Official Congressional Record
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I will take some of my time and give recognition to those who we have lost in the fight to end the Iranian terror regime. I am going to say their names, going to tell you where they served, and I am going to show you their photo: Sergeant Angel S. Rampersad, United States Army; Private First Class Isabella Gonzales, United States Army; First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, United States Army; Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, United States Army; Lance Corporal Kevin Melendez, United States Marine Corps; Tech Sergeant Tyler Simmons, United States Air Force; Tech Sergeant Ashley Pruitt, United States Air Force; Captain Curtis Angst, United States Air Force; Captain Seth Koval, United States Air Force; Captain Ariana Savino, United States Air Force; Major John ``Alex'' Klinner, United States Air Force; Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington, United States Army; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, United States Army; Major Jeffrey Robert O'Brien, United States Army; Sergeant Declan J. Coady, United States Army; Sergeant First Class Noah L. Tietjens, United States Army; Sergeant First Class Nicole M. Amor, United States Army; and Captain Cody A. Khork, United States Army. The sacrifice of these servicemembers will never be forgotten by me, and their commitment to their country, our country, the United States of America; their commitment to their loved ones; their commitment to seeing Iran's reign of terror and regime finally come to an end; and their commitment to ending the regime that killed countless American lives. That is what these servicemembers have been fighting against. That is what they gave their lives fighting against, a regime that has been attacking and taking the lives of United States of America's servicemembers and citizens for years. To belittle this mission is to belittle and demean the very service these members gave their lives for. Their sacrifice was not meaningless. This operation is bringing a reckoning for the hundreds of times Iran has attacked and killed people of the United States of America. What were those times? I am not going to go all the way back to the Beirut bombings. I wouldn't have time for that in tonight's debate with the time that we are limited to. I am only going to go back for the last couple of years to talk about what Iran has been doing to the United States of America, though my colleagues will argue that there has never been any imminent threat against the United States of America by Iran. IRGC naval forces capture 10 American sailors and two boats. Separate incident: Four patrol boats from Iran's IRGC attack the USS Nitze. Separate incident: United States Naval Ship Invincible attacked by multiple approaching IRGC fast-attack boats, small attack boats. Separate incident: IRGC vessel attacks USS Thunderbolt in Persian Gulf. Separate incident: Iranian drone attacks the USS Nimitz as fighter jets are landing. Separate attack: IRGC naval personnel place and detonate limpet mines on two Saudi-, one UAE-, and one Norwegian-registered ships. Separate incident: IRGC Navy attacks four ships--Saudi ships, Norwegian ships, and a UAE ship. Separate incident: IRGC Navy attack one Japanese ship and one Norwegian-owned ship as they transit the Gulf of Oman. Separate incident: IRGC shoot down U.S. aircraft operating over international waters, over the Strait of Hormuz. Separate incident: IRGC Navy seizes British-flagged, Swedish-owned tanker, and they hold the crew hostage for more than 2 months. On that same day, the IRGC also detained a Liberian-flagged tanker. Separate incident: Iran attacks, by helicopter and drone, a U.S. Navy ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Separate incident: IRGC Navy attack and seize Hong Kong-flagged tanker. Separate incident: 11 IRGC Navy small boats attack five U.S. Navy vessels. Separate incident: Iran vessels attack U.S. ships, including U.S. Coast Guard cutter. Separate incident: Iranian personnel board a Liberian-flagged tanker. Separate incident: IRGC attack and seize South Korean tanker, in the Strait. Separate incident: Tanker MT Mercer attack by Iran off of Oman, killing two people. Separate incident: Asphalt Princess attacked off of UAE, boarded by Iranians. Separate incident: Iranian forces seized two Greek vessels as they attacked them. Separate incident: Tanker Pacific Zircon was hit by an Iranian drone. Separate incident: Iran's Navy capture off the Marshall Islands a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker. Separate incident: IRGC seize Panamanian-flagged oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz, in international waters. Separate incident: Iran Navy seize Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker St. Nikolas while transiting the Gulf of Oman. Separate incident: IRGC seize containership MSC, in a helicopter, and also raided in the Strait of Hormuz. Separate incident: IRGC seize another tanker, the Talara. Separate incident: IRGC seize foreign oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Separate incident: U.S.-flagged tanker attacked by Iranian gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz. The list goes on and on. I could keep reading this for probably another at least 10 minutes with the pages that I have of these. That is what our U.S. servicemembers are fighting against, an Iran that chooses to wage war against the United States of America day in, day out, week in, week out. Prior to Epic Fury ever beginning, the 30 months prior to Epic Fury beginning, Iran attacked us over 350 times. That is what our U.S. servicemembers are fighting against, the Iran that, prior to Epic Fury ever beginning, killed three U.S. servicemembers at Tower 22. That is what our U.S. servicemembers are fighting against. My colleagues will say that no imminent threat ever existed. They are the same colleagues that used to tell us we should use any and all means necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Why? Because they recognized back then that that is the Iran that we have been dealing with day in, day out, week in, week out, year in, year out, the Iran that has been relentlessly attacking the United States of America tankers and containerships, United States Navy vessels, Coast Guard vessels, firing on our personnel in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, anywhere in the Middle East that they could fire on them. What has changed since these attacks? Everything that I listed off happened well before Operation Epic Fury. What has changed? The Ayatollah that ordered the attacks on our bases, on the bases of our allies, is now rotting 6 feet under. What has changed? Their navy that carried out countless attacks on our cargo ships, all those that I listed off just now, the navy that was attacking, seizing, holding hostage, they are sitting at the bottom of the waters that they used to float in. Their Air Force that carried out attacks on our bases and against our allies, they have been grounded and obliterated. Those are just a couple of the things that have changed. This was not a war of choice. This was not President Trump's war of choice. This is and always has been Iran's choice that they made each and every day for the last 47 years. What I gave you were just some of the incidents of the last couple years. We simply said: No more wars. Instead, we are putting a stop to the old ones. This ends here. This ends now. That country, their IRGC, their proxies that have been attacking us endlessly will no longer exist and will not obtain a nuclear weapon, whether my colleagues forgot that they voted to say that or not. Mr. Speaker, in regard to today's War Powers Resolution that asks for the removal of our U.S. Forces, as my colleagues have done week in and week out, forgetting about every single thing that our servicemembers are out there fighting against, I urge a ``no'' vote on their legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
View on ourcommons.ca ↗
