[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 140 (Wednesday, October 17, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H6922-H6923]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           NUCLEAR TERRORISM

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, Osama bin Laden's thirst for destruction is 
only limited by the tools he has at hand. Last month, his henchmen 
destroyed the World Trade Center and took almost 6,000 innocent lives. 
Many of us said at that time that if he had chemical, biological, or 
nuclear weapons, he would use them.
  Well, now we have confirmation. Russia's Interfax news agency is 
reporting that al-Qaeda has repeated attempts to buy nuclear material 
through the Russian Mafia. There is a lot of surplus weapons-grade 
nuclear material left in Russia left over from the Cold War and some of 
it has ended up on the black market. Bin Laden established contacts 
with representatives of Russian organized crime gangs in Germany, 
Belarus, and Russia. As far as we know, bin Laden has been unsuccessful 
in his

[[Page H6923]]

 attempts to purchase or build a nuclear weapon.

                              {time}  1015

  But how about all the other terrorist groups? How about Iraq or some 
other rogue regime?
  Mr. Speaker, this revelation makes removing terrorism from the world 
even more important today than it was yesterday. The terrorists are 
insane men who must be stopped. Make no mistake, we will do it.

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