[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 27 (Friday, March 13, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1907-S1913]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INDICTMENT AND PROSECUTION OF SADDAM HUSSEIN

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now 
proceed to a vote on S. Con. Res. 78, as amended, which the clerk will 
report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 78) relating to the 
     indictment and prosecution of Saddam Hussein for war crimes 
     and other crimes against humanity.

  The Senate resumed consideration of the concurrent resolution.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the concurrent 
resolution, S. Con. Res. 78, as amended. The yeas and nays have been 
ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi), the 
Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Faircloth), the Senator from Oklahoma 
(Mr. Inhofe), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Jeffords), the Senator from 
Arizona (Mr. Kyl), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) are 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye) is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
who desire to vote?
  The result was announced, yeas 93, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 32 Leg.]

                                YEAS--93

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bumpers
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici

[[Page S1908]]


     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Ford
     Frist
     Glenn
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Johnson
     Kempthorne
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Enzi
     Faircloth
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Kyl
     McCain
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 78), as amended, was agreed 
to.


                   Amendment No. 1934 to the Preamble

               (Purpose: To provide substitute language)

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, amendment No. 1934, 
offered by the Senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Specter, and the Senator 
from North Dakota, Mr. Dorgan, is agreed to.
  The amendment (No. 1934) was agreed to as follows:

       Strike out the preamble and insert the following:
       Whereas the International Military Tribunal at Nurenberg 
     was convened to try individuals for crimes against 
     international law committed during World War II;
       Whereas the Nuremberg tribunal provision which stated that 
     ``crimes against international law are committed by men, not 
     be abstract entities, and only by punishing individuals who 
     commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be 
     enforced'' is as valid today as it was in 1946;
       Whereas, on August 2, 1990, without provocation, Iraq 
     initiated a war of aggression against the sovereign state of 
     Kuwait;
       Whereas the Charter of the United Nations imposes on its 
     members the obligations to ``refrain in their international 
     relations from the threat or use of force against the 
     territorial integrity or political independence of any 
     state'';
       Whereas the leaders of the Government of Iraq, a country 
     which is a member of the United Nations, did violate this 
     provision of the United Nations Charter;
       Whereas the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of 
     Civilian Persons in Times of War (the Fourth Geneva 
     Convention) imposes certain obligations upon a belligerent 
     State, occupying another country by force of arms, in order 
     to protect the civilian population of the occupied territory 
     from some of the ravages of the conflict;
       Whereas both Iraq and Kuwait are parties to the Fourth 
     Geneva Convention;
       Whereas the public testimony of witnesses and victims has 
     indicated that Iraqi officials violated Article 27 of the 
     Fourth Geneva Convention by their inhumane treatment and acts 
     of violence against the Kuwaiti civilian population;
       Whereas the public testimony of witnesses and victims has 
     indicated that Iraqi officials violated Articles 31 and 32 of 
     the Fourth Geneva Convention by subjecting Kuwaiti civilians 
     to physical coercion, suffering and extermination in order to 
     obtain information;
       Whereas in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, from 
     January 18, 1991, to February 25, 1991, Iraq did fire 39 
     missiles on Israel in 18 separate attacks with the intent of 
     making it a party to war and with the intent of killing or 
     injuring innocent civilians, killing 2 persons directly, 
     killing 12 people indirectly (through heart attacks, improper 
     use of gas masks, choking), and injuring more than 200 
     persons;
       Whereas Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states 
     that persons committing ``grave breaches'' are to be 
     apprehended and subjected to trial;
       Whereas, on several occasions, the United Nations Security 
     Council has found Iraq's treatment of Kuwaiti civilians to be 
     in violation of international humanitarian law;
       Whereas, in Resolution 665, adopted on August 25, 1990, the 
     United Nations Security Council deplored ``the loss of 
     innocent life stemming from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait'';
       Whereas, in Resolution 670, adopted by the United Nations 
     Security Council on September 25, 1990, it condemned further 
     ``the treatment by Iraqi forces on Kuwait nationals and 
     reaffirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention applied to 
     Kuwait'';
       Whereas, in Resolution 674, adopted by the United Nations 
     Security Council on October 29, 1990, the Council demanded 
     that Iraq cease mistreating and oppressing Kuwaiti nationals 
     in violation of the Convention and reminded Iraq that it 
     would be liable for any damage or injury suffered by Kuwaiti 
     nationals due to Iraq's invasion and illegal occupation;
       Whereas Iraq is a party to the Prisoners of War Convention 
     and there is evidence and testimony that during the Persian 
     Gulf War, Iraq violated articles of the Convention by its 
     physical and psychological abuse of military and civilian 
     POW's including members of the international press;
       Whereas Iraq has committed deliberate and calculated crimes 
     of environmental terrorism, inflicting grave risk to the 
     health and well-being of innocent civilians in the region by 
     its willful ignition of over 700 Kuwaiti oil wells in January 
     and February, 1991;
       Whereas President Clinton found ``compelling evidence'' 
     that the Iraqi Intelligence Service directed and pursued an 
     operation to assassinate former President George Bush in 
     April 1993 when he visited Kuwait;
       Whereas Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi officials have 
     systematically attempted to destroy the Kurdish population in 
     Iraq through the use of chemical weapons against civilian 
     Kurds, campaigns in 1987-88 which resulted in the 
     disappearance of more than 150,000 persons and the 
     destruction of more than 4,000 villages, the placement of 
     more than 10 million landmines in Iraqi Kurdistan, and ethnic 
     cleansing in the city of Kirkuk;
       Whereas the Republic of Iraq is a signatory to 
     international agreements including the Universal Declaration 
     on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and 
     Political Rights, the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the POW Convention, 
     and is obligated to comply with these international 
     agreements;
       Whereas paragraph 8 of Resolution 687 of the United Nations 
     Security Council, adopted on April 8, 1991, requires Iraq to 
     ``unconditionally accept the destruction, removal, or 
     rendering harmless, under international supervision of all 
     chemical and biological weapons and all stocks of agents and 
     all related subsystems and components and all research, 
     development, support, and manufacturing facilities;
       Whereas Saddam Hussein and the Republic of Iraq have 
     persistently and flagrantly violated the terms of Resolution 
     687 with respect to elimination of weapons of mass 
     destruction and inspections by international supervisors;
       Whereas there is good reason to believe that Iraq continues 
     to have stockpiles of chemical and biological munitions, 
     missiles capable of transporting such agents, and the 
     capacity to produce such weapons of mass destruction, putting 
     the international community at risk;
       Whereas, on February 22, 1993, the United Nations Security 
     Council adopted Resolution 808 establishing an international 
     tribunal to try individuals accused of violations of 
     international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia;
       Whereas, on November 8, 1994, the United Nations Security 
     Council adopted Resolution 955 establishing an international 
     tribunal to try individuals accused of the commission of 
     violations of international humanitarian law in Rwanda;
       Whereas more than 70 individuals have been indicted by the 
     International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 
     the Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 
     former Yugoslavia, leading in the first trial to the 
     sentencing of a Serb jailer to 20 years in prison;
       Whereas the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has 
     indicted 31 individuals, with three trials occurring at 
     present and 27 individuals in custody;
       Whereas the United States has to date spent more than $24 
     million for the International Criminal Tribunal for the 
     Former Yugoslavia and more than $20 million for the 
     International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda;
       Whereas officials such as former President George Bush, 
     Vice President Al Gore, General Norman Schwarzkopf and others 
     have labeled Saddam Hussein a war criminal and called for his 
     indictment; and
       Whereas a failure to try and punish leaders and other 
     persons for crimes against international humanitarian law 
     establishes a dangerous precedent and negatively impacts the 
     value of deterrence to future illegal acts: Now, therefore, 
     be it

  The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 78), as amended, with its 
preamble, as amended, was agreed to, as follows:

                            S. Con. Res. 78

       Whereas the International Military Tribunal at Nurenberg 
     was convened to try individuals for crimes against 
     international law committed during World War II;
       Whereas the Nuremberg tribunal provision which stated that 
     ``crimes against international law are committed by men, not 
     be abstract entities, and only by punishing individuals who 
     commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be 
     enforced'' is as valid today as it was in 1946;
       Whereas, on August 2, 1990, without provocation, Iraq 
     initiated a war of aggression against the sovereign state of 
     Kuwait;
       Whereas the Charter of the United Nations imposes on its 
     members the obligations to ``refrain in their international 
     relations from the threat or use of force against the 
     territorial integrity or political independence of any 
     state'';
       Whereas the leaders of the Government of Iraq, a country 
     which is a member of the United Nations, did violate this 
     provision of the United Nations Charter;
       Whereas the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of 
     Civilian Persons in Times of War (the Fourth Geneva 
     Convention) imposes certain obligations upon a belligerent 
     State, occupying another country by force of arms, in order 
     to protect the civilian population of the occupied territory 
     from some of the ravages of the conflict;

[[Page S1909]]

       Whereas both Iraq and Kuwait are parties to the Fourth 
     Geneva Convention;
       Whereas the public testimony of witnesses and victims has 
     indicated that Iraqi officials violated Article 27 of the 
     Fourth Geneva Convention by their inhumane treatment and acts 
     of violence against the Kuwaiti civilian population;
       Whereas the public testimony of witnesses and victims has 
     indicated that Iraqi officials violated Articles 31 and 32 of 
     the Fourth Geneva Convention by subjecting Kuwaiti civilians 
     to physical coercion, suffering and extermination in order to 
     obtain information;
       Whereas in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, from 
     January 18, 1991, to February 25, 1991, Iraq did fire 39 
     missiles on Israel in 18 separate attacks with the intent of 
     making it a party to war and with the intent of killing or 
     injuring innocent civilians, killing 2 persons directly, 
     killing 12 people indirectly (through heart attacks, improper 
     use of gas masks, choking), and injuring more than 200 
     persons;
       Whereas Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states 
     that persons committing ``grave breaches'' are to be 
     apprehended and subjected to trial;
       Whereas, on several occasions, the United Nations Security 
     Council has found Iraq's treatment of Kuwaiti civilians to be 
     in violation of international humanitarian law;
       Whereas, in Resolution 665, adopted on August 25, 1990, the 
     United Nations Security Council deplored ``the loss of 
     innocent life stemming from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait'';
       Whereas, in Resolution 670, adopted by the United Nations 
     Security Council on September 25, 1990, it condemned further 
     ``the treatment by Iraqi forces on Kuwait nationals and 
     reaffirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention applied to 
     Kuwait'';
       Whereas, in Resolution 674, adopted by the United Nations 
     Security Council on October 29, 1990, the Council demanded 
     that Iraq cease mistreating and oppressing Kuwaiti nationals 
     in violation of the Convention and reminded Iraq that it 
     would be liable for any damage or injury suffered by Kuwaiti 
     nationals due to Iraq's invasion and illegal occupation;
       Whereas Iraq is a party to the Prisoners of War Convention 
     and there is evidence and testimony that during the Persian 
     Gulf War, Iraq violated articles of the Convention by its 
     physical and psychological abuse of military and civilian 
     POW's including members of the international press;
       Whereas Iraq has committed deliberate and calculated crimes 
     of environmental terrorism, inflicting grave risk to the 
     health and well-being of innocent civilians in the region by 
     its willful ignition of over 700 Kuwaiti oil wells in January 
     and February, 1991;
       Whereas President Clinton found ``compelling evidence'' 
     that the Iraqi Intelligence Service directed and pursued an 
     operation to assassinate former President George Bush in 
     April 1993 when he visited Kuwait;
       Whereas Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi officials have 
     systematically attempted to destroy the Kurdish population in 
     Iraq through the use of chemical weapons against civilian 
     Kurds, campaigns in 1987-88 which resulted in the 
     disappearance of more than 150,000 persons and the 
     destruction of more than 4,000 villages, the placement of 
     more than 10 million landmines in Iraqi Kurdistan, and ethnic 
     cleansing in the city of Kirkuk;
       Whereas the Republic of Iraq is a signatory to 
     international agreements including the Universal Declaration 
     on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and 
     Political Rights, the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the POW Convention, 
     and is obligated to comply with these international 
     agreements;
       Whereas paragraph 8 of Resolution 687 of the United Nations 
     Security Council, adopted on April 8, 1991, requires Iraq to 
     ``unconditionally accept the destruction, removal, or 
     rendering harmless, under international supervision of all 
     chemical and biological weapons and all stocks of agents and 
     all related subsystems and components and all research, 
     development, support, and manufacturing facilities;
       Whereas Saddam Hussein and the Republic of Iraq have 
     persistently and flagrantly violated the terms of Resolution 
     687 with respect to elimination of weapons of mass 
     destruction and inspections by international supervisors;
       Whereas there is good reason to believe that Iraq continues 
     to have stockpiles of chemical and biological munitions, 
     missiles capable of transporting such agents, and the 
     capacity to produce such weapons of mass destruction, putting 
     the international community at risk;
       Whereas, on February 22, 1993, the United Nations Security 
     Council adopted Resolution 808 establishing an international 
     tribunal to try individuals accused of violations of 
     international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia;
       Whereas, on November 8, 1994, the United Nations Security 
     Council adopted Resolution 955 establishing an international 
     tribunal to try individuals accused of the commission of 
     violations of international humanitarian law in Rwanda;
       Whereas more than 70 individuals have been indicted by the 
     International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 
     the Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 
     former Yugoslavia, leading in the first trial to the 
     sentencing of a Serb jailer to 20 years in prison;
       Whereas the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has 
     indicted 31 individuals, with three trials occurring at 
     present and 27 individuals in custody;
       Whereas the United States has to date spent more than 
     $24,000,000 for the International Criminal Tribunal for the 
     Former Yugoslavia and more than $20,000,000 for the 
     International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda;
       Whereas officials such as former President George Bush, 
     Vice President Al Gore, General Norman Schwarzkopf and others 
     have labeled Saddam Hussein a war criminal and called for his 
     indictment; and
       Whereas a failure to try and punish leaders and other 
     persons for crimes against international law establishes a 
     dangerous precedent and negatively impacts the value of 
     deterrence to future illegal acts: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That the President should--
       (1) call for the creation of a commission under the 
     auspices of the United Nations to establish an international 
     record of the criminal culpability of Saddam Hussein and 
     other Iraqi officials;
       (2) call for the United Nations to form an international 
     criminal tribunal for the purpose of indicting, prosecuting, 
     and imprisoning Saddam Hussein and any other Iraqi officials 
     who may be found responsible for crimes against humanity, 
     genocide, and other violations of international humanitarian 
     law; and
       (3) upon the creation of a commission and international 
     criminal tribunal, take steps necessary, including the 
     reprogramming of funds, to ensure United States support for 
     efforts to bring Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi officials to 
     justice.

  Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which 
the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
  Mr. STEVENS. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I want to commend Senator Specter for his 
leadership in championing the resolution passed overwhelmingly by the 
Senate a short time ago.
  Our action has put the Senate on record in support of establishing an 
international commission and criminal tribunal for the purpose of 
investigating, prosecuting, and ultimately punishing Saddam Hussein and 
other Iraqi officials for genocide and crimes against humanity.
  Through his genocidal campaigns against the Kurds and the Shi'a, the 
brutal treatment of Kuwaiti civilians, and the repeated use of chemical 
weapons, Saddam Hussein has earned his place as one of this century's 
most odious tyrants.
  Perhaps the best documented case of Saddam's genocidal policies is 
the infamous Anfal campaign launched in February 1988 against Iraqi 
Kurdistan. The purpose of Anfal was to break the back of the Kurdish 
resistance using whatever means necessary. Large tracts of rural 
Kurdistan were declared off-limits and forcibly depopulated. Those who 
remained were branded ``traitors'' and ``saboteurs'' and were 
systematically liquidated during a ruthless six and a half month 
campaign. Human Rights Watch estimates that, in all, between 50,000 and 
100,000 innocent civilians were killed during Anfal.
  On March 16, 1988--nearly ten years ago to the day--Saddam unleashed 
a deadly cocktail of chemical weapons against the Kurdish town of 
Halabja. Wednesday's Washington Post piece by Christine Gosden is a 
poignant reminder of the suffering that the innocent men, women, and 
children of Halabja endure to this day as a result of that cowardly 
attack ten years ago. I ask unanimous consent that Dr. Gosden's account 
be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See Exhibit 1.)
  Mr. BIDEN. The weak international response that followed Halabja 
emboldened Saddam. In August 1988, he launched his final offensive 
against dozens of other villages, killing hundreds, and causing tens of 
thousands to flee to neighboring countries. A staff report prepared for 
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, based on interviews with 
survivors, described the atrocities in vivid detail:

       The bombs . . . did not produce a large explosion. Only a 
     weak sound could be heard and then a yellowish cloud spread 
     out from the center of the explosion. . . . Those who were 
     very close to the bombs died almost instantly. Those who did 
     not die instantly found it difficult to breathe and began to 
     vomit. The gas stung the eyes, skin and lungs of the 
     villagers exposed to it. Many suffered temporary blindness.

[[Page S1910]]

       After the bombs exploded, many villagers ran and submerged 
     themselves in nearby streams to escape the spreading gas. . . 
     . Many of those who made it to streams survived. Those who 
     could not run from the growing smell, mostly the very old and 
     the very young, died. The survivors who saw the dead reported 
     that blood could be seen trickling out of the mouths of some 
     of the bodies. A yellowish fluid could also be seen oozing 
     out of the noses and mouths of some of the dead. Some said 
     the bodies appeared frozen. Many of the dead bodies turned 
     blackish blue.

  Saddam's outrageous act prompted only a muted response from the world 
community. One of the few sounds of protest came from this body, where 
Senators Pell and Helms promptly introduced legislation to impose 
sanctions against Iraq.
  The bill sailed through the Senate on a voice vote, a day after it 
was introduced. Unfortunately, the Reagan Administration, still under 
the delusion that it could deal with Saddam, denounced the bill as 
``premature,'' and later succeeded in blocking its enactment in the 
final days of the One Hundredth Congress.
  The Kurds are not the only victims of Saddam's atrocities. The 
``Marsh Arabs'' of Southern Iraq have seen hundreds of their villages 
destroyed. They have been subjected to arbitrary killings and forcibly 
relocated. The mainstay of their ancient culture--the marshes of 
Southern Iraq--have been drained so that military operations can be 
carried out against them and other rebels with greater ease.
  In addition to terrorizing his own citizens, Saddam Hussein has 
unleashed his wrath against Iraq's neighbors on numerous occasions. He 
used chemical weapons repeatedly during the Iran-Iraq War in clear 
violation of the 1925 Geneva Convention. His troops raped and murdered 
with impunity during the occupation of Kuwait. And he has rained scud 
missiles on the civilian populations of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iran, 
and Israel.
  It is high time that the international community stop looking the 
other way when presented with these blatant crimes against humanity. It 
is time to systematically compile the evidence of Saddam Hussein's 
atrocities and undertake criminal proceedings to deliver the punishment 
that he so richly deserves.
  Our action in passing this resolution presents a challenge to the 
international community to join the United States in putting the wheels 
of justice into motion.
  We should not underestimate the difficulty of physically delivering 
Saddam Hussein to a tribunal, but it would be unconscionable to abandon 
the quest for justice. Silence and inaction would be a grave injustice 
to the hundreds upon thousands of his victims.

               [From the Washington Post, Mar. 11, 1998]

                         Why I Went, What I Saw

                         (By Christine Gosden)

       We have all talked so long and so reflexively about 
     ``weapons of mass destruction'' that the phrase has lost much 
     of its immediacy and meaning. It has become, like ``nuclear 
     devastation'' and ``chemical and biological warfare,'' an 
     abstract term of governmental memos, punditry and political 
     debate. For many it calls forth neither visual imagery nor 
     visceral revulsion.
       Two Sundays ago, the TV program ``60 Minutes'' got a good 
     start on changing that when it broadcast the story of the 
     Iraqi city of Halabja 10 years after its civilian population 
     had been the target of a chemical attack by Saddam Hussein. 
     That population is mainly Kurdish and had sympathized with 
     Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. The gassing of its people was 
     in retaliation for that sympathizing.
       ``60 Minutes'' has given us permission to make still 
     pictures from the film, which was originally shot, both in 
     1988 and 1998, by the British film maker, Gwynne Roberts. The 
     ``60 Minutes'' staff also helped us to get in touch with the 
     remarkable Dr. Christine Gosden, a British medical 
     specialist, whose efforts to help the people of Halabja is 
     documented. Dr. Gosden, who went out to Halabja 10 years 
     after the bombing, agreed to write a piece for us, expanding 
     on what she saw in Iraq. People around the world have seen 
     the evidence of deformity and mutation following from the 
     nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It shaped their 
     attitude toward the use of atomic weapons. Maybe if more 
     evidence of the unimaginable, real-life effects of chemical 
     warfare becomes available, a comparable attitude toward those 
     weapons will develop.
       On the 16th of March 1988, an Iraqi military strike 
     subjected Halabja, a Kurdish town of 45,000 in northern Iraq, 
     to bombardment with the greatest attack of chemical weapons 
     ever used against a civilian population. The chemical agents 
     used were a ``cocktail'' of mustard gas (which affects skin, 
     eyes and the membranes of the nose, throat and lungs), and 
     the nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX. The chemicals to which 
     the people were exposed drenched their skin and clothes, 
     affected their respiratory tracts and eyes and contaminated 
     their water and food.
       Many people simply fell dead where they were, immediate 
     casualties of the attack estimates put these deaths at about 
     5,000. A few were given brief and immediate treatment, which 
     involved taking them to the United States, Europe and Iran. 
     The majority of them returned to Halabja. Since then, no 
     medical team, either from Iraq, Europe or America or from any 
     international agency has monitored either the short- or long-
     term consequences of this chemical attack. Gwynne Roberts, a 
     film director, made the award-winning film ``The Winds of 
     Death'' about the attack in 1988. I saw this film, and it had 
     a tremendous effect on me. Gwynne revisited Halabja in 1997 
     and was concerned that many of the survivors seemed very ill. 
     He could not understand why no one had tried to find out what 
     was happening to them. He convinced me that this was 
     something I had to do.
       Why would a female professor of medical genetics want to 
     make a trip like this? I went to learn and to help. This was 
     the first time that a terrible mixture of chemical weapons 
     had been used against a large civilian population. I wanted 
     to see the nature and scale of the problems these people 
     faced, and was concerned that in the 10 years since the 
     attack no one, including the major aid agencies, had visited 
     Halabja to determine exactly what the effects of these 
     weapons had been.
       My medical specialty was particularly apt. My principal 
     field of research is directed toward trying to understand the 
     major causes of human congenital malformations, infertility 
     and cancers including breast, ovarian, prostate and colon 
     cancers. I am carrying out studies on a group of about 15 
     genes called tumor suppressor genes, which include breast/
     ovarian cancer genes BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 colon cancer genes and 
     the Retinoblastoma and Wilm's tumor genes associated with 
     childhood cancers. When these genes are disrupted or mutate, 
     they have a number of effects. Alterations lead to congenital 
     abnormalities or pregnancy loss. Their role after birth is to 
     try to prevent cancers from forming. Later in life, loss or 
     mutation may lead to infertility and cancers.
       I was particularly concerned about the effects on the women 
     and children. Most of the previous reported exposures to 
     chemical weapons and mustard gas had involved men involved in 
     military service; chemical weapons had never been used on 
     this scale on a civilian population before. I was worried 
     about possible effects on congenital malformations, fertility 
     and cancers, not just in women and children but in the whole 
     population. I also feared that there might be other major 
     long-term effects, such as blindness and neurological damage, 
     for which there is no known treatment.
       What I found was far worse than anything I had suspected, 
     devastating problems occurring 10 years after the attack. 
     These chemicals seriously affected people's eyes and 
     respiratory and neurological systems. Many became blind. Skin 
     disorders which involve severe scarring are frequent, and 
     many progress to skin cancer. Working in conjunction with the 
     doctors in the area, I compared the frequency of these 
     conditions such as infertility, congenital malformations and 
     cancers (including skin, head, neck, respiratory system, 
     gastrointestinal tract, breast and childhood cancers) in 
     those who were in Halabja at the time with an unexposed 
     population from a city in the same region. We found the 
     frequencies in Halabja are at least three to four times 
     greater, even 10 years after the attack. An increasing number 
     of children are dying each year of leukemias and lymphomas. 
     The cancers tend to occur in much younger people in Halabja 
     than elsewhere, and many people have aggressive tumors, so 
     that mortality rates are high. No chemotherapy or 
     radiotherapy is available in this region.
       I found that there was also a total lack of access to 
     pediatric surgery to repair the major heart defects, hare lip 
     and cleft palate or other major malformations in the 
     children. This meant that children in Halabja are dying of 
     heart failure when children with the same heart defects could 
     have had surgery and would probably have survived in Britain 
     or the United States. It was agonizing for me to see 
     beautiful children whose faces were disfigured by hare lip 
     and cleft palate when I know that skilled and gifted surgeons 
     correct these defects every day in North America and Europe.
       The neuropsychiatric consequences are seen as human tragedy 
     on every street, in almost every house and every ward of the 
     hospital. People weep and are in great distress because of 
     their severe depression, and suicidal tendencies are 
     alarmingly evident. The surgeons often have to remove bullets 
     from people who have failed in their suicide attempts. In 
     collecting data from the Martyrs Hospital in Halabja, the 
     doctors said that they are not able to see patients with 
     psychiatric and neurological conditions because there is a 
     lack of resources and there is no effective treatment. Many 
     people have neurological impairment or long-term 
     neuromuscular effects. Most people cannot afford even the 
     cheapest treatment or drugs and so are reluctant to come to 
     the hospital. At present, even for those with life-
     threatening conditions, there is no effective therapy for any 
     of these conditions in Halabja.

[[Page S1911]]

       On the first day of my visit to the labor and gynecological 
     ward in the hospital, there were no women in normal labor and 
     no one had recently delivered a normal baby. Three women had 
     just miscarried. The staff in the labor ward told of the very 
     large proportion of pregnancies in which there were major 
     malformations. In addition to fetal losses and perinatal 
     deaths, there is also a very large number of infant deaths. 
     The frequencies of these in the Halabjan women is more than 
     four times greater than that in the neighboring city of 
     Soulemaneya. The findings of serious congenital malformations 
     with genetic causes occurring in children born years after 
     the chemical attack suggest that the effects from these 
     chemical warfare agents are transmitted to succeeding 
     generations.
       Miscarriage, infant deaths and infertility mean that life 
     isn't being replenished in this community, as one would 
     expect if these weapons had no long-term effects. The people 
     hoped that after the attack they could rebuild the families 
     and communities that had been destroyed. The inability to do 
     so has led to increasing despair. Their lives and hopes have 
     been shattered. One survivor described being in a cellar with 
     about a hundred other people, all of whom died during the 
     attack. Not only do those who survived have to cope with 
     memories of their relatives suddenly dying in their arms, 
     they have to try to come to terms with their own painful 
     diseases and those of their surviving friends and relatives.
       For instance, many people have more than one major 
     condition, including respiratory problems, eye conditions, 
     neurological disorders, skin problems, cancers and children 
     with congenital malformations and childhood handicaps such as 
     mental handicap, cerebral palsy and Down's syndrome. The 
     occurrences of genetic mutations and carcinogenesis in this 
     population appear comparable with those who were one to two 
     kilometers from the hypocenter of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki 
     atomic bombs and show that the chemicals used in this attack, 
     particularly mustard gas, have a general effect on the body 
     similar to that of ionizing radiation.
       Ten years after the attack, people are suffering a wide 
     spectrum of effects, all of which are attributable to long-
     term damage to DNA. A radio broadcast was made the day before 
     our arrival to ask people who were ill to come to the 
     hospital to record their problems. On the first day, 700 
     people came; 495 of them had two or more major problems. The 
     cases we encountered were extremely sad.
       The people of Halabja need immediate help. There is a need 
     for specialists (such as pediatric surgeons), equipment and 
     drugs. Even more basic than this, though, is the need for 
     heat, clean water and careful efforts to safeguard them 
     against further attacks. We have to realize that there is 
     very little medical or scientific knowledge about how to 
     treat the victims of a chemical weapons attack like this 
     effectively. We need to listen, think and evaluate with 
     skill, since many of these people have had exposures to 
     strange combinations of toxic gases. They have conditions 
     that have not been seen or reported before. We may severely 
     disadvantage a large group of vulnerable people and deny them 
     effective diagnosis and treatment if we are intellectually 
     arrogant and fail to admit that we have virtually no 
     knowledge about how to treat the problems resulting from 
     these terrible weapons, which have been used to more powerful 
     and inhumane effect than ever before.
       The pictures beamed around the world after the attack in 
     1988 in newspapers and on TV were horrifying. One picture was 
     of a father who died trying to shield his twin sons from the 
     attack. The statue in the road at the entrance to Halabja is 
     based on that picture. This is not a traditional statue of 
     someone standing proud and erect, captured in stone or bronze 
     to represent man triumphant and successful, but of a man 
     prostrate and agonized dying in the act of trying to protect 
     his children. A deep and lasting chill went through me when I 
     entered the town and saw the statue, and it settled like a 
     toxic psychological cloud over me. This proved hard to 
     dispel; it intensified as I met the people, heard their 
     stories and saw the extent of the long-term illnesses caused 
     by the attack. The terrible images of the people of Halabja 
     and their situation persist and recur in my nightmares and 
     disturb my waking thoughts. Perhaps these thoughts persist so 
     vividly as a reminder to me that the major task is now to try 
     and get help for these people.

  Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, today's vote for prosecuting Saddam 
Hussein as a war criminal is important for at least two reasons. First, 
it highlights again the outrageous and murderous actions Saddam Hussein 
has taken over the past seven years. Second, it injects new thinking 
into the U.S. approach toward Iraq--something that has been sorely 
lacking.
  Much commentary has been offered among the general public--and in 
this body--about the wisdom of the latest deal between U.N. Secretary 
General Kofi Annan and Saddam Hussein. Much of this commentary has 
focused on whether or not that agreement is a ``good'' one--one that 
will really curb Saddam. In my view, this question is misdirected. 
Almost certainly, the latest deal will do little but buy time. As long 
as Saddam possesses weapons of mass destruction, there's going to be 
another showdown somewhere down the road. So the real question becomes 
what we are going to do in the meantime to develop a comprehensive, 
long-term policy to protect our interests even as Saddam uses the time 
to further build up his arsenal and weaken international resolve. 
Trying Saddam for war crimes could be a step in that direction.
  There is little doubt in most American's minds that Saddam Hussein 
negotiated the latest agreement to his own advantage. His standard M-O 
is to agree to some set of conditions, set himself up in the court of 
world opinion as some sort of victim, and then violate the agreements 
when it's advantageous for him to do so. He weakens the international 
coalition arrayed against him by creating, and then expanding, gray 
areas in the interpretation of international agreements in an effort to 
keep his most coveted weapons, while wiggling out of the economic 
sanctions imposed against his country--a strategy which, I am sorry to 
say, has worked pretty well for him so far.
  So far, Saddam Hussein has been in control of the situation. He 
decides what disputes arise and when they come about. And because the 
United States has developed no creative alternatives to direct 
conflict, and because we have few international supporters, Saddam 
forces the U.S. to deploy large amounts of military forces to the 
Gulf--each time further eroding international cohesion, costing 
American taxpayers billions of dollars, and weakening our ability to 
defend other interests. Then, at the last moment, Saddam promises to 
behave within certain parameters which he negotiates. Later, at a time 
of his choosing, he tests those parameters and another round of 
military buildup and feverish hand-wringing among the world's diplomats 
begins.
  Mr. President, Saddam is pretty much calling the shots. This is far 
too serious a business for us to settle for such little administration 
planning as we have seen. Iraqi weapons of mass destruction are quite 
real, and quite deadly, but our posture against this threat is almost 
entirely reactive. We engage in a loose strategy of containment, 
running pretty much on autopilot, until Saddam decides to challenge the 
status quo. Then we hear a lot of hot rhetoric about ``a modern 
Hitler'' and ``grave consequences'' accompanied by military 
deployments. But after a flurry of diplomatic activity, Americans are 
told there can be ``peace in our time.'' Mr. President, I am reminded 
of the boy who cried wolf, and I would remind the Administration that 
they can only go to the well so many times before the American people--
and the rest of the world--ceases to take them seriously on this 
matter.
  Our credibility is one of our first lines of defense. We don't make 
idle threats or rattle sabers--or rather, we shouldn't make such 
threats. Otherwise, this roller coaster of international gamesmanship 
ends up putting dents in our credibility, and that's destructive to our 
security. And rather than advancing America's security and our 
interests in the Middle East, this cycle of military build-up and 
appeasement plays right into Saddam's hands.
  Our foreign policy needs to be made firmly and unequivocally by the 
President with the discrete counsel of Congress. Instead of forceful 
leadership in this matter, we have seen the administration attempt to 
insulate itself from the consequences that might come from a conflict 
with Iraq by staging public relations opportunities. The fiasco at Ohio 
State University marked a new low. Mr. President, this nation's foreign 
policy should not be set on the basis of pep rallies. When Americans 
are sent to war, it must be done on the basis of sober and rational 
decisions. Sadly, it appears that for this administration, we've 
reached the point where stagecraft has replaced statecraft.
  Americans are uneasy with the lack of a comprehensive plan for Iraq. 
Untended sanctions, followed by military build-ups, followed by a 
return to sanctions, do not constitute a serious foreign policy. The 
President needs to take action, and he needs to make the case for that 
action confidently and truthfully to the American people, and then he 
needs to carry out exactly what he says he'll do.

[[Page S1912]]

  Mr. President, Saddam Hussein is a brutal authoritarian who oppresses 
the Iraqi people, menaces his neighbors, and threatens the 
international community by developing weapons of mass destruction and 
potentially interrupting oil trade. Sadly, the United States currently 
has only two options for confronting him, both of them poor choices: 
(1) maintaining sanctions and continuing diplomacy in an environment of 
eroding international support, and; (2) launching military strikes, 
which Saddam has thus far been able to withstand.
  Obviously, Americans are always glad when loss of life can be 
avoided, and there's no question that military strikes would have cost 
lives. But if by putting off a confrontation with Saddam we have 
enabled him to grow stronger and perhaps emboldened him to use chemical 
or biological weapons somewhere in the world, then delaying strikes 
will have been short-sighted with tragic consequences for many, many 
innocent people. Given the lack of a comprehensive strategy for dealing 
with Iraq, however, the result of strikes would have been a collapse of 
any remaining international cooperation on Iraq, the end of weapons 
inspections, a politically strengthened Saddam Hussein, and the 
continuation of Iraq's WMD program. At least the current agreement buys 
time. It's now up to the Administration to use this window of 
opportunity to develop better options for the next time Saddam becomes 
belligerent.
  Building an international record of war crimes against Iraqi leaders 
could be one way to expand options for dealing with Iraq. Members of 
this body have also suggested other ideas like supporting an Iraqi 
opposition; developing, in cooperation with our Middle Eastern allies, 
better chemical and biological defenses; working more closely with 
allies to develop sustainable sanctions targeted against the Iraqi 
Government and its WMD program; and, working to convince other Gulf 
countries that, if we strike, they will not be left to confront a 
wounded but still-in-power Saddam who will grow even stronger. These 
may provide kernels of alternative policies. But Mr. President, every 
plan that works begins with leadership, accountability, and a 
seriousness of purpose. So far, these qualities have largely been 
lacking in the Administration's Iraq policy. I hope they take to heart 
the ideas offered today by the Senate.
  Whatever we do, the U.S. must have more options than sanctions and 
military strikes the next time Saddam flouts his agreements. If the 
Administration does not develop new alternatives, we will soon repeat 
the well-worn cycle of military build-up and stand-down, and the next 
time we're at these crossroads with Iraq, our options will be even 
fewer and support both at home and abroad will be even more scarce. Mr. 
President, we cannot afford to leave American interests open to that 
kind of risk. And we will have no excuse for our position if the 
administration comes to these crossroads again in six months or a year 
no better equipped--and with no better planning--than we have just 
seen.
  We must stand up to Saddam with confidence, clear goals, and resolute 
purpose. And we have to do it soon, or the time bought by the latest 
agreement will be solely to Saddam's advantage.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I congratulate the Senator from 
Pennsylvania for introducing this resolution, which I supported when it 
was considered by the Committee on Foreign Relations and again 
supported on the vote just taken.
  Our world has come a long way since the dawn of civilization. As 
human beings have evolved biologically and eventually socially, we have 
come to realize that we can safely and happily live together on this 
globe only if we abide by certain rules of behavior. The course of 
civilization is, in large measure, the history of humankind's 
increasing and increasingly sophisticated efforts to define acceptable 
and unacceptable behavior--for individuals, groups, and nations, and 
our successes and failures to abide by those definitions and the 
consequences of those successes and failures.
  Other Senators, Mr. President, particularly the resolution's 
principal sponsor and a key cosponsor, the Senator from North Dakota 
[Mr. Dorgan], have set forth in considerable detail the bill of 
particulars against the dictator of Iraq. Those include documented 
chemical weapons attacks against Iranian troops and civilians in the 
Iran-Iraq War. They include chemical weapons attacks against Kurds in 
Iraq--Iraqi citizens, keep in mind--leaving behind the most revolting 
human injuries imaginable. Men, women, children, infants--no one was 
spared. Many died immediately. Many who managed to survive wished they 
had died. Some of them died later with no interruption in their agony--
blindness, peeling skin, gaping sores, asphyxiation. And others, even 
if they did not evince the same signs of injury, have transmitted the 
horror of those attacks across time and even generations. Terrible 
birth defects have afflicted the offspring of many who survived Saddam 
Hussein's attacks. The rate of miscarriages and stillbirths has soared 
for those survivors.
  We do not know why Saddam Hussein chose not to use these weapons 
against the Coalition troops in the Gulf War that resulted from his 
invasion and occupation of Kuwait. We do know that he had them in his 
inventory, and the means of delivering them. We do know that his 
chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons development programs were 
proceeding with his active support.
  We have evidence, collected by the United Nations's inspectors during 
those inspections that Saddam Hussein has permitted them to make, that 
despite his pledges at the conclusion of the war that no further work 
would be done in these weapons of mass destruction programs, and that 
all prior work and weapons that resulted from it would be destroyed, 
this work has continued illegally and covertly.
  And, Mr. President, we have every reason to believe that Saddam 
Hussein will continue to do everything in his power to further develop 
weapons of mass destruction and the ability to deliver those weapons, 
and that he will use those weapons without concern or pangs of 
conscience if ever and whenever his own calculations persuade him it is 
in his interests to do so.
  Saddam Hussein has not limited his unspeakable actions to use of 
weapons of mass destruction. He and his loyalists have proven 
themselves quite comfortable with old fashioned instruments and 
techniques of torture--both physical and psychological. During the 
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Kuwaiti women were systematically raped and 
otherwise assaulted. The accounts of the torture chambers in his 
permanent and makeshift prisons and detention facilities are gruesome 
by any measure.
  Mr. President, Saddam Hussein's actions in terrorizing his own people 
and in using horrible weapons and means of torture against those who 
oppose him, be they his own countrymen and women or citizens of other 
nations, collectively comprise the definition of crimes against 
humanity.
  I have spoken before this chamber on several occasions to state my 
belief that the United States must take every feasible step to lead the 
world to remove this unacceptable threat. He must be deprived of the 
ability to injure his own citizens without regard to internationally-
recognized standards of behavior and law. He must be deprived of his 
ability to invade neighboring nations. He must be deprived of his 
ability to visit destruction on other nations in the Middle East region 
or beyond. If he does not live up fully to the new commitments that 
U.N. Secretary-General Annan recently obtained in order to end the 
weapons inspection standoff--and I will say clearly that I cannot 
conceive that he will not violate those commitments at some point--we 
must act decisively to end the threats that Saddam Hussein poses.
  But the vote this morning was about a different albeit related matter 
today. It was about initiating a process of bringing the world's 
opprobrium to bear on this reprehensible criminal--to officially 
designate Saddam Hussein as that which we know him to be.
  We are realists, Mr. President. Even if this process leads as we 
believe it will to the conviction of Saddam Hussein under international 
law, our ability to carry out any resulting sentence may be constrained 
as long as he remains in power in Baghdad. But Saddam Hussein will not 
remain in power in Baghdad forever. Eventually, if we

[[Page S1913]]

persist out of dedication to the cause that we must never permit anyone 
one who treats other human beings the way he has treated tens of 
thousands of human beings to escape justice, we will bring Saddam 
Hussein to justice. And in the meantime, his conviction on these 
charges may prove of benefit to our efforts to isolate him and his 
government, and to rally the support of other nations around the world 
to the effort to remove him from power.
  I am pleased, Mr. President, that this resolution was agreed to 
unanimously, and hopeful that soon the machinery of international law 
will be applied as it was designed to label Saddam Hussein as the 
horrific murderer and torturer he is, recognition he richly deserves.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I express my strong support of Senate 
Concurrent Resolution 78, which would call on the President of the 
United States to work toward the establishment of the legal mechanisms, 
under the aegis of the United Nations, necessary for the prosecution of 
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity, including 
the infliction upon the people of Kuwait and his own Kurdish population 
of genocidal policies. The resolution further encourages that the 
President seek the funding required to support this effort.
  Senator Specter is to be commended for taking the lead in this 
morally and legally essential exercise in holding Saddam Hussein 
accountable for a long history of brutality that places him squarely 
among the worst human rights offenders of the post-World War II era. 
While none of us are under any illusions about the nature of this 
individual, I nevertheless urge my colleagues to read the text of this 
resolution carefully. It is a concise, comprehensive list of human 
rights abuses and war crimes committed by the Iraqi leader against the 
neighboring country of Kuwait, which he invaded and upon which imposed 
a brutal occupation, and against the Kurdish occupation of northern 
Iraq. It reiterates the degree to which Saddam Hussein has willfully 
and repeatedly failed to comply with United Nations and other legal 
mandates pertaining to his treatment of those who have suffered the 
misfortune of falling under his grip and to the international 
inspection regimes to which he is subject.
  The text of the resolution is self-explanatory, but even that omits 
mention of the incalculable acts of wanton cruelty Saddam Hussein, and 
his sons, has committed against the Iraqi people, in addition to 
actions against the country's Kurdish population. Such a discussion is 
beyond the purview of a resolution oriented towards holding Saddam 
accountable for war crimes. I mention this only to ensure that the fate 
of the Iraqi people is not forgotten. The purpose of S. Con. Res. 78 is 
to establish the legal framework for further isolating Saddam Hussein 
diplomatically and for working toward his removal from power. This is a 
resolution that may seem obvious and elementary in some respects, yet 
which reflects my colleague from Pennsylvania's astute grasp of the 
legal imperatives involved in pursuing far-ranging policies designed to 
bring down a ruthless and belligerent dictator.

                          ____________________