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[Page H68]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IRAN IS A TERROR STATE
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cuellar). The Chair recognizes the
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) for 5 minutes.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, as a terror state, Iran is no
friend of the United States or our allies. For three decades, Iran has
been a leading state sponsor of terrorism and an eager empire builder.
Its history of money laundering, terrorism, and murder of U.S. soldiers
is undeniable.
Last week, the President, as Commander in Chief, took the legal and
decisive action when he eliminated terrorist combatant leader Qasem
Soleimani from the battlefield. Across the years in the region, this
man of murder has the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocents on
his hands.
To refer to this combat operation as an assassination or to offer
moral equivalence between Soleimani and a state-sponsored terror
organization with a rule-following nation actively engaged in the
family of nations is laughable.
In my view, Soleimani ranks up there with the worst exporters of
terror in the region, including the likes of Osama bin Laden or al-
Baghdadi, the most recent demised head of ISIS.
Over these three decades, the United States and our allies have faced
greater and more violent Iranian or Iranian proxy attacks orchestrated
by the terror general Soleimani against the United States and our
allies, dating as far back as 1983, when Iran's proxy Hezbollah
committed the Beirut, Lebanon, bombing, killing 241 marines.
Soleimani, Iran, Hezbollah, and their thirst for violence is well
documented and undeniable. In the face of this record and their very
aggressive actions of the last few weeks, including the killing of an
American contractor, targeting of U.S. forces, attacking Saudi Arabian
oil operations, disrupting shipping in the Persian Gulf, shooting down
an American drone, and then blatantly and aggressively attacking our
Embassy in Baghdad, President Trump has been quite restrained during
the course of that record.
However, the killing of an American contractor and orchestrating that
storming and destruction at the American Embassy in Baghdad and the
eminent planning of additional threats that this Congress learned the
details of yesterday and attacks potentially on American troops or
diplomats was the final straw.
Mr. Speaker, the provocateur is Iran, not President Trump. The
assassin is Soleimani, not President Trump. The destabilizing force in
the region is Iran, not the United States.
Yesterday, President Trump reiterated that the United States does not
seek to start a war with Iran. His recent actions have sent an
unambiguous signal to Iran and their proxies: Harm Americans, pay a
price.
President Trump's objectives are clear: End Iran's export of terror;
end its advancing regional ballistic missile capabilities; and prohibit
their obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Instead, President Trump encourages the Iranian people to assert
their own aspirations and form a more open and pluralistic future for
their children and their children's children. This rich, historic land
deserves to return to a time when the beautiful, intelligent Iranian
people chart their own course for good, as citizens of a country eager
to be part of the family of nations.
____________________
