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Statement by Representative Jan Schakowsky on President Obama’s Announcement on Iraq


Chicago—(ENEWSPF)—August 8, 2014. Representative Jan Schakowsky released the following statement about President Barack Obama’s recent actions in Iraq:

“I strongly support President Barack Obama’s decision to take action preventing the massacre of religious minorities in Iraq who have been fleeing for their lives. The United States must not stand by and watch while people belonging to these groups are annihilated by those dedicated to intolerance and terrorism. 

Thousands of Yazidis fleeing the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are facing the harsh choice of dying by heat, dehydration or starvation on the mountaintop or being butchered if they attempt to descend.  Given these extremely dire circumstances, the President authorized air drops of food and needed supplies, as well as limited air strikes. 

Any advance on the Kurdish city of Erbil, where the U.S. has a consulate and where a number of American personnel are stationed, is not acceptable.  The President has made it clear that we will take steps to protect these Americans who may be in harm’s way in the region. 

In addition, as an early leader of the effort to oppose the Bush Administration’s war in Iraq, I applaud President Obama’s decision to act without putting additional American troops on the ground. The President has withdrawn our brave military men and women from Iraq – as he promised to do – and he knows that putting them back is not an option.  There is no American military solution to the situation in Iraq – and there never was.

The President laid out an appropriate and targeted response last night. He has stood up to ISIS’s acts of genocide and attempted obliteration of religious minorities. President Obama’s words and actions make it clear that ISIS will not be allowed to threaten religious minorities or U.S. interests with impunity.” 

Source: Schakowsky.house.gov


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