Political Quotes

“I want to put this in strategic context. We are seeing a once-in-a-century upheaval in the Middle East, and the most virulent manifestation of that is occurring in Syria today with a very complex civil war raging over several years. On one side you have the brutal Assad regime aligned with Iran and Hezbollah, another terrorist group, and on the other side a panoply of Sunni groups of which the worst, the most barbaric, is ISIL. It is in America's national interest, our national security interest, to defeat and destroy ISIL, period, hands down. This is going to require American unity, American resolve. And I can tell you, never, never in recent times has American leadership been more in demand. This is the time for us to step up. It will take a lot of work. It is going to take merging the fighting capabilities of the Kurdish Peshmerga with the Iraqi forces; and, yes, it will take the U.S. training and vetting moderate Syrian forces to deal with this. This is a necessary first step, and that is why I support this amendment. It is necessary. It is not sufficient. Again, we need a broader strategy that is going to involve a coalition. This first step will show that American resolve to friends and foes alike as well as those who are on the sideline. We will demonstrate that and pull this coalition together.…”