[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 469 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 469
Condemning the attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, in July 1994 and expressing the concern of the United
States regarding the continuing, decade-long delay in the resolution of
this case.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 6, 2004
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Pence, Mr. Sherman, Mr.
Crowley, Mr. Ackerman, Ms. Harris, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Engel, Mr.
Delahunt, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Faleomavaega, Mr. Weller, Mr.
Burton of Indiana, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Berman, Mr. Hoeffel, Mr.
Hastings of Florida, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Menendez, and Mr. Ballenger)
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on International Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Condemning the attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, in July 1994 and expressing the concern of the United
States regarding the continuing, decade-long delay in the resolution of
this case.
Whereas on July 18, 1994, 85 innocent people were killed and 300 were wounded
when the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) was bombed in Buenos
Aires, Argentina;
Whereas that attack showed the same cowardice and utter disregard for human life
as the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001;
Whereas the United States welcomes Argentine President Nestor Kirchner's
political will to pursue the investigation of the AMIA bombing, as
demonstrated by his executive order opening the archives of Argentina's
Secretariat for State Intelligence (SIDE), for raising the AMIA cause to
national status, and for emphasizing that there is no statute of
limitations on those responsible for this attack;
Whereas it is reported that considerable evidence links the attacks to the
terrorist group Hizballah, which is based in Lebanon, supported by
Syria, and sponsored by Iran;
Whereas the decade since the bombing has been marked by efforts to minimize the
international connection to this terrorist attack;
Whereas in March 2003 an Argentine judge issued arrest warrants for four Iranian
government officials who are believed to have been involved in planning
or carrying out the attack against AMIA and requested that the
International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) apprehend them;
Whereas the four indicted Iranians are Ali Fallahian, a former minister of
security and intelligence; Mohsen Rabbani, a former cultural attache at
the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires; Ali Balesh-Abadi, an Iranian
diplomat; and Ali Akbar Parvaresh, a former minister of education;
Whereas Hadi Soleimanpour, Iran's ambassador to Argentina in the 1990's, also
has an international arrest warrant pending against him by Argentine
authorities for his suspected primary role in the AMIA bombing;
Whereas it is reported that suicide bomber Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a Lebanese
citizen, carried out the attack on AMIA;
Whereas it has been reported that contact was made by the Iranian embassy in
Buenos Aires to Ibrahim Hussein Berro, who lived in a mosque in
Canuelas, Argentina, in the days before the AMIA bombing;
Whereas Argentine officials have acknowledged that there was negligence in the
initial phases of the investigation into the 1994 bombing, including the
destruction or disappearance of material evidence;
Whereas the first major criminal trial regarding the bombing did not begin until
September 2001, and those who are currently on trial are former
policemen and civilians who are accused of playing roles only in the
procurement and delivery of the vehicle which was used in the bombing
attack;
Whereas the judge who had presided since 2001 over the investigation and trial
related to the AMIA bombing was removed in December 2003 due to charges
that he bribed a key witness in the AMIA case;
Whereas the new trial judge, Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, deals with many other
important cases and has few supporting staff;
Whereas on March 17, 1992, terrorists bombed the Embassy of Israel in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, killing 29 people and injuring over 200, and the
perpetrators of the attack also remain at large;
Whereas the inability to extradite suspected Islamic militants and Iranian
officials has debilitated the efforts of the Argentine government to
prosecute masterminds and planners of the 1994 AMIA bombing;
Whereas evidence indicates that the Tri-Border area where the borders of
Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil meet is suspected of harboring
organizations which support terrorism, engage in drug and arms smuggling
and an assorted array of other illicit, revenue-raising activities;
Whereas the Government of Argentina supports--
(1) the 1996 Declaration of Lima to Prevent, Combat and Eliminate
Terrorism, which refers to terrorism as a ``serious form of organized and
systematic violence that is intended to generate chaos and fear among the
population, results in death and destruction, and is a reprehensible
criminal activity''; and
(2) the 1998 Commitment of Mar del Plata which calls terrorist acts
``serious common crimes that erode peaceful and civilized coexistence,
affect the rule of law and the exercise of democracy, and endanger the
stability of democratically elected constitutional governments and their
socioeconomic development of our countries'';
Whereas the Government of Argentina actively supports the development of the
``Three Plus One'' (3+1) Counterterrorism Dialogue with Brazil,
Paraguay, and the United States;
Whereas the Government of Argentina was successful in enacting a law on
cooperation from defendants in terrorist matters, a law that will be
helpful in pursuing full prosecution in this and other terrorist cases;
and
Whereas the Second Specialized Conference on Terrorism held in Mar del Plata,
Argentina on November 23 and 24, 1998, concluded with the adoption of
the Commitment of Mar del Plata, calling for the establishment within
the Organization of American States (OAS) of an Inter-American Committee
Against Terrorism (CICTE): Now, therefore, be it--
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That Congress--
(1) reiterates its strongest condemnation of the 1994
attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, and honors the victims of this heinous act;
(2) expresses its sympathy to the relatives of the victims,
who have waited ten years without justice for the loss of their
loved ones, and may have to wait even longer for justice to be
served;
(3) underscores the concern of the United States regarding
the continuing, decade-long delay in the proper resolution of
this case;
(4) strongly urges the Government of Argentina to continue
to dedicate and provide the resources necessary for its
judicial system and intelligence agencies to investigate all
areas of the AMIA case, including by implementing Argentine
President Nestor Kirchner's executive order mandating the
opening of the archives of Argentina's Secretariat for State
Intelligence (SIDE), and to prosecute with due haste those who
are responsible for the bombing;
(5) calls upon the international community to cooperate
fully with the investigation, including by making information,
witnesses, and suspects available for review and questioning by
the appropriate Argentine authorities;
(6) encourages the President to direct United States law
enforcement agencies to provide support and cooperation to the
Government of Argentina, if requested, for the purposes of
deepening and expanding the investigation into this bombing and
suspected activities in support of terrorism in the Tri-Border
area where the borders of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil meet;
(7) encourages the President to direct the United States
Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS)
to--
(A) seek support from OAS member countries for the
creation of a special task force of the Inter-American
Committee Against Terrorism to assist, as requested by
the Government of Argentina, in the investigation of
all aspects of the 1994 AMIA terrorist attack; and
(B) urge OAS member countries to designate
Hizballah as a terrorist organization if they have not
already done so;
(8) stresses the need for international pressure on Iran
and Syria to extradite for trial individuals and government
officials who are accused of planning or perpetrating the AMIA
attack, and to immediately, unconditionally, and permanently
cease any and all assistance to terrorists; and
(9) desires a lasting, warm relationship between the United
States and Argentina which is built, in part, on mutual
abhorrence of terrorism and commitments to peace, stability,
and democracy in the Western Hemisphere.
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