On the recordJuly 11, 2019
I want to thank Congressman Thornberry for the time as well as his leadership, as well as the chair of the Armed Services Committee, because this is very important. Recently, I was looking at the photos of the young men and women who hang on the wall of my office. They died in Iraq--some of them I knew; some of the families I knew, some I didn't know; some I still stay in touch with. At this point, we have lost so much, we have given so much, it is hard to understand why further engagement is necessary. And yet, of the many injustices that remain, one, particularly, stands out. The dark twisted idealogy of ISIS decimated the religious minority communities, primarily of northern Iraq, almost 4 million persons. ISIS attempted to exterminate, to kill off Yazidis, Christians, and other minority populations. Now, since then, the Iraqi Army, with our support and with the support of an international coalition, has fought hard and fought ISIS off. They are gone but not yet exterminated. We have shifted substantial economic aid, but there is one more thing we should do: provide security in northern Iraq through the integration of the religious minorities into the Iraqi Government security forces, as well as the Kurdish forces. I thank both the chair and the ranking member for their support.
