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Very direct and grilling questions of witnesses that would come before our committee. Sometimes there would be a tense moment. But ralph always had something funny or a story to tell that broke the ice. Youve seen a number of members of the texas delegation here today, particularly the republican delegation and every thursday, we have lunch together. Talk about whats good for texas. But what was always a thing that we always looked forward to, we couldnt wait until ralph got there so that we could ralph could share a funny story. And you know, one of the things that ill miss most about ralph is those times when hed be on the floor or he would be at lunch, sharing those stories. Now one of the things about ralph is that as he got older, he got wiser. And in fact he, got so wise, in 2004, he realized he needed to be a part of the Republican Party and so he switched from the Dem ....
Assistance. Not because we intended it, but because our ally in iraq collapsed. Comprehensively. Now were talking about well, maybe, what we have to do is have a smaller, you know, fast force that can go in. Well train them. We wont train hundreds of thousands and theyll do it. Youve talked in response to judge poe about the training and we all hope that works. But i dont think i dont know anyone who seriously thinks that you can train effectively even with successful vetting 5,000 insurgents who are moderate and maybe secular and theyll be reintroduced to syria and turn the tide. In fact, all of the indications are the moderate, you know, are part of the insurgency such as it is has collapsed in syria. Is actually losing ground catastrophically, almost to the point of extinction. And so you decided decentralization, security reforms and the new government is reaching out to regional capitals as if that is going to turn the tide. Maybe you didnt intend for that. I guess, i would like t ....
Referred to on sanctions is in the context of the additional more severe sanctions which were imposed by the United States and by europe late this summer in response to the intervention in donbass. And these should be understood as separate baskets. Vice President Biden and others have been very clear that for the United States, a prerequisite for discussing the relaxation of sanctions is full implementation of the minsk agreement to include the withdrawal of all russian fighters and heavy equipment, the restoration of ukranian control over the border monitored and the release of all prisoners. Russia has not done any of those things. To the contrary, as we have said, as recently as last week, secretary kerry pointed out that since september 5, since the signature of the minsk agreement, hundreds of russian tanks and heav ....