[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 106 (Thursday, July 18, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1319-E1320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    PRESIDENT CLINTON IGNORES VICE PRESIDENT GORE'S OWN LEGISLATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 18, 1996

  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I insert for the record a Reuter's report 
from July 15 in which the U.S. Commander of the Fifth Fleet, Adm. John 
Scott Redd, has once again reported that Iran has acquired more C-802 
antiship missiles from Communist China.
  According to Admiral Redd, these missiles add a new dimension in the 
regional naval threat. Further, he reports that Iran has tripled the 
number of missiles deployed on its coast and is fitting up to 20 
Huodong patrol boats, also acquired from Communist China, with these 
missiles.
  Mr. Speaker, these weapons transfers should be a sanctionable 
activity under the law. Indeed, they should be sanctionable under a law 
written by none other than the Vice-President of the United States, 
Albert Gore. In 1992, then-Senator Gore authored the Iran-Iraq Arms Non 
Proliferation Act, which was successfully amended to the fiscal year 
1993 Defense authorization bill.
  Section 1605 of the act calls for mandatory sanctions against any 
foreign country if the President determines that the country transfers 
goods or technology so as to contribute

[[Page E1320]]

knowingly and materially to the efforts by Iran or Iraq to acquire 
destabilizing numbers and types of advanced conventional weapons. The 
mandatory sanctions include a suspension of U.S. bilateral assistance, 
a requirement that the United States oppose multilateral loans to that 
country, a suspension of codevelopment or coproduction agreements, a 
suspension of military and dual-use technical exchange agreements, and 
a ban on exports of products on the U.S. munitions list, all for a 
period of one year. The legislation does contain a Presidential 
national security waiver, Mr. Speaker, but the outrageous thing is that 
the President has not even bothered to issue the waiver. He is simply 
ignoring the law. So apparently, is the author of the law.
  Worse, this administration is ignoring the threat. And the threat 
comes not only from the rogue nation of Iran, but from its rogue 
supplier, Communist China. The instances of weapons and dangerous 
technology transfers by this outlaw nation are too numerous to list, 
and so is the number of times that the Clinton administration has 
responded with outright capitulation. This will only beget more of the 
same Mr. Speaker.
  The travesty is that one day young American men and women may find 
themselves in a fight with any number of nations that have been armed 
and supplied by Communist China, and we will then have to ask ourselves 
why we didn't try to stop these dangerous transfers sooner.

             Iran Triples Gulf Deployed Missiles--U.S. Navy

                          (By Diana Abdallah)

       Dubai, July 15.--Iran has in the past two years tripled the 
     number of missiles deployed on its Gulf coast and is fitting 
     Chinese-built cruise missiles on up to 20 of its naval boats, 
     a senior U.S. navy commander said on Monday.
       Vice Admiral John Scott Redd, Commander of the U.S. Fifth 
     Fleet and Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Central Command, said 
     Iran's acquisition of Chinese-built radar guided C-802 anti-
     ship missiles was ``a new dimension'' in the regional naval 
     threat.
       He told Reuters from his headquarters in Bahrain that Iraq 
     and Iran continued to pose a threat to security in the region 
     which produces a third of the world's oil supply.
       Redd said there were no indications of threats against U.S. 
     naval forces following two bombs that killed 24 Americans in 
     Saudi Arabia in the past year, but that the navy had taken 
     ``prudent measures.'' He did not elaborate.
       ``Iraq is the major land threat in the region . . . Because 
     it still has the most capable and largest ground force in the 
     region, while Iran is more of a naval threat,'' said Redd, 
     who ends his assignment on Wednesday to return to Washington.
       He said Iran was expected to have up to 20 patrol boats 
     fitted with anti-ship Chinese-built C-802 cruise missiles.
       It already has two Russian Kilo submarines ``and they have 
     another one coming we think before the year is out,'' he 
     said.
       ``There has been a tripling of shore-based missiles both 
     that shoot at ships and those that are surface-to-air 
     missiles,'' he said. ``The number they have deployed on the 
     Gulf coast and in the Strait (of Hormuz) roughly tripled.''
       ``The newest dimension is that they have Chinese-built C-
     802 missiles against ships . . . The Houdong patrol craft 
     they got from China came fitted to fire the C-802s and they 
     have now received all 10 of them. Some arrived in the last 
     couple of months.''
       ``They are also taking some of the other patrol craft and 
     modifying them to carry the missiles and the work is in 
     progress. We could be looking at 20 or more patrol ships at 
     sea capable of carrying those surface-to-surface missiles,'' 
     he said.
       Officials in the United States, which accuses Iran of 
     sponsoring terrorism and has imposed sanctions on it, have 
     expressed concern since the 1991 Gulf War about what they say 
     is Iran's growing military capability and aims in the region.
       Iran has rejected all these charges.
       Redd said U.S. forces were capable of dealing with any 
     Iranian military threat.
       Navy spokesman Commander T. McCreary said 34 U.S. vessels, 
     including an aircraft carrier group, cruisers, destroyers--
     some capable of firing TOMAHAWK cruise missiles--frigates and 
     submarines, were currently deployed in Central Command area, 
     most of them in Gulf waters.
       Up to 15,000 sailors and marines are stationed in the area.

                          ____________________