Marcy Kaptur: “I thank the ranking member, Mr. Smith, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the resolution before us is a fateful one. If…”

“I thank the ranking member, Mr. Smith, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the resolution before us is a fateful one. If operations planning is not executed properly, it will result in the United States becoming embroiled in a modern version of the Hundred Years' War. Over the past decade, and indeed since the bombing of our Marine barracks in Lebanon three decades ago, our Nation's blood and treasure have been expended in growing numbers to influence Middle East foreign policy. Most recently, the result has shifted Iraq from a Sunni-led dictatorship under Saddam Hussein to be replaced by a corrupt, unrepresentative Shi'a-leaning regime led by Nouri al-Maliki. Both corrupt regimes thwarted democratic advancement, and now a new, untested government has been set in place in Baghdad, but its effectiveness is unknown. Its connectivity to its own people across its provinces is uneven and undemocratic. Meanwhile, we witness the rise of ISIL, a barbaric Sunni force largely composed of foreign fighters from other nations that manifests the discontent of the Sunnis. ISIL's leader had been a leader inside al Qaeda Iraq. Recognize for the most part, Iraq's huge Sunni population has been vastly ignored and purposefully excluded in Iraq's al-Maliki-led government. There is a huge chasm between Baghdad's politically unrepresentative government and the reality of the Sunni tribes not affiliated with ISIL that have dug in for the long haul and exist in key provinces in Iraq.…”