Syrian Civil War

Floor Speech

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Mr. BROWN of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, there is a civil war in Syria and a humanitarian crisis that the United States simply cannot and should not ignore.

Today there are some 2,000 U.S. soldiers and marines on the ground in Syria who have spent the past several years engaged in the fight to defeat ISIS. That fight has been largely successful, yet troops remain in Syria to prevent a resurgence of ISIS. U.S. forces are engaged in hostilities against ISIS, not in the Syrian civil war.

Congress was informed in 2015 that our forces are in Syria pursuant to the AUMF enacted in 2001, in response to the attacks on 9/11.

Although U.S. ground forces aren't engaged in the Syrian civil war, our forces have engaged Syrian forces and its regime. Last year, a U.S. Navy F-18 shot down a Syrian war plane in the collective self-defense of our coalition partners. The use of force in self-defense is unquestionably authorized, however risky that may be in potentially drawing the U.S. into armed conflict with Syria or into the Syrian civil war.

In the fall of 2016, U.S. forces mistakenly and unintentionally killed Syrian troops in an air strike that was intended for ISIS fighters. Last year, the Syrian regime launched an aerial bombing with sarin, causing the deaths of nearly 100 civilians.

In response to Assad carrying out these war crimes, the United States military, at the direction of President Trump, fired 59 cruise missiles against a Syrian air base. It was the air base from which the aircraft were launched to drop nerve gas on innocent women, children, men, and civilians.

But that didn't stop Assad. Just 11 days ago, less than 10 days after President Trump instructed military leaders to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria as soon as possible, Assad again launched a chemical attack on more than 500 people.

In response, and without meaningful discussion with Congress, President Trump, once again, ordered air strikes against Syrian targets associated with the Syrian chemical weapons program.

Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding the U.S. presence on the ground and our air engagements in Syria since 2015, this Congress has never openly and formally debated the question of authorization for the use of military force in Syria.

It is time for us to do our job. Assad is a barbaric, genocidal dictator. The use of chemical weapons is heinous, and the use of conventional weapons against civilians, which he is also guilty of doing, is equally heinous.

Syria is a humanitarian disaster. 400,000 Syrians, most of whom are innocent civilians, are dead. These facts are not disputed. For more than 70 years, the United States has been an anchor of international security, and I believe we cannot look away when a dictator brazenly and repeatedly violates international law.

The debate that is long overdue in Congress should not be limited to if, when, and how the United States should respond to the next chemical attack. Congress abdicated that responsibility in 2013 and in 2017, and I fear we are on course to do so again this year.

Deliberations over how and when to retaliate against the next chemical weapons attack must be part of the larger debate that we must have about our country's goals, policies, and strategy in Syria and whether another solitary military strike would be effective.

We should recognize that another military response will be hollow if not accompanied by a more robust, whole-of-government approach. We need to agree on a strategy that will permanently deter Assad from using chemical weapons, send a message to Moscow and Tehran, and push Assad to the negotiation table to achieve a lasting political solution to the civil war and humanitarian crisis.

Will this approach require greater support of the secular opposition in Syria? Will we have to work with our NATO allies to intervene more purposefully to contain Assad? These are the things--the issues--that every Member of Congress must grapple with as we weigh the use of military force. The President cannot act unilaterally.

I believe our ideals and principles, as well as our national security, are at stake in Syria, along with our leadership of an international system where we seek to ensure that weapons of mass destruction are never used.

I believe our democracy is stronger when the President acts with the support of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, let's debate and vote on the authorization to use military force in Syria now.

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