POTENTIAL U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN SYRIA; Congressional Record Vol. 159, No. 118

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POTENTIAL U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN SYRIA

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of

January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr.

Fortenberry) for 30 minutes.

Mr. FORTENBERRY. Mr. Speaker, this is an extraordinarily busy week in

Washington as we have all returned from a district work period. There

are many issues to discuss, including how we're going to fund the

Federal budget, get the fiscal house in order, potentially have the

right type of tax reform, and deal with a whole host of other issues,

but I felt like it would be very inadequate if the evening went by but

did not delve into a little bit deeper of a discussion as to the nature

of the Syrian conflict and the potential for United States military

involvement.

Mr. Speaker, I wrote my constituents last week as they expressed

tremendous concern about the potential for U.S. entanglement in the

situation in Syria. In fact, it's overwhelming the number of people who

have shared deep, heartfelt concerns. It is overwhelming. I'm hearing

that from my colleagues, as well.

This is not some sort of populous reaction to the elites of this

institution in government. It is an intuition of the American people

who are suggesting to us in leadership that we have poured ourselves

out as a country, sacrificed tremendously, extraordinarily, to give

other people a chance for stability, for human rights, for the right

forms of development, for political outcomes that uphold just governing

structures.

Where have we gotten for our investment? Basically since World War

II, the United States has been cast into the role of the superpower

being the proprietor of international stability and we've accepted that

arrangement, but there are tremendous pressures upon us as we continue

to move forward in the 21st century as we've empowered other people and

other economies through appropriate development to take

responsibilities for themselves.

The United States has not always done this perfectly, but we've

fought multiple wars and we've engaged in many areas of the world in

order to try to give other people a chance and to stop aggressive

ideologies that are inconsistent with basic and fundamental human

rights. I've responded to the people of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I wanted

to share that with you this evening:

Life in Syria today is, as the philosopher Thomas Hobbes once wrote,

\\\`\\\`nasty, brutish, and short.'' An ongoing civil war ravishes the

country. The oppressive regime of President Bashar al-Assad wages

battle against a nebulous, undefined mix of rebels, who have regularly

employed the same brutal violence that the government has. The result

is that there are more than 100,000 persons dead, including many

innocent civilians--mothers, fathers, and children.

In response to the suspected use of chemical weapons by Assad,

President Obama is now advocating U.S. military intervention, although,

of course, the situation is now fluid. In the past, he has stated that

the use of chemical weapons is a \\\`\\\`red line'' that Assad could not

cross without a serious rethinking of American involvement in the

conflict, which to this point has included a significant amount of

humanitarian aid--and properly so--targeted to those caught in the

middle of this violence. The President, to his credit, has rightly

asked for a vote of Congress prior to taking military action, and some

in Congress are signaling their support.

In recent days, however, I have clearly stated my opposition to this

idea. I oppose this action of unilateral military strikes. The United

States should not bomb Syria in the name of stopping violence in Syria.

While quick, unilateral military strikes might satisfy the President's

\\\`\\\`red line'' rhetoric, the collateral damage and further risk of

destabilization is very high.

{time} 1830

Now, as Congress has returned to Washington this week, there are hard

questions that are in the process of being asked: What will be the

consequences of this bombing? Who's on the other side of this? And how

much do we really know of this rebel movement that we will be

implicitly aiding if we attack Assad's government? What happens

following the military strike? Why not expend the energy of this debate

over military involvement on solidifying international outrage and

holding particularly Russia, a longtime ally of Syria who's entangled

in this situation, holding them accountable?

The international community must work together creatively to stop the

savagery of Assad, but it cannot hide behind the United States military

might. No longer can it be assumed that the United States is

responsible for fixing all aspects of global conflicts, and no longer

should the United States accept that framework. For the sake of global

stability, a new construct must instead take its place, one in which

the responsible Nations of the world are serious about their own

defense and stabilization of conflicts within their regions.

In light of the increasing brutality in Syria, the United States

should continue to advance its support for the innocent victims of this

civil war. Meanwhile, we should also aggressively use this opportunity

to facilitate new international partnerships that seek lasting

solutions to complicated situations of mass violence.

Until such a united front is achieved, unilateral military action may

only introduce further chaos to an already disastrous problem and, as I

have said, implicitly put us on the side of a rebel movement who has

also shown willingness to murder innocent civilians. And it is not

clear whether or not the more

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moderate elements of that very movement have any capacity to implement

governing structures that are just and lasting. So then what happens?

Syria, this area degrades into a vast, ungovernable space, ripe for

jihadists with no protections for innocent persons or the ancient

peoples who call that place home.

Mr. Speaker, there are a number of other aspects of this that I have

written about that I would like to share momentarily, but I would like

to turn to my good friend, Congressman Charlie Dent from Pennsylvania,

as he wishes to share a few concepts and perspectives on this conflict.

Mr. DENT. I thank the gentleman from Nebraska for organizing this

Special Order this evening to discuss the crisis in Syria. In my view,

it is really indisputable that Bashar al-Assad is a villain who has

committed heinous, mortal crimes with the use of chemical weapons

against his own people.

What is debatable, however, is America's policy on Syria and the

broader Middle East. I have raised the issue of Syria with this

administration at numerous hearings as a member of the Appropriations

Committee. I have also worked with Syrians in my own community, and I

have the largest population of Syrian Americans of any Member of

Congress in the United States. I have met with them. They have brought

to my attention issues of abducted Christian archbishops who have been

abducted in Syrian and whose whereabouts, unfortunately, are unknown.

There is a lot of work going on to try to secure their release, but

that said, you can understand their concern for that part of the world.

I have spent time, too, in meetings with America's wonderful friend,

King Abdullah of Jordan, who has also shared his perspective on the

plight of the Syrian people. But what I have observed most of all is a

very sad observation, and that is the friends of the Syrian regime--

Iran, Russia and Hezbollah--are far more committed to President Assad

than the friends of the Syrian people--and that would be the West and

the Arab League--are to these moderate opposition forces.

I had asked Secretary Hillary Clinton--former Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton--back in February, 2012, if the administration was

prepared to provide some type of material support to moderate secular

opposition groups given that it looked like Assad's government was very

weak, there was a popular uprising, and it seemed there might be a

better outcome. She was pretty clear with me at the time that she

thought providing light arms would be of little help to the opposition

in the face of Assad's substantial military, with all his air assets,

artillery and armor. To put it bluntly and short, she really didn't

want to get too involved at that time. We really didn't have much of a

discussion about the benefits to America, its friends and allies and

their interests, if Iran's influence in the region were substantially

weakened through the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

I thought at the time that the President was maybe more concerned

about maintaining his reputation as a Nobel Peace Prize winner antiwar

candidate than actually developing what I thought would be a more

practical response for Syria. It just seemed that inaction and

indecision were, and frankly today, remain the order of the day.

In the meantime, let's fast forward from a year and a half, 2 years

ago to today: al-Nusra and other radical Islamist terrorist

organizations have rushed into this vacuum and filled the void, so to

speak. So really today there aren't any good public policy outcomes for

the United States. The time for the United States to more

constructively intervene and to reach a more efficacious resolution,

the time for that has long passed.

So here we are, over these last 2\\\\1/2\\\\ years, this Syrian civil war

has descended into both a sectarian and proxy conflict, and these

events have moved well beyond the United States ability to control with

Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia fully committed to the Assad government.

I think we all know, as Mr. Fortenberry knows, we know we have a very

war-weary population which is not going to support a half-hearted,

poorly thought out military strike which will only expose the United

States and its friends to greater risks, including the possibility of a

broader regional conflagration. This could include more chemical

weapons attacks against the Syrian people and possibly Israel,

potential cyber attacks on American critical infrastructure in both the

financial services and energy sectors, an unleashed Hezbollah, and

other unforeseen, asymmetrical responses.

I am deeply concerned about this, as we all should be. But we can't

just look at Syria in isolation; we have to look at it in the much

broader context of the Middle East. Unfortunately, and I'm going to

have to be a bit critical of the President at this time, witness how

President Obama turned his back on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in

2011 after 2 weeks of uprisings. Whatever his faults, whatever his

shortcomings, Hosni Mubarak was a loyal, 30-year friend of the United

States--a lesson learned by our friends and our allies throughout the

region and throughout the world.

Of course, prior to that incident there was the Green Revolution in

Iran where we saw a lot of very brave people in Iran stand up to the

Ahmadinejad regime in Iran. We witnessed that, and it seemed this

administration could barely utter words of support to these very brave

people who stood up to a tyrant, Ahmadinejad, who made all sorts of

reckless and inflammatory and hateful statements against the West and

particularly Israel, and so I was just astounded that the

administration could barely utter words of support.

Then, of course, we learned about leading from behind in Libya.

Actually, leading from behind the French and the British in Libya, to

be precise. I was one of only a handful of Republicans in the House to

support the authorization for force in Libya--after the fact, but I

supported it. So I'm not an isolationist. I believe that we have an

important role internationally with the United States, and we have to

be constructively engaged.

But let's move forward to 2013. Bashar al-Assad's government launches

chemical attacks against his own people. I believe the intelligence is

clear that he did it, or his government did it, so I'm not debating

those facts, what appear to be facts. But we witnessed these chemicals

attacks in both the late spring and again just a few weeks ago in

August, these chemical attacks. We witnessed the trampling of the red

line set down by the President not once but twice, maybe more than that

for all I know. And now over 100,000 Syrians have been killed. What is

the President's strategy for Syria? I couldn't explain it to anybody if

they asked. He talked about pinpricks or his administration has talked

about pinpricks, shots across the bow, a military action of days not

weeks, and no intention to topple Assad or to degrade his military

capacity to make war on his own people, for that matter. I'm learning a

lot about what we will not do, but I'm not really sure what we're

trying to do or trying to accomplish. So a very limited air strike to

punish Mr. Assad is not going to alter the outcome of the Syrian civil

war. What is the point or purpose? What is the clarity of mission?

In my view, America's national interest is really twofold in Syria.

One, we want to limit Iranian influence in the region, and, two, the

other issue deals with securing those chemical weapons, frankly, from

both the Assad government and the radical elements of that opposition

who would probably be just as inclined to use them. So much so that

King Abdullah of Jordan came to Members of Congress to express his real

concern about al-Nusra forces getting too close, dangerously close to a

chemical site in southern Syria, and that was just a few months ago.

So now we also witnessed, too, there really is not a coalition of the

willing to tackle Mr. Assad's crimes. It seems more a coalition of the

unwilling. The United Nations really doesn't seem anywhere to be found,

although in recent days, in the last 24 hours we're hearing there might

be some discussion with the Russians about some kind of a resolution on

securing those sites, but the U.N. is really nowhere to be found. NATO

does not seem to be fully engaged at all, although maybe some members

are supportive. And, of course, we've witnessed what the British

Parliament did to Prime Minister Cameron in rebuking him. And so the

British, our beloved friends and allies, are not going to be engaged in

this one,

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and so we're pretty much on our own. Again, I've called this a

coalition of the unwilling. And so I think it would behoove the United

States not to move in what appears to be almost a unilateral manner.

I have read, too, recently, that some of the Arab governments, Saudi

Arabia and others, would be willing to help pay for some of this

mission should we strike. You know, on the one hand, I appreciate that.

On the other, the United States military is really not a mercenary

force for anyone. A lot of folks may be encouraging us or cheering us

on, but it doesn't seem they are willing to put people in harm's way.

So I think we have to keep that in mind as we talk about this.

I'm going to conclude in a moment, but I was one of the folks who

said it is always important for the President to consult with Congress

prior to taking any kind of military action. It's important in our

system, although I don't believe the President necessarily needs a

congressional authorization for what he has called a very limited

airstrike. But now that he has asked me to engage in this debate, I owe

the President fair consideration of his policy in Syria, whatever it

may be.

Again, I said call me skeptical; now you can call me outright

opposed. I have said from day one that the President didn't seem to

have his heart in this impending military action. He was looking for a

way out after the U.N., the U.K., and NATO, a lot of our friends were

just not willing to go along, and then the President turned to Congress

as a last resort for an authorization where he has, of course, run into

very, very heavy skepticism. I just did see any Churchillian resolve in

our Commander in Chief. Our men and women in uniform deserve a

Commander in Chief who is full-throated in support of what is likely to

become a very dangerous military operation and could possibly spiral

out of control. But more importantly, we have to be cognizant of the

potential consequences and ramifications for that action.

I think the President of the United States owes that to the American

people, to make it clear what his policy is, what his mission is, not

what he's not going to do, but what he intends to do. After the

President really threw this issue to Congress, we witnessed President

Assad's jubilant supporters celebrating in the Syrian streets, and I'm

sure the corridors of power in Tehran and Moscow, and it seems now that

America's friends and allies watched this mystifying failure of

Presidential leadership unfold with dismay.

So have our constituents. We have all received these calls. In my

view, and I am really sad to say this, Barack Obama may have diminished

his own Presidency in the process, but more problematically, diminished

America's standing in the world among both friend and foe alike, and

that's a real tragedy.

{time} 1845

You know, in this upcoming vote in Congress, if it's to come at all

at this point, it is really not so much a vote on authorizing a

military strike or military intervention in Syria. The stakes have

grown beyond that. It's much more a vote of confidence on the

President's Syrian and broader Middle East policy. On that score, I

have no confidence.

And I just wanted to say one last thing. I mentioned I have a very

large Syrian population in my community, Syrian Americans. They're

great Americans. They've been part of my community for a long time,

largely Christian, Antioch Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Presbyterian and

other denominations.

They are scared. I think they know what Bashar Assad is, and many are

very uncomfortable with what he is. And on the other hand, they have

seen al-Nusra and al Qaeda, and are absolutely terrified of that

operation.

And so they're caught in this sectarian crossfire. They don't want to

be there. They're worried about atrocities, grievous atrocities being

committed against the Christian people of Syria.

We just witnessed the other day, there was a story of a small

village, I believe not too far from Damascus, where the language of

Aramaic is spoken; I guess one of the few places in the world where it

is still spoken.

Why is that significant?

Well, if you're a Christian, you know that Aramaic was the language

that Jesus Christ spoke. And to know that this ancient community--and

of course much of Syria's an ancient civilization--to know that these

people could be under attack when you find out that al-Nusra forces had

entered and intervened, and I hope they've been cleared out.

But that said, you think about this, and we worry about the history

of mankind and the history of the Christian tradition is at risk here,

and potentially a great risk of extermination.

And we've witnessed this in Egypt too. I mean, there are lessons to

be learned from Egypt. When Mubarak fell, the Christian population, the

Coptic Christian population of Egypt, became very vulnerable. We know

that--extremely vulnerable. Atrocities committed against Christians,

desecration of the churches, burning, other terrible things have

happened, and I fear that we might see similar, if not worse, things

happen in Syria.

So whatever this country chooses, whatever course of action this

country chooses to pursue, I don't believe that a military intervention

right now by the United States would advance America's policy

objectives; and frankly, I don't think it would change the trajectory

of the Syrian civil war.

People have said, well, doing nothing at all is the worst of all

possibilities, the worst of all options. Well, I would argue that if

we're not certain what this limited, so-called limited military

intervention will bring, if we're very unclear about that, then I would

argue that no action is better than a limited action which may not do

much of anything to alter the course of this civil war. So I think we

have to be very cautious and very restrained.

I do appreciate the gentleman from Nebraska allowing me this

opportunity to speak on this issue, and for his leadership, and for

allowing me this time.

Mr. FORTENBERRY. Let me thank you, as well, the gentleman from

Pennsylvania, my good friend. I've heard you speak behind the scenes in

this body, particularly today, with great passion, particularly for the

people who are directly impacted by this, people who you represent and

are directly connected to the conflict, the ancient Christian

community, as you said.

I appreciate your clarity and your resolve on this issue because I

know you, as I do, have great respect for the institution of the

Presidency. He is our Commander in Chief.

But we also have a responsibility to render to him our judgment in

this case; and so my judgment is no, that a unilateral military strike

is not going to accomplish an objective of potentially stabilizing,

punishing, preventing Assad from doing further harm and stabilizing

that situation, versus pulling the United States, as a coalition of

one, into a conflict where we are very unclear as to what the

collateral damage and destabilization outcome could actually be.

In addition to that, the American people are intuiting that there is

a serious, serious problem here with us being drawn into another

conflict where the options are all bad, where our hearts are with the

innocent victims, and we will continue to provide humanitarian aid.

But we must not allow the international community to simply hide

behind our military might; and I think that that is what the people are

sensing, that we are being drawn into something that has much broader

implications for the entire international community to respond in a

constructive, creative way.

And if we would have expended this energy, as I said earlier, on

trying to get underneath the problem and perhaps point the finger and

lay it at the footsteps of the Russians, who are completely entangled

in this situation, maybe we would have had better movement on this

question prior to now.

Now, we'll see what the President says tonight. We'll listen with an

open mind. I don't know whether he is going to pull back from his

intention to potentially strike Syria or not. But I think it is prudent

to allow some diplomatic actions to potentially take their course, even

though that might be a bit farfetched at the moment.

But, hopefully, that new diplomatic momentum has some good creative

elements and stops the situation, pressures Assad, brings about a

collective

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international response that stabilizes the situation and protects

innocent people. I think that's the best outcome that we could

potentially hope for here.

Mr. DENT. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FORTENBERRY. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. DENT. It seems that the policy of the United States and Syria,

since the beginning of the uprising in Syria, has largely been one of

inaction and detachment. And, in many respects, we outsourced the

arming of the opposition forces to many of our good friends: the Turks,

the Qataris, the Saudis, and others. And whether we like it or not--and

we don't like it in many respects--many of the folks who were armed

were people who don't share our interests and values, the al-Nusra

forces in particular.

But there are moderate forces, and if the United States had

demonstrated some leadership early in this, during that conflict, to

help identify moderate secular opposition forces, there probably could

have been multi-ethnic again and secular, it could have been Kurdish

and Christian and moderate Sunni, that might have helped bring about a

more legitimate or a better opposition force that the international

community would be rallying around.

But that, unfortunately, has not happened, and now you read about

large swaths of territory in Syria dominated by some opposition forces

that have been rather radicalized; and that's unfortunate because there

are many elements of the Free Syrian Army, of course, who really do

want to try to bring about more representative government and, I think,

would embrace the values that you and I hold dear.

But, you know, time has passed. Time has passed, and I just don't see

a good outcome, as I stated earlier, at this point. And I just wish--I

think the American people understand this intuitively.

And it also speaks to NATO. What's happening with NATO?

It's a great organization. I believe in NATO. It's a collective

defense organization. I believe in its military value and its political

value. But it seems, since the end of the Cold War, maybe it's gone a

little bit adrift.

And Turkey has been a loyal friend and NATO ally for decades. They

are directly affected by this conflict in Syria. They may make demands

of us and NATO at some point, and we're going to have to think that

through, as policymakers, what we would do if our good friends, the

Turks, make a request of us, and certainly our good friends in Jordan.

Mr. FORTENBERRY. Reclaiming my time, it's a good question you raised,

and one that I pointed to earlier, new international constructs that

might be using templates of old international constructs, but that are

revitalized so that we can have collective operations, if necessary, to

engage in this type of stopping mass violence.

The NATO allocations for many countries, they don't meet them year

after year. In other words, the money they're supposed to contribute,

they just don't do it.

So who has to pick up the pieces?

We do. There's a \\\`\\\`free rider problem'' as we call it here. And you

deal in a lot of international diplomatic circles and you constantly

hear it. Oh, the United States is the only one who has the ability.

You're the only superpower. You must act, and it is your--you must be

compelled morally, based upon who you are, to do something here.

All of those are fine points. But in the 21st century, you have a

shift of the global framework for international stability occurring. We

have expended ourselves, as a country, for nearly 70 years, providing

that framework for global stability, economically and politically

protecting human rights, as I said earlier, not always perfectly.

But the United States cannot single-handedly lift this burden for the

entire world, particularly for countries that benefited from our past

sacrifice, who have the economic wherewithal, and should have the moral

compass to be thinking constructively about regional organizations that

stop this type of conflict before it starts and demanding just outcomes

of sovereign territories.

That is the long-term strategy. I recognize we're in a difficult

moment because we're being pressured to decide unilateral military

action or not, but this is the type of long-term thinking that I think

will help bring about new models of international, multilateral

cooperation to prevent this from happening, or when it does happen, to

have the right response in place.

Mr. DENT. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FORTENBERRY. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. DENT. I just want to say one more thing. You know, the President

has said that this red line that was crossed was not his red line, but

the international community's red line. Ninety-eight percent of the

world has opposed chemical weapons use and has agreed to the various

conventions on chemical weapons.

Unfortunately, 98 percent of the world isn't prepared to help us in

this intervention. We're on our own, and I just wanted to point that

out.

Mr. FORTENBERRY. Well, our time has expired, and I do thank you for

the good constructive conversation. I appreciate your insights and

clarity on the situation. It's complex, it's difficult; but, again,

unilateral military action allows the international community to hide

behind our might, and it's simply not the right response at this time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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