[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H10569]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  NATIONAL SECURITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McInnis). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I want to continue this discussion with my 
colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon], concerning the 
national security hearings that just took place with the Secretary of 
Defense, Mr. Perry, and General Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs, and General Downing, the director of the task force assigned by 
the Secretary to investigate the bombing of the Khobar Towers.
  I just want to ask the gentleman from Pennsylvania to go a little 
further into the assessment as to whether or not we should have an 
upward evaluation with respect to blame for this incident, as well as a 
downward direction, which appears to be the way it is going. It appears 
that blame is going to be laid at the feet of the base commander. Yet, 
there are a number of indications that show that this was an untenable 
position that this base commander was placed in.
  As General Downing said this morning, he was dealt a fairly poor hand 
to begin with, because of a number of circumstances that he could not 
control.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HUNTER. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman 
yielding. I would follow up by saying, and I think he would agree, 
Secretary Perry's statement was an eloquent statement. I think he did 
accept the responsibility himself for the incident, and I appreciate 
his candor in that regard.
  Let me go further and state that the disappointment that we feel is 
that what is happening right now in the Pentagon is exactly what the 
New York Times today editorialized on. That is, they are using one low-
level enlisted person as the scapegoat, much like was done in the crash 
of the Ron Brown airplane. There was a lower-level enlisted person who 
was held accountable.
  As much as we have seen time and again, there is an investigation and 
there is blame, but it seems as though that blame only goes one way, 
and that is down. What I suggested today, and what I would ask 
our colleagues in this body to support me on, is the need for us to 
have not just the investigation by the Air Force three-star general 
about those lower who were involved in the chain of command, including 
the base commander, who has been criticized, and perhaps he deserves 
that; but I think we also need to know who is culpable above that 
level.

  Is it, in fact, the commander of the CINC operation who, in fact, has 
the ultimate responsibility for that theater, and who, under the 
Goldwater-Nichols reform that this body passed a few years ago, reports 
directly to the office of the Secretary of Defense? Were there, in 
fact, any preliminary warnings made? Were there, in fact, any 
assessments of that facility? Why was the security of that facility in 
Saudi Arabia less than the security currently involved in Bosnia with 
our troops, where we have gone to great lengths?
  These are questions that need answered, not just from the general on 
the scene, who is being blamed for what occurred and who will likely 
be, as the New York Times put it, the scapegoat, but who is looking at 
his superiors and what their role was?
  When Secretary Perry says that he is confident that this three-star 
Air Force general can do this assessment, I say I cannot believe that. 
I cannot believe that we are empowering a three-star to investigate his 
four-star boss, and even, if necessary, the Secretary of Defense and 
his underlings in the Pentagon itself.
  Therefore, in thanking my colleague for yielding, Mr. Speaker, I 
would say that this body needs to make sure that there is an 
independent assessment, whether it is done by the General Accounting 
Office, the Justice Department, or whatever. There needs to be an 
independent assessment so that general who is being targeted right now 
and may be the subject of a court-martial can feel confident that the 
same look is being done of those above him.
  Mr. HUNTER. I thank the gentleman for his statement, Mr. Speaker.
  Let us review the basic facts here. This bombing took place because 
we had a building housing thousands of Americans literally within feet, 
within 85 feet, of not only a public highway, down which any terrorist 
could drive a truck, but also a public parking lot, where the 
terrorists could park a truck.
  This truck, loaded with explosives, with thousands of pounds of 
explosives, and the Secretary estimated it at 20,000 pounds, and 
General Downing said between 3,000 and 8,000; but even if you say it is 
20,000 pounds, for country boys that is basically half the weight of a 
hay truck. Any large truck can carry that amount of weight very easily.
  That truck was within 85 feet. It was closer to our personnel and 
their living area than the distance in the House Chamber from one end 
of the Chamber to the other. That happened. If we were to expand our 
perimeter, which should have been done, or we should have vacated the 
site, we would have had to expand out and take out part of the Saudi 
public road. If we had to do that, we had to do that. But the people 
who placed this contingent in this indefensible area should be 
examined.

                          ____________________