REGARDING THE CHEMICAL ATTACKS IN SYRIA AND THE PRESIDENT'S IRRESPONSIBLE REMARKS

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REGARDING THE CHEMICAL ATTACKS IN SYRIA AND THE PRESIDENT'S

IRRESPONSIBLE REMARKS

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HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

of texas

in the house of representatives

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the President to

be more responsive and aware of the heavy consequences that weigh

behind his comments regarding Syria.

Last week, the President's reckless comments of suggesting that it

was time to withdraw from Syria emboldened Bashar al-Assad and his

regime to launch yet another round of chemical attacks on innocent men,

women, and children in the city of Douma.

This attack claimed the lives of at least 85 people, majority of them

women and children and affected hundreds.

I extend my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the

victims killed or injured by the horrific and unjustifiable use of

chemical weapons by the Assad regime against an unarmed civilian

population.

The world learned through the painful experience of World War I the

horror and inhumanity of chemical weapons, which caused unspeakable

suffering and killed indiscriminately as we saw in the 1980s when

Saddam Hussein's regime used them in Iraq's war with Iran and later

against its own people.

The international community cannot again let such an attack go

unanswered for to do so will embolden other rogue regimes and

terrorists.

The President, as Commander in Chief, is charged with the

responsibility of deciding when to use military force to protect the

nation and its interests.

But he does not bear this weighty burden alone.

The Constitution wisely provides that it is shared with the Congress,

the representatives of the American people.

The decisions we make as a country must be measured and wise as

countless lives hang in the balance of our actions.

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