Congressional Record, Volume 147 Issue 130 (Tuesday, October 2, 2001)

[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 130 (Tuesday, October 2, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H6112-H6121]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

A NEW VISION FOR U.S.-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to lead a
Special Order that we expect will involve a number of our colleagues
who just returned last evening, as I did, from a whirlwind 5-day trip
around the world to try to deal with the issue of, not just the
terrorism that occurred on September 11, but to improve and change our
relations with Russia.
Mr. Speaker, this trip was not scheduled after September 11, but
rather had been scheduled in August, when our Russian friends contacted
me and asked me to bring over some ideas that I had to improve the
relationship between our two countries and to give them some of the
ideas I was working on as the basis for the upcoming Bush-Putin summit
and to change direction in our relationship.
The preparation of a document entitled ``A New Time, a New
Beginning'' was, in fact, the subject of that presentation; and the
delegation that traveled with me that I had the pleasure of chairing,
along with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz), my good friend, as the
cochair, was designed to present this document to the Russian
leadership. We did that in a series of meetings in Moscow over 3 days.
We met with the representatives to the President of Russia; the Prime
Minister of Russia; President Putin; leaders of the Duma; Deputy
Speaker Sliska; the chairman of the International Affairs Committee
Yablako; Chairman Kulikov; and a number of the various leaders of the
Russian Government. And every one of them was extremely excited about
this new direction in our relationship.
The package, which will not be presented here in detail, that will
occur several weeks from now, it is just for discussion purposes now,
involves us in 11 specific areas with the Russians. Instead of focusing
on the differences in defense and foreign policy, the new initiative
focuses on cultural relations, economic relations, energy and natural
resources, defense and security, environmental cooperation, health
care, judicial and legal, local government, science and technology,
space and aviation, and agriculture. I will include a summary of these
documents now, to be made a part of the Record of this Special Order at
this point in time in the presentation.

A New Vision for U.S.-Russian Relations

Those of us who value the U.S.-Russian relationship have
been on a roller-coaster ride for the past decade. During the
heady days of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the following
collapse of the Soviet Union, it appeared that our two
countries would cooperate as never before. The world cheered
when Presidents Bush and Yeltsin hailed a new ``strategic
partnership'' between America and Russia.
There followed, however, a dark period--marked by misguided
American policies and rampant Russian corruption. The Russian
economy sagged as American aid--money meant for the Russian
people--was siphoned off and stashed in Swiss banks and
American real estate investment. At the same, NATO's war in
Kosovo strained the already sinking bilateral relationship.
What were the results of this increasingly bitter
disenchantment? A more aggressive Russian foreign policy,
increased proliferation from Moscow to rogue states, and the
final coup de grace: Russia and China announced last year a
new ``strategic partnership''--against the interests of
America and the west.
Now is the time, with new leaders in Washington and Moscow,
to improve the relationship for the long-term.
My interest in this relationship began when I was nineteen
years old, when a college professor convinced me to switch my
major to Russian Studies. Since that time, I have been
fascinated with the Soviet Union and Russia--and have
traveled there more than twenty-five times.
I began my travels when I was a member of my local County
Council and was invited to

[[Page H6113]]

travel to Moscow by the American Council of Young Political
Leaders. I have continued to visit Russia since my election
to Congress, as a member of the House Armed Services
Committee and later as co-chairman of the Duma-Congress Study
Group, the official interparliamentary exchange between the
U.S. and Russia.
My interactions with leaders across Russia have taught me
that the Russians are a proud people, historically aware, and
mindful of Russia's unique global rule. Increasingly, they
are becoming aware of the limitless possibilities for U.S.-
Russian cooperation on a host of issues.
This brief paper, then, is an effort to weave together a
comprehensive program of U.S.-Russian cooperation across a
wide-range of issues.
Too often, the focus of our bilateral relations has been on
defense and security--precisely the issues on which our
interests often collide. It would be more useful, as we move
forward with a Russian policy for the 21st century to take a
more holistic approach--one that takes into account Russia's
myriad concerns as well as our own.
Therefore, in consultation with many of the leading experts
on Russia, I propose a series of initiatives to engage Russia
on issues like the environment, energy, economic development,
health care--as well as defense and security. Some of these
are new ideas, but many are not. Many of these initiatives
are already underway, and need additional support to make
even greater progress.
Such engagement is in the U.S. interest as well as
Russia's. For if the U.S. and Russia are cooperating on
issues across the board, Russia will be more likely to work
closely with America on the national security issues that
matter most to us--missile defense, the war against
terrorism, and proliferation.
This is not, and will never be, a finished product. The
contours of our bilateral relationship change daily with
world events. Not will it likely be turned into a grand
legislative proposal, although certainly parts of it may be.
I hope only that it is a starting point for discussions
between Russia and America on ways that we can forge a new
relationship that will benefit both our countries.
For if we make a new American-Russian relationship, one
based on common interests that benefit the citizens of both
countries, than we will make great progress--not just for
America and Russia alone, but for peace and stability across
the globe.
____

A New Time, a New Beginning

summary of key recommendations

Cultural Development
Expand cultural ties outside the major cities.
Assist Russian regional museums generate tourism.
Provide for more Russian language and cultural studies in
U.S. schools.
Economic Development
Help facilitate Russia's accession to the WTO and its
acceptance of all WTO agreements.
Increase funding for OPIC and EX-IM Bank projects in
Russia.
Work with Russia to improve intellectual property rights.
Energy/Natural Resources
Foster cooperative pilot projects, starting with oil and
gas exploration in Timan Pechora.
Convene bilateral task force to discuss the energy
ramifications of the war on terrorism.
Eliminate bureaucratic obstacles to joint cooperation on
energy.
Defense and Security
Initiate new bilateral talks similar to the Ross-Mamedov
talks on a Global Protection System.
Move forward with joint talks on a new nonproliferation
regime.
Encourage progress on the RAMOS program and restructure the
Nuclear Cities Initiative.
Environmental Cooperation
Develop a revolving fund to assure development of promising
Russian technologies.
Expand debt for nature swaps.
Dramatically expand cooperation on marine science research.
Health Care
Increase emphasis on chronic diseases like cardiovascular
and diabetes.
Develop more extensive physician exchange programs.
Augment existing cooperation between NIH and appropriate
Russian research institutes.
Judicial Systems
Support expansion of jury trials into all Russian regions.
Expand Environmental Public Advocacy Centers into Russia.
Encourage a doubling of the number of legal clinics in
Russia.
Local Governments
Propose ways to expand the tax base available to local
governments.
Encourage political participation by increasing local
partisan affiliations.
Encourage the gradual devolution of services to the local
level.
Science and Technology
Increase cooperation in the area of nuclear fuel cycles.
Expand cooperative fusion research on nonpolluting energy
solutions.
Involve Russian industry in embryonic U.S. nanotechnology
efforts.
Space and Aeronautics
Utilize commercial joint ventures to enable Russia to meet
its Space Station obligations.
Increase joint projects on space solar power, propulsion
technology, and weather satellites.
Cooperate on mutually-beneficial planetary defense tracking
technologies.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. This entire document, which we have
briefed to the administration, and which I have given to Senator Levin
and Senator Lugar and have talked to Senator Biden about on the phone,
will be presented to our colleagues in a formal context after we have
had a chance to make some modifications and changes. We have also
presented this initiative to the White House, to the Vice President's
staff, to the National Security Council, the Defense Department, and
the State Department.
Truly, it was a landmark opportunity for us, a historic opportunity,
to change the direction in our relationships with the Russians.
Mr. Speaker, the other activity that we did on this trip, which grew
out of the September 11 incident, was to try to find a way to further
support our President to build an international alliance that would
work together on terrorism. To that end, we drafted a piece of
legislation, had it translated into Russian, faxed it over in advance
of our trip, and asked the leaders of the Duma, which is their
congress, to consider passing an identical bill to one that we have
passed in the House. This legislation calls for the creation of a joint
task force on terrorism involving Members of the House and the Senate,
the Duma, and the Federation Council.
Our Russian colleagues were very much supportive, indicated that they
could pass such a measure in 3 weeks. At this point, Mr. Speaker, I
will enter the actual resolution in the Congressional Record.

H. Con. Res. --

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring),

SECTION 1. FINDINGS; DECLARATION OF POLICY.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) On September 11, 2001, acts of treacherous violence
were committed against the United States and its citizens
when terrorists hijacked and destroyed four civilian
aircraft, crashing two of them into the towers of the World
Trade Center in New York City, and a third into the Pentagon
outside Washington, D.C.
(2) In the past, similar acts of violence have been
committed against the Russian Federation and its citizens.
(3) Such acts continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary
threat to the national security and foreign policy of both
the United States and the Russian Federation.
(b) Declaration of Policy.--Congress--
(1) condemns in the strongest possible terms the terrorists
who planned and carried out the September 11, 2001, attacks
against the United States, as well as their sponsors; and
(2) reaffirms the importance of joint efforts between the
United States and the Russian Federation to provide the
fullest possible level of cooperation on antiterrorism
activities.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES CONGRESS-RUSSIAN FEDERATION PARLIAMENT
JOINT TASKFORCE ON ANTITERRORISM.

(a) Negotiations.--The Speaker of the House of
Representatives (in consultation with members of the Duma
Congress Study Group) and the majority leader of the Senate
shall seek to enter into negotiations with appropriate
officials of the State Duma and the Federation Council of the
Russian Federation for the establishment of a joint taskforce
on antiterrorism.
(b) Membership.--The joint taskforce shall consist of
members of the House of Representatives and the Senate and
members of the State Duma and the Federation Council.
(c) Duties.--The joint taskforce shall provide for
increased cooperation between the United States Congress and
the Russian Federation Parliament on issues relating to
antiterrorism.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this is a bill that I hope
our colleagues will support. The 11 members of our delegation will be
the original bipartisan sponsors of this bill. We have not yet dropped
it. But it will be, in fact, the first time that the parliaments and
the governments, legislatures of Russia and the U.S., pass an identical
bill, perhaps even on the same day, because they are 8 hours ahead of
us, that calls for the creation of a joint task force to work together
on terrorism.
Mr. Speaker, we thank our Russian friends for their condolences, we
thank them for offering to allow our airplanes

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to use their airspace to assist us in intelligence, and we thank them
for their support of our trip on the second leg of our journey to Rome.
In Rome, Mr. Speaker, we traveled for 30, 40 minutes outside of town
under heavy security to visit the King of Afghanistan living in exile.

{time} 2030

The king of Afghanistan was thrown out of that country in 1973. He
has lived outside of Rome under heavy security since that time. We made
a special visit to him to enlist his support in eventually returning to
his native country to convene a cooperative effort with those leaders
in the northern front, now called the Joint Task Force, or the Unified
Front, to overturn the Taliban government, to remove Osama bin Laden,
and to support the people of Afghanistan taking over their government.
Our meeting with the King lasted for 90 minutes. It was extremely
constructive. Our colleagues will discuss it in more detail when they
speak.
Following that meeting, we met for 90 minutes with approximately 10
or 12 leaders of the various military factions in Afghanistan who had
flown in to meet with us and the King. We were convinced that this new
effort is broad, it is across the spectrum in Afghanistan, and involves
all the various tribes.
We are convinced that we should continue, as our President has said,
to support this Unified Front with both money and any type of military
support that they would require. In fact, we have prepared
recommendations to present to President Bush, the Secretary of State,
Secretary of Defense, the National Security advisor, on additional
efforts that can assist this Unified Front to remove Osama bin Laden.
Following our trip to Rome and our meetings with the King and the
Unified Front, we went on to Ankara, Turkey. On Sunday and Monday in
Turkey we met with leaders of their parliament, leaders of their
government, and thanked them again for their outpouring of support for
our people. We thanked them for their steadfast loyalty to America
during very difficult times.
Turkey has been one of our strongest partners during good times and
bad times. Turkey, a 99 percent Muslim nation, has no problem standing
up with America and proudly performing any task that we ask them. In
fact, Turkey has a unique position. They are best of friends, not just
with the U.S., but also with Israel, with Russia, and with Pakistan.
In our meetings with the Turkish military and with the Turkish
leadership, we came to the conclusion that we should put further
emphasis on Turkey playing a lead role in helping us to remove Osama
bin Laden and to remove the Taliban, assuming they continue to disagree
with the President's request to turn bin Laden over.
Again, we make specific recommendations to the administration which
are contained in a document that I will offer as part of the
Congressional Record.
The document referred to is as follows:

U.S.-Russia-Turkey Partnership: Anti-Terrorism and Afghanistan

[A Bi-partisan Congressional Delegation led by Representative Curt
Weldon: Russia-Italy-Turkey--September 26-October 1, 2001]

overview

This Congressional delegation to Moscow was originally
planned in August as part of the continuing dialogue of the
Congress-Duma Study Group, chaired on the U.S. side by
Chairman Weldon (R-PA). After the September 11 terrorist
attack in New York and Washington, the delegation saw an
opportunity to reinforce President Bush's coalition building
effort and expanded its mission to consult with leaders in
the region to gain information that could prove helpful to
the Congress and Administration in furthering the war on
terrorism. As a result additional stops were scheduled for
Rome and Ankara. In addition to the original agenda in Moscow
that sought to expand the basis of discussions with the Duma
(atch 4, ``A New Time, A New Beginning,'' an eleven point
agenda), the delegation prepared and presented to the
Russians proposed legislation (atch 5) on counter terrorism
that the delegation hopes to see passed in both the Duma and
Congress.
In Moscow, representatives of the Duma, Federation Council
and executive branch officials were enthusiastic about both
the 11-point program proposed for broadened Congress-Duma
discussions, and the counter terrorism legislative proposal.
All of the Russian officials encouraged the Delegation to
pursue its fact-finding opportunity with the exiled Afghan
King and United Front/Northern Alliance leadership in Rome.
The main objective of the counter terrorist, fact-finding
portion of the trip was to explore recommendations by key
allies that would enhance the understanding of Congress by
seeking insights into the difficult challenges in the fight
against terrorism, especially in Afghanistan. In Rome, the
delegation had an in-depth discussion with Zaher Shah and
United Front field commanders from diverse areas of
Afghanistan provided a detailed briefing on the current
military situation. Turkish military and foreign policy
leaders, as well as members of Parliament, gave the
delegation poignant insights and their perspectives on
defeating the Taliban and other terrorist forces.

findings

In all countries, there appeared to be unanimous support
and approval for the President's efforts to build a strong
coalition against terrorism and to put an end to Osama bin
Laden (OBL) and the extremist Taliban regime. Russian and
Turkish leaders supported the delegation's effort to meet
with King Zaher Shah, whom they believe can be a unifying
figure, as well as the United Front commanders. Both Russia
and Turkey recommended that Afghan resistance forces conduct
the bulk of the fighting and hunting bin Laden inside of
Afghanistan with adequate support from America and our
allies. Humanitarian support in areas controlled by the
United Front is also a necessary component both during and
after the current crisis.
In Rome, the resistance commanders, representing all groups
and many regions of Afghanistan--north and south--expressed a
willingness to work with the King as a symbol of unity and
were confident that with adequate material support and
limited air support that they could overturn Taliban rule in
a rapid period of time. [There is less than two months before
Winter sets in, when snow will prevent offensive actions in
much of the country.] Most commanders believe they could root
bin Laden and his terrorist forces out of their mountain
bases.
Russian and Turkish experts expressed serious concern about
instability in Pakistan. The consensus advice to the United
States was against basing US forces inside of Pakistan or
using Pakistan territory as a support base for military or
humanitarian efforts. All parties reminded the delegation
that Pakistan facilitated the creation of the Taliban and has
been its primary political and military backer.
King Zaher Shah presented a three-part plan for peace in
Afghanistan: (1) Conduct a loya jirga of tribal elders inside
of Afghanistan; (2) Establish an interim coalition
government, including any moderate Taliban, to serve for two
years to begin post-war recovery, integrate returning
refugees and to write with Constitution; (3) Conduct
nationwide elections to choose leaders and to choose a form
of government.
King Zaher Shah and the field commanders believe that the
Taliban are weak and vulnerable. The Talibs have lost the
support of the Afghan people due, in large part, to their
brutal rule and the presence of international terrorists as
their shock troops. The United Front commanders claim that
the core of Taliban forces are some 10,000 international
terrorists recruited by bin Laden and some 25,000 Pakistanis.
They estimate the Taliban's Afghan troop strength at 40,000.
The resistance claims 70,000 to 75,000 total anti-Taliban
forces.
The resistance commanders also claim that many Afghan
Pashtuns currently allied to the Taliban are in contact with
the United Front and plan to switch sides when a coordinated
offensive begins. They believe the Taliban could collapse
rapidly. In order to begin the offensive before Winter sets
in, the United Front requires an immediate infusion of
ammunition and other supplies. Essential items include
communications gear, long-range artillery, rockets, anti-tank
weapons and anti-aircraft capability. The Taliban is
estimated to have approximately a dozen fighter aircraft, a
limited number of attack helicopters and 20 battle tanks,
which must be eliminated if the battle is to be won.
Zaher Shah expressed an openness to direct U.S. military
support for the resistance if the United Nations did not
respond in a timely manner. Turkish experts recommend that
currently an emergency humanitarian aid program is
desperately needed. And a much-needed infrastructure
development program should be done in a way that would not
overwhelm the Afghan people's ability to absorb it. The Under
Secretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Ugur Ziyal, said
Turkey has accomplished effective programs using limited
funding--unlike high-cost and high-overhead UN and USG
programs--by working closely with the Afghan people.
Turkish officials expressed a frustration of often being
ignored by the West, especially in dealing with their own
terrorism problem, which has led to the deaths of over 30,000
citizens during the past two decades. However, Turkey
considers the United States as a steadfast friend. As they
already have modest humanitarian aid programs in United Front
zones of Afghanistan, they would be willing to be a
facilitator of US aid.

recommendations

Avoid placing US forces in Pakistan.
Expedite US assistance to the Afghan United Front to
conduct operations before

[[Page H6115]]

winter begins. Be prepared to respond to possible rapid
changes on the battlefield and in Kandahar and Kabul.
Support the return of King Zaher Shah to Afghanistan as a
unifying figure between all ethnic groups and factions and to
conduct a loya jirga.
After the Talibs/bin Laden are defeated, cost-effective
developmental assistance--not bloated ``nation building''--
could go a long way. Turkish experts said $10 to $20 million
of targeted aid would do tremendous good if a team of experts
worked with indigenous Afghans.
Develop greater intelligence cooperation with turkey.
Utilize Turkish NGOs as conduits for some U.S. aid into
Northern Alliance zones of Afghanistan.
Establish a Congress-to-Congress working group with Turkey.
Consider forgiveness of Turkey's FMF debt.

codel weldon

Representatives: Curt Weldon, Solomon Ortiz, Bob Clement,
Dana Rohrabacher, Clifford Stearns, Robert Cramer, Roscoe
Bartlett, Nick Smith, Silvestre Reyes, Brian Kerns, Todd
Platts.
Staff: Al Santoli, Office of Rep. Rohrabacher; Xenia
Horzczakiwskyj, Office of Rep. Weldon; Doug Roach,
Professional Staff Member, Committee on Armed Services.

key contacts

Russia: Ambassador Vershbow, U.S. Ambassador to Russia;
Lyubov Sliska, 1st Dep. Speaker of the Duma; Andrey Kokoshin,
Dep. Chairman of the Committee on Industry, Construction,
Industries, and High Technologies (former National Security
Advisor to President Yeltsin); Vladimir Lukhin, State
Federation Council Chairman, Yablako, Former Chairman
International Affairs Committee/Russia Ambassador to the
United States; Konstantin Kosachev, Vice Chairman
International Affairs Committee; Anatoly Savin, Kommeta
Institute; Anatoly Kulikov, Chairman of the Terrorism Task
Force, Russian Duma; Valkov, First Dep. Head of Pres. Putin's
Advisory Committee; Vladimir Andrianov, Sr. Advisor to Prime
Minister; U.S.-Russia Business Council; American Chamber of
Commerce; Moscow Petroleum Club.
Italy: Exiled King of Afghanistan, King Mohammad Zaher Shah
(86); Prince Mir Wais Zaher (40), youngest son and ``closest
aid''; Mostapha Zaher, King's grandson. United Front/Northern
Alliance Commanders: Malik Zarin (Konar Province); Haji Nasir
(Nangehar Province); Haji Khaleq Ghor (Onazon and Farak
Provinces); Commander Arif (Kandahar Province); General Awari
(Shomali Plains, Kabul area, and Bagram Airfield, North of
Kabul); Commander Kazeni (Parwan Province); Abdul Khalig
(Kuman Province); Commander Jegdalak (Kabul Area); Commander
Zaman (Nangahar Province); Yunis Kanoni, delegation spokesman
(Panjer Valley).
Turkey: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador
Ugur Ziyal, Undersecretary (DEPSEC equivalent), (Faruk
Logoglu, new Turkish Ambassador to the USA). Turkish General
Staff: LTGEN Koksal Karabay, Turkish Gen. Staff (TGS),
Turkish Land Forces; LTGEN Turgut, TGS, Turkish Air Forces;
MGEN Nusret Tasdeler; COL Kusu, briefer; Namik Tan, American
Desk, Dept. Head.

Meeting With Ambassador Ziyal, Undersecretary of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Turkey--Oct. 1, 2001

key points

The Ambassador lived in Afghanistan in 1948-1952.
There is no ``nation'' of Afghanistan, just a collection of
various groups/tribes/clans/warloads. They unite to confront
foreigners. It is near impossible to assert central control,
but the exiled-King could be a unifying symbol.
The Taliban originated in Pakistan. They were initially
welcomed because they established order out of the chaos of
the end of the war against the Soviet invasion they ``bring
out worst in humanity and Islam'' they are ``hardest on their
own'' who deviate from their hard line--viewed as heretics.
They were supported by Arab Afghans--``radical Saudis pumped
in millions''--and support was provided by other Gulf Arabs.
The Taliban ``became force of evil.'' OBL is a supreme
organizer. He created a ``senseless organization of terror.''
The OBL/Taliban network ``recruits the young to brain wash
them.'' It is impossible to protect society against suicide
bombers.
Turkey has a humanitarian (3 clinics) presence in Northern
Alliance areas in Afghanistan.
Turkey had a school in Kabul, but couldn't agree with
Taliban on a curriculum and the Turks left--``Taliban
wouldn't listen to reason--they are fanatics.''
King is a figurehead. Authority lies with tribal leaders.
There could be a role for him as an umbrella, interim leader.
Tribal leaders will cooperate if they see it in their
interest to do so. Groups change sides very easily--for
various reasons: money, power, jealousy.
Rep Bartlett: (Referencing Turkish General Staff Brief:
``There seems to be a bewildering array of terrorist groups.
The US is focusing on the Taliban. How much of the
``problem'' is the Taliban?
Ambassador: OBL is 5 percent of the (terrorist) problem.
``US tends to personify issues, for example Saddam and
Sadat.'' Particular realities of each nation need to be
addressed without regard to what leaders happen to be present
at the time.
Is the King's three part plan realistic?
Ambassador: Yes. Local tribal leaders are the only real
option, however. Forming a ``Democracy is a tall order--until
quality of life versus survival becomes the issue,
Afghanistan leaping to a democracy is unlikely.''
Rep Ortiz: Are you concerned about the survival of the
Pakistani government?
Ambassador: ``We are concerned.''
On the Peace Process: ``American policy has hurt American
standing in the region--Arafat sees he made a mistake.'' We
talk to both sides. With Barak, things were close. It is
important that Israel be accepted--it would benefit regimes
in the area. Saddam has gained ground just by giving lip
service/propaganda. Everyone in the area is concerned, even
the Omanis. Israeli responses to Palestinian attacks are
disproportionate.
Recommended course of action:
The Northern Alliance first needs ammunition and U.S.
military strikes against main Taliban armament (10 planes and
20 tanks).
``The U.S. needs to stay involved to raise the quality of
life'' Afghans need help to survive what the Taliban has done
to them--large sums of money is not required if you employ
Afghans to provide assistance to fellow Afghans. (``UN
overhead very high''). ``We would be willing to help.''
Chairman Weldon: How much would it take--$10 million--or
$20 million?
Ambassador: ``That would go a long way if implemented
locally--billions would be a disaster. It could not be
absorbed--would only lead to corruption.''
Need allies on the ground--United Front/Northern Alliance--
``and they are willing.'' ``They are willing because the
Taliban is seen as destroying the country and way of life''
Ambassador felt that Taliban could fall within 30 days.
``If allies of the Taliban see them losing, their allies will
desert them.''

Mr. Speaker, this document entitled ``U.S.-Russia-Turkey Partnership:
Anti-terrorism in Afghanistan'' has a summary of our trip, the details
of who we met with, the specific recommendations, and a call for
action.
Mr. Speaker, we also need to understand as Americans that if and when
we remove Osama bin Laden, that is not going to eliminate the terrorism
problem in America. The government of Turkey identified at least a
dozen other major terrorist groups that have killed over 30,000
innocent people in Turkey over the past 10 years.
We need to understand that Osama bin Laden is only one network,
accounting for about 5 percent of the international terrorism in the
world. We must understand that this is just a beginning. Removing the
Taliban and Osama bin Laden, allowing the people of Afghanistan to take
back their country, is only the first step in what President Bush has
described as a long-term process.
We in the Congress went on this mission in full support of our
President. At every stop, we reiterated the fact that we only have one
President in America, one Secretary of State, and the 11 Members of
Congress who traveled together were in total and complete unanimity
that our President speaks for us. We are behind his leadership 100
percent.
I want to thank our colleagues for traveling. They were outstanding
Members. I am going to ask each of them now to make comments about
their thoughts on the trip. I will simply be here to monitor the time
so everyone gets a chance to speak.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to our good friend and colleague, the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Ortiz), an outstanding senior Member of the Congress
who has been in the House for 20 years, a senior member of the
Committee on Armed Services.
Mr. ORTIZ. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from
Pennsylvania for his leadership. I think it was a great trip, a very
productive trip. We were able to learn things that we were not used to
talking about from countries like Turkey, Russia, some of the other
countries who have had terrorist acts. For the United States, it was
something new.
I think that individually I was able to learn a lot from Turkey.
Turkey will continue to play a very, very important role in the defense
of this country that is so dear to them. But we feel sometimes that we
have neglected Turkey. They are proud citizens, they are proud
soldiers. They have stood by our side during almost every conflict that
we have been involved in.
One of the things that really impressed me was the relationship that
our good chairman, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) has
with the officials from Russia and the people of Russia.

[[Page H6116]]

We were received with open arms. Not only that, they stated that they
were willing to work with us. This legislation that the chairman is
talking about is very, very important, not only for the United States,
but for the rest of the world. This is a cancer that has to be removed.
Bin Laden, even though we were able to dispose of him, to remove him
from power, he has been able to train many young men to conduct the
same terrorist acts that have been conducted all over the world. We
just hope that the Muslim and Islamic leaders can explain to the rest
of the world that this is not Islamic religion, this is not the
teachings of the Muslim world; this is hatred, this is murder.
Hopefully, we will be in a position to do better as a world, to be more
understanding.
I know Muslims do not preach hate. They do not condone the killing.
But I am so happy that I went on this trip, because this was really a
fact-finding trip, Mr. Speaker. I want to say again, I thank the
gentleman for his leadership.
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and
colleague for his leadership and support as a co-leader of this
delegation. We came away with some very special feelings, and he came
away with some special symbols of our relationship. I thank him for the
cooperation that he has given me.
I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Clement), our next
member of the delegation.
Mr. CLEMENT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
Mr. Speaker, I returned Monday from a very successful bipartisan
congressional delegation that included meetings with the Russian Duma,
the exiled king of Afghanistan, representatives of the United Front
fighting the Taliban, and Turkish foreign and military affairs
officials.
I want to praise my colleagues, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Weldon) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz), for chairing this
trip. I also want to commend all of my colleagues for their hard work
and dedication to these meetings. We had a real team working together,
and I think because of our teamwork, we were very successful.
Mr. Speaker, I want to say also that this is not a battle between the
East versus West, it is not a battle that is Muslim versus Christian.
It comes down to a travesty that happened September 11 that hurt,
injured, and lost the lives of many Americans.
But what I learned on this trip when we traveled to Russia and Italy
and Turkey is that most of the world has experienced terrorism for a
number of years. We have been immune from terrorism, but not anymore.
Now we have to face up to our responsibilities, knowing that other
countries have had to live with it for many years, and now we, as the
superpower.
We are the only superpower now. It used to be the Soviet Union and
the United States, so now it has come down to just the United States.
It puts us in a position where we must act, and we will act. The United
States and our allies will move against the terrorists. It probably is
very soon.
But I have also learned from meeting with the other countries that
they accept and are excited about the possibilities of the United
States working with them to combat terrorism in the world. Because if
we do not work together, we cannot solve the problem. Even if we knock
out or even if we capture or even if we bring to justice Osama bin
Laden, and even if the Taliban regime comes to an end very shortly,
which very well could happen, that does not mean it is the end of
terrorism, because there are many terrorist groups and organizations,
some of which are even operating in the United States, many of which
operate in other countries.
But if we work together, if we share our intelligence, if we
understand one another, it does not have to happen. People can live in
peace, and people do not have to live in fear. But we have to bring
these people to justice, and we have to demonstrate to the world that
we care about their fellow man.
We know that there are a lot of wonderful Muslims in our own country.
They care about their faith, just like we Christians care about our
faith. We do have a great country, and it was a great honor, I say to
the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Weldon), to be with him on
this wonderful trip, which was a fact-finding trip.
As the gentleman mentioned a while ago, we are going to share this
trip with the Secretary of State, with the Defense Department, with the
national security agencies, and with a lot of entities, even our fellow
Congressmen and U.S. Senators, for them to know what happened, how it
happened, and that through our trip, and I really believe this, we are
going to save a lot of lives. We are going to minimize the loss of life
that could have occurred if we had not taken this trip.
God bless the gentleman and God bless this country.
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Tennessee (Mr. Clement), our good friend and colleague.
To follow up, we met with the King for 90 minutes at his residence on
Sunday, and following that we met for 90 minutes with a dozen or so
members of the Unified Front. It was on Monday, the day after we left,
that that group came together and publicly announced a solidarity.
We would like to think that our conversations with both of those
groups helped to convince them that America was there to work with them
as Afghanistani people take over their own country and take back their
land from this terrorist operation, this Taliban organization, that
does not abide by the rules of civilization, but rather, abides by some
commitment to destroying and killing people.
We also said to them, Americans are good people. In fact, we are the
largest supplier of humanitarian aid to the Afghan people even today;
that assuming we can get rid of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, and
begin to clean up this terrorist network, we are prepared for the long
haul to support efforts and endeavors to help them improve their health
care, feed their people, take care of their housing and environmental
problems; to work with them to join the community of nations.
I think, in fact, this trip did have a significant part of the
success in allowing, the day after we left, the King and the opposition
leaders to come together in a way that we have not seen up until now.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Michigan is another one of the vital
leaders of the task force who was a leader on technology issues in the
House. He played a critical role and was involved in both our
discussions and in questions, and in engaging in our meetings. We had
some 19 meetings in each of our stops.
I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith).
Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Pennsylvania very much.
Quite often, we in Congress get in partisan debates here, and are, in
effect, sort of in a shell. But on this CODEL, 11 Members of Congress
broke out of that shell and went on a CODEL to other parts of the world
that was totally bipartisan, probably the most effective trip that I
have ever taken.
For the record, I say to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Weldon), allow me to read in the Members that went on that CODEL.
Of course, the chairman of the CODEL was the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon).
The cochairman was the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz), a Democrat.
Other Members were the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Clement), a
Democrat; the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), a
Republican; the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), a Republican; the
gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Cramer), a Democrat; the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Bartlett), a Republican; myself, from Michigan; the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes), a Democrat; the gentleman from
Indiana (Mr. Kerns), a Republican; and the gentleman from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Platts), a Republican.
Sometimes when legislators go and meet with legislators from other
countries, the discussion back and forth is more frank than it is
sometimes with the bureaucrats, with the diplomats, who have a more
formal agenda. So some of the debate and the discussion and some of the
criticism of the United States for things that it might have done in
the past I think were more

[[Page H6117]]

readily outcoming to end up not only with a frank discussion, but with
actual friendship of these legislators in these other countries.
So I think some of the information that we have garnered is going to
be the information that the State Department needs to have, as well as
the President of the United States. I saw somewhat of a welcoming by
these other countries that have experienced terrorism, that finally the
United States is taking it seriously enough to help them do something.

{time} 2045

Our briefings in Russia were excellent. Our briefings in Italy were
excellent, but let me just read a couple paragraphs out of several good
briefings that we had in Turkey. And they gave us several booklets on
terror because they have been studying and putting up with terror for a
long time.
I think it was about eight different terrorists groups. The PKK was
one of these groups and the introduction to this book on terrorism or
the PKK says, this booklet provides a detailed account of some of the
terrorist attacks perpetrated in Turkey by the PKK, which is the
Kurdish acronym for the Kurdistan Workers Party, one of the most brutal
terror organizations in the world, both in terms of number of the
victims of its terror acts.
By the way, these acts have been committed, and they go on to say, as
a result of the indiscriminate terrorist attack of the PKK, over 30,000
Turkish citizens have lost their lives since 1984, and among these were
thousands of innocent victims that included women and children and the
elderly and infants.
We learned that the terrorist organizations are organized throughout
the world and the training of these terrorists often begins with
orphans that are then taken in by the terrorist groups and started to
be indoctrinated into the religion and they are indoctrinated and
brainwashed, if you will, not just over a short time period but a
longer time period. So what we are dealing with is individuals that
have been so indoctrinated over their young lives that it is going to
be very difficult to indoctrinate them the other way around.
So the question becomes not only what do we with bin Laden, what do
we do with other terrorist leaders, what do we do with all these other
individuals that have been so trained that their main goal in life is
to get rid of the predicament they are in and cause these murders of
people that have that same understanding of democracies that we have in
the United States.
It is going to be a huge challenge, but one thing we gain from these
meetings in other countries is that other countries are willing to help
us. One of their questions was are we going to have the will power,
the, if you will, intestinal fortitude in the United States to continue
this fight against terrorism, not for just months but possibly for
years, possibly for a generation if we are going to be successful
because the total economic well-being of all of these citizens of the
world depend, I think, on our success in this particular battle against
terrorism.
And with that I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon)
for his leadership on this trip.
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank our colleague and
friend, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith) for his comments, for
his outstanding contribution on the trip, and for his involvement in
the follow-up that is going to be necessary to implement the
recommendations that we have, in fact, suggested.
Mr. Speaker, I now yield as much time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes), my good friend on the other side of
the aisle and this was truly a bipartisan effort. We are good friends
anyway, but when the plane took off the ground, we were all one group
working together. This gentleman is the chairman of the Hispanic
Caucus, representing all of our Hispanic Members in the House, and
besides that, a senior member of the Committee on Armed Services, and
someone who is a tireless advocate for defending our country, my good
friend from El Paso, Texas.
Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Weldon) yielding the time, and Mr. Speaker, this is an important
time for our country.
I as well as a number of our colleagues that had the privilege of
traveling this weekend and going to Russia, going to Italy, and then
winding up the trip in Turkey feel confident that this is one of the
most important trips we have taken. This has the ability of redefining
the way we look not just at our foreign policy but at the way we deal
with the rest of the world.
I want to congratulate our chairman and very good friend Chairman
Weldon for his vision and his leadership in putting together a
comprehensive document that I hope we will use to define a new
relationship between us and Russia.
I had the privilege of participating in a number of the discussions,
and it was clear the respect that Chairman Weldon enjoys in Russia, but
more than that, I considered it a great privilege to have been part of
this trip because at every one of the places that we visited, starting
with the visit to Moscow, one of the most poignant moments was driving
by the American embassy and seeing huge piles of flowers and wreaths
and notes from the citizens of Moscow offering their condolences to a
country that lost a number of its citizens on that tragic day of
September 11.
Moving on to Rome where we met with a very humble, I thought, king
but a committed individual that is willing to do anything and
everything, including, he told us, going to Afghanistan the next day.
He said I will go back to Afghanistan tomorrow if it makes a difference
to my people. A very humble individual that at that point discussed
with us his three point plan. A three point plan that includes some
very significant recommendations.
The ability to come together in a loya jirga, which is a meeting of
the senior members of the Afghanistan leadership in Afghanistan, and he
was willing to be there alongside with them, but more important, to put
together a plan that they would elect a leader for an interim period of
2 years with the guarantee that they would have democratic elections so
they would have a democratic government to lead the people.
Finishing out our trip, we visited in Ankara, Turkey, with our best
ally in the region, a very tough neighborhood, a neighborhood that has
seen repeatedly a tremendous amount of unrest, a very unstable region
of the world, but yet a region of the world where we can always rely
and count on the friendship, the support, the commitment of the Turks
and the Turkish government. And what an important series of meetings
and briefings we held there and listened to their recommendations that
essentially, if the chairman will recall, they backed up what we heard
from the ground commanders from Afghanistan, and that was we do not
need to send American troops on the ground. All we need to do is
support the Afghanistan's United Front versus the Northern Alliance
that we refer to now. More importantly, the fact that if we do not need
to risk American lives on the ground in Afghanistan, we should not do
it.
Secondly, we should support the Afghanistan movement. The Northern
Alliance, whether we call them the Northern Alliance or the United
Front, as they prefer to be called, they know and they explained to us
that they have the capability, they have the wherewithal to bring this
to a conclusion and defeat the Taliban and its government and take care
of Osama bin Laden in the process.
We all know and we have heard from a number of colleagues today that
Osama bin Laden and the Taliban are a small part of the bigger
challenge we face as we fight terrorism, but a fight worth taking on, a
fight that we heard in Moscow, that we heard in Rome, and that we heard
in Ankara that it is going to entail a tremendous amount of effort, a
tremendous amount of commitment and, ultimately, the benefits will be a
safer more prosperous world for everyone.
So I appreciate the opportunity to participate with the chairman on
this trip; and more than that, I appreciate the gentleman's confidence
and the confidence of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz) in including
me in this delegation. I am very proud this evening, jet lag and all, I
am proud to stand here before the American people

[[Page H6118]]

and tell my colleagues that the kind of dedication and commitment we
saw on behalf of our country with this delegation will bring us great
results.
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. I thank my distinguished colleague, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes). Besides his intellect, besides his
aggressiveness and his common sense, his wit added much to the trip. He
kept us all smiling as we went from city to city, plane to plane,
nonstop, in trying to accomplish and did accomplish all of our
objectives.
So it was great and the gentleman's humor added much to our trip. I
thank him.
Mr. REYES. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, the next member of the
delegation who traveled is a senior Member of the House, someone who
has earned the respect of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle. He
is involved in a number of issues. This, I believe, was his first trip
to Moscow; but he was as involved as any other Member and played a key
role in helping us articulate our message to the leaders in each of the
countries we visited, the gentleman from the State of Florida (Mr.
Stearns).

Mr. STEARNS. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I am
delighted to be here. I thought I would select this side of the aisle
just to show what a bipartisan effort the gentleman created through his
leadership on this very strategic and important trip that we took to
Moscow and, of course, the outskirts of Rome to meet with the exiled
king of Afghanistan, and then back into Turkey.
I think, as has been expressed by my other colleagues, Turkey has a
key role to play here; and we can learn much from what Turkey has done
to combat terrorism. More specifically, in the last 20 years, Turkey
has had 30,000 people killed by terrorist acts. Certainly this is a
menace in the country, but they have put together an entire program to
combat terrorism. And we were briefed by the general staff of the
Turkish army on what they had done to protect themselves and their
country, and they made broad recommendations for the United States and
all countries around this globe of ours to put into place what is
necessary if we expect to control terrorism.
Turkey, as my colleagues know, is a land between Europe and Asia and
is protected by the straits between the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean. Turkey is quite simply one of the most important
countries in the region. It is interesting to note that some of their
neighbors are the most hostile, aggressive people: Syria, Iraq, Iran.
Prior to that, of course, they were close to Russia, with Georgia,
Armenia, and Azerbaijan. So it is a very difficult, tough neighborhood,
and Turkey occupies a strategic position and is of utmost importance to
us.
In fact, Incirlik is an Air Force Base we have there; and through the
kindness and support of the Turkish government, we have our military
planes there, which has a radius which covers all these countries. So
it is extremely important to have the friendship of Turkey. I thought I
would put into the record some of the recommendations they have
suggested for us, and I hope President Bush will take note of some of
these recommendations.
President Bush has done an outstanding job of bringing together
consensus. The Prime Minister of England today, Tony Blair, gave an
outstanding speech, putting in perspective some of the things that we
have to cope with as a free democracy, a civilized country, when we
deal with terrorists.
The terrorist attacks of September 11 has shown that we need
international consensus. There are four things that the Turkish
government has recommended. First of all, believe it or not, there is
not a common definition of what terrorism is throughout the world. Each
country seems to have a little different definition for it. If we
cannot define what it is, it is going to be hard to go after it. So the
first thing we have to do is to define what terrorism is.
And the second thing the Turkey generals suggested is international
law related to terrorism, specifically oriented to reciprocity, so that
if we are trying to get a terrorist returned to the country where the
crime occurred, there will be the ability to do so.

{time} 2100

The third thing they said was to establish an international
organization that would actually struggle day to day and work out
strategic and tactical efforts to defeat terrorism. Today we have not
established either in the European Union or in NATO or any community
that encompasses all the countries and international organizations.
The last thing they say we should do is to publicize a list of active
terrorist organizations and where they are. I think a lot of Americans
would be extremely surprised to find that a lot of the cells of these
terrorists organizations are in the free democracies. There are a lot
of countries that we think they would try to extricate these cell
organization, but indeed they are there. They are being harbored there,
and perhaps some of these democratic countries do not know it. But in
many cases if these terrorist organizations were listed and were
discussed and publicized throughout the free world, the countries that
are interested in democracy and freedom, they would try to make greater
efforts to rid themselves of this menace.
I would conclude by also saying that the gentleman from Pennsylvania
(Chairman Weldon) did an excellent job. My colleague, the gentleman
from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), who came into Congress with me in
1988 did an exceptional job also. The gentleman from California, when
he was able to set up some of these appointments and because of his
long experience dealing with Turkey and also dealing with Afghanistan,
and, in fact, having been over there many times on his own
participating, he understood a lot about the nuances of this whole
situation. It is nice to have his support.
I hope all my colleagues will read some of the recommendations of our
report. I hope tonight the gentleman from Pennsylvania will go through
and perhaps touch on some of them. Considering the fact that Turkey has
lost so much because of the embargo on Iraq, we might consider
forgiveness of Turkey's IMF debt. That is something the gentleman might
want to touch on. It will probably be anathema to many Members of
Congress; but if you put into perspective some of the sacrifices that
Turkey has made, I think there might be some way to help them, because
their economy is starting to falter; and we do not need to have that
country under that kind of economic stress when we are trying to deal
with the terrorists in that area.
Mr. Speaker, I will conclude by saying it was an exceptional trip. I
think we have made a difference. Every Member of Congress comes here
for one reason and one reason only: he or she wants to make a
difference, as small as that might be. Tonight, with this trip I think
we just did that. I wanted to praise the chairman and I look forward to
working with him on other issues.
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank our friend and
colleague, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), for his comments
and for his outstanding contributions on our trip and in our meetings.
He mentioned a point that we will be following up on, that is, the
fact that Turkey, which has been one of our most loyal allies, has
approximately $5 billion of foreign military sale debts, that we have
sold them equipment to help defend our interests and their interests in
the region.
Just by their involvement in Desert Storm where they immediately
supported the U.S. President's position against Iraq in 1991, when that
occurred, they cut off approximately 2 to $3 billion of sales annually
of products to Iraq, resulting in a $30 billion net decrease in their
economy. They did that because they are our friends. When our President
asked them to respond, they did not hesitate. They immediately cut off
contact with Iraq; and they immediately, even though it cost them
billions of dollars, they immediately said we are going to stick with
America because America stuck with us back at an earlier time when
their sovereignty was being threatened.
So the comments of the gentleman about the need for us to consider
forgiving that $5 billion of debt, maybe over a period of time, maybe
all at once, whatever it might be, I think is an outstanding
recommendation and one that I would wholeheartedly support.

[[Page H6119]]

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield?
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, maybe a forbearance or some type of policy,
as you point out, where they are strategically located, and to give us
an Air Force Base at that particular site, at Incirlik, and to allow us
to have this full freedom with our Air Force is absolutely crucial to
that area to protect it.
As I pointed out earlier, their neighbors are hostile and aggressive
and their economy is faltering. A lot of the problems they are having
is perhaps because of their loyalty to the United States. I think in
times of crisis like this, where you have opportunity and danger, it is
probably very important to consider how to help them so that their
economy is strong and they can continue to support us without any kind
of reservation. So some type of forbearance should be thought of by us
here in Congress.

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman
and thank him for his comments. I would just add that as we found out
that Turkey is a 99 percent Muslim state, yet it is 99 percent behind
America and the allies in this effort.
That proves the point that President Bush and all of us have been
making. This is not a war against Islam. This is not a war against
Muslims. This is a war against a radical band of cowards who hide in
the hills, right now hiding in the deep caverns of the mountains of
Afghanistan because they know they have done wrong and they are afraid
to show their faces. They are being hidden and kept their by the
Taliban government that is just as bad as they are because they are
harboring these terrorists that will not bring them forward.
Turkey is a critical player. I thank the gentleman for raising that
point, and I thank him for his comments.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to turn to one of our junior members. When
you first come to Congress you are not expected to play a pivotal role.
You are expected to be involved and learn and try to sort out what is
going on; but this gentleman has hit the ground running. He has been in
the House less than a year. He comes from a very dynamic part of
Pennsylvania. He jumped at the opportunity to play a role as we asked
to have some younger Members in seniority go on the trip with us.
Two freshmen Members traveled on this trip with us. They were
outstanding contributors. This gentleman, who should have a seat on the
Committee on Armed Services because of his interest on defense and
security issues and because of his commitment to America's security,
was an outstanding contributor. He was involved in our discussions. He
was articulate in asking questions, and he was credible in offering
advice in each of our meetings.
Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure to welcome the gentleman from the
State of Pennsylvania (Mr. Platts).
Mr. PLATTS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding time to
me and allowing me to share some thoughts. I especially want to thank
the gentleman for organizing this delegation trip to Russia, to Rome,
and to Turkey, and for including me as a freshman Member. From a
personal sense, it provided an exceptional opportunity for me to become
much more informed on a number of foreign affairs matters dealing with
Russia, dealing with our challenges in Afghanistan, dealing with Turkey
in a broad sense but also in a very specific sense.
Mr. Speaker, I felt in our nonstop visits throughout the three
nations, I received a crash course in the issues of national security
and foreign affairs. I also echo my thanks to the ranking Democratic
Member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz), for his welcoming me into
the delegation, and, as a freshman Member, being given this
opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, before a couple of comments on the stops, I would like
to thank the Air Force and Navy personnel who were critical in making
this trip happen. Our Navy liaisons were our escorts at all the stops,
the Air Force personnel who assured our safe travel abroad and back,
the State Department personnel who played critical roles in our
meetings being facilitated. There is a tremendous team of public
servants throughout the world doing great work on the Nation's behalf.
I took away from every meeting we had, whether it be with military
officials, with civilian elected officials, with private citizens,
every person started their conversation with us first with a deep
expression of sympathy to our Nation and the loss of lives that we have
encountered as a result of the attacks on September 11; and second,
from the civilian and military leaders, a strong commitment of support
in our war against terrorism, and a strong commitment of support to
ensure that justice does prevail as we track down the murderers of our
citizens on September 11.
As Americans we have united here at home in this battle against
terrorism. Abroad our friends are uniting with us in defeating
terrorism and bringing justice to bear against the culprits involved in
these attacks.
When I look at the three sites of our stops, I will share some quick
comments. In Moscow I came away greatly enthused that the good that we
look for in all evil in talking about the attacks on September 11,
making sure that we find the good; and one of the good is going to be
our relationship with Moscow, specifically relating to joining together
and fighting terrorism, and the opportunity to build a strong and
lasting relationship with Russia on a whole host of issues:
agriculture, energy, national security and defense issue, law and
justice issues, environmental issues. The opportunity is extremely
important that we move forward and develop much further a relationship
with Russia for the good of our Nation and our citizens and Russia and
her citizens and the world in total.

From the elected members of the Duma we met with, I could see their
sincere commitment in working with us and have our nations grow closer.
The final two stops, Rome, with the Afghan King, King Zahir Shah, his
commitment to try to help his people, and to the courageous commitment
of the military leaders that came to Rome to meet with the King and
with us. Their commitment to return their nation to a nation where
their citizens are safe, secure and living in peace, to have an open
and free government, returned to that nation; and the King's three-part
plan where he wants to lay out and have the tribal leaders come
together to pick an interim leader for their state to go forward and
replacing the vacuum that will be created when the Taliban government
is removed, as it must be removed, for the sake of the Afghan people
and for the sake of people around the world being free from the
terrorist state that they are harboring in their country.
The Turkish vision was overwhelming. The knowledge that they shared
in our visit Sunday and Monday morning, I came away very grateful that
we have such a strong and loyal ally in that region, as was referenced
by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), how we need to better
appreciate their loyalty and friendship in the issue of foreign
military sales, and how we should look at forgiveness of that debt, and
that is not something that they asked for.
In fact, when it was raised how we can help Turkey, the chairman of
their Foreign Affairs Committee in the Grand National Assembly saying
in a time of crisis, as we are in today, it would be inappropriate to
ask for something in return for our support. We want to help as a
friend because it is the right thing to do, not because we will get
something for it. We Members brought up that issue as something that
they deserve, not just for their support now, but for their loyalty as
a great ally of us.
Mr. Speaker, the foreign minister, his insights, I think we need to
give great weight; and we have recommended them in our report to the
administration. Sometimes as Americans we think that we have all of the
answers to the world's problems, and we forget that there are a lot of
experts that we need to turn to. The foreign minister had a wealth of
knowledge on Afghanistan and the relationships between the Northern
Alliance, now the United Front, and Pakistan and how we can be
effective in working with the citizens.
Mr. Speaker, a final comment relating to the war on terrorism and how
it applies to Afghanistan specifically, is

[[Page H6120]]

that the King and the military leaders did not come to us and say, come
in and save us and do their work. They came to us and said, help us
liberate ourselves. They did not ask us to go into the country to rid
them of the evil, but help them in doing it themselves. That is what
America has been about, standing up on one's own two feet. That is what
they are trying to do. They just need some assistance.
I conclude by saying it was a privilege of being included and being
given the opportunity to garner such information and knowledge from
this trip.
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Platts) for his involvement and participation in the
trip. He was a vital part of our delegation. He will be a continuing
rising star in the Congress.
Mr. Speaker, it is now my honor to introduce another member of our
delegation who played the most critical role in the Italian portion of
our trip. The expertise of the gentleman from California (Mr.
Rohrabacher) on Afghanistan is broad and deep, and it did not start
with the bombing of the World Trade Center. He has traveled to that
region of the world on numerous occasions. He has interacted with the
leadership of Afghanistan, those in exile and those trying to take back
their country, and probably has as good a perspective as anyone in the
Congress, if not on the Hill, on Afghanistan. I also appreciate the
cooperation and support of his assistant, Al Santoli.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr.
Rohrabacher).

{time} 2115

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I thank the gentleman very much. We have a very
special system of government and we have a very special group of people
that live in the United States of America. We are a group of people who
are not one race, but we are every race on the planet because we have
people who have come here from every ethnic and racial group. We do not
represent just one nationality, because we have people who have come
here from Europe, from Asia, from Africa, from Spanish-speaking
countries and from French-speaking countries.
We have Muslims and we have Buddhists and we have Christians and we
have Catholics, and we have about every religion there is, but what
ties us together as a people is a love of liberty and justice that was
first discovered back about 225 years ago when our Founding Fathers saw
that this was something that bound them together as a Nation, and that
would be the unifying factor and established this government that we
have. How government is made in our country and how policy is made is
not just by passing laws like this but, instead, there is a competition
of ideas and a national debate that moves forward on any important
issue.
What we just did with the leadership of the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) or should I say Chairman Weldon, not as
chairman of our delegation but chairman in the Committee on Armed
Services of a very important subcommittee, but what we did in this
delegation is make sure that we became part of the national debate,
first by educating ourselves firsthand as to what the people on the
scene were experiencing and feeling, what was the information on the
front lines, and to try to educate ourselves, and then to be articulate
and to speak out on the issues as we see them.
That is what has happened. We are now part of that national debate. I
really appreciate the leadership that the gentleman from Pennsylvania
has provided on this and, by the way, many of the other issues that I
have personally involved myself on, I find the gentleman from
Pennsylvania got there first and the gentleman from Pennsylvania was
providing some leadership when I just sort of jumped on.
I was very happy that on this trip I was able to contribute because I
do have a long-term commitment to the people of Afghanistan, I worked
with them while I was in the Reagan White House to help get them the
weaponry they needed to defeat the Soviet Union. It was their defeat of
Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s that permitted us in the
United States to have an era, a 10-year period of prosperity and
happiness and peace. The fact is we were spending $100 billion a year
less on military than we did during the Cold War. This, because the
Afghan people were so brave. But we walked away from the Afghan people.
We walked away and we let them sleep in the rubble. We did not even
help them dig up the land mines we had given them to fight the
Russians. If there was one, not demand, plea, by the Afghans that we
met on this trip, the field commanders who are standing up against the
terrorist Taliban regime, the one plea was, please, yes, help us defeat
the Taliban by giving us the ammunition we need to do the fighting, but
please don't walk away and leave us alone once the fighting has
started. Help us build a country where our children can be healthy.
Help us build a country where we can have an education system. Help us
build a country where people can live decent lives. Don't walk away and
abandon us like you did the last time we fought a battle that so
benefited the United States as well as benefitting ourselves.
I heard that plea, I have heard that plea a long time before, but I
am sure some of our fellow members of this CODEL had not heard that
before. We did not do the right thing by Afghanistan, and it came back
to hurt us. That was a mistake that we made. I will have to say that is
not a partisan mistake. That was made by George W. Bush's father when
George Bush, Sr. was President. There were some mistakes made. He made
another mistake. One mistake he made is after the Gulf War, instead of
finishing the job, he permitted his advisers to convince him not to
finish off the Saddam Hussein regime. Well, I am afraid we are
beginning to make some of these same mistakes again.
We have now the ability to get rid of this terrorist Taliban regime
that has so brutalized the people of Afghanistan, and at the same time,
has its fingerprints all over the atrocity that was committed in the
death of thousands of our fellow citizens in New York on September 11,
this murderous Taliban regime that has been a haven for terrorists, for
bin Laden. It has been a regime that has permitted 60 percent of the
world's heroin to be grown and distributed from within its borders, a
regime that makes a mockery of all human rights and has murdered so
many of their own people that their own people are terrorized.
That regime is not that much different than the regime of Saddam
Hussein. We left Saddam Hussein in power and now there are those in our
own State Department, perhaps some of the same people who advised
George W.'s father to permit Saddam Hussein to remain, who are now
advising George W. Bush to just demand that bin Laden be handed over
and let the Taliban stay in power. That cannot happen. That would be
making a lie out of George W.'s tremendous speech that he gave here
just a week and a half ago.

Either we rid the world of the terrorist regime, the Taliban regime
in Afghanistan, or no dictatorship and no terrorist will take our word
and take it for granted that they cannot get away with their evil deeds
in the future. We will be encouraging dictatorships and terrorist
regimes in the future to believe that they can attack the United
States, or harbor and help people who are attacking the United States
and get away with it.
No, the Taliban must be overthrown. Bin Laden must die. We learned on
this trip that we have the means to do this. We have the means to
accomplish this end. We met with the king of Afghanistan who is one of
the most beloved people in his country. Poor Commander Masood was
assassinated a short time ago right before the attack on the World
Trade Center. But the king, he is in his 80s, as we met him, it was
clear that he has a very sharp mind, but what is more important is that
he is surrounded by the most educated and aggressive young Afghans who
are willing to come back and provide the expertise needed to govern
that country. The king has promised a temporary transitory regime, a
regime that will be just a transition regime that after the overthrow
of the Taliban would serve for only 2 years, as I am sure the gentleman
has explained this already, and then after 2 years, would give way to
some sort of a democratic process that would be put in place so that
the Afghan people could control their own destiny through the ballot
box.

[[Page H6121]]

With our help in rebuilding their country, we can bring a new era of
peace to Afghanistan, and instead of being a springboard to destroy the
stability of Central Asia and undermine democracy and freedom in Russia
and to be a terrorist haven that would murder millions of Americans, or
at least thousands of Americans, Afghanistan can become a civilized
part of the world community. We have got that opportunity now. We
cannot pass it up. Our State Department, I do not know what has gotten
into people's heads. I cannot understand the incompetence of people who
are still advocating the policy of keeping the Taliban in power.
By the way, we had incompetence as well with our intelligence
community who permitted this attack to succeed in the first place. We
need to clear out the executive level people in some of these agencies
and departments. We need to make sure that we stand firm and that we
send a message to the world, if you slaughter Americans, you will pay
the price. It is not just rhetoric. We have got to make sure that those
words mean something.
It has been my privilege to serve on this delegation with Chairman
Weldon. Without Chairman Weldon's leadership, we could not have, not
only had the transportation but we could not have gotten the support we
needed to have such a successful mission. Now we are back and we are
part of the debate. It is what we are saying here tonight, and what we
said out in our press conference today, and what we will say during our
briefings to the senior members of this administration, will play a
large role in making sure that the President chooses the right path,
the path to long-term peace and tranquility which is the path of
strength and courage and not deal-making with tyrants and terrorists.
I am very, very grateful to the gentleman from Pennsylvania. I know
all of us learned a lot. I think we have accomplished a lot with this
journey to Central Asia, to see our friends in Turkey who are standing
with us so solidly and to talk to also those people in Russia who want
to be our friends, and in the future, build a better future for both
our peoples and for the whole world.
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. I thank our friend and colleague for his
comments, for his outstanding leadership, for his involvement on these
issues long before September 11.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask our colleagues to read the text of the
material that is in this special order, the additions that we have
supplied, and get a full sense of understanding of what 11 Members of
Congress did over the past 5 days. We will be briefing the
administration and our leadership, the Speaker and the minority leader
and Members of the other body throughout the next several weeks.
Together, supporting our President, we can win, we can replace Osama
bin Laden, we can remove the Taliban and allow the people of
Afghanistan to regain control of their homeland.

____________________