- Title: U.S. senators announce sanctions bill on Turkey over Syria offensive
- Date: 17th October 2019
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) WIDE OF SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM STANDING WITH SENATORS IN SENATE GALLERY (SOUNDBITE) (English) LINDSEY GRAHAM, REPUBLICAN, U.S. SENATOR, SAYING: "I hope that President Trump will seize the opportunity to work with us for the greater good. I hope you'll listen to his generals, you know, he made a remark about me. I want to be there a thousand years. No, I won't be there long enough until we're safe. If it were up to me, the lion would be laying down with the lamb. I have been in war zones. I've spent 33 years in the military and I've had some friends killed, so this is no casual thing for me. I don't love war. What I crave is security, for my country and my allies. Mr. President, if you don't understand that ISIS is coming back, you're missing a lot of good advice. If you don't understand, these bastards would kill us all if they could, you're not listening to what they're saying. And if you abandon these Kurds, it would be a stain on your presidency and our honor. And how do you fix this? You lead. You tell Erdogan I am speaking for a nation now. I have the backing of the United States Congress. We will not tolerate this. We want a good relationship, but you're destroying it and I have the backing the United States Congress. I've got the backing of people who won't impeach me and I got the backing, the people who are going to defend me." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, DEMOCRAT, U.S. SENATOR, SAYING: "My feeling was horror and shame, to the people of the United States, you should feel horror and shame and deep disappointment in the abdication of leadership and our values by your leaders. President Trump has abdicated leadership. The Congress must act. Congress must act to stop ISIS from resurging, which is happening right now, unfolding in real time right before our eyes, making a potential mockery of the lives lost, the bloodshed, the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform. And partners who have fought with them and lost lives with them, and there is nothing more basic to a great nation than its word. When its promises are broken, its credibility is lost as a partner and an ally and as an adversary."
- Embargoed: 31st October 2019 17:37
- Keywords: Lindsey Graham Richard Blumenthal Rick Scott
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1HMAMF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. senators on Thursday (October 17) announced legislation carrying wide-ranging sanctions on Turkey over its offensive in Syria.
The bill from the Republican-led Senate targets Turkish officials and mandates sanctions over Turkey's purchase of russia s-400 missile system. Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has blasted President Donald Trump for the abrupt policy change in Syria, predicted strong bipartisan support for the bill.
A Turkish offensive in northeast Syria has killed 218 civilians, including 18 children since it started a week ago, the Kurdish-led administration in the region said on Thursday. The fighting has also wounded more than 650 people.
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