[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 141 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  CHIRAC, CHIRAC, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

  (Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier to my colleagues and 
to the American people, the French Government has already exploded 164 
nuclear bombs in the atmosphere and under the Mururoa Atoll in French 
Polynesia, in the South Pacific.
  Mr. Speaker, first French officials said the tremendous amount of 
nuclear contamination contained in this atoll should be contained for 
1,000 years. Now, these same French officials are saying it may be 100 
years.
  Mr. Speaker, the consensus now among the scientists is that Mururoa 
Atoll will collapse within 10 to 50 years. Mr. Speaker, the 
contamination contained in this atoll is equivalent to several 
Chernobyls in the Ukraine.
  Mr. Speaker, I was arrested for 16 hours on the Greenpeace ship the 
Rainbow Warrior II, and I wrote these verses to describe the crisis in 
the South Pacific:

     You appear in a cloud, like a flash from the West that blinds 
           our vision. From Tahiti Nui, from the Tuamotus, 
           Mangareva, Tubuai, Bora-Bora, Raiatea, Huahine, Tahaa, 
           NukuHiva, Tureia, Mururoa and Fangataufa.
     Like poisoned fish that float aimlessly from fissured reefs, 
           death moves slowly toward the people from the sun until 
           it is too late.
     Chirac, Chirac, what have you done?

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