Ted Poe: “I thank the gentleman for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, ISIS, this evil group, has been intentionally targeting Christians…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, ISIS, this evil group, has been intentionally targeting Christians worldwide because of their religious belief. ISIS not only targets Christians, it targets any religious group, including some Muslims who disagree with them. As the previous speaker from New York mentioned, they are proud of the fact that they murder people, that they behead people, and that they put their murders on television for the world to see. These atrocities committed by this terrorist group in the name of a perverted jihad religion are the worst crimes we have seen in our lifetime. More than that, ISIS' massacres of religious and ethnic minorities fits the definition of genocide. The definition of genocide is clear. It is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial or cultural group. That is exactly what ISIS is doing. ISIS has already forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to leave their ancestral homes. {time} 1630 For the first time since Jesus, there are almost no Christians left in this part of the world. There were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq in 2003--1.5 million. Since that time, terrorists have either killed or forced Christians to run for their lives. Today, 13 years later, there are 66 percent fewer Christians in this area.…”