Press release: Congressman Scott Desjarlais on House Syria resolution

Statement

Today, Congressman Scott DesJarlais, M.D., released the following statement describing his vote against House Resolution 625 that attempts to obscure former President Barack Obama's role in creating the humanitarian crisis in Syria and President Donald Trump's succeSsful efforts to defeat ISIS and stabilize the country:

This week's House resolution essentially blames Barack Obama's failed foreign policy on Donald Trump, who has made major progress in Syria and elsewhere. Our former president called ISIS the "J.V. squad" before it took over large portions of Iraq and Syria. He drew a "red line," which he refused to enforce, instead inviting to Russia to monitor Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad. President Obama's "reset" with Russia and nuclear deal with Iran, meanwhile, provided those countries with more flexibility and resources to expand in the Middle East.

As we also saw in Libya, his response was to arm various militias, some of them with radical Islamist ties. President Trump put an end to this policy in Syria, removing combat restrictions Mr. Obama placed on American troops that had prevented them from seriously engaging the enemy. Under new leadership, we have rebuilt the U.S. military, after drastic cuts under Barack Obama, and demolished the ISIS caliphate, which expanded under his "leading from behind" strategy.

We canceled the Iran nuclear deal and nuclear treaties Russia has ignored. The United States is stronger today, and the President is doing exactly what he said he would do with the support of a majority of Americans, who never approved large troop numbers in Syria. Nor has Congress. When given the opportunity, both Republicans and Democrats have refused to endorse the occupying force this week's resolution would require.

However, our forces in the Middle East are well positioned to protect U.S. interests, and we have other means of punishing bad behavior, such as economic sanctions on Turkey. The President is reconstructing broken alliances that will help to stabilize the situation. I could not support this week's resolution, because it lacks many of these important details.

Source