[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 50 (Thursday, April 27, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3033-S3034]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE UNITED STATES POLICY 
                              TOWARD LIBYA

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 512, S. Res. 
287.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 287) expressing the sense of the 
     Senate regarding the United States policy toward Libya, and 
     for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I urge the Senate to approve this 
resolution, which Senator Helms, Senator Lautenberg and I submitted on 
the travel ban and other U.S. restrictions on contacts with Libya. The 
resolution was approved on April 13 by the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee.
  At the end of March, a team of State Department officials visited 
Libya as part of a review of the ban that has been in effect since 1981 
on U.S. travel to that nation. State Department officials were in Libya 
for 26 hours, visiting hotels and other sites. Based on the findings of 
this delegation, the State Department is preparing a recommendation for 
the Secretary of State to help her determine whether there is still 
``imminent danger to . . . the physical safety of United States 
travelers,'' as the law requires in order to maintain the ban.
  Under the provisions of the travel ban, American citizens can travel 
to Libya only if they first obtain a license from the Department of the 
Treasury. In addition, the State Department must first validate a 
passport for travel to Libya.
  The travel ban was imposed originally for safety reasons and predates 
the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. But lifting the ban now, 
just as the two Libyan suspects are about to go on trial in The 
Netherlands for their role in that atrocity, will undoubtedly be viewed 
as a gesture of good will to Colonel Qadhafi.
  After the State Department announced that it would send this consular 
team to Libya, a Saudi-owned daily paper quoted a senior Libyan 
official as saying the one-day visit by the U.S. team was a ``step in 
the right direction.'' The official said the visit was a sign that 
``the international community was convinced that Libya's foreign policy 
position was not wrong and there is a noticeable improvement in Libya's 
relations with the world.''
  Libya's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International 
Cooperation said the visit demonstrated that the Administration ``has 
realized the importance of Libya'' and that Libya feels ``the negative 
chapter in our relations is over.''
  Libya's Secretary for African Unity told reporters that the visit to 
Libya by U.S. officials was a welcome step and that ''. . . we welcome 
the normalization between the two countries.''
  The good will gesture was certainly not lost on Colonel Qadhafi, who 
said on April 4, when asked about a possible warming of relations with 
the United States: ``I think America has reviewed its policy toward 
Libya and discovered that it is wrong . . . it is a good time for 
America to change its policy toward Libya.''
  I have been in contact with many of the families of the victims of 
Pan Am Flight 103, and they are extremely upset by the timing of this 
decision. They are united in their belief that the U.S. delegation 
should not have been sent to Libya and that it would be a serious 
mistake to lift the travel ban before justice is served. The families 
want to know why the Secretary of State made this friendly overture to 
Colonel Qadhafi just six weeks before the trial in the Netherlands 
begins. They question how much information the State Department was 
able to obtain by spending only 26 hours in

[[Page S3034]]

Libya. They wonder why the State Department could not continue to use 
the same sources of information it has been using for many years to 
make a determination about the travel ban.
  There is no reason to believe that the situation in Libya has changed 
since November 1999, when the travel ban was last extended on the basis 
of imminent danger to American citizens. Indeed, in January 2000, 
President Clinton cited Libya's support for terrorist activities and 
its non-compliance with UN Security Council Resolutions 731, 748, and 
863 as actions and policies that ``pose a continuing unusual and 
extraordinary threat to the national security and vital foreign policy 
interest of the United States.''
  These American families have waited for justice for eleven long 
years. They felt betrayed by the decision to send the consular 
delegation to Libya. They have watched with dismay as our close ally, 
Great Britain, has moved to reestablish diplomatic relations with 
Libya, before justice is served for the British citizens killed in the 
terrorist bombing. The State Department denies it, but the families are 
concerned that the visit signals a change in U.S. policy, undermines 
U.S. sanctions, and calls into question the Administration's commitment 
to vigorously enforce the Iran Libya Sanctions Act. That Act requires 
the United States to impose sanctions on foreign companies which invest 
more than $40 million in the Libyan petroleum industry, until Libya 
complies with the conditions specified by the UN Security Council in 
its resolutions.
  The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, in which 188 Americans were killed, 
was one of the worst terrorist atrocities in American history. Other 
American citizens are waiting for justice in other cases against Libya 
as well. Libya is also accused in the 1986 La Belle discotheque bombing 
in Germany, which resulted in the deaths of two United States 
servicemen. The trial of five individuals implicated in that attack 
began in December 1997 and is ongoing. In March 1999, six Libyan 
intelligence agents, including Colonel Qadhafi's brother-in-law, were 
convicted in absentia by a French court for the bombing of UTA Flight 
772, which resulted in the deaths of 171 people, including seven 
Americans. A civil suit against Colonel Qadhafi based on that bombing 
is pending in France.
  The State Department should not have sent a delegation to Libya now 
and it should not lift the travel ban on Libya at this time. The 
Department's long-standing case-by-case consideration of passport 
requests for visits to Libya by U.S. citizens has worked well. It can 
continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
  The resolution the Senate is now considering states the Sense of the 
Senate that Libya's refusal to accept responsibility for its role in 
terrorist attacks against United States citizens suggests that the 
imminent danger to the physical safety of United States travelers 
continues. It calls on the Administration to consult fully with the 
U.S. Congress in considering policy toward Libya. It states that the 
travel ban and all other U.S. restrictions on Libya should not be eased 
until all cases of American victims of Libyan terrorism have been 
resolved and the government of Libya has cooperated fully in bringing 
the perpetrators to justice.
  I urge my colleagues to approve this resolution.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution and preamble be agreed to, en bloc, the motion to reconsider 
be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating thereto be 
printed in the Record, without intervening action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 287) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 287

       Whereas 270 people, including 189 Americans, were killed in 
     the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, 
     Scotland on December 21, 1988;
       Whereas this bombing was one of the worst terrorist 
     atrocities in American history;
       Whereas 2 Libyan suspects in the attack are scheduled to go 
     on trial in The Netherlands on May 3, 2000;
       Whereas the United Nations Security Council has required 
     Libya to cooperate throughout the trial, pay compensation to 
     the families if the suspects are found guilty, and end 
     support for international terrorism before multilateral 
     sanctions can be permanently lifted;
       Whereas Libya is accused in the 1986 La Belle discotheque 
     bombing in Germany which resulted in the death of 2 United 
     States servicemen;
       Whereas in March 1999, 6 Libyan intelligence agents 
     including Muammar Qadhafi's brother-in-law, were convicted in 
     absentia by French courts for the bombing of UTA Flight 772 
     that resulted in the death of 171 people, including 7 
     Americans;
       Whereas restrictions on United States citizens' travel to 
     Libya, known informally as a travel ban, have been in effect 
     since December 11, 1981, as a result of ``threats of hostile 
     acts against Americans'' according to the Department of 
     State;
       Whereas on March 22, 4 United States State Department 
     officials departed for Libya as part of a review of the 
     travel ban; and
       Whereas Libyan officials have interpreted the review as a 
     positive signal from the United States, and according to a 
     senior Libyan official ``the international community was 
     convinced that Libya's foreign policy position was not wrong 
     and there is a noticeable improvement in Libya's relations 
     with the world'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) Libya's refusal to accept responsibility for its role 
     in terrorist attacks against United States citizens suggests 
     that the imminent danger to the physical safety of United 
     States travelers continues;
       (2) the President should consult fully with Congress in 
     considering policy toward Libya, including disclosure of any 
     assurances received by the Qadhafi regime relative to the 
     judicial proceedings in The Hague; and
       (3) the travel ban and all other United States restrictions 
     on Libya should not be eased until all cases of American 
     victims of Libyan terrorism have been resolved and the 
     Government of Libya has cooperated fully in bringing the 
     perpetrators to justice.

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