[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 4, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1505]]


                       STOPPING IRANIAN TERRORISM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NEWT GINGRICH

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 4, 1996

  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to share 
the following editorial from the August 7, 1996, Philadelphia Inquirer, 
by Trudy Rubin on ``Stopping Iranian Terrorism.''
  As this article points out, the current regime in Iran is dangerous 
and actively working against the principles of freedom, democracy, and 
human rights. Iran's actions should worry not only all Americans but 
our friends and allies around the world as well. The Iran Oil Sanctions 
Act of 1996 which we passed this summer will help to increase the 
pressure on the dictatorship in Iran.
  As Charles Krauthammer recently noted, in President Clinton's 
attempts to mobilize the United States against terrorism, ``the 
rhetoric far outran the real measures proposed.'' Mr. Krauthammer goes 
on to recognize that what is lacking is deterrence. ``All this effort 
with wiretapping, bomb-sniffing, intelligence-sharing is aimed at 
reducing the terrorists' ability to carry out their attacks. What we 
are not doing is diminishing their will to carry out attacks.'' I 
strongly agree with him that we should be committed to a sustained and 
unrelenting effort to destroy those who are responsible for supporting, 
promoting, and carrying out terrorist acts.
  Finally, President Clinton and his administration failed to lay the 
groundwork with our allies by building the case against Iran. At the 
recent world summit on terrorism in Paris, the administration did not 
even raise the issue of Iran. I certainly hope that President Clinton 
will take note of Iran's actions and vigorously pursue the steps 
necessary to safeguard our Nation against terrorists.

       European leaders love to label Americans naive for viewing 
     the world in terms of good and evil.
       They sneered when Ronald Reagan termed the Soviet Union an 
     ``evil empire'' (he was right). They opposed U.S. moves to 
     quarantine Saddam Hussein before 1990 (he was evil).
       And now the European Union is fiercely resisting America's 
     call to isolate Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism. In 
     righteous tones, the French and Germans urge America to hold 
     a `'constructive dialogue'' with Tehran's mullahs.
       But how can you conduct a ``constructive'' dialogue with a 
     country that carries on a foreign policy that flouts all 
     civilized rules?
       The Europeans may insist on painting Iran's behavior in 
     gray tones--attributing it to ongoing political struggles 
     between pragmatists and radicals--but the facts present 
     themselves in black and white.
       While U.S. officials haven't found any direct Iranian link 
     to the bombing of U.S. servicemen in Saudi Arabia or the TWA 
     explosion, they are investigating several disturbing leads:
       Iran has a network of 11 terrorist training camps inside 
     its borders, according to recent news reports citing U.S. 
     intelligence sources. The camps teach skills such as bomb 
     making to trainees from around the Islamic world, including 
     Egyptians, Palestinians and Saudis. Iran's clerical rulers 
     oppose Mideast governments that support the peace process 
     with Israel, and exhort Muslims to replace them with radical 
     Islamist regimes. They also call for Islamists to drive U.S. 
     troops out of Saudi Arabia.
       Secretary of Defense William Perry has said the bomb that 
     killed 19 U.S. servicemen in Dhahran was so sophisticated 
     that the bombers must have had ``an international 
     connection.'' (But Perry backed off an earlier statement that 
     Iran was ``possibly'' responsible.) One line of speculation: 
     Iran might have smuggled explosives into Saudi Arabia earlier 
     this year hidden in a shipment of computers headed to an 
     international trade fair.
       Only a few days before the explosion in Dhahran, a secret 
     terrorism summit was held in Tehran, according to the 
     National Council of Resistance of Iran, the most active 
     Iranian exile group. The meeting gathered heads of Iranian 
     intelligence agencies along with leaders of radical Mideast 
     Islamists to discuss attacks against U.S. targets.
       Iran has perfected a new kind of weapon--a transportable 
     long-range, time-delayed mortar--for use abroad in terrorist 
     operations. The new mortar threat is one reason U.S. troops 
     are being moved to remote base in Saudi Arabia. Iranian 
     dissidents say Tehran has manufactured 20 of these mortars; 
     one was discovered last March hidden in a cargo of pickled 
     cucumbers on an Iranian freighter docked in Antwerp. Possible 
     European targets; Israeli diplomats or Iranian dissidents.
       A Lebanese terrorist trained by Iranian revolutionary 
     guards flew into Israel on April 4 with high-powered plastic 
     explosives hidden in a carry-on bag. Fortunately, he only 
     blew off his own legs and an arm in a Jerusalem hotel room 
     while assembling a bomb. But if he could smuggle plastique 
     onto Swissair in Zurich undetected, maybe someone did the 
     same on TWA Flight 800. FBI agents are investigating.
       Had enough? No? Well, on July 17, a Thai court sentenced an 
     Iranian man to death for conspiring to set off a bomb in 
     Bangkok aimed at the Israeli Embassy.
       And Iranian agents have been busily hunting down Iranian 
     dissidents in exile; they've killed 11 already in 1996. The 
     latest victim, a former government minister under the shah, 
     was shot twice in the head at his home in Paris. German 
     police arrested a high-ranking Iranian intelligence agent in 
     connection with the killing.
       But none of this is convincing enough for the Europeans, 
     especially the French and the Germans. They still insist on 
     coloring Iranian leaders gray.
       German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's chief intelligence adviser 
     has become downright chummy with Iran's head of intelligence, 
     Ali Fallahian, even though a German court charged Fallahian 
     with organizing the 1992 assassination of four Iranian Kurds 
     in Berlin.
       I have tried to fathom this myopia. I know the Germans once 
     were Iran's biggest trading partner, and resent U.S. pressure 
     to give up lucrative contracts. I know the French oil company 
     Total, S.A. has huge sums invested in Iranian oil 
     development.
       And I understand European resentment at new U.S. sanctions 
     against foreign firms, including those from allied nations, 
     that invest big in Iranian energy. Imposing trade sanctions 
     on your friends is a funny way to punish your enemies.
       But what's the Clinton administration to do if friends 
     refuse to call a common enemy by its rightful name?
       Iran is not an enemy because it has an Islamic government, 
     or because it once held U.S. diplomats hostage. Tehran's sin 
     lies not in its theology, but in its behavior today. A 
     country that murders its enemies abroad removes itself from 
     the community of nations.
       I know the Europeans can find excuses for Iranian behavior: 
     We have to understand Iranian psychology . . . the Iranians 
     feel threatened by an America perceived as hostile . . . 
     Washington has refused to extend a hand. I remember when the 
     same excuses were made for Saddam Hussein.
       I feel sorry for all the Iranian technocrats who want to 
     get on with building their country. But an Iran with its own 
     violent foreign agenda is a threat to everyone, not just 
     America. What if such a regime gets nuclear weapons?
       The only way to change Iran's behavior is for Western 
     allies to stand together, setting out clear guidelines for 
     Tehran, or else. If Europeans pretend otherwise, they are 
     naive.

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