Ed Markey: “just in response to the Senator from Oklahoma, it is deeply disheartening when, on the floor of the U.S. Senate, we…”

“just in response to the Senator from Oklahoma, it is deeply disheartening when, on the floor of the U.S. Senate, we cannot agree to a simple commitment that the United States of America should never engage in military actions that are war crimes by attacking cultural sites in Iran. When ISIS attacks cultural sites in the Middle East, we condemn that because we know what the impact on the cultures of those countries will be. When al-Qaida attacked us on September 11, 2001, which targets did they select? They selected the World Trade Center, the symbol of capitalism in the United States. They selected the Pentagon, the symbol of our defense. And but for those brave passengers on that plane in Pennsylvania, when they said ``Let's roll,'' that target could have been the Capitol Building of the United States of America where we are standing right now, the symbol of Democracy. They knew what they were doing--they were striking at capitalism, at our Defense Department, and at our democracy--and they knew what the impact would have been on our country. So we have a choice to make right now out here on the floor of the Senate, and that is to make a statement before we do that to the Iranians because we ourselves experienced it, and we know what our reaction was. They will rise up in a way that will make it impossible to reconcile. We will be in eternal war in the Middle East. My request to the Members is to have this resolution come back out here on the floor.…”