[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 73 (Thursday, May 4, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6183-S6184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                         OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to express my sincere 
condolences to the families and friends who 
[[Page S6184]] lost their loved ones in the horrible terrorist act 
which took place in Oklahoma City, OK, on April 19, 1995. My prayers 
are with the victims, with those who lost loved ones, and with those 
who simply had to suffer through the agony of uncertainty. And, like 
every Member of this Senate, I am determined to ensure that those 
terrorists who committed this crime will be prosecuted to the fullest 
extent of the law.
  Our top priority today and always ought to be the protection and 
safety of all the citizens of our country. Though we in the Senate 
will, as we already have, differ about the role of the Federal 
Government and the scope of Congress' authority, I think we can all 
agree that the first obligation of the Government is to protect its 
citizens from harm. We must do everything we rightfully can to prevent 
future tragedies of this sort and to see to it that the perpetrators of 
this terrible act are brought to justice.
  One hope I have is that, in the process of focusing on the tragic 
incident in Oklahoma City involving one type of crime, we don't lost 
sight of the rising tide of all violent crime in this country. It did 
not take the massive destruction of this bombing to make violence a 
major problem in America. The rate of violent crime is increasing and 
will continue to do so if we do not put a stop to it now. Thus, it is 
even more urgent that government at all levels--Federal, State, and 
local--act accordingly to make sure that all types of criminal violence 
are prevented, or, that when these acts occur, to see to it that the 
responsible parties are severely punished for their actions.
  In my view, there is a continuum in our society, with the rights of 
criminals on one end, and the rights of both victims of crime and the 
law-abiding on the other. More rights for criminals ineluctably 
translates to fewer rights for victims. I believe the pendulum has 
swung too far, and for too long, toward the right of criminals. It is 
time for us to shift things in the direction of law-abiding citizens 
and the victims of crime.
  Despite our best efforts, we must recognize that, no matter what we 
do, we will never to able to eradicate crime, nor, though we would like 
to, eliminate the possibility of a violent fanatic detonating a 
fertilizer-based bomb. So long as human nature remains imperfect there 
are going to be murderers, there are going to be rapists, there are 
going to be violent fanatics. Prevention is critical, and all 
appropriate tools should be provided to law enforcement officials to 
aid their preemptory efforts. But what is also important is the 
response which our criminal justice system is able to muster after the 
fact.
  In short, we must ensure that the perpetrators of all criminal acts 
in this country are--as the President promised in this case--brought to 
swift and certain justice. Legal reforms that would permit the rapid 
apprehension, trial, and punishment of the perpetrators of crime--all 
crimes--would go a long way toward preventing future such crimes and 
assuring the victims that justice will be done.
  I believe, with regard to Oklahoma City that what most affects us all 
is seeing the families of the victims. Like most Americans, I want to 
see justice for those families prevail. I would like to be able to 
assure those families that they will not have to suffer through a 9-
month trial on TV--including, for example, several weeks devoted to 
selecting the
 perfect, dispassionate and adequately uninformed jury. And I would 
like to be able to tell those families that they will not then have to 
endure years upon years of repetitive trials and appeals, forcing them 
to relive over and over the nightmare of the past weeks. But I cannot.

  Regrettably, our current system is all too often exploited by the 
guilty--at the expense of the innocent. That is why, as we move ahead 
with any proposed antiterrorist legislation as well as with the Senate 
Republican crime bill, S. 3, the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Improvement Act of 1995, I hope we will seek to pass 
legislation which does put the rights of victims and law-abiding 
citizens first--where they belong.
  Mr. President, on another note, I would like to also shed light on an 
unfortunate incident which took place during the aftermath of the 
bombing in Oklahoma City. Immediately after the bombing, many so-called 
experts and news media outlets rushed to the judgment that this attack 
was most probably the result of, ``Islamic radical fundamentalist 
terrorists from the Middle East.'' This inaccurate and prematurely 
reached conclusion did great damage to the millions of loyal Arab- and 
Moslem-Americans in the United States, producing a wave of anti-Moslem, 
anti-Arab hysteria in the days after the bombing. The windows of a 
mosque in Oklahoma City were shattered by bullets in the days after the 
bombing, and death threats were called in to many mosques across the 
United States--including several in my home State of Michigan. In 
addition, many Arab- and Moslem-American students were harassed at 
their schools and universities. All of these unfortunate incidents 
could have been avoided had some in the media and their so-called 
terrorism experts refrained from jumping to such unsubstantiated 
conclusions.
  The news media has a clear duty to the American people to report 
allegations of this type responsibly. The media has received many 
compliments about its coverage of Oklahoma City, much of it deserved. 
However, those outlets which failed to show proper restraint or which 
countenanced wildly speculative finger-pointing should, I believe, 
extend an apology to the Arab- and Moslem-American communities for the 
damage done to the hardworking individuals and families that comprise 
them. The American-Moslem community has donated $22,500 to assist the 
families of the victims of the bombing in Oklahoma City--a story which 
I hope the media will also be reporting.
  That said, I want to reemphasize my comments regarding this horrible 
tragedy in Oklahoma. Our criminal law enforcement community needs to 
have the appropriate tools for prevention and punishment. If we, in the 
Senate, are able to pass the appropriate legislation which will assist 
the law enforcement officials to effectively combat crime, then perhaps 
criminals will be deterred from committing another tragic Oklahoma City 
incident anywhere in the United States. Amidst all the pain, we may 
have learned a very valuable lesson from this incident--the worst 
terrorist crime in our Nation's history. The painful lesson learned may 
be that Oklahoma City is a wake-up call to all Americans that we 
desperately need to reform our criminal laws.


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