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[Page H365]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
U.S. POLICY IN SYRIA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Arkansas (Mr. Hill) for 5 minutes.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I was delighted to read that
President Trump has reflected on his initial instinct to pull our 2,000
soldiers out of eastern Syria based on his conclusion that ISIS is
defeated, and, instead, he is ordering a withdrawal at a proper pace
consistent with American objectives.
To meet our goals of a safe American homeland and progress towards
regional stability, America must first develop a strategy to eliminate
ISIS from northeast Syria along the lower Euphrates valley at the
border of Syria and Iraq.
This plan must include a productive role for our partner and ally,
the Kurds. It is not in America's interest to abandon our long friends,
the Kurds, to Turkish treachery and annihilation.
Recent open-source data suggests there are 30,000 ISIS-related
fighters in the lower Euphrates valley. With our allies, we must press
this villainous band to its inglorious end.
Our leaving with no plan will squander our immense success in cutting
off funding and winning back hard-fought territorial gains from the
occupation of ISIS.
Second, America must block Iran. A key here is a small base and
deconfliction zone at al-Tanf, a small force of 200 anchors that base
along the key highway between Damascus and Baghdad. Not only is this a
strategic imperative, Mr. Speaker, but 50,000 refugees are tenuously
housed in this deconfliction zone at Rukban. Withdraw, and death awaits
them.
Neighboring Jordan can take no more. We must ensure that an allied
force remains at al-Tanf, blocking the Iranian-planned autobahn being
considered from Tehran to Damascus. Withdraw, Mr. President, and you
will leave Israel fully encircled by its greatest enemy, the Ayatollah
in Tehran.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, America must achieve peace and stability in
Syria. Our small elite presence, our supply lines, and our air
superiority offer pressure on the murderous regime in Damascus to reach
a settlement to return Syria to peace and return millions of refugees
to their towns and ancestral homes.
Leave, Mr. President, and you will squander the great moral victory
of your strategic strikes against Assad from his illegal use of
chemical weapons and barrel bombs.
Your early decisive actions made our friends, villagers huddling in
fear and from the Euphrates to Idlib, shout with joy. ``America is
back,'' they shouted.
Leave, Mr. President, with no plan and no strategy, and they will
hang their heads as they did during President Obama's shameful
abandonment.
Mr. Speaker, this unfortunate chapter unfolding in the tragedy known
as Syria foreshadows an unflattering flashback to a time long ago when
Great Britain abandoned a role of stability in the Holy Land and India.
In 1948, Churchill rose in the House to oppose Prime Minister Atlee's
own unplanned precipitous withdrawal from the Holy Land, saying:
A time limit imposed--a kind of guillotine--will certainly
prevent the full, fair, and reasonable discussion of the
great, complicated issues that are involved.
Indeed, as Churchill foresaw, mayhem, terror, and destruction were
the result of Britain's precipitous withdrawal.
It is said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. Mr.
President, let's not repeat this historical mistake nor let our actions
even result in a rhyme.
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