[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 18, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1077-H1078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          KUWAITI POWS IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to 
highlight a serious issue that still has not been resolved, even though 
we have, in fact, seen the success of the operation of the United 
States and a number of other nations of the world in removing the 
illegal Iraqi Government from the independent nation of Kuwait. While 
we celebrate that fact that occurred on February 26, 1991, we must 
remember that the U.N. also passed resolutions 686 and 687 as part of a 
broad cease-fire agreement which was accepted by Iraq.
  Now, there are those in this institution and around the country who 
think that we should begin to normalize, to some degree, relations with 
Iraq. But, Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we in this 
institution highlight the fact that the government of Saddam Hussein 
and the Iraqi nation still has 608 people that are still unaccounted 
for.
  These are prisoners of war that were taken hostage by the Iraqi 
Government. These include both military personnel and civilians. These 
are individuals who represent the broad spectrum of the population in 
Kuwait. They are husbands and wives, they are children, they are people 
who are not all Kuwaitis, in fact. In fact, there are a number of other 
nationalities who happened to be in Kuwait and who were taken hostage 
by Saddam and they still have not been accounted for.
  My interest in this, Mr. Speaker, dates back to my chairing the 
Kuwaiti Task Force for the Human Rights Caucus, where we documented the 
atrocities Saddam perpetrated on the people of Kuwait both before and 
during the illegal occupation. But I also have one constituent who was, 
in fact, a POW captured by Saddam and actually was in the control of 
Iraqis up until we went and did the liberation.
  This individual, who I took back to Kuwait with me 1 week after the 
liberation, has documented to me on a number of occasions the illegal 
actions of the Iraqi Government and the fact that there are these 
hundreds of people, who are ordinary people in many cases, who were not 
involved in the conflict itself, who are now being held against their 
will by the Iraqis.
  Mr. Speaker, this is violation not only of the U.N. resolutions, it 
is a violation of every human rights agreement that this world 
acknowledges between countries. It is about time that America spoke out 
loudly and strongly that we will not sit idly by and allow

[[Page H1078]]

these 608 citizens, each of whose cases has been individually 
documented, each of whose situations has been chronicled, so that this 
is factual information. In fact, some of these people have been sighted 
within the territorial limits of Iraq. Yet the international Red Cross 
has not been able to bring these individuals back to their homeland.
  Mr. Speaker, this is outrageous and this is wrong. This institution 
needs to go on record on a regular basis, letting Saddam and the Iraqi 
Government know that we are watching and that we are asking the 
question why these people are not being allowed to be reunited with 
their loved ones. The war is over. The conflict has ended. Saddam, in 
fact, accepted the terms of U.N. resolution 686 and 687, and yet here 
we are in 1997 in March and we still do not have these people returned 
to their homeland.
  I would say, Mr. Speaker, that if Saddam Hussein ever expects to have 
the world community give him the kind of respect and perhaps the 
cooperation that he has said that he would like to have, and in fact 
that he says he deserves, he should start by coming to the public, to 
the world public at large, and explaining why these people are being 
held; and, in fact, he should take the effort to return these people 
back to their homeland.
  As I said before, Mr. Speaker, the documentation for these 
individuals is, in fact, very substantive. The National Committee of 
Missing and POW Affairs has reported the number to be 608. This 
committee knows the exact numbers because they have a separate file and 
a separate computer database established for each of these POWs.
  What we are saying, Mr. Speaker, I know what my good friend and 
colleague, the gentleman from California, Dana Rohrabacher, who wanted 
to be here with me this evening. He would say, if he were here, that we 
want the Iraqi Government to allow these people to go back to their 
homelands and that we want to have a full accounting for these 
individuals, and that we expect the United Nations and the world 
community at large to assist us in making sure that we do not, in fact, 
allow these people to be kept under the illegal control of Saddam 
Hussein and the Iraqi Government.
  There have been concerted efforts through an allied coalition, but 
these efforts have largely been unsuccessful. We are saying it is about 
time now that these other nations respectfully demand that which we are 
demanding, and that is a full accounting and return of these hostages.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my good friend and colleague, Mr. 
Rohrabacher, for such time as he may want to use.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I join with the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] and my colleagues tonight in calling on 
Saddam Hussein to release his captives. The war in the gulf is not over 
until the hostages that Saddam Hussein is holding have been released.
  The United States should not normalize relations with the regime in 
Iraq until these innocent people, the sons and the daughters, the 
husbands and the wives of the people of Kuwait have been released by 
their Iraqi captors.

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