Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for his hard work on this very difficult subject. Mr. Speaker, several months ago, our best CIA analyst could not have predicted that large swaths of Iraq and Syria would be overrun, conquered, by a group called ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. ISIL is better financed, better armed, commands more territory, and boasts a larger army than al Qaeda ever has in its dark history. Its twisted form of religion is eighth century barbarism wielding 21st century weaponry. Mr. Speaker, they kill, they behead, they crucify, they rape, and they fly a black banner of death wherever they go. Of late, appropriate American leadership has stopped their advance and prevented further humanitarian catastrophe. Now, the question is what to do next. At this point, we are debating a narrow amendment to authorize President Obama to train and arm so-called moderate Syrian rebels. Mr. Speaker, several months ago, I offered an amendment to stop any potential arms from flowing to the Syrian opposition. At that time, there was no broad strategy. Weaponizing moderate rebels, in a battleground of shifting loyalties and no guarantee of victory, was an ad hoc idea that could have made the situation much worse. Now, this new amendment is narrowly tailored with appropriate benchmarks and aggressive oversight; yet, in reality, we are trying to manage very low expectations, and I remain concerned.…”