Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the president's message to the House today. One of the things I find personally alarming about the situation in Iraq and Syria is that not only is ISIL a terrorist-like group, but what it has assembled in almost a quasi-state. It is getting traffic revenues, oil refinery money, selling on the black market. It is pulling money in to buy weapons and to basically advance its aim.
Does the president agree that if we do not deal with this kind of rogue proto-state that not only will it destabilize the whole region but it will inspire similar processes throughout the whole world? To me, that is the most alarming part here. We are not just dealing with one small group; it will have the machinery of government behind it.