Blog: The Brutality of ISIS' Action Against Religious Minorities is Barbaric and Intolerable

Statement

Wednesday, I made the opening statement below on the brutality of ISIS against religious minorities during a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing entitled, "Genocidal Attacks Against Christian and Other Religious Minorities in Syria and Iraq".

Full Text of Remarks

"The barbaric actions of the Islamic State have brought the persecution of Christians more immediately in front of the American people, crucifying Christians or even burying them alive, cleansing them from Mosul, the ancient biblical town of Nineveh. But this is not a new phenomenon; this is something that's been happening for many years. When I served in Iraq in 2006, we saw the persecution of Christians in the neighborhoods in Bagdad, where my soldiers and I patrolled. It's something that the United States cannot stand idly by and tolerate, especially when it's perpetrated by enemies that mean to strike the United States here, in the United States' homeland. As a reminder, they're our enemies not because of anything we have done in the world but because of who we are and what we stand for. We are a country built on freedom and the first of those freedoms is the freedom of religion. And they want to strike us because of those freedoms. It's important that we have the courage to stand up for our own national security and for the oppressed minorities in places like Iraq."

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