On the recordJune 18, 2014
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and I are sending the following letter, and we urge Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to sign this letter to President Obama: Dear Mr. President: Many Americans have been deeply troubled by the unfolding crisis in Iraq. The rapid fall of multiple Iraqi cities to the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS, brings the militant group notably closer to its declared aim of establishing a caliphate that spans the northern sections of Syria and Iraq. A June 12 BBC article described ISIS in the following way: ``The group has a reputation for brutality. Parts of Syria and Iraq that have previously fallen under its rule have witnessed summary execution, beheadings, and even crucifixions.'' It is against this backdrop, Mr. President, that we write to you bearing in mind recent reports from Archbishop Bashar M. Warda of the Chaldean Diocese of Erbil. While his particular diocese is relatively calm at the moment, the picture that he painted, consistent with news report, of the situation in Mosul and the implications for Iraq's ancient Christian community and other religious minorities was bleak and sobering. For years, we have witnessed a precipitous decline of Iraq's Christian community. Thousands have fled in the face of targeted violence. Many of those that remained relocated to Mosul and the Nineveh Plain.…
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