SYRIA; Congressional Record Vol. 164, No. 201

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SYRIA

Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, yesterday, Christmas came early to the

Kremlin. First, we have President Trump's announcement to pull our

troops out of Syria. Second, the administration wants to delist three

companies controlled by Oleg Deripaska, though, I am not sure he has

adequately relinquished control of those companies. Third, the

administration has done nothing to respond to Russian aggression in the

Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait. This is a trifecta for Vladimir Putin

and sends a global message that creates real concerns. Christmas has

indeed come early to Moscow.

The Trump administration's withdrawal from Syria lacks any strategy,

is foolhardy, and it puts U.S. security in the Middle East--including

our ally, the State of Israel--at great peril. This is not simply an

error. It is dangerous. It is dangerous.

Let me be clear. Withdrawal from Syria without success is failure.

American credibility will take a horrible hit

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if the President moves forward with this decision.

As a country, we have said that Assad, who has butchered his people,

cannot stay in power. Assad is likely to stay in power into the

foreseeable future. Second, we have said we cannot leave Syria because

we have strategic interests. By leaving, and doing so precipitously,

the President is willing to leave these strategic interests in the

hands of Iran and Russia, and Moscow will be given a solid foothold in

the Middle East--something it has aspired to for some time, and now it

will happen. It will have developed bases there, and it will have

unfettered determination as to what to do.

Third, this move will strengthen Iran's ability to attack Israel.

We are entering a very dangerous time, as it is increasingly clear to

all--including many of my Senate Republican colleagues and especially

our international allies and adversaries--that this President is

completely incapable of addressing our security challenges. Only in

Donald Trump's parallel alternate universe has ISIS been defeated.

There is no one who would suggest that is reality at this point. We

have made gains, and we have had successes, but they have not been

defeated.

His erratic decision making indeed poses a great threat to our

security interests.

Trump tweeted that Russia is \\\`\\\`not happy'' about his decision to

withdraw our forces from Syria. Well, I guess he missed President

Putin's end-of-the-year press conference where, in his own words, he

showed this morning that Russia is indeed thrilled with this abdication

of U.S. leadership.

I worry that we are sending the wrong global message, as well, if

this plan is executed. The Kurds have been the most significant

fighting force on our behalf and in our interest in Syria. They have

been our partners. By pulling out, we are abandoning them. Turkey will

come in and seek to destroy them. They will be hit not only by Turkey,

they will be hit by Assad, and they will be hit by others.

Imagine the message that sends to other potential partners around the

world. For those to whom we say \\\`\\\`Fight with us, fight for us, instead

of sending our sons and daughters,'' the message is \\\`\\\`Once the United

States is done using you, we will abandon you.''

We can't afford that message. In any other place in the world where

we want people to fight with us or for us and carry the burden of being

on the frontlines so that our sons and daughters are not in harm's way,

they are going to look at this moment and say: No way. They will say:

The United States will abandon us. They will say: The United States

will leave us on the battlefield to die.

As someone who has voted against the deployment of U.S. troops

elsewhere, I don't take these issues lightly. I want our sons and

daughters to come home as soon as possible. But by withdrawing these

forces now with no strategy, the United States is placing our security

and that of our allies at grave risk, and the sacrifices that have been

made by our troops will be lost.

Russia has entered into this war in Syria with an unholy marriage

with Iran--yes, to prop up Assad, but also, for Iran, it was to gain a

tactical vantage point on Israel's northern border. Our withdrawal

leaves a vacuum that Iran will fill, putting Israel at even greater

risk.

To believe that we can outsource our allies' interest to Russia and

that Russia will tell Iran to leave now, in Syria, is ridiculous. Iran

is not a simple agent of Russia in this regard. Iran has shed its own

blood and national treasure in pursuit of its interests, both to prop

up Assad and to have a vantage point on the northern border with

Israel--another place to strike at Israel. It is not going to give that

up simply because Putin says to leave. Anyone who believes that has a

clear misunderstanding of the realities of this relationship.

Completely withdrawing the United States from Syria at this moment

with no strategy in place signals to the region and to the world that

we are willing to cede our interests to Putin, to Iran, and to others

who will exploit this leadership vacuum.

In addition, President Trump has been silent in the face of egregious

behavior from Saudi Arabia, a behavior that this Chamber spoke to in a

unanimous way.

He has no strategy for securing our interests around the Middle East

or the world. It is all too clear who is winning.

The Kremlin attacked Ukranian ships and captured Ukranian sailors

nearly a month ago. Those vessels and sailors remain in Russian hands.

They are hostages--hostages--who were taken at the high sea in

international waters in violation of international law. And what has

the administration done--canceled a meeting with President Putin?

It canceled a meeting; that is it. It hasn't rolled out new sanctions

on those responsible for the attack. It has not increased U.S. and NATO

presence in the Black Sea in order to preserve international maritime

passage for all. It has not announced new security assistance for the

Ukrainians.

One month has passed, and President Putin has felt zero pressure--

zero pressure--on any of these actions or to release these sailors.

There is zero pressure to ease the tensions in the Kerch Strait and

zero pressure to negotiate an end to the war in the Donbass or to

return Crimea to the Ukraine.

In fact, Putin seems quite at ease. His yearly press conference

earlier today was a victory lap. He is already prodding President

Trump, welcoming the evacuation from Syria, and calling for President

Trump to stand by his campaign commitment to also withdraw from

Afghanistan. He is doing it purposely to see if he can elicit the same

reaction he has elicited in Syria.

This retreat has left Vladimir Putin with a glow of victory. He is

winning in Syria; he is winning in Turkey; he is winning in the

Ukraine; and Trump wants to take our players off the field. And this

misguided withdrawal from Syria drives that point home.

Putin's control of Trump came into sharp focus yesterday, and I urge

our Republican colleagues to see this for what it is. The small price

that Putin paid to interfere in our national elections has paid off in

Syria; it has paid off in Ukraine; and the American people are paying

the ultimate price.

This is a dangerous time, and our security lies in the hands of a

President who, I will respectfully say, is clearly not up to the task.

I have called on this administration and the last to develop and

present and execute a clear and comprehensive strategy to promote our

interests in Syria. This means a comprehensive strategy to counter Iran

and its proxy networks, which, from Hezbollah to the Houthis, have

grown only stronger as this administration continues to bungle its way

through one foreign policy crisis to the next.

The President has the opportunity to reverse course and avoid a

spectacular failure. He should listen to his military and national

security advisers, none of which--none of which--ultimately recommended

this course of action. He should listen to our allies, none of which

have recommended this course of action.

He should invest in alliances and international institutions that

multilateralize and strengthen our reach across the globe.

He should listen to this bipartisan chorus from Congress. There have

been voices on both sides of the aisle here who have said: Change

course. This is a grave mistake. He has an opportunity to avoid a grave

mistake.

I will repeat what I said earlier today at a press conference with

Senator Graham and Senator Reed: Withdrawal from Syria without success

is failure. Simply withdrawing is not a success. Withdrawing without

honoring the sacrifices that have been made by our troops there,

without honoring the sacrifices that have been made by our allies

there, like the Kurds, without recognizing the enormous civilian

casualties that will take place in the aftermath, without recognizing

that we will leave a void for other particularly nefarious entities to

ultimately fill that void, without recognizing that we create a risk

for our ally, the State of Israel and its northern border, without

recognizing that at the end of the day, our strategic interests will be

totally lost in this regard, is indeed a great failure.

I hope the President takes this opportunity to change course, to

listen to his national security and military advisers and to the chorus

of bipartisan

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voices in the Senate, including those of us who are engaged in national

security questions, whether it is I, as the senior Democrat on the

Senate Foreign Relations Committee, or Senator Reed, as the senior

Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, or Senator Graham, who sits

on Armed Services and is the chair of the Subcommittee on Foreign

Operations of the Appropriations Committee. These are bipartisan

voices, among others, who are making it very clear that this is a grave

mistake. We have a chance not to make that grave mistake and the

consequences that flow from it.

I yield the floor.

Mr. MENENDEZ. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.

The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

Mr. PERDUE. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum

call be rescinded.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). Without objection, it is so

ordered.

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