Opposing the Decision to End Certain United States Efforts to Prevent Turkish Military Operations Against Syrian Kurdish Forces in Northeast Syria

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I would like to first begin with thanking Chairman Engel for his bipartisan work to craft legislation in response to this week's developments.

We often say in our committee that politics stops at the water's edge. And, in this time of crisis, I am proud to work with him to lead the most bipartisan committee in the Congress.

Today may be a dark day, but it would be much darker if we were divided instead of standing united.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this joint resolution. Simply put, the catastrophe that has unfolded in Syria over the past 10 days is almost beyond words.

I am concerned about the extreme, long-term damage this has caused the United States interests in the Middle East and to the Syrian people, including the Kurds.

The United States has worked for years to prevent an armed conflict between our NATO ally Turkey and our Syrian Kurdish partners. Our presence in Syria was critical to countering and defeating ISIS, and, until last week, it helped prevent unnecessary bloodshed.

Working with the Syrian Democratic Forces, the U.S. and our coalition partners eliminated ISIS' control of territory in Syria and were continuing to fight ISIS insurgents.

I understand the administration's legitimate concerns about engaging our U.S. forces in long-term military operations. I, too, want to wind down our overseas conflicts and bring our troops home. But, leaving northwest Syria now does not resolve the problem that brought us there in the first place; it only creates more.

We need a residual force in place. The consequences of this decision have already unfolded before our very eyes. We have betrayed the trust of our Kurdish partners who fought bravely with us against ISIS to defeat and destroy the caliphate, and they paid a heavy price in thousands of lives lost.

We must remember that Turkey's offensive affects not only Kurds but also the people of northeastern Syria. So far, dozens of civilians have been killed and over 160,000 people have been displaced.

Islamic State prisoners, Jihadists and affiliates, are already breaking free, reversing our hard-fought gains to defeat these dangerous terrorists.

And, now, our Syrian Kurdish partners have struck a deal with the Syrian regime. This gives Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers more territory and opportunity to advance their destabilizing agendas, including their war on the Syrian people.

My colleague Eliot Engel and I drafted this resolution to show that we do not support this decision by the administration and to call on Turkey to end this destructive campaign in Syria.

We urge the United States to support the affected communities of northeast Syria, including the Kurds. We call upon the administration to support our Kurdish partners and stand with them just like they have stood with us for so long.

Given the grave implications that an ISIS resurgence would have for our homeland security, we call on the administration to provide an updated counter-ISIS strategy.

I do support the administration's decision to impose sanctions on key Turkish officials and make clear that there are more consequences for continuing this invasion. But more pressure is needed.

Congress is only just beginning its work to repair the damage this decision has caused. Chairman Engel and I are working together on a bipartisan bill to sanction Turkey for as long as it continues this destructive offensive. I look forward to working with the chairman to bring this bill to the floor as soon as possible.

I urge all Members to support this joint resolution.

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Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I yield myself the balance of my time.

This is one of those rare moments in Congress when we see both sides coming together, exercising our Article I constitutional responsibilities on foreign policy. I can't think of a better committee than this, the Foreign Affairs Committee, to stand unified as a Congress.

This is not just the House, Mr. Speaker. This is a joint resolution with the Senate. This is going to pass the House and the Senate, sending a strong message about our foreign policy.

I believe that we learn from history. The National Archives has an inscription that says, ``What is past is prologue.'' You see, history repeats itself, and we need to learn the lessons from history.

I remember after we withdrew out of Europe after World War I, it allowed the forces of Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler to raise its ugly head, and it took the Marshall Plan to finally put an end to it.

Then as recently as 2011, in the previous administration, President Obama pulled 10,000 troops out of Iraq. My side of the aisle strongly objected to that foreign policy decision, arguing that it would create a wave of terrorism, and we were right. ISIS reared its ugly head, and the caliphate was formed.

Mr. Speaker, you and I served on the Homeland Security Committee. In the years 2015 to 2016, the terror threat was frightening. My threat briefings were frightening in the SCIF.

External operations being plotted out of Iraq and Syria to kill Americans in the United States, almost one per month, we stopped 95 percent of those threats. The 5 percent is what the American people know about.

But I will tell you this--from that experience, have not we learned anything?--that we need a residual force, if anything, to protect the homeland from terror threats.

Now we have over 10,000 ISIS in-country and over 70,000 family members that are there as part of the insurgency. We had over 30,000 at the time of the peak of the ISIS caliphate. And we can't go back.

I am concerned, Mr. Speaker, that this move will embolden the Russians. The Russians have already gone to our military's campsites and mocked us. They are mocking the United States of America. Iran is there, and ISIS is now emboldened.

We need a residual force to protect us, as we had in Iraq. We need that in Syria, and, yes, we need that in Afghanistan. We can wind down the number of troops, but we need that residual force.

Mr. Speaker, I want to close by saying that I will never forget talking to Condoleezza Rice after she retired at Stanford, and she said that one axiom is true in foreign policy: Your allies must trust you.

Our allies are questioning us right now. We told them, ``Trust us. We have your back.''

What is happening now, the Kurds are being slaughtered as I speak in northern Syria.

She also said another thing: Our allies must trust us, and our enemies must fear us.

That is my foreign policy. It is Condoleezza Rice's foreign policy. I think it is a good foreign policy.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for working with me to stand up on this very important issue.

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