Genocidal Attacks Against Christian and Other Religious Minorities in Syria and Iraq

We are convening this extremely urgent hearing on the desperate plight of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria. As images of beheaded American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff are seared into our consciousness, we would do well to honor their memories by recalling what they saw as their mission, to alert the world to the horrors committed by the fanatical terrorist group ISIS in Syria and Iraq: Children forced to view crucifixions and beheadings; women bartered, sold, and raped; prisoners lined up on their knees to be shot. This is the ISIS legacy. Today Christians and other religious minorities such as Yezidis, Shabaks, and Turkmen Shiites are not just facing a long winter without homes. They are not just hungry and thirsty and wandering from village to village in northern Iraq and Kurdistan. They are facing annihilation, genocide, by fanatics who see anyone who does not subscribe to its draconian and violent interpretation of Islam as fair game for enslavement, forced conversion, or death. If the phrase "never again" is to be more than a well-meaning sentiment we simply give lip service to, then we must be prepared to act when we see genocide unfold before our very eyes.