Political Quotes

“I thank the ranking member for yielding. It is sad that we are here. As a military member, I spent some time at the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey in `06, or maybe a little before in `05. I think we all, as Members of this body, have probably been there in our travels and see some amazing potential for a country that really straddles two continents and plays such an important role in the future. But it is sad to see what has happened. So, I reluctantly have to rise today in support of H.R. 4695, the Protect Against Conflict by Turkey Act, also known as the PACT Act. I cosponsored this because I am worried about the direction of President Erdogan and the direction he is taking the Republic of Turkey. The leader of a country with so much to offer the world should not be cozying up to the likes of Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad--Vladimir Putin, who oversees a failing nation, quite honestly, and is not the future. Yet that is exactly what Erdogan is doing when he decided to invade Syria. Far too many men, women, and children have died at the hands of Assad, Putin, and Khamenei. It is unthinkable that a leader of a NATO nation will be joining the list of murderous thugs; but, given the latest developments in Syria, many of our Kurdish partners will likely die because of Erdogan's offensive. These are the same Kurdish fighters who, while we lost less than 20 soldiers in the fight against ISIS from combat, lost over 10,000 of their own men and women.…”