[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 95 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. CON. RES. 95

     Commemorating the twelfth anniversary of the Halabja massacre.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 9, 2000

 Mr. Lott (for himself, Mr. Helms, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Kerrey, and Mr. 
   Shelby) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
                        considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
     Commemorating the twelfth anniversary of the Halabja massacre.

Whereas on March 16, 1988, Saddam Hussein attacked the Iraqi Kurdish city of 
        Halabja with chemical weapons, including nerve gas, VX, and mustard gas;
Whereas more than 5,000 men, women, and children were murdered in Halabja by 
        Saddam Hussein's chemical warfare, in gross violation of international 
        law;
Whereas the attack on Halabja was part of a systemic, genocidal attack on the 
        Kurds of Iraq known as the ``Anfal Campaign'';
Whereas the Anfal Campaign resulted in the death of more than 180,000 Iraqi 
        Kurdish men, women, and children;
Whereas, despite the passage of 12 years, there has been no successful attempt 
        by the United States, the United Nations, or other bodies of the 
        international community to bring the perpetrators of the Halabja 
        massacre to justice;
Whereas the Senate and the House of Representatives have repeatedly noted the 
        atrocities committed by the Saddam Hussein regime;
Whereas the Senate and the House of Representatives have on 16 separate 
        occasions called upon successive Administrations to work toward the 
        creation of an International Tribunal to prosecute the war crimes of the 
        Saddam Hussein regime;
Whereas in successive fiscal years monies have been authorized to create a 
        record of the human rights violations of the Saddam Hussein regime and 
        to pursue the creation of an international tribunal and the indictment 
        of Saddam Hussein and members of his regime;
Whereas the Saddam Hussein regime continues the brutal repression of the people 
        of Iraq, including the denial of basic human, political, and civil 
        rights to Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish Iraqis, as well as other minority 
        groups;
Whereas the Secretary General of the United Nations has documented annually the 
        failure of the Saddam Hussein regime to deliver basic necessities to the 
        Iraqi people despite ample supplies of food in Baghdad warehouses;
Whereas the Saddam Hussein regime has at its disposal more than $12,000,000,000 
        per annum (at current oil prices) to expend on all categories of human 
        needs;
Whereas, notwithstanding a complete lack of restriction on the purchase of food 
        by the Government of Iraq, infant mortality rates in areas controlled by 
        Saddam Hussein remain above pre-war levels, in stark contrast to rates 
        in United Nations-controlled Kurdish areas, which are below pre-war 
        levels; and
Whereas it is unconscionable that after the passage of 12 years the brutal 
        Saddam Hussein dictatorship has gone unpunished for the murder of 
        hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, the use of banned chemical 
        weapons on the people of Iraqi Kurdistan, and innumerable other human 
        rights violations: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) commemorates the suffering of the people of Halabja and 
        all the victims of the Anfal Campaign;
            (2) condemns the Saddam Hussein regime for its continued 
        brutality towards the Iraqi people;
            (3) strongly urges the President to act forcefully within 
        the United Nations and the United Nations Security Council to 
        constitute an international tribunal for Iraq;
            (4) calls upon the President to move rapidly to efficiently 
        use funds appropriated by Congress to create a record of the 
        crimes of the Saddam Hussein regime;
            (5) recognizes that Saddam Hussein's record of brutality 
        and belligerency threaten both the people of Iraq and the 
        entire Persian Gulf region; and
            (6) reiterates that it should be the policy of the United 
        States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam 
        Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a 
        democratic government to replace that regime, as set forth in 
        Public Law 105-338.
                                 <all>