding Assad accountable 
for his war crimes.

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