[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 26 (Thursday, March 9, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1436-S1437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     COMMEMORATING THE TWELFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HALABJA MASSACRE

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Con. Res. 95, submitted 
earlier by Senator Lott for himself and others.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 95) commemorating the 
     twelfth anniversary of the Halabja massacre.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
concurrent resolution.
  Mr. GRAMS. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be 
agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid 
upon the table, and any statements relating to the resolution be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 95) was agreed to.

[[Page S1437]]

  The preamble was agreed to.
  The concurrent resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                            S. Con. Res. 95

       Whereas on March 16, 1988, Saddam Hussein attacked the 
     Iraqi Kurdish city of Halabja with chemical weapons, 
     including nerve gas, VX, and mustard gas;
       Whereas more than 5,000 men, women, and children were 
     murdered in Halabja by Saddam Hussein's chemical warfare, in 
     gross violation of international law;
       Whereas the attack on Halabja was part of a systemic, 
     genocidal attack on the Kurds of Iraq known as the ``Anfal 
     Campaign'';
       Whereas the Anfal Campaign resulted in the death of more 
     than 180,000 Iraqi Kurdish men, women, and children;
       Whereas, despite the passage of 12 years, there has been no 
     successful attempt by the United States, the United Nations, 
     or other bodies of the international community to bring the 
     perpetrators of the Halabja massacre to justice;
       Whereas the Senate and the House of Representatives have 
     repeatedly noted the atrocities committed by the Saddam 
     Hussein regime;
       Whereas the Senate and the House of Representatives have on 
     16 separate occasions called upon successive Administrations 
     to work toward the creation of an International Tribunal to 
     prosecute the war crimes of the Saddam Hussein regime;
       Whereas in successive fiscal years monies have been 
     authorized to create a record of the human rights violations 
     of the Saddam Hussein regime and to pursue the creation of an 
     international tribunal and the indictment of Saddam Hussein 
     and members of his regime;
       Whereas the Saddam Hussein regime continues the brutal 
     repression of the people of Iraq, including the denial of 
     basic human, political, and civil rights to Sunni, Shiite, 
     and Kurdish Iraqis, as well as other minority groups;
       Whereas the Secretary General of the United Nations has 
     documented annually the failure of the Saddam Hussein regime 
     to deliver basic necessities to the Iraqi people despite 
     ample supplies of food in Baghdad warehouses;
       Whereas the Saddam Hussein regime has at its disposal more 
     than $12,000,000,000 per annum (at current oil prices) to 
     expend on all categories of human needs;
       Whereas, notwithstanding a complete lack of restriction on 
     the purchase of food by the Government of Iraq, infant 
     mortality rates in areas controlled by Saddam Hussein remain 
     above pre-war levels, in stark contrast to rates in United 
     Nations-controlled Kurdish areas, which are below pre-war 
     levels; and
       Whereas it is unconscionable that after the passage of 12 
     years the brutal Saddam Hussein dictatorship has gone 
     unpunished for the murder of hundreds of thousands of 
     innocent Iraqis, the use of banned chemical weapons on the 
     people of Iraqi Kurdistan, and innumerable other human rights 
     violations: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) commemorates the suffering of the people of Halabja and 
     all the victims of the Anfal Campaign;
       (2) condemns the Saddam Hussein regime for its continued 
     brutality towards the Iraqi people;
       (3) strongly urges the President to act forcefully within 
     the United Nations and the United Nations Security Council to 
     constitute an international tribunal for Iraq;
       (4) calls upon the President to move rapidly to efficiently 
     use funds appropriated by Congress to create a record of the 
     crimes of the Saddam Hussein regime;
       (5) recognizes that Saddam Hussein's record of brutality 
     and belligerency threaten both the people of Iraq and the 
     entire Persian Gulf region; and
       (6) reiterates that it should be the policy of the United 
     States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by 
     Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the 
     emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime, 
     as set forth in Public Law 105-338.

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