Dependence on the Government

Floor Speech

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Mr. FORTENBERRY. I thank the gentleman from Texas, if you would allow me a few minutes of commentary.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to add to Mr. Gohmert's conversation today. I wanted to add a few words on the Syrian conflict, which has been unfolding with just horrific consequences.

In my office this week, I read the accounts about Father Francois Murad, a Franciscan priest who was shot dead in northern Syria by rebels engaged in the Syrian conflict. He was killed in a Christian village where he sought to serve. He did not deserve the death that he was dealt.

Mr. Speaker, I just simply firmly believe that the United States Congress cannot allow American taxpayers to become complicit in this killing and the other brutality that is occurring there in Syria.

What began as a very hopeful exercise of the Syrian people petitioning their government for redress of grievances and their basic rights has spun into a dreadful civil war with terroristic elements and other rebel groups fighting this brutal Assad regime. But the bloodbath in Syria has spared no one. The regime and many of its rebel opponents have killed wantonly, without discretion, murdering civilians and combatants alike. Men, women, and even innocent children have not been spared. No one there is safe.

We have no place imposing our notions of democracy in a place where we cannot distinguish who stands for what. We cannot become complicit in barbaric attacks on civilians. We have no business shipping weapons that could end up in the hands of those who would raid convents and murder innocent people. Neither America nor Syria can possibly be served by this.

Mr. Speaker, true to our principles, the United States remains the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to the people of Syria, with a total of more than $800 million given since this conflict began in the spring of 2011. That's where our efforts belong.

Mr. Speaker, I think for Father Murad, whom I referenced earlier, this would probably be the outcome that he would want to see: humanitarian help, giving people some hope, possibly even stopping the shipment of arms into that country. That would be a legacy worthy of his sacrifice.

A hundred thousand persons have died, Mr. Speaker. No U.S. military engagement in Syria.

I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding.

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