ms. isaacr prepared testimony, we cherish ethnic and religious diversity. isis hates it. many americans may not realize that iraq and syria are home to dozens of ethnic and religious minorities with ancient cultures, with deep roots. these communities, assyrian and chaldean christians, yazidis and others are under mortal threat in their ancestral homelands. and the mass execution of men, the enslavement of women and children, the destruction of religious sites is part of the isis effort to destroy these communities, to destroy all evidence of the pre-existence of these communities. in fact, isis maintains a special battalion, they call it the demolition battalion. and that battalion is charged with going after art and going after artifacts, religious and historic sites that it considers heretical or idolatrous, and their job simply is to destroy history. the situation for some of these groups was precarious even before isis. according to some estimates, more than half of iraq's religious and et

ms. isaac. ms. aac: honorable chairman royce, ranking member engel and distinguished members of this committee, i'm honored to be here today. thank you so much for having a crucial hearing that really is a matter of life or death. i'm not talking to you as an attorney, i'm not talking as a politician. i'm talking about being a human being who's been on the front lines. i've been to sinjar mountain. i've met the girls that have been kidnapped and raped by isis. and i'm telling you that we need to give them seeds of hope. seeds of hope to know that they can live and thrive in their home. i'm here because i promised these people, my friends across the world, that i would be their voices today. hear their narratives. i'm here today because of a woman i met. she was in mosul in home at night and out of nowhere, isis came in and said you have two choices. you either convert to islam, or you pay the gizziah. she gave them the money and said give me one minute because my daughter is in the bathroom taking a

ms. isaac put it simply in her prepared testimony, we cherish ethnic and religious diversity. isis hates it. many americans may not realize that iraq and syria are home to dozens of ethnic and religious minorities with ancient cultures, with deep roots. these communities, syrian and caldian christians, yazidis and others are under mortal threat in their ancestral homelands. and the mass execution of men, the enslavement of women and children, the destruction of religious sites is part of the isis effort to destroy these communities, to destroy all evidence of the preexistence of these communities. in fact, isis maintains a special battalion, and they call it the demolition battalion. and that battalion is charged with going after art and going after artifacts, religious and historic sites that it considers heretical and its job is to simply destroy history. the situation for some of these groups was precarious even br isis. according to some estimates, more than half of the ethnic and religious

ms. isaac. ms. isaac: honorable chairman royce, ranking member engel and distinguished members of this committee, i'm honored to be here today. thank you so much for having a crucial hearing that really is a matter of life or death. i'm not talking to you as an attorney, i'm not talking as a politician. i'm talking about being a human being who's been on the front lines. i've been to sinjar mountain. i've met the girls that have been kidnapped and raped by isis. and i'm telling you that we need to give them seeds of hope. seeds of hope to know that they can live and thrive in their home. i'm here because i promised these people, my friends across the world, that i would be their voices today. hear their narratives. i'm here today because of a woman i met. she was in mosul in home at night and out of nowhere, isis came in and said you have two choices. you either convert to islam, or you pay the gizziah. she gave them the money and said give me one minute because my daughter is in the bathroom taking

ms. isaac. ms. c: honorable chairman royce, ranking member engel and distinguished members of this committee, i'm honored to be here today. thank you so much for having a crucial hearing that really is a matter of life or death. i'm not talkin

ms. isaac i had in my office yesterday, representatives of the yazidi, syrian and kurdish communities who took a very different view of the kurdish government. perhaps a balance between the two is that the kurdish government is provided sanctuary, but has not allowed these groups to form their own national guard battalions. no group on the ninevah plain is going to be safe unless they have their own national guard. mr. chairman, i would like to see us bring to testify before this committee one of the yazidi woman who has successfully fled from isis. this would require that the state department provide an entry visa. if the person -- and if the woman or girl was coming from kurdish areas we would need to get an exit visa from that government. >> just if i could interrupt for a minute. we did have a young yazidi woman -- a young girl slated to testify. she had to drop off of the trip because of health reasons. >> ah. >> but we will achieve your goal here. i'll relynninquish the time back to you.

ms. isaac. >> looking at the isis philosophy, they believe that they ucd people in particular are not only to be tortured but they are to be destroyed in every single way possible. they want them -- so it is a philosophy to destroy them and to torture them. with the girls particularly that i met day and one night felt safe in the beginning in sinjar town. one night isis came and took all of these girls and they told them first, they gave them an option. they said will you be, muslim and convert to islam and many of them said no. and they told them you are going to be muslim regardless because we are going to sleep with you. the moment that we do that once we rape you you'll be muslim. many of these girls who chose not to be came back believing that they were forced into this religion. this is barbaric. it is systematic. today it starts with the yazidis and tomorrow it's going to be not only the christians but every woman that doesn't fit within the philosophy. we need to stop the menace that's

isaac: as my pastor says in the church, amen. thank you-all for your service to america and for your testimony today. mr. row: thank you, mr. chairman. ms. brown, you are recognized for five minutes. ms. brown: let me thank each one of you for your service. i was late today because i went to the women's memorial. we have that service and we have had it every year for 18 years. and colonel started that program and done an extent job. let me just say i'm a little uncomfortable when i see all of you military people there and not one woman. women are the fastest growing group of service, and as we move forward with our planning and the schedulers, whoever makes these decisions, i would like to see that we have females veterans, service representatives here with us. i feel that i need to make that statement, particular after i just left the women's memorial. now let me just say that we can blame the v.a. for a lot of things, but it's our responsibility as members of congress as i stand here today on the 24th of this month, the denver project is scheduled to shut down. i am going on the 29th. and it will be an interesting time because there w

isaac: as my pastor says in the church, amen. thank you-all for your service to america and for your testimony today. mr. row: thank you, mr. chairman. ms. brown, you are recognized for five minutes. ms. brown: let me thank each one of you for your service. i was late today because i went to the women's memorial. we have that service and we have had it every year for 18 years. and colonel started that program and done an extent job. let me just say i'm a little uncomfortable when i see all of you military people there and not one woman. women are the fastest growing group of service, and as we move forward with our planning and the schedulers, whoever makes these decisions, i would like to see that we have females veterans, service representatives here with us. i feel that i need to make that statement, particular after i just left the women's memorial. now let me just say that we can blame the v.a. for a lot of things, but it's our responsibility as members of congress as i stand here today on the 24th of this month the denver project is scheduled to shut down. i am going on the 29th. and it will be an interesting time because there wi

isaac: as my pastor says in the church, amen. thank you-all for your service to america and for your testimony today. mr. row: thank you, mr. chairman. ms. brown, you are recognized for five minutes. ms. brown: let me thank each one of you for your service. i was late today because i went to the women's memorial. we have that service and we have had it every year for 18 years. and colonel started that program and done an extent job. let me just say i'm a little uncomfortable when i see all of you military people there and not one woman. women are the fastest growing group of service, and as we move forward with our planning and the schedulers, whoever makes these decisions, i would like to see that we have females veterans, service representatives here with us. i feel that i need to make that statement, particular after i just left the women's memorial. now let me just say that we can blame the v.a. for a lot of things, but it's our responsibility as members of congress as i stand here today on the 24th of this month, the denver project is scheduled to shut down. i am going on the 29th. and it will be an interesting time because there w