 As Americans, we are appalled, we are disgusted by the attack against the people of Paris, by the terrorist organization ISIS. And I know that I speak for everyone here and everyone in our country when we send our condolences to the families who lost loved ones in that barbaric attack and our prayers go out for speedy recoveries for the many hundreds who were injured. In my view, now is the time for developing a serious and effective strategy to destroy ISIS. Now is not the time for cheap political talk or trying to take political advantage of this difficult moment. Now is the time, as President Obama is trying to do, to unite the world in an organized campaign against ISIS by bringing together all of the countries who have common interest in defeating international terrorism, even countries that we have disagreements with. So I think what the President correctly is trying to do is bring together our European allies, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and others, along with Russia and along with the Muslim countries who are today face-to-face with ISIS. What we need is an international coalition, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait and Turkey, putting together this coalition is not going to be easy, given the many hostilities and long-seated disagreements that some of these countries face. But that is what President Obama and Secretary Kerry are trying to do, and I support their efforts. But let me also say that now is not the time for demagoguery and fear-mongering. If you think about it for a moment, you understand that what terrorism is about is trying to instill terror and fear into the hearts of people. And we will not let that happen. As Americans, we will not be terrorized. We will not live in fear. And I do have to tell you that I am disturbed by some of what I am hearing from my Republican colleagues. And I will just say this. During these difficult times, as Americans, we will not succumb to racism, not allow ourselves to be divided and succumb to Islamophobia, and when hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything, have nothing left but the shirts on their backs, we will not turn our backs on the refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. We will do what we do best, and that is be Americans fighting racism, fighting xenophobia, and fighting fear. And perhaps, most importantly, we will learn the lessons of history. Yesterday, the chairman of the Republican National Committee stated, and I quote, Never before have I seen an American president, meaning President Obama, project such weakness on the global stage. End of quote. Well, as many of you will remember, back in 2002, we had a president, President Bush. You remember President Bush. We had a president, and he was very, very tough, but not very smart. Dick Cheney and a whole lot of them, they were tough. And they said we should invade Iraq. We should do it virtually alone, and the result was 6,700 brave men and women from our country dead, hundreds of thousands of our best young people coming home with injuries, physical and emotional, many, many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead and wounded in stability in the entire region. And we are paying the price today for that instability and that chaos. I say to my Republican colleagues, yeah, we have got to be tough, but not stupid. Polition that will defeat ISIS, but no, the United States of America must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. Anything else? There are those, including many Republicans, some of the media, who think that because of this horrific attack that the only thing that we should focus on is defeating ISIS. And what I say is yes, we will lead the world in defeating ISIS, but at the same time we will rebuild the disappearing middle class of this country.