[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 52 (Wednesday, May 1, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3637-S3638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 258--URGING SAUDI ARABIA TO DISSOLVE ITS ``MARTYRS'' 
           FUND AND TO REFUSE TO SUPPORT TERRORISM IN ANY WAY

  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire (for himself and Mr. Nelson of Nebraska) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 258

       Whereas in the days following the September 11, 2001 
     attacks on the United States, the United States Government, 
     its allies, and friends quickly agreed that identifying and 
     severing sources of finance to entities which support and 
     fund terrorist activities is critical to combating terrorism 
     and preventing future terrorist acts against United States 
     citizens and interests;
       Whereas, since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on 
     the United States, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has publicly 
     condemned terrorism in all its shapes and forms;
       Whereas on February 5, 2002, the Embassy of Saudi Arabia 
     released a statement--
       (1) expressing the commitment of the Kingdom of Saudi 
     Arabia to preventing charitable and humanitarian 
     organizations and the funds they raise from ``being used for 
     any other purpose''; and
       (2) confirming ``that it will take every measure possible 
     to prevent the use of these charitable efforts for any 
     unlawful activities, in accordance with international 
     resolutions in this regard'';
       Whereas a press release on the Embassy of Saudi Arabia 
     website states that ``the Saudi Committee for Support of Al-
     Quds (Jerusalem) Intifada has so far distributed about SR 
     123.75 million {U.S. $33 million . Minister of the Interior 
     Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, who is the Committee's Chairman, 
     expressed his appreciation to the Saudi people for their 
     response in supporting their Palestinian brothers in Israel's 
     blatant aggression against them. Financial aid has been 
     disbursed to the families . . . of 358 martyrs, as well as 
     8,000 wounded, 1,000 handicapped, and another 102 
     Palestinians who have received treatment in the Kingdom's 
     hospital.'';
       Whereas an August 20, 2001, press release on the Embassy of 
     Saudi Arabia website states that the Saudi Government, in 
     2000, in support of the Al-Intifada (uprising), ``. . . 
     offered financial support to one thousand families of 
     Palestinian martyrs and those who suffered injuries in the 
     cause'';
       Whereas an April 9, 2002 UPI.COM article states that 
     ``Saudi Arabia makes no distinction in compensation to 
     families of suicide bombers and those killed by Israeli 
     military action''; and
       Whereas martyrs' funds, or any other source of funding, 
     explicitly designed to fund acts of violence, or to 
     compensate the family members of those individuals who engage 
     in violent activities, are recognized as acts to entice and 
     recruit individuals to undertake suicide bombings and other 
     terrorist acts, and reinforces such violence as a legitimate 
     method to air and to forward political grievances and 
     nationalistic goals: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 
     Kingdom of Saudi Arabia should--
       (1) immediately dissolve its ``martyrs'' fund;
       (2) fulfill its stated commitment to combating violence and 
     terrorism; and
       (3) eliminate the funding of terrorism in every way 
     possible.

  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Madam President, the legislation I am 
introducing today addresses an important and serious subject in the 
ongoing war on terrorism. The attention of the world has been focused 
on the conflict in the Middle East between Israelis and Palestinians, 
and on the devastation wrought by suicide bombers. We are not focusing 
enough attention, however, on external factors which have significantly 
contributed to the escalated violence in the Middle East, and on how we 
can use our vast economic and diplomatic powers to effect changes, to 
end subsidies to terrorists, and to bring about peace in the Middle 
East.
  A good first step would be to cut off U.S. indirect aid to Yassir 
Arafat and the Palestinian Authority as a sign of our displeasure with 
their jihad, and with their wanton destruction on innocent Israeli 
civilians. Our aid legitimizes their terrorist activity and has not 
contributed to a lessening of the violence, but rather, the opposite. 
It sends very conflicted signals when we are fighting a global war on 
terrorism in the wake of 9/11, yet subsidizing Arafat, a known 
terrorist.
  We must also cut off aid because our limited taxdollars for foreign 
aid should only be directed towards the desperately needy. Arafat is 
known to have stashed away billions of dollars he earns from taxing 
Palestinians working in other Arab countries, and none of that vast 
personal wealth is being used to benefit his Palestinian constituency. 
I believe Arafat prefers that they live in deplorable conditions 
because misery contributes to strife, if Palestinians are deprived and 
impoverished, it is easier to entice then to throw stones, or to 
sacrifice themselves by becoming human bombs.

[[Page S3638]]

  Another important step we could take, which is the subject of my bill 
today, is to ask our allies in the Middle East to take meaningful 
measures to show that they are in solidarity with us in the war against 
terrorism.
  Specifically, I am asking the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to dissolve its 
martyrs fund. As President Bush said, after the terrorist attacks of 
last September 11, ``either you are with us, or you are with the 
terrorists.'' Saudi Arabia needs to demonstrate that it is with us.
  Just a little over a decade ago, we deployed thousands of U.S. 
soldiers in the Gulf, to liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein's army, 
and to prevent Saddam Hussein from next invading the Saudi Kingdom, or 
any of our other allies in the region. The conflict was not protracted, 
but it was costly, and we lost nearly three hundred American soldiers 
in that war. We stood side by side with the Saudis in our determination 
to stop Iraqi aggression, to preserve the independence of Kuwait, and 
to protect ours and our allies' critical energy interests. Today, our 
aircraft transit the No Fly Zone from bases in Saudi Arabia, again in 
the mutual interest of keeping the Iraqi military in check and in 
preserving sovereign governments in the region.

  Newspaper reports claim that the Saudi ``martyrs'' fund is $50 
million, other news sources claim it may be as high as $400 million. 
Writer Stephen Schwartz, April 8 Weekly Standard, asserts that the $400 
million pledge last year for support of ``martyrs'' families was posted 
on the Saudi Embassy website. Schwartz figures that at $5300 per 
``martyr,'' that works out to roughly 75,000 martyrs. The stated 
purpose of the fund is said to be for helping the widows and orphans of 
the martyrs, the martyrs whom we define as fanatical suicide bombers 
who have been wreaking havoc on Israeli citizens. This may sound 
innocent and humanitarian on the surface based on the Saudi concept of 
a martyr, but it is deceptive. In the April 1st issue of the Weekly 
Standard, an article by AEI fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht, a consistently 
excellent analyst, reports that: ``In near perfect harmony, the Arab 
world's rulers blamed Israel for the Palestinian suicide bombers, who 
are universally referred to in the Arab press as `shuhada', martyrs who 
die in battle against infidels.''
  The reality is that this fund for ``shuhadas'' will entice and 
solicit more suicide bombers, giving them the assurance that their 
families will be provided for in their absence. Would we set up a fund 
to reward the families of domestic terrorists in this country who 
commit unlawful acts? Of course not! Yet the Saudis are pooling 
resources to reward, and indeed, to instigate these killings. There is 
a well-known expression in conservative circles, if you want more of 
something, subsidize it. Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that the 
martyrs' fund won't lead to the creation of more martyrs, and to the 
deaths of many more innocent civilians, not just in Israel, but in this 
country? Does the martyrs' fund exclude perpetrators of acts by these 
fanatics against Americans, or French or British, or is it only 
reserved for those who kill Israelis? These funds are seed money for 
terrorism, and it will reap a harvest of destruction, aimed at both 
Israel and at the United States.
  An Associated Press story from Cairo, Egypt, mentions that the Saudi 
Ambassador to Britain, a renowned poet, praised Palestinian suicide 
bombers in a London-based pan-Arab daily publication: May God be the 
witness that you are martyrs, You died to honor God's word. You 
committed suicide? We committed suicide by living like the dead.'' The 
Saudi Ambassador to London, apparently referring to Arab leaders who 
looked to the United States for help in ending the conflict, said, ``We 
complained to the idols of a White House whose heart is filled with 
darkness.'' This Saudi Ambassador and poet refers to the 18 year old 
female suicide bomber, Ayat Akhras, who detonated explosives she had 
fastened to her body at a Jerusalem supermarket, killing 2 Israelis and 
wounding another 25, ``Tell Ayat, the bride of loftiness . . . She 
embraced death with a smile while the leaders are running away from 
death. Doors of heaven are opened for her,'' he writes. In addition, 
the Saudis have been running a telethon to raise additional funds, but 
the Saudi Embassy in Washington is stating that the money will only be 
used for Palestinians ``victimized by Israeli terror and violence.''

  The Saudis must also share in the blame for the catastrophic events 
of September 11th. Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudis. Bin 
Laden himself was a Saudi national, and contrary to the belief of some 
that violence is born of poverty or despair, bin Laden's family is 
notoriously wealthy. The Saudis eventually made bin Laden persona non 
grata, but they must acknowledge that these hijackers sprang from their 
society. The Saudis have been funding radical schools which are the 
breeding grounds for the fanaticism of bin Laden and his ilk, and for 
anti-American, and anti-Iraeli foment. In the international press, 
Saudi leaders were claiming that we had no proof that any of the 
hijackers were Saudi nationals!
  The Saudi Crown Prince recently presented a peace plan for the Middle 
East. Some suggested that it was a public relations diversion, intended 
to distract attention from the Saudi Government's responsibility for 
the events of 9/11. I would like to believe that that is not true--and 
that the Saudis also hope that Israelis and Palestinians can learn to 
live in peace, but the Saudi Government would have more credibility if, 
in conjunction with devising and offering a peace plan, it would also 
reconsider its generous funding of radical religious schools and 
charities, and would dissolve immediately its martyrs' fund. Those acts 
would do far more to assure Americans that the Saudis are truly on our 
side in the war on terrorism, and promoting ways to reduce violence, 
rather than straddling the fence and talking out of both sides of their 
mouth.
  We need solid allies in the war on terrorism. We do not need friends 
who say one thing and do another. We need deeds, not words. I urge the 
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to demonstrate its stated public commitment to 
fighting terrorism, and to stop subsidizing terrorists and would-be 
terrorists through its martyrs' fund. This is not an act of 
humanitarianism on the part of the Saudis, and it is not charity; it is 
aiding and abetting terror and should be recognized as such.

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