Thursday, September 11, 2014
Floor Speech: Senator Coons speaks about the President's strategy for stopping ISIS
As Delivered on the Senate Floor
I've come to the floor this morning to speak about our military's critical mission to defeat and degrade the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a terrorist organization that threatens the stability and security of tens of thousands across these two nations.
Mr. President, as we consider more deeply involving the United States military into a new combat mission, I’m reminded of the brave young men and women who will carry out that mission with unparalleled courage and professionalism. This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to join hundreds of fellow Delawareans to welcome home and celebrate 70 men and women of the third battalion of the 238th Army National Guard Aviation regiment, who were returning from a year of service in Kuwait.
Many of them were returning not just from one tour of duty, but from what was their second or third deployment, having previously served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet these volunteer citizen soldiers were and remain willing to continue serving. I have the honor of knowing several current and former members of this unit and my heart was heavy this weekend thinking about how many more units like these, how many soldiers and airmen and their families will be asked to continue serving in combat or in distant and difficult places supporting combat missions in the years ahead.
After more than a decade of conflict in the exactly 13 years since September 11, 2001, I know Americans are tired of war. I know we are weary of war. And as the President spoke last night, it was clear that he is as well, as am I. But I would challenge today my colleagues and my friends as I challenge myself that though we are weary we cannot ignore the very real threats that we face today. We cannot ignore the brutal events that have taken place in northwestern Iraq and in eastern Syria. And we cannot ignore the threat that brutality poses to America and our allies. ISIS is a brutal terrorist organization. It has killed innocent Americans like the two brave journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff whom they beheaded.
Thousands of innocent Iraqis and Syrians have perished at their hands and it will continue to do so unless the world comes together to stop them. Let us not forget one of the biggest reasons we first acted against ISIS militarily in Iraq this summer was to prevent the imminent genocide of a religious minority, the Yazidi people in Iraq. Images of tens of thousands of Yazidis and Christians who were hounded, threatened, and persecuted by ISIS, and ultimately retreated to the top of a mountain, I think transfixed the American people this August.
The action that our President took and that our military executed to allow them to safely flee encouraged all of us to know there are places when American military might can and should be used for good. Just as the ISIS terrorists threatened the Yazidis, they threatened the Kurds and other ethnic minorities in Iraq and the region. Last night with my Republic Colleague, Senator Kirk, I co-chaired the first meeting of the new Senate Human Rights Caucus. We heard from representatives from Iraq’s minority communities in a conversation that focused on ISIS’s atrocities against innocent civilians simply because of who they are or how they worship. As we expand our campaign against ISIS we must continue to engage with the people of Iraq and Syria and the region to learn from the past and continue to prevent massacres of innocent men, women, and children. ISIS is a group bent on the destruction of all people of whatever background or religion who do not subscribe to their hateful ideology.
Our president is right. What makes the United States a global force for good is that we are still willing to do what is hard because we know it is right. That's the responsibility that comes from being a nation uniquely founded on principles of freedom, of liberty, and of justice, and of having built up one of the most capable and powerful militaries in the world. Of being a nation and a people borne of immigrants who came from all over this world and who remain connected to it and touched by the things that happen in the far reaches of our globe.
Last night, President Obama addressed our nation to make the case for expanding military action against ISIS. Already sadly today there are critics of his strategy just as there have been over the past few weeks. In fact, in the four years I’ve served here I’ve rarely seen a day in this Senate when the President isn't challenged, criticized, blocked and harried by his opponents. There is always some way he could have acted more quickly or with more strength or critics claim we’d be better served by a sterner tone or a more eager finger on the trigger.
I must say I was struck when Vice President – former Vice President – Cheney this past week criticized President Obama's restraint as he has throughout President Obama's tenure. I would remind my friends we could do better than to listen to the voices of those who misled this country into war in Iraq a decade ago. Especially when it's clear they have learned none of the lessons of that tragic strategic blunder. Surely, as we consider carefully taking expanded military action now we should applaud our President for proceeding with caution and humility.
Mr. President, critical to our current strategy and what sets it apart from some past actions is this fact -- we are not going alone. Seeking to lead a multilateral coalition is not leading from behind, it is not weakness. Muscular multilateralism is recognizing we are an indispensable nation that we are a leading nation, but we are not the only nation that should take on and tackle the challenge that ISIS presents. Much of the allure of ISIS is the illusion they've created that the Muslim world is at war with the West, when the truth is that ISIS does not reflect or represent Islam and that ISIS has killed more Muslims than any other people. The President's strategy of building a broad coalition of support including across the Arab and Muslim world is crucial to our success.
This is not just an American problem, it is a regional and global problem and it will not be solved without the hard work of those living in communities and countries most at risk, most affected, most harmed by ISIS.
We cannot and should not do this alone. That is the only way this works. It is a critical reason why I support the president's strategy for expanded action.
Central to this strategy's success is our military action, as well as diplomatic resources and pressure. Let's remember one of the reasons this has even happened is because of the abject failure of Prime Minister Maliki and his Iraqi government to act in a pluralistic, inclusive way as he pledged he would, and instead has acted as a Shia warlord over the last few years, sewing the seeds of descent and of disconnection with his Sunni citizens that created the vacuum into which ISIS has charged. That's why this Administration's diplomatic efforts to build an inclusive Iraqi government, to demand an inclusive Iraqi government have been so important. We cannot defeat ISIS without Iraqis working hand in hand on the ground. That requires a united Iraq whose future every Iraqi has a stake in preserving.
Now, as we deepen our involvement it is also necessary that we broaden our strategy. The fact of the matter is we cannot defeat ISIS by attacking it in Iraq alone. As we hit ISIS from the air, we also need to be cognizant of the fact most of its strength and support is in Syria, and the boundary line dividing Iraq from Syria is today on the ground largely a fiction. So we need in Syria a strong and a moderate, and an armed and trained opposition, ready, willing, and able to fight ISIS on the ground.
The President referred last night to our successful counterterrorism strategy in several places in the world, and let me as the Co-Chair of the African Affairs Subcommittee briefly mention ways in which this strategy in Syria is similar to what our strategy has been in Somalia, in combating Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda affiliate which has governed much of Somalia over the past decade. There, there has been a similar strategy to the one articulated last night where the United States has combined training, equipment, logistics, and tactical support with an A.U. authorized African ground force drawn from Uganda, from Kenya, from Ethiopia, from Burundi where those troops have done the hard work of retaking and holding territory while the Somali government and security forces get reestablished. In the case of Syria, Saudi Arabia has just stepped up and agreed to provide the funding and space to train and equip Syrian coalition fighters.
In Congress, we must act swiftly and responsibly to support that training and equipping mission that the President has asked us to support by granting our President the authority and funding he needs. Airstrikes could happen soon, and we cannot make the mistake of taking out ISIS while giving Bashar al-Assad, the dictator who still terrorizes Syria, the opportunity to rush into the absence. By helping build a cohesive, trained, and equipped moderate Syrian opposition, we can help prevent the expansion of ISIS and the Assad regime.
In the long run, in Syria as in Iraq, it is Syrians, moderate Syrians who must retake their country from ISIS and undertake the very difficult and daunting challenge of rebuilding a stable and inclusive, and hopefully someday peaceful society, after decades of dictatorship and more than three years of a withering civil war. The United States and Syria's neighbors and the entire international community needs to be invested and engaged to help them along this difficult path.
Now, we need to be direct with the American people. This is not going to be easy and it is not going to be swift. We must ensure our military has the resources it needs to carry out this mission. As President Obama said last night, the lives of brave American pilots and service members will be put at risk. But we must also be clear, in their courage and service, they will be part of an important effort to eradicate from this earth one of the greatest threats currently walking upon it.
Last night, President Obama asked for the support of the American people as our armed forces and our partners begin in combination to carry out this mission.
Let me say, he has mine.
I am committed to working with my colleagues, as later today all Senators attend a classified briefing and an update on ISIS and as next week committees in this Senate hear testimony from Secretary of State Kerry and Secretary of Defense Hagel. I am committed to working with my colleagues and with Chairman Menendez on the Foreign Relations Committee to review, consider, draft, and approve an Authorization for the Use of Military Force when submitted to us by the President that gives Congress an appropriate role in oversight and the President the authorization he needs.
Mr. President, we need to do everything we can together to ensure that ISIS will be stopped. It has already shown itself, demonstrated its capability to commit unspeakable crimes, and if left unchecked, these terrorists will spread their reach beyond our abilities to stop them.
We cannot let that happen.
As my colleagues discuss and debate this mission, I only ask that we leave the politics of the moment out of it. With an election soon upon us, the temptation is strong to use every opportunity to achieve any short-term partisan advantage, but this is too important and too much is at stake. While today all over this country we call to mind and honor the sacrifices of Americans who've served and those who lost their lives 13 years ago today, we must consider this new mission with the utmost gravity, humility, and caution.
I am eager, then, to work with my colleagues here in the Senate and with the Administration in a bipartisan way as we move forward to take on the difficult task of defeating ISIS and strengthening the forces of inclusion and moderation in Iraq and Syria. I urge my colleagues to support this mission every step of the way.