[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 123 (Thursday, September 20, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1675-E1676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTS THAT U.S. IS PRESSING LEBANON AND SYRIA FOR 
                  ACTION AGAINST HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 20, 2001

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported 
that the United States Government has asked Lebanon and Syria to 
extradite Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites suspected of committing 
acts of terrorism over the past two decades. I welcome this indication 
of aggressive action against all terrorists. As I have said on numerous 
occasions last week as we debated our response to the horrendous acts 
of terrorism committed against the United States, the only action we 
can take that will end this plague of terrorist violence is to act 
against terrorism everywhere.
  If Osama bin Laden were to fall into our hands this afternoon, this 
would not end the possibility of terrorist actions against our nation 
and others. This is a struggle that must take on terrorism wherever and 
however it appears, and we delude ourselves if we think that this is a 
struggle only against bin Laden. To succeed, we must move against 
terrorists everywhere.
  First, Mr. Speaker, the Taliban must hand over to us Osama bin 
Laden--if not for the horrible acts committed last week, for his 
previous acts of terrorism in Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. But 
that cannot and must not be end of action against the scourge of 
terrorism against innocent children, women, and men.
  Iran must cease its support of Hezbollah. Lebanon and Syria must take 
action to disarm and end the terrorist actions of Hezbollah. Syria must 
also close the headquarters of the various terrorist organizations 
which are now located in Damascus. Yasser Arafat should arrest all 
terrorists, suicide bombers, and plotters of mass murder who have been 
released since the Palestinian Authority assumed authority in parts of 
the West Bank and Gaza. Europe must join us in our policy vis-a-vis 
Iran and Libya and stop providing aid and important economic and trade 
assistance to them. Russia, China, and North Korea must stop selling 
technology and weapons of mass destruction to countries that support 
terrorism.
  Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, the House approved by a narrow vote--
216 to 212--an amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for 
2002-2003 which I offered. That amendment would cut off U.S. IMET 
assistance to the Lebanese military forces unless the Lebanese 
government acts against Hezbollah and secures its southern border, 
where numerous terrorist actions are spawned and committed. The 
Administration opposed my amendment when it was considered earlier this 
year, but I am delighted to report that the Administration is now 
taking the action that my amendment was intended to motivate.
  Mr. Speaker, the report yesterday in yesterday's issue of the Wall 
Street Journal is a most welcome development. I commend the 
Administration for its most positive steps in raising this issue with 
Lebanese and Syrian officials. I urge both governments to take these 
positive steps. Terrorism and terrorist cells anywhere is a threat to 
the security of civilized nations and peoples everywhere.
  I ask that the Wall Street Journal article be placed in the Record, 
and I urge my colleagues to read it.

             [From the Wall Street Journal, Sept. 19, 2001]

                    U.S. Presses Lebanon on Suspects

                          (By James M. Dorsey)

       Beirut, Lebanon.--The U.S. has asked Lebanon and Syria to 
     extradite Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites suspected of 
     terrorism in the past 20 years, according to Lebanese 
     officials and people close to Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik 
     Hariri.
       The officials and people close to the prime minister said 
     the Bush administration was also calling for disarmament if 
     not disbanding, of Hezbollah. The group is a Shiite Muslim 
     militia believed responsible for the 1983 suicide bombings of 
     the U.S. Embassy and a U.S. Marine peacekeeping mission in 
     Beirut as well as the 1980s kidnapping in Lebanon of 
     Westerners, including 18 Americans. The U.S. demands are part 
     of seven requests presented this week to Lebanese and Syrian 
     officials.
       The Lebanese officials cautioned that meeting the demands 
     could tear apart the country's fragile social fabric unless 
     it is carried out properly.
       A Hezbollah spokesman, in his Beirut office sitting below 
     portraits of the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah 
     Khomeini and the current Iranian religious leader Ayatollah 
     Sayed Ali Khamenei, expressed confidence that Lebanon and 
     Syria would reject the U.S. demands. I rule out the Lebanese 
     government doing anything against the Lebanese resistance 
     that liberated Lebanon and Israeli occupation. The Lebanese 
     government knows how to protect innocent people,'' the 
     spokesman said.

[[Page E1676]]

       A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Ann O'Leary, 
     said the Bush administration ``is asking the Lebanese 
     government for its complete cooperation in the war against 
     terrorism.'' Ms. O'Leary declined to comment on the specific 
     list of demands.
       The officials and people cost to Mr. Hariri said the U.S. 
     demands included the prosecution or extradition of 
     terrorists, stopping their movement in and out of Lebanon and 
     Syria, intelligence sharing and banning organizations that 
     support terrorism.
       Whether the demands bring any result depends largely on 
     Syria, and possibly Iran, because of their support for 
     Hezbollah and other radical groups, these people said. Syria 
     has an estimated 30,000 troops based in Lebanon.
       ``Hezbollah is a major political party here. It represents 
     a major segment of society. They are regarded as heroes. Now, 
     they've become a hot potato and everybody is looking at what 
     the Syrians will do,'' said one person close to Mr. Hariri.
       Mr. Hariri in the past year has allied himself with 
     Hezbollah, seeking to benefit from its popularity after the 
     group's successful military campaign that last year forced 
     Israel to end its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon. The 
     officials said Mr. Hariri had aided the Hezbollah campaign by 
     granting Hezbollah access to military intelligence, licensing 
     its arms and securing access roads to southern Lebanon. 
     Hezbollah earlier this week offered its condolences to the 
     victims of last week's bombings in New York and Washington.
       Signaling that Lebanon wouldn't simply comply with the U.S. 
     demands,

  Syrian endorsement would be essential to cracking down on Hezbollah 
without disrupting the fragile communal balance established in Lebanon 
after the end of that country's civil war in 1991, people close to Mr. 
Hariri said. Syria is likely to drive a hard bargain, they said, 
possibly demanding that the U.S. pressure Israel to withdraw from the 
Golan Heights conquered from Syria in 1967 and create a platform for a 
negotiated end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
  ``Anything less than Madrid Two will not be acceptable. Syria will 
not relinquish its tools in its struggle against Israel for less,'' 
said one person close to the Syrian government. Madrid Two refers to a 
1991 conference organized by the U.S. that launched the Mideast peace 
process; the U.S. role in calling for the peace talks helped it win 
Syrian and other Arab support for its military campaign a year earlier 
to force Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait.
  Among those the U.S. wants extradited, people close to Mr. Hariri 
said, are former Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh and the Damascus-based 
head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, General 
Command Ahmed Jibril, who is believed to be responsible for a series of 
attacks in the 1980s.
  Authorities in the U.S., Israel and some Arab states suspect Mr. 
Mughniyeh of involvement in the April 1983 bombing that destroyed the 
U.S. Embassy in Beirut and killed 63 people, including 17 Americans. 
Other attacks he is believed to have masterminded: the suicide bombing 
six months later that destroyed a U.S. Marine base in the Lebanese 
capital and killed 241 Marines; and a 1984 attack on the current U.S. 
Embassy compound in Beirut, in which a vehicle packed with explosives 
rammed the embassy, killing 15 people. Mr. Mughniyeh is also thought to 
be behind the kidnapping of foreigners in Lebanon in the 1980s, 
including former Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson.
  Israeli and Argentine officials hold Mr. Mughniyeh responsible for 
the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires as well as a 
1994 attack on a Jewish social center. About 124 people were killed in 
the two incidents. Argentina's Supreme Court earlier this year issued a 
warrant for Mr. Mughniyeh's arrest.

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