Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act of

Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I want to talk again for a few minutes about S. 1, which is sponsored by Senator Rubio.

As I have cautioned the last few times I spoke on the subject, nothing I say is meant to be construed as a criticism of Senator Rubio. There are some really good things in this bill, as the Presiding Officer knows.

I forget the title of it. I think Senator Rubio is calling it the Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act. I like the fact that S. 1 reaffirms our commitment to protecting Israel. I think that is important. I think Israel is certainly our best friend in the Middle East and one of our best friends in the world. Some days I think Israel is our only friend in the world.

S. 1 is going to strengthen America's bonds with Jordan, and I think that is very important. Jordan has been a key ally in fighting terrorism and, frankly, a key ally in helping us deal with the humanitarian catastrophe as a result of Assad and his butchering of his own people in Syria.

S. 1 is going to combat a radical economic warfare campaign against our friend Israel. That is long overdue. S. 1 is also going to create new sanctions on the Government of Syria. I support all of those. I intend to vote for S. 1, despite the fact that, in my opinion, there is a great deficiency with S. 1.

I know Senator McConnell offered an amendment to reflect the will of the Senate with respect to whether America ought to get out of Syria. In his amendment, he suggested that we should not. I voted against Senator McConnell's amendment not because I think he is wrong but because I just don't know if he is right. I don't think most Members of Congress know.

We have received such conflicting information, and I have asked Senator McConnell to hold a briefing for us--a classified briefing in which we bring over people who think we should get out and people who think we shouldn't get out, and let us hear the facts and the informed opinions of people who know better than we do. Frankly, I would like to see us do the same thing with respect to Afghanistan.

I share the President's concern about nation-building. We have spent $6 trillion since 2001 in the Middle East. I share the President's concern about mission creep. But, once again, just as I am not saying that Senator McConnell is wrong; I just don't know that he is right, and, quite frankly, I am saying the same thing with respect to President Trump. I am not saying he is wrong about withdrawing from Syria; I am just saying I don't know if he is right.

I do know this: President Trump is going to do what he thinks is best for America. The Senate can pass all of the bills and resolutions about the will of the Senate that it wants to, but if the President of the United States thinks it is best for the American people and the world to withdraw all troops from Syria, then my experience is, by God, he is going to do it.

If he does it, one of my biggest concerns, which could have been addressed in this bill, is if we would have been allowed to offer amendments, supposedly as the world's greatest deliberative body, we could have fixed this problem. The problem I am talking about is the Syrian Kurds.

Let's just call it like it is. I mentioned that Israel has been a great ally, as well as Jordan. This bill is being sold as, well, this is to protect our allies in the Middle East, in part. What about the Syrian Kurds?

I think there are 50 or 60 million Kurds throughout the world. They are mostly in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Why aren't the Kurds allowed to self-determine?

Even if the Kurds didn't believe in democracy--and I think they do; they want sovereignty like we have, and they want to be able to self- determine--the truth is, we wouldn't have beaten back ISIS without the help of the Syrian Kurds.

I don't want to get off into this discussion about whether or not ISIS is defeated. If you look at just the statistics, a couple of years ago, there were 100,000 ISIS jihadists. There are not 100,000 now. There are less than 5,000. A couple of years ago, ISIS had its own caliphate. They just went in there and carved out their own country. They don't have it anymore.

So you can debate whether we defeated them. I am not sure we will ever completely defeat the jihadists, whether they call themselves ISIS or al-Qaida or what. But I know this much: We could not have beaten back ISIS without the help of the Syrian Kurds.

A lot of our other friends said: Yeah, you go get them. You go fight. We will be glad to hold your coat while you fight. That was not the Syrian Kurds. They got in there with us.

The Syrian Kurds have enemies in this world. I am not making any accusations or disparaging comments about our friends in Turkey, but President Erdogan has been very vocal about how he feels about the Kurds, including, but not limited to, the Syrian Kurds. I worry about them if we leave.

I had an amendment that didn't require--it didn't require--anybody to do anything. It just said: Mr. President, if we leave Syria, this will give you the authority to keep our friends, our allies, the Syrian Kurds, from being butchered, from being opened up like a soft peanut.

America's foreign policy has never been just about interests; it has been about values. America's foreign policy has always had a moral component. Part of the moral component in our foreign policy is that we don't leave our friends behind. That is what we are potentially doing with this bill.

It could have been easily fixed. It could have been fixed if the Senate had been allowed to be the U.S. Senate.

I don't hate anyone. I love and respect all of my colleagues, and I mean that--even the jurists and everybody in their own way, especially in this body, and I have gotten to know all of them, and I am so proud to be a Member. But it does bother me sometimes; it seems we are kind of like--it is almost Orwellian. We are all equal, but some of us are more equal than others, and I think that irks the American people. I think had we been able to offer amendments, we could have fixed that problem with the Syrian Kurds.

I hope I don't have to come back and say told you so. I hope after we leave Syria--and I think the President is going to leave Syria--I hope the Syrian Kurds are just fine. I hope they are just fine. But if they are not, I hope we will not look back and say that we had a chance to protect our friends and do the right thing, but we didn't do it.

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