Friends,

Last month, President Trump recklessly decided to pull the United States out of northeast Syria — abandoning our Kurdish allies and putting international aid operations at risk.

Now the president wants us to believe that the assassination of Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi erases the damage done by his doublecross of the Kurds. Getting rid of Al-Baghdadi was indisputably a good thing, but it doesn’t mean ISIS is defeated. In fact, over 100 ISIS fighters have escaped prison as a result of Trump’s thoughtless and unexpected decision to pull out of northeast Syria. And the political instability that Trump has unleashed on northern and eastern Syria will undoubtedly allow for ISIS to regroup. Why? Because ISIS and other non-state extremist groups feed off political chaos.

What we have failed to do time and time again is to understand that there is no purely military solution to terrorism.

If we want to finally defeat groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, then we need to get to the political root of organized extremism. We know there are steps we could take, like ending the wars that allow for ungoverned space that groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda can fill, that would help us get there.

One clear move we can make is to try to quell the growing humanitarian crisis in the Kurdish areas of Syria, created in part by our withdrawal. More help for Syrians in need will create less room for ISIS to jump in and fill the void.

I recently wrote a letter with some of my Democratic Senate colleagues calling on Secretary Pompeo to make U.S. aid available and flexible for international NGOs operating in northeast Syria to evacuate aid workers and assist Syrian refugees in Iraq.

I’m hoping you will join us in calling on the State Department to mitigate this impending catastrophe.

Add your name as a citizen cosigner and tell Secretary Pompeo to make U.S. aid available to support humanitarian aid operations in northeast Syria.

Thank you for adding your voice to this important issue.

Every best wish,

Chris Murphy