his invitation to president erdogan to visit the united states. president erdogan needs to here about the opposition. and it makes no sense to extend hospitality and niceties during this crisis. republicans and democrats must come together and ensure that the administration understands the consequences of these actions. we have to do more to ensure that such mistakes never happen again. thank you, mfficer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. i, too, rise this afternoon to discuss the situation in syria. let me commend my colleague, senator romney, for his very thoughtful and very timely and very important comments. we all recognize that the situation in syria is highly fluid, but it's important, i think, to state the case with respect to the president's decision to acquiesce to

president erdogan's offensive against the kurds. the president's decision is a disaster for our partners in the fight against isis and the united states foreign policy more broadly spoken. while i welcome the temporary cease-fire announced a short time ago and hope that a permanent cease-fire can be achieved, it does not absolve president trump of responsibility for his betrayal of our kurdish partners and his role in unleashing violence and instability in northern syria. it is not clear whether turkey made any concessions as part of the deal struck with the u.s. delegation or whether kurdish forces will comply. if not, i am concerned that additional violence is likely to follow and we'll have little leverage to prevent it. in fact, there is a quote attributed to the turkish foreign minister by the white house reporter at cnn.

she quotes the turkish foreign minister as saying this is not a cease-fire. we will poise the operation for 1 -- pause the operation for 120 hours for the terrorists to leave. we will only stop the operation if our conditions are met. indeed, even this supposed cease-fire may not materialize as a cease-fire. but the reality is that the blood of kurds, many kurds, is on president trump's hands and thousands of hardened isis prisoners could be let loose as a result of this hasty and uninformed decision. president trump's decision to abandon our close partners also strengthened the hand of erdogan, putin, assad, and khomeini. those are not friends. those are in many cases adversaries and antagonists. members of the administration claim that the u.s. government opposed the tur turkish incursin

but the president's own actions and statements made clear that he gave erdogan a green light. the president ordered our military to begin a phased withdrawal from syria last december, a decision that prompted the resignation of former secretary of defense mattis and surely gave the turks the impression that he would fold when pressed by erdogan. not surprising he did. on that phone call, erdogan was pushing against an open door. he knew it. the president knew it. and that's why the turks came across the line. stating that we should let the kurds and turks fight it out because of their long standing grievances, betrays both of your national security interests in the middle east and our own ideals. it is a shame that the white house statement released after the president's call with erdogan did not even criticize the planned turkish incursion or

wasn't of potential consequences if it went forward. it wasn't until the following day, after a bipartisan and international outcry, that the president began to express any concern about turkish plans while at the same time reiterating his invitation to erdogan to visit the white house next month. it is impossible to read the president's initial statements as anything but acquiescence. furthermore, the president's statements over the follows days sought to distance the united states from the kurds and the foreseeable consequences of his decision with regards to isis and the humanitarian challenges in northern syria. the violence we have witnessed over the last few days in northern syria was the direct result of an impulsive president making decisions counter to the advice of our national security experts. president trump has often expressed disdain for the career military, diplomatic and intelligence professionals our nation relies on to develop and

implement sound national security policy. we are once again seeing the ramifications of his incompetence. the president's stunning ignorance of the complexities of the middle east was on full display over the weekend in a tweet where he seemed not to have an understanding of the location or identity of the separate kurdish groups with whom we have partnered with in syria and iraq. the secretaries of defense and state both insist they were consulted by the president on this decision. maybe so, but it is clear that he didn't heed their advice or that of our national security experts. i'm not aware of any security experts who advocated for standing by while the turkish military carries out on offensive against our kurdish partners. in fact, on october 2, just four days before the phone call between presidents trump and erdogan, the state department's special envoy to syria publicly

warned, we certainly think that a conflict along the turkey-syria border would serve the interests of all the bad actors in the conflict and in the surrounding region, whether that's isis or al qaeda or the iranian regime or what have you. that was his special envoy. the president's capitulation to erdogan runs directly counter to all of the administration's stated objectives in syria. the administration's stated strategy is to, one, defeat isis, two, force the removal of iranian-aligned foreign forces in syria, and, three, achieve a negotiated political settlement to the syrian civil war in line with the united nations resolutions. the security and humantarian catastrophe that president erdogan has unleashed with trump's approval will make achieving any of these goals nearly impossible. the violence in northern syria

over the last few days have led to the displacement of at least 160,000 people. the suspension of humanitarian assistance into affected areas, the escape of an unidentified number of isis detainees and the horrific killing of unarmed civilians including experts that secretary of defense esper has described as potential war crimes. just weeks ago at our urging, the s.d.f. removed personnel from border areas, relocated heavy weapons and destroyed defensive fortifications in northern syria. they did 10 even in the face of continued turkish military buildup along the syrian border because they believe the united states and turkey had agreed to a security mechanism in good faith that could avoid bloodshed. it seems that they were wrong to put their faith in this administration. the turkish incursion into syria has undermined years of effort by the united states and the

international community. despite the elimination of the so-called physical cali phate, isis is not defeated. general mattis correctly warned that isis will resurge if pressure against the group isn't sustained. perhaps even more damaging than the current situation in syria is the long-term impact the president's decision on our standing in the world and our ability to achieve the goals outlined in the national defense strategy of his administration. the president's shortsighted abandonment of the kurds is a strategic disaster that raises grave doubts among our allies and friends about whether the united states under this president can be counted on to defend our shared interests. given the diverse national security challenges we face, we must attract and rely upon partners that share our interests. our military leaders often

promote the virtues of the by, with, and through approach -- especially when this comes to counterterrorism. since 9/11, we have built partnerships with local forces throughout the world, from north and east africa to the middle east and across the pacific, to enable efforts against violent extremist groups. we have sought to apply exquisite capabilities only possessed by the u.s. military to support local partners doing the preponderance of the fighting and dying in service to our shared objective of containing and defeating such violent groups. contrary to president trump's assertions, we are not engaged in an endless war in syria. in fact, the u.s. partnership with the s.d.f. should be viewed as a model of how to leverage an economy of force commitment of u.s. military capabilities to achieve strategic effects, thereby object visa wait -- obviating the need for large

numbers of u.s. personnel to be put at risk. in syria, relatively small numbers of u.s. forces on the ground enabled a kurdish and arab ground force of approximately 60,000 personnel with our help, the s.d.f. lynn rated millions of innocent civilians from the violent oppression of isis and defeated the physical caliphate. some have estimate the that the s.d.f., the syrian defense force, made up of kurds and some arab syrians, lost more than 10,000 fighters taking on isis. it's true that many who joined the s.d.f. did so to liberate their home from isis. however, it is also true that even after their homes were liberated, the s.d.f., kurds and arabs alike, continued to pursue isis all the wait through the euphrates river valley where the last remnants of the fiscal fate

were defeated earlier inner i do not. they were not only fighting for themselves, they were also fighting for us. they were fighting to help ensure that there were no more isis-directed or inspired attacks like those carried out in paris, brussels, istanbul, orlando and san bernardino. after the s.d.f. successfully liberated the territory formerly controlled by isis, they also maintained -- including more than 2,000 foreign fighters, even when many of their home countries refused to take them back. beaver given the sacrifices of the s.d.f. and the fight against isis, it was particularly insulting for president trump to imply that the s.d.f. may not now be releasing isis detainees to get us involved, in his words, in the ongoing violence in northern syria. as our military leaders will tell you, our partnership with the s.d.f. was not only built on our shared opposition to isis

but also the trust between our fighters. they deserve more from the united states and president trump in the face of demand by turkey's autocratic leader. given all the s.d.f. has phak sacrificed in furtherance of the fight against isis, our betrayal of their trust is nothing short of appalling. again, just days before president trump's fateful call with erdogan, the deputy assistant secretary of defense in the middle east publicly stated that we, quite frankly, could not carry out our national defense strategy if it weren't for partners like the s.d.f. i feel that the president's impulsive abandonment of the kurds has done significant and lasting damage to the standing of the united states in the world. shaken the confidence of our allies and losing partners in the region where the united states' national security interests. congress and the international community must send a clear

bipartisan signal to the president that we do not condone the turkish incursion into northern syria or the president's decision to abandon the kurds. president trump must rescind the invitation for president erdogan to visit the united states in november. we should not welcome an autocrat who is responsible for endangering our troops on the ground in syria, the release of dangerous isis fighters, the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, and violence against noncombatants, which if reports are true, may result to war crimes. the united states does not need to stand alone in condemn respecting the violence in northern eastern syria. our partners in the coalition share our concerns about the damage the incursion has caused to our efforts to defeat isis and the potential humanitarian costs. the united states should take the lead within the united nations and nato to organize efforts that denounce turkey's actions and restrain the tragic

consequences. we must also double efforts to seek a negotiated settlement to the syrian civil war that is consistent with u.n. security council resolution 2254 and protects the equities of the s.d.f. and civilians living under their protection. unfortunately, the greatest impediment in bringing about an end to the conflict there appears to be president trump's inability to grasp the strategic significance of his actions. and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. ms. ernst: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: mr. president, i rise today to call attention to

the dire situation which continues to unfold in northern syria. turkey embarked on a reckless and brutal intervention on october 9, 2019, ostensibly to clear northern syria of terrorist elements. they have ironically dubbed this operation "peace spring." the departure of u.s. forces just days prior to this incursion left nothing between turkish military forces and the predominantly kurdish militia known as the syrian democratic forces, or s.d.f. up until the cease-fire agreement announced today, the s.d.f. bore the brunt of the turkish assault. the kurds are deeply stung by what they see as america

abandoning them. this after a long, hard, and successful fight against isis. at the height of its power, isis controlled territory larger than the united kingdom. as many americans know, isis directed and inspired terrorist attacks on our homeland, communities across the united states, and staged numerous attacks against our troops overseas. isis branches across the globe have conducted unimaginable atrocities, including targeting christians, and others who opposed their corrupt interpretation of islam. just one example of these atrocities is the heartbreaking

stories of so-called yezidi brides who were forced into marriages with isis fighters, raped and brutalized repeatedly, forced to decide whether to abandon their children or make an escape. or the multiple stories of isis terror inflicted on those with disabilities, such as babies being suffocated simply for being born with down's syndrome. together with a coalition of over 30 countries, the united states engaged in a campaign to rid the world of isis and to restore peace and stability to that region. but it was not a nation-state that bore the brunt of the fighting against isis. the kurds and the arabs who made up the syrian democratic forces

took the fight to the heart of the caliphate. with the help of united states special operations forces and air strikes, the s.d.f. liberated lands held by the terror group, imprisoned thousands of terrorist fighters and restored hope to hundreds of thousands who suffered under isis rule. in our fast-moving and quickly-changing world, it is easy for some to forget the terrible threat isis once posed while they were at their most powerful. but it would be wrong to think we could now allow ourselves to take our foot off of our enemies' throat. even now isis cells are seeking to take advantage of the chaos in northern syria to reconstitute and once again pose a direct threat to americans am-

to americans right here in our homeland. you cannot watch what's unfolded in syria without being fundamentally concerned about the security of our friends and our neighbors. a recapitalization of isis is a threat to us all. it is for this reason that i've introduced a resolution which calls on the department of defense and the department of state to provide a plan within 30 days which will outline a strategy to ensure isis will never again threaten americans or our allies now or in the future. this strategy will address the ongoing threat that isis poses regionally and globally and will outline the plan to prevent an isis resurgence, contain isis

expansion, mitigate the threat isis poses to the united states and our allies, and describe how our gains against isis since 2014 will be further protected. we cannot afford to take our eyes off of this vital task of ensuring the lasting and irreversible defeat of isis. we must consolidate our gains to rid the world of this terrible organization. and insist on a sound strategy to ensure our success to that end. too many of our partner forces and indeed american brothers and sisters, those that are shared in our arms must have fought and died in this fight, and we must ensure that those sacrifices we