[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 26, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S7059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE BOMBING IN SAUDI ARABIA

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues to 
speak about the tragedy which occurred yesterday in Dhahran, Saudi 
Arabia. It is reported that around 10 p.m. Saudi time, a bomb attached 
to a fuel tanker truck parked just in front of a concrete security 
barrier about 35 yards from Khobar Towers, a facility housing United 
States Air Force pilots and other American military personnel on King 
Abdul Aziz Air Base near Dhahran in eastern Saudi Arabia, ripped 
through the building, killing 19 United States military personnel and 
injuring more than 300 others.
  It has been further reported that about 2,400 American military 
personnel, most of them working for the Air Force, are assigned to the 
area around the air base in Dhahran. This base serves as the 
headquarters of the Air Force's 4404th Air Wing, which is assigned the 
task of carrying out the enforcement of the no-fly zone over southern 
Iraq which was imposed at the end of the Persian Gulf war. Mr. 
President, at this early time, it seems clear that this apparent act of 
terrorism was targeted specifically against U.S. military personnel 
serving in Dhahran.
  Mr. President, I deplore in the strongest possible terms this 
despicable act. I join the President in announcing to those both within 
the United States and abroad that such extremist acts will not go 
unpunished. To that end, I am pleased that the President has dispatched 
a team of investigators from the FBI to Saudi Arabia to assist in the 
investigation of the blast. I strongly support our men and women 
serving their country overseas and feel that we must take all steps 
necessary both to apprehend and bring to justice those who perpetrated 
this act and to ensure the future safety of all American troops serving 
abroad.
  Mr. President, this tragedy hits me and the State of Wisconsin quite 
personally. Of the U.S. military personnel confirmed dead, one such 
patriot is from my home State of Wisconsin. T.Sgt. Patrick P. Fennig, 
from Greendale, WI, who is assigned to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida 
and is serving in Saudi Arabia was one of the 19 service members 
confirmed killed in the blast. I send my condolences to Technical 
Sergeant Fennig's family. My heart goes out to his family and to the 
families of the other U.S. military personnel who either lost their 
lives or were injured at the hands of this apparent act of terrorism.
  This terrorism comes 7 months after a car bomb ripped through an 
American-run military training center in the Saudi capital city of 
Riyadh, killing five Americans and two Indians and wounding several 
dozen others. Yesterday's attack was the worst terrorist assault 
against Americans in the Middle East since the 1983 bombing of the 
United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in which 241 
American service personnel lost their lives.
  Mr. President, this bombing is the latest, and certainly one of the 
most deadly terrorist attacks on American military personnel serving 
overseas. We must never forget that, whether serving in times of war or 
supposed peace, American troops are continually in danger when serving 
their country overseas. Again, I am sickened by and deplore this 
horrific act and urge the President to use all available means to bring 
the perpetrators of this terrorism to justice.
  I yield the floor.

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