[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 11, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H364-H365]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               DEALING WITH THREATS TO NATIONAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, these are serious times. The Nation is on 
Orange Alert. All Americans are urged to buy duct tape, plastic 
sheeting and other things to create safe havens in their home. That is 
because of the threat of al Qaeda and terrorist networks. The head of 
al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden--remember him, wanted dead or alive?--the 
President has not mentioned his name in about 12 months, because he is 
still very much alive and leading and reorganizing and reenergizing his 
network, which is the greatest threat to the physical security of the 
United States.
  He did a 1-hour broadcast, or rant, against the United States, which 
was broadcast on al-Jazeera today. He is still alive and well, probably 
under the protection of the security services in a part of Pakistan 
where both the Taliban and al Qaeda have free rein and are organizing 
further attacks against Afghanistan, which is not yet stabilized, and 
against the United States and its allies around the world and probably 
against the Government of Pakistan. Should they be able to take over 
Pakistan, they would instantly possess nuclear weapons. It sounds like 
a problem.
  But we have others. We have Kim Jong Il, a psychopathic dictator 
running North Korea, who has threatened to launch a preemptive nuclear 
strike against the United States of America, and he has nuclear weapons 
and he has intermediate-range missiles. He can hit Japan and other 
countries; he has not yet the capability of hitting the United States. 
But he also gets 25 percent of his income for his country by selling 
weapons of mass destruction and sophisticated technology to terrorists. 
He seems like a pretty big threat.
  So what is the response of the Bush administration? Attack Saddam 
Hussein, who does not possess nuclear weapons. He has a few hidden, 
short-range missiles that do not work very well. Yes, he is probably 
hiding some anthrax or some chemical weapons. He hid them before. We 
sent in the inspectors and we persisted over 4\1/2\ years and, guess 
what, we found them and we destroyed them, without the destabilization 
of that entire region after the first war in the Gulf.
  We could do that again. We could have enhanced inspections. We could 
move forward and begin to deal with these other threats, these very 
real threats.
  The administration keeps telling us blithely, just sort of in offhand 
comments, Don't worry, we can multitask. We can take care of Kim Jong 
Il and his nuclear weapons through diplomacy somehow. But not the 
Middle East. And, yeah, we'll get around to Osama bin Laden, dead or 
alive, later. Yeah, it's serious, he's in Pakistan, he's making 
broadcasts, he's organizing and they are the greatest threat to the 
United States of America and its citizens, but we don't have time for 
them right now because we want to go after this little tin pot dictator 
who's terrorizing his own people and is surrounded in a box in his 
country in the Middle East with inspectors on the ground and about to 
have planes flying overhead. Plus the U.S., of course, controls a 
significant amount of his airspace now. But the response of the 
administration is, ``That's our highest priority.''
  I fear that this administration has misplaced priorities that are not 
going to provide the protection that our

[[Page H365]]

country warrants, and I know that their priorities are totally 
misplaced in terms of the economy. I just met yesterday with a group of 
dislocated workers in my district who are getting retrained, trying 
desperately to find work. We have the highest unemployment rate in the 
Nation, yet the economists and other pundits tell us, Well, the clouds 
of war, the high oil prices and all that, you can't expect the economy 
to recover right now.
  How about if we chose a different path and revitalized our economy 
and invested there and put people back to work, that is the greatest 
threat to the security of the people in my district, and then dealt 
with the real threats to our security, like Osama bin Laden, dead or 
alive? It is about time the President delivered on that promise. It has 
been almost 2 years.
  And how about Kim Jong Il and his nuclear weapons?
  Let us get to the real threats. Let us deal reasonably with the 
problems in the Middle East, but let us not exaggerate them and say 
that he is the greatest threat because our intelligence services and 
all the foreign intelligence services tell us that is just not true. We 
have got him contained, we have got him where we want him and we can 
take the time to find and disarm his weapons.

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