[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12538-S12539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  A PERSONAL MESSAGE TO SADDAM HUSSEIN

  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, almost 10 years ago I had an 
opportunity in visiting Baghdad to meet with Saddam Hussein and members 
of his cabinet.
  I went to Iraq because of a brutal and seemingly endless conflict 
between the armies of Iran and Iraq that were consuming hundreds of 
thousands of lives. Like many people in our Government, I was concerned 
about how this would impact the region, and whether, indeed, it 
threatened world peace. I left Baghdad with unmistakable impressions of 
Saddam Hussein who continued to influence my own judgment, and which I 
revisit now--that we are on the verge of yet another conflict with the 
army of Iraq.
  President Hussein knew little of the Western World, and profoundly 
misunderstood the United States. Because we are a good and a decent 
people willing to engage in dialog, it was interpreted as a lack of 
resolve; a failure of will.
  It was for these reasons when President Bush sent American forces to 
the Persian Gulf that I was proud as a Member of the House of 
Representatives to be the Democratic sponsor of the war resolution.
  In the years since American men and women triumphed in the Persian 
Gulf war to uphold the will of the United Nations and serve the best 
traditions of our country, the Saddam Hussein that I met on that day 
has not only not changed; he remarkably seems to have learned very 
little.
  His rape and pillage of Kuwait is now known to have included not 
simply combatants but thousands of innocent Kuwaiti citizens. Six years 
after his retreat from Kuwait he continues to hold 620 unaccounted for 
Kuwaiti civilians. Upon his retreat he torched the land with oil fires 
and sullied the water, creating the largest oilspill and oil fires in 
history.
  In 1988, he employed mustard gas against his own people killing more 
than 5,000 Kurds.
  The Saddam Hussein that America met in the Persian Gulf war was not 
an isolated departure from good judgment. It was part of a long record 
of brutality against his own people and his neighbors.
  Today we are on the verge of yet another conflict with Saddam 
Hussein, because not only is there a long tradition of such 
irresponsible international behavior but because nothing seemingly has 
changed.
  In 1992, he violated the terms of the gulf war cease-fire by moving 
antiaircraft missiles into northern and southern Iraq. The world 
responded. The coalition held. And more than 100 United States, 
British, and French planes fired on missile stations.
  A year later--in 1993--still not having learned the price of his 
misjudgements, Saddam Hussein ordered an attempt on the life of former 
President George Bush. President Bush was visiting Kuwait. Not only was 
Saddam Hussein not humbled in the face of the victor; he planned an 
assassination leading to an American military response against his 
intelligence headquarters.
  In 1994, he sent battalions of Iraqis 20 miles north of the Kuwaiti 
border. Again, the United States needed to respond and 40,000 troops 
were again sent to the Persian Gulf.
  And, last year, despite a willingness by the United Nations to begin 
easing sanctions in order to ease the pain on the Iraqi people in a 
food for oil program that was instituted, Saddam Hussein responded by 
military attack against the Kurds in the town of Erbil needing a 
response with the oil for food program.
  There are few comparisons in contemporary history of any leader in 
any government that has so routinely miscalculated at the disadvantage 
of his government and himself.
  The Saddam Hussein that I met a decade ago may not have understood 
much about the world, or his place in it, the relative power of his 
country as opposed to potential adversaries, the use of technology, his 
measure of international will--his misunderstanding of the United 
States may have been legendary--but it is almost unbelievable that with 
these annual confrontations, this extraordinary record of 
miscalculations, that virtually nothing seems to have been learned.
  What more is necessary to be understood about the resolve of the 
United States? This Government is clearly prepared to pay the price to 
maintain the peace in the Middle East. This country has a deep 
determination to deny Saddam Hussein every and all classes of weapons 
of mass destruction.
  The United States will provide leadership for international response 
when necessary, but clearly is both capable and willing to act 
unilaterally if required.
  What is it, Saddam Hussein, that you do not understand about the 
world resolve? And what is it about us that could still be unclear?
  Last month, this long and extraordinary record of miscalculation 
added yet another chapter. Saddam Hussein barred access to U.N. weapons 
inspectors under the pretext that they included American citizens. He 
challenged the right of the United States to be a part of the 
inspection teams of the United Nations, and asked rhetorically by what 
right we would be present.
  Saddam Hussein, it comes to mind that the United States has about 
500,000 reasons why we have a right to participate and will demand full 
compliance--a reason for every man and woman that left family, friends 
and home to put their lives on the line in the Persian Gulf war to end 
your occupation of Kuwait. And those 500,000 reasons have not yet run 
their course. They will stand for a long time.
  The record since the United Nations began the inspections to ensure 
compliance with its resolutions has not been without success.
  Since 1991, U.N. inspectors have found and destroyed more illegal 
weapons in Iraq than were destroyed during

[[Page S12539]]

the entire Persian Gulf war. Surveillance cameras to monitor weapons 
activities were installed. This is a regime imposed by the United 
Nations of weapons inspection that has and can yield real results. But, 
as we now stand on the verge of yet another military confrontation, it 
is necessary to face the unmistakable and painful truth that there is 
no reason to believe that anything has changed in Baghdad.
  This week, the Washington Times revealed that Saddam Hussein has been 
intending to buy five electronic warfare systems that would allow him 
to detect and destroy radar-evading aircraft.
  The weapons markets of the world have routinely been contacted by 
Iraqi agents and representatives still seeking military technology.
  This is important lest we fail to understand that the strategy of 
frustrating U.N. inspectors and noncompliance is not happening in a 
vacuum. It is part of an ongoing strategy to restore military 
capability.
  The lessons of the Persian Gulf war and our experience through our 
sacrifices have yielded more than simply the destruction of these 
weapons. There is another great lesson that the Persian Gulf war has 
left the United States, the United Nations and the international 
community. It is, first, that the international community is capable of 
acting in concert for common purpose, but it is also that there is by 
definition a class of nations with leaders who are easily identifiable 
who are so irresponsible by their actions, who act in such contempt of 
international normal standards of conduct and international law that 
the international community will take it upon itself to deny them 
aspects of their own sovereignty.
  Of all the things that Saddam Hussein failed to learn about us and 
our resolve and our capability or the international community's ability 
to act in concert it is the single lesson that is the foundation of the 
current crisis. Saddam Hussein will not be allowed to have weapons of 
mass destruction or wage war on his own people or regain great military 
capability because as a consequence of the Persian Gulf war and the 
invasion of Kuwait, the international community has decided to deny him 
that sovereign right of other nations to possess certain weapons and 
conduct their own affairs today, tomorrow and potentially forever.
  It is not only a lesson of the Persian Gulf war; it is a gift of this 
generation to succeeding generations that something has been learned by 
the history of the 20th century. And the primary pupil of this lesson 
will be Saddam Hussein, in life or in death, today or tomorrow, one way 
or another.
  I know every Member of this Senate, indeed, the entire U.S. 
Government, is in prayerful hope that military confrontation is 
avoided. In an age when military weapons hold such power and the 
destructive capability is so great, conflict must always be avoided 
when possible. That is our nature. It speaks well of our people that 
this is our resolve.
  Saddam Hussein, with so many miscalculations, so many mistakes that 
caused so much harm for your people, do not miscalculate again.
  There is in this Senate, I know, nothing but affection for the people 
of Iraq, an abiding hope that there will be a day when not only we can 
meet them again in friendship but the Members of this Senate may vote 
to send an ambassador of good intention and good will to Baghdad to 
normalize relations. Between this day and that is either the learning 
of a fundamental lesson by Saddam Hussein against all odds and all 
experience or that the people of Iraq take their future in their hands 
against extraordinary odds and regain responsible leadership.
  I do not know, Mr. President, how this crisis will be resolved. 
Indeed, no one could predict. Only that somehow we be understood and 
that somehow the United Nations obtain the strength and resolve to see 
its judgments fulfilled. All the frustration of these years and all the 
sacrifice from the international community can still have real meaning 
if this lesson will be learned not simply by Saddam Hussein but by all 
the dictators, all the despots to come who would abuse their people and 
wage war. If we can stand together here, finally have the lesson 
learned, all this will have had real meaning.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. COATS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Allard). The Senator from Indiana.

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