[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 163 (Thursday, November 29, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H8571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

  (Mr. ISSA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I come to the House floor today to make the 
body aware of what I think is a reprehensible act by the nation of Iran 
in using its state-run newspaper, the Tehran Times, to falsely state 
what a delegation of Members of Congress accomplished while in the 
Middle East. In a delegation that I was proud to lead, we went to the 
Middle East, to Syria, to Lebanon, to Egypt, to Israel and into the 
Palestine-occupied territories. On that trip, we had occasion to make 
an address in Lebanon. That address was covered by the Tehran Times and 
by the Associated Press, Reuters and others.
  The Tehran Times chose to say that we had said that the Hezbollah was 
not a terrorist organization, when nothing could be further from the 
truth. It has a long history of terrorism, including its leaders having 
murdered American Marines in 1982, having blown up our embassy, and 
those leaders are still sought.
  To make the record straight, the Associated Press, and I quote, said: 
``The delegation's leader Darrell Issa, Republican of California, told 
reporters that for the United States to remove Hezbollah from its list 
of terrorist organizations, the Lebanese-based group must renounce 
terrorism.''
  Another title: ``Hezbollah Must Renounce Terrorism, says a U.S. 
Congressman.'' That was from a French newspaper.
  And from Reuters: ``U.S. Congressmen Ask Lebanon to Rein in 
Hezbollah.''
  I hope this has set the record straight.

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