Civilian are going nowhere, will be if i could, unless the barrel bombing stops, the refugee crisis will continue to get worse. And just in closing, i apologize to my colleagues here, are any of the arab countries, saudi arabia, some of those that are working to unseat assad in certain ways, are they taking any refugees at present . Theyre not signatories to the 1951 convention. They dont recognize the status of refugees. They would say there are 500,000 syrians living in saudi arabia and 120,000 syrians living in the united arab emirates. Some arrived recently, others have been there for a long time but their status is not as refugees but as migrant workers. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you. I would like to thank our witnesses today, not just for being here today but what youre doing in the middle of a huge crisis. We all empathize. I would like to start with you. In 2011, u. S. Created a vacuum in which isis began to grow. They needed land to legitimize th
Numbers because i was told that the intel that the government has on the syrians is not as good as the one it had on the iraqis, et cetera. So there are genuine difficulties that will have to be overcome, but our experience over the past 40 years in dealing with resettlement is that this country has the expee willingness to do it when the conditions require it. Let me just some discussions right now about us working with russia as it relates to syria. And i just want to understand from your perspective, dealing with refugees, are they fleeing assads barrel bombs or are they fleeing isis . I know theyre fleeing both. Generally speaking can you get at for this discussion the greater roots or roots, if you will, of why theyre fleeing the countries briefly . Then i want to follow with questions. Go ahead. Last week in greece over the course of two or three days, i must have spoken with 200 or 300 refugees, the majority of them syria. The answer to your question, it depends where in syria t
Important. Security Council Resolution is only as strong as the nation states who back it and their willingness to see it through. You know, yesterday and i want to move this question now to assad and putins relationship with assad. Yesterday made a comment, and i quote, refugees undoubtedly need our compassion and support. The only way to resolve the problem is to restore statehood. My question, and ill start with dr. Gavinaw, can we solve this problem as long as assad is barrel bombing his own people, targeting open markets and children . The question before us is can we solve this . One level is obviously the immediate crisis and then the longTerm Solution. As you said, this is no longer a blip. It is a trend. If that trend is there, going back to what senator cardin mentioned earlier, we have to develop a different strategy. This is not just about feeding people for a few weeks. Its about educating, training. In trying to prevent this now, at least getting at the immediate crisis,
In the bucket that compares to the challenge that is likely to come. Am i wrong . Is that a strategy thats the wrong way to go about it . Im not sure you would get a majority of votes in this body for it. I think the vote we had about using military force against the use of chemical weapons against civilians barely got a majority in this committee and likely will not get a majority in the senate or in the house. Still if the administration were to advocate strongly for it, there is some bipartisan support for the notion. As folks who do this work, am i looking at this wrong . Senator cain, i have long wrestled with this question through this crisis. You know, the history of safe zones and nofly zones for humanitarian purposes is fraught with cases where it didnt work well and its filled with moral hazard. And at the same time i think that as the crisis progresses and the level of killing continues that is prompting this level of crisis for us to continue to not take some action that is
When you look at people who suffer torture and the sort of criteria the u. S. Uses, i think you already have a filter that is then deepened by the work of homeland security. So i think there is certainly the technique and the capacity. For syrians, i do understand it will take sometime to reach the numbers because i was told that the intel that the government has on the syrians is not as good as the one it had on the iraqis, et cetera. So there are genuine difficulties that will have to be overcome, but our experience over the past 40 years in dealing with resettlement is that this country has the expee willingness to do it when the conditions require it. Let me just some discussions right now about us working with russia as it relates to syria. And i just want to understand from your perspective, dealing with refugees, are they fleeing assads barrel bombs or are they fleeing isis . I know theyre fleeing both. Generally speaking can you get at for this discussion the greater roots or r