So IS is committing genocide. Now what?
Congress expects the secretary of State's determination to mean something.
Lawmakers of both parties applauded Secretary of State John Kerry's March 17 determination that the Islamic State (IS) is committing genocide.
Now they're demanding he do something about it.
"It would be travesty if we were to mistakenly take solace in this designation, if the designation did not then yield some sort of action," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a statement after returning to Congress following his withdrawal from the presidential race. "It is time for US assistance to be better targeted to help these persecuted communities and to ensure that they are not lost in the human chaos left in the wake of Syria’s devastation and Iraq’s instability."
Kerry made the announcement at the State Department, in keeping with a congressional mandate despite earlier warnings that he would blow the deadline. Some sources expected the State Department to limit its finding of genocide to Yazidis, but Kerry also included Christians and Shiite Muslims in his determination against the terrorist group, also known as Daesh.
