[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 188 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 188

  Condemning the attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos 
        Aires, Argentina, in July 1994, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 18, 2007

 Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself and Mr. Lantos) submitted the following 
 concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
  Condemning the attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos 
        Aires, Argentina, in July 1994, and for other purposes.

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 extensive evidence links the planning of the attacks to the Government 
        of Iran, and the execution of the attacks to the terrorist group 
        Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, supported by Syria, and sponsored 
        by Iran;
Whereas on October 25, 2006, the State Prosecutor of Argentina, an office 
        created by the current Government of Argentina, concluded that the AMIA 
        bombing was ``decided and organized by the highest leaders of the former 
        government of ... Iran, whom, at the same time, entrusted its execution 
        to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah'';
Whereas on October 25, 2006, the State Prosecutor of Argentina concluded that 
        the AMIA bombing had been approved in advance by Iran's Supreme Leader 
        Ali Khamene'i, Iran's then-leader Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's 
        then-Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and Iran's then-Minister of 
        Security and Intelligence Ali Fallahijan;
Whereas on October 25, 2006, the State Prosecutor of Argentina stated that the 
        Government of Iran uses ``terrorism as a mechanism of its foreign 
        policy'' in support of ``its final aim [which] is to export its 
        radicalized vision of Islam and to eliminate the enemies of the 
        regime'';
Whereas on October 25, 2006, the State Prosecutor of Argentina identified 
        Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a Lebanese citizen and member of Hezbollah, as 
        the suicide bomber who primarily carried out the attack on the AMIA;
Whereas on November 9, 2006, Argentine Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, pursuant 
        to the request of the State Prosecutor of Argentina, issued an arrest 
        warrant for Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former leader of Iran and 
        the current chairman of Iran's Expediency Council, for his involvement 
        in the AMIA bombing and urged the International Criminal Police 
        Organization (INTERPOL) to issue an international arrest warrant for 
        Rafsanjani and detain him;
Whereas on November 9, 2006, Argentine Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, pursuant 
        to the request of the State Prosecutor of Argentina, also issued arrest 
        warrants for Ali Fallahijan, a former Iranian Minister of Security and 
        Intelligence, Ali Akbar Velayati, a former Iranian Foreign Minister, 
        Mohsen Rezai, a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards 
        Corps (IRGC), Ahmad Vahidi, a former commander of the elite Al-Quds 
        Force of the IRGC, Hadi Soleimanpour, a former Iranian ambassador to 
        Argentina, Mohsen Rabbani, a former cultural attache at the Iranian 
        Embassy in Buenos Aires, Ahmed Reza Asghari, a former official at the 
        Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires, and Imad Moughnieh, a leading 
        operations chief of Hezbollah;
Whereas on March 5, 2007, the Executive Committee of INTERPOL supported the 
        issuance of arrest warrants, also known as capture notices for Hezbollah 
        operative Imad Moughnieh and five Iranian officials noted above for whom 
        Argentine Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral issued arrest warrants;
Whereas Iran has appealed the INTERPOL Executive Committee's decision, and the 
        General Assembly of INTERPOL will issue a final ruling on the arrest 
        warrants when it meets in Morocco in November 2007;
Whereas the inability to reach suspected Islamist militants and Iranian 
        officials has debilitated the efforts of the Government of Argentina to 
        prosecute masterminds and planners of the 1994 AMIA bombing;
Whereas the current Government of Argentina has made significant advances in the 
        AMIA investigation; and
Whereas Argentina recently approved anti-terrorist legislation which seeks to 
        criminalize financing, fund-raising, and money laundering activities of 
        groups linked to terrorism: 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 13 years without justice for the loss of their 
        loved ones, and may have to wait even longer for justice to be 
        served;
            (3) applauds the current Government of Argentina for 
        increasing the pace of the AMIA bombing investigation, as well 
        as on its recently approved anti-terrorism legislation;
            (4) 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 and to bring those responsible to justice;
            (5) calls upon the General Assembly of INTERPOL to uphold, 
        issue and implement the international arrest warrants supported 
        by the Executive Committee of INTERPOL in March 2007; and
            (6) calls upon responsible nations to cooperate fully with 
        the investigation, including by making information, witnesses, 
        and suspects available for review and questioning by the 
        appropriate Argentine authorities, and by detaining and 
        extraditing to Argentina, if given the opportunity, any of the 
        Iranian officials and former officials, Hezbollah operatives, 
        and Islamist militants against whom Argentine or international 
        arrest warrants are pending in connection with the AMIA case.
                                 <all>