[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 94 (Wednesday, July 19, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S7280]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NADIA DABBAGH TO RETURN HOME

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 645, S. Res. 
239.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 239) expressing the sense of the 
     Senate that Nadia Dabbagh, who was abducted from the United 
     States, should be returned home to her mother, Ms. Maureen 
     Dabbagh.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, and any statements relating to this resolution be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 239) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 239

       Whereas Mr. Mohamad Hisham Dabbagh and Mrs. Maureen Dabbagh 
     had a daughter, Nadia Dabbagh, in 1990;
       Whereas Maureen Dabbagh and Mohamad Hisham Dabbagh were 
     divorced in February 1992;
       Whereas in 1993, Nadia was abducted by her father;
       Whereas Mohamad Hisham fled the United States with Nadia;
       Whereas the Governments of Syria and the United States have 
     granted child custody to Maureen Dabbagh and both have issued 
     arrest warrants for Mohamad Dabbagh;
       Whereas Mohamad Dabbagh originally escaped to Saudi Arabia;
       Whereas the Department of State believed that Nadia was 
     residing in Syria until late 1998;
       Whereas the Senate passed S. Res. 293 for Nadia Dabbagh on 
     October 21, 1998, asking Syria to aid in the return of Nadia 
     to her mother in the United States;
       Whereas in 1999, Syria invited Maureen Dabbagh to Syria to 
     meet with her daughter;
       Whereas the Department of State believes that in 1999 Nadia 
     was moved to Saudi Arabia and is residing with Mohamad 
     Dabbagh;
       Whereas although Nadia is in Saudi Arabia, neither she nor 
     Mohamad Dabbagh are Saudi Arabian citizens;
       Whereas Maureen Dabbagh, with the assistance of missing 
     children organizations, has been unable to reunite with her 
     daughter;
       Whereas the Department of State, the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation, and Interpol have been unsuccessful in their 
     attempts to bring Nadia back to the United States;
       Whereas Maureen Dabbagh has not seen her daughter in more 
     than six years; and
       Whereas it will take the continued effort and pressure on 
     the part of the Saudi Arabian officials to bring this case to 
     a successful conclusion: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 
     Governments of the United States and Saudi Arabia immediately 
     locate Nadia and deliver her safely to her mother.

                          ____________________