Good morning. The Committee Meets today to receive testimony on u. S. Strategy in the middle east, and i want to thank our distinguished witnesses for appearing this morning and for their service to our nation. Before i proceed, id like to remind our witnesses this committees rules require written testimony be submitted 24 hours in advance of a hearing, and id like to try from now on for our witnesses to adhere to that. The tragic loss last week of Master Sergeant joshua walker, a veteran of 14 combat deployments reminds us of the high stakes of our mission in the middle east and how grateful we are to americans serving there. We need a strategy worthy of those who carry it out and, unfortunately, we dont have that. Whats worse it appears the administration has not even defined the problem correctly. A policy of isil first fails to understand that eye significant for all of the threat it poses is actually a symptom of another power thats now raging across the middle east. The epicenter
Ally of ours in the kurds, in the peshmerga, who actually want to work with us. We havent got that in syria. We have what the Prime Minister is now describing as a patchwork. I think my honorable friend as always makes a really important point. Ive just reread the debate we had back in september 2014. This wasnt raised by anyone incidentally. The issues of what comes next and its a very important consideration and weve expressed concerns on all sides of the house it mustnt stop us responding to what happened in paris, responding to resolution 2249, and the requests for all countries the capability to act now. The u. N. Resolution didnt say lets delay this. It said to act now, and i dont believe theres anybody in this house that believes that defeating this motion tonight will somehow remove us from the line of fire. The isil daesh will consider us to no longer be a legitimate target for their barbaric activiti activities. The 22 people murdered were at a peace rally. Our decision today
Defend our country and our way of life, and i believe that this motion provides the best way to achieve this objective. On the next washington journal, congressman Darren Lahood of illinois on the deal reached on transportation funding. After that, congressman brad sherman of california on the u. S. Military effort against isis in iraq and syria. The congressional debate over Syrian Refugees and the iran nuclear agreement. Washington journal live every morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. And you can join the conversation with your calls and comments on facebook and twitter. Im here to voice my strong support for the courageous people of afghanistan, women and men who have suffered for years under the taliban regime. Each and every one of us has the responsibility to stop the suffering caused by malaria because every life in every land matters and all of us can do something to help. After studying first ladies and knowing some of them very well like my own motherinlaw or one that i
Than governor jeb bush can say. Senator marco rubio got to work early in new hampshire. Last night proves marco momentum the real. Reporter he is certainly feeling good about himself and his campaign. We feel really great about our organization. About our message. Heres the bottom line. This country cannot afford Hillary Clinton or bernie sanders. Reporter and he might feel much more as other candidates turn their attention to the rising republican star. Now it is time for him to man up and stop letting his handlers write his speeches because that is what they do. But that is what you have to do. Reporter who is not talking today . Donald trump seems to be more quiet than usual today after his second place finish in iowa monday, tuesday, he took to twitter saying because i was told i could not do well in iowa, i spent very little there. A fraction of cruz and rubio. And for jeb bush, his dismal 3 showing has his supporters pointing everyones attention to what they hope might be a futur
Who just aches to get back into some more theme where i can get shot at. I do admire those who do but its just not what i do. What im interested in doing is policy and ideas and where do these ideas come from . They dont just drop from the sky. They usually do not automatically appeal to everybody as a matter of logic. Where did the ideas come from . Who were the people and there were a lot of comp eating ideas. How did this particular set of ideas get transferred . Was there resistance . How was the resistance overcome . It usually isnt just one person. Its a community of people. How did this Community Form . Will was the basis of a . That is what history is all about. Its a story. That is what the stories are about. Its about the interplay between personalities in politics and policy and accident, coincidence. That is what im interested in and i am interested in how this applies to war because war and all of the arenas of human conduct, this is the most highprofile thing there is. I