TURKEY AND SYRIA; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 162

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TURKEY AND SYRIA

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, now on Turkey and Syria, a major issue

that deserves the Senate's attention this week and that shows we can,

again, fulfill our constitutional obligations as well as help the

American people. One thing we are going to be talking about this week

is President Trump's precipitous and dangerous decision to withdraw

from northern Syria.

A few weeks ago, the President abruptly announced that the United

States, which has long maintained a presence in northern Syria to root

out ISIS terrorists, would stand aside, and Turkey launched a military

incursion into the region. For years, a global coalition of the United

States and our partners and allies, particularly the stout Kurds in

Syria, have worked tirelessly and sacrificed much to defeat ISIS. Now,

in only a matter of days, the President's quick, unstudied, and ill-

advised Syria decision has jeopardized all of that progress.

For years, American soldiers have fought hard and some have given

their lives to vanquish ISIS. For years, our great military and

diplomatic leaders have strategized about how to get rid of ISIS, and

in one fell quick and unthought-out swoop, the President has undone

that. It is despicable. It is dangerous.

The consequences have already proven dire. Bashar al-Assad, the

Syrian dictator and war criminal, has strengthened his position

greatly, cutting a deal with the Kurds and moving his forces into the

gap left by our withdrawal.

Who else has benefited from President Trump's ill-thought-out,

precipitous, and wrongheaded action? Iran, his greatest enemy, one of

our great enemies in many ways. As you know, I am no friend of the

Iranian Government.

Iran has benefited. Who else has benefitted? President Putin. Russian

troops have now swept into the region, according to reports. Russia

envies the oil in northern Syria that it might control.

When the President does some kind of action, it makes everyone

scratch their heads, and if it benefits Putin, one doesn't know if he

is doing it to actually help Putin or if he just doesn't get it. I tend

to think it is often the former, unfortunately.

Our Kurdish partners are paying the ultimate cost of their betrayal,

and tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced. Maybe most

concerning of all, reports say that more than 10,000 ISIS fighters

currently held and guarded by the Kurds could walk out of their cells.

By pulling out of northern Syria, President Trump has encouraged

nothing short of an ISIS jailbreak.

I say this to my fellow Americans. Some may say: We don't want any

troops anywhere. Bring them all home. We don't care.

Well, I care. Most people care.

But some might say: I don't care what happens to the Kurds.

The one thing everyone should care about, whatever their views on

geopolitics in the Middle East and in Syria, is our own security. We

have spent a decade of treasure and often lives rooting out ISIS. Why?

Because ISIS presents a danger to our homeland. We, in New York, know,

more than anybody, how a small group from far away could do huge damage

and kill thousands of innocent Americans here. And now President Trump,

through this thoughtless action, is allowing ISIS to gain new strength.

What is going on here? This is a threat to our own national security

here in our homeland, and we must do everything to stop it.

And who is the most angry at the President? From what I am told, our

own military is. Our own military, who have fought shoulder-to-shoulder

alongside the Kurds, watching the Kurds risk and lose their lives to

help protect Americans--they weren't even consulted. The military

wasn't even consulted. You heard what General

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Mattis said. He may be the most respected military leader we have, even

though he is in retirement. He said: This makes it much more likely

that ISIS gains strength and can hurt us.

What the heck is going on here? This transcends any ideological

differences we may have--whether we agree with President Trump or

disagree and whether we think he is a good President or think he is an

awful President. This goes beyond that. What is going on?

After Republicans spent years criticizing our former President,

President Obama, for simply failing to recite the phrase \\\`\\\`radical

Islamic terror,'' then our Republican friends should be apoplectic at

what the President has done. It is not simply reciting this phrase. The

President, through his actions, whether it is inadvertent or not, has

made radical Islamic terror more real and more dangerous.

In one fell swoop, President Trump has deserted our partners,

emboldened three of our chief adversaries, provided a lifeline to ISIS

fighters who have been taken off the battlefield, and put American

troops and America in harm's way. Truly, this is one of the most

thoughtless and dangerous policy changes that President Trump could

have made. That it was made seemingly on a whim--without consulting our

military commanders, without notifying Congress, and, most egregiously,

without thinking its consequences through--makes it even more alarming.

We have entered a dangerous moment, my friends. It is increasingly

clear to everyone that the President's erratic decision making has

endangered our national security and the security of our partners and

allies around the world. Strong sanctions, while good and justified,

will not be sufficient in undoing that damage, nor will they stop the

consequences stemming from the ISIS jailbreak.

So the first step, as Congress returns, is for Democrats and

Republicans to join us in passing a resolution making clear that both

parties demand that the President's decision be reversed.

This is bipartisan, but our Republican colleagues have a special

place here because they will have far more success in getting the

President to reverse course and change his views. There is a solemn

obligation on every one of the 53 Republican Members here.

They know it is dangerous. Are they going to still be afraid to

criticize President Trump? They have not, so far, but this resolution

is the strongest action we can take.

Ultimately, of course, the only person able to immediately stop this

tragedy from unfolding is the President himself. The President made the

decision alone. He alone is responsible for its consequences. President

Trump, hopefully, importuned by Congress, Democrats and Republicans in

the House and Senate, will use this moment--must use this moment--to

step up, admit his grave mistake, and correct course.

I yield the floor.

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