[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 11, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H1695-H1696]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ALLIED SUPPORT FOR WAR AGAINST IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I am confused today. I have 
been in Congress 17 years and I have been a strong supporter of our 
relations with our European friends, with parliamentarians from Russia, 
Ukraine, China, and every other major nation in the world. I have 
traveled to France and Germany several times, and have hosted scores of 
members of parliaments.
  But what I saw occur last week and what I am hearing coming out of 
the President's mouth disturbs and confuses me. President Chirac of 
France and his counterpart, Chancellor Schroeder of Germany, have said 
that they will not support the U.S. effort to remove Saddam Hussein 
from Iraq. They have further said there is no justification for war 
unless it is approved by the U.N. Security Council.

                              {time}  1300

  But I look at each country and I wonder what they are referring to, 
because it was France just 4 years ago when they wanted the U.S. to 
come in and assist them militarily in removing Milosevic from power in 
Belgrade. It was France who came to the U.S. and convinced our 
President to put our sons and daughters in harm's way. But in doing so, 
along with the French, in pushing America to fight this military 
battle, they would not go to the U.N. Security Council because they 
knew that Russia would veto any resolution.
  So what did France and Germany do? Just a few short years ago, for 
the first time and only time in NATO's history, along with our 
President, at that time Bill Clinton, they used a NATO military force 
to invade a non-NATO sovereign nation to remove the head of state, and 
that head of state was Slobodan Milosevic. Now, Milosevic was a bad 
guy, a war criminal, he has done bad things, but everyone, including 
the special rapporteur for human rights at the U.N., Max van der Stoel, 
including Bill Clinton's own Ambassador to the U.N., Ambassador 
Holbrooke, have all said publicly that, in fact, Saddam Hussein is far 
worse than Milosevic ever was. In fact, a U.N. special rapporteur said 
there has been no leader since Adolf Hitler who has done the kinds of 
human rights abuses that Saddam Hussein has done.
  How, then, can France and Germany when just a few short years ago for 
their own benefit, because a neighbor was threatening in their case, 
they felt, their security, enticed the U.S. to come in and use our 
troops to remove Milosevic from power militarily and today say, in a 
situation far, far worse in Saddam Hussein, that force is not 
justified?
  I am also reminded of just a year ago, President Jacques Chirac, 
saying it again, the U.N. Security Council is the final group that 
should decide the change of regimes, sent French troops to the Ivory 
Coast because of a coup attempt, sent French troops there, without 
going to the U.N. Security Council, without asking for a vote, without 
employing the very tactics that he is standing up now and demanding 
around the world.
  Mr. Speaker, I am troubled. The French and Germans have been our 
longtime friends, and hopefully they will be once this is over; but the 
words coming out of the mouths of Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroder 
and their foreign ministers leave me confused and bewildered. I really 
wonder what France stands for. I really wonder what Germany stands for. 
Are they really against human rights abuses as defined by Amnesty 
International and every other major human rights group? Are they really 
convinced that people who are bad actors like Milosevic should be 
removed from office, as we did with their pushing and support just a 
few years ago militarily? And if so, why the change with Saddam 
Hussein? I hope it is not because of the ties to oil that France has 
with Iraq. I would hope that is not the case with the French. But, Mr. 
Speaker, I do not know what the proper response is.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record two letters which were sent by 
me to President Jacques Chirac last Friday and Chancellor Gerhard 
Schroder, also last Friday, which basically lay out the facts and then 
asks the question of the French and Germans, Do you have a double 
standard? Is it okay to entice America to come in and fight a battle in 
front of you in your backyard to remove a leader that you have said 
publicly is a human rights abuser, even though you do not want to go to 
the U.N. and did not go to the U.N. to achieve the U.N.'s support? Is 
it okay to do that and then a few years later, after 12 years of seeing 
Saddam Hussein kill tens of thousands of innocent people, use chemical 
weapons against the Kurds, commit war crimes against our own American 
POWs, 21 of them, in fact, and, in fact, commit the most horrendous 
crimes against the Kuwaitis and all the other minority groups inside 
Iraq, and then to come forward and say, ``Well, in this case it's 
different''?

                                     House of Representatives,

                                     Washington, DC, March 7, 2003
     President Jacques Chirac,
     Republic of France, c/o Embassy of France, Washington, DC.
       Dear President Chirac: As a long time friend of the French 
     people and a steadfast facilitator of inter-parliamentary 
     cooperation between our nations, I am compelled to contact 
     you to express my disappointment with your government's 
     actions. Throughout my tenure in Congress, I have hosted 
     dozens of French parliamentarians, traveled to your country 
     to speak to government officials and industry leaders, and 
     endeavored to strengthen the relations between our great 
     nations. However, I was outraged today by your Foreign 
     Minister's statements before the United Nations opposing the 
     use of force to uphold the United Nations Charter and the 
     sixteen multilateral resolutions written after the Gulf War 
     cease-fire in 1991. Your government's words and actions have 
     done serious, if not permanent, damage to the once unshakable 
     foundations of the great transatlantic alliance that has 
     served our mutual interests for so long.
       Your continued opposition to the use of force to disarm 
     Iraq without the full support of the United Nations is 
     steeped in hypocrisy of such epic proportions, that your 
     sudden reverence for the inviolability of the United Nations 
     is laughable. When the dictator Milosevic threatened western 
     Europe's back door, France was entirely content to bypass the 
     United Nations Security Council and take military action. 
     History will forever judge your use of NATO--championing the 
     organization's first offensive action against a non-menber--
     without any attempt to employ the global diplomacy of the 
     United Nations. The actions of your Foreign Minister opposing 
     the dedication of the United States stands in stark 
     contradiction to the practices and motivations of your 
     government in Yugoslavia. During negotiations within the 
     Security Council amidst the NATO engagement, Alain Dejammet 
     justified France's actions through the enforcement of three 
     resolutions under Chapter VII on Kosovo and Yugoslavia's 
     refusal to fulfill its obligations under those agreements. 
     Your opposition and veto threat sends a disturbing message to 
     future generations that international interference is no 
     longer desired to end genocide, obstruct terrorism or aid a 
     suffering people under a demonic regime. Even more 
     disturbing, is that the efforts to remove the cancer of 
     Slobodon Milosevic could not have been accomplished without 
     the vast majority of coalition troops, air strikes and 
     logistical support provided by the United States. In fact, 
     France went to great lengths to have America commit our sons 
     and daughters for this moral purpose, and we dutifully 
     obliged.
       I am quite sure that the foreign ministers of France and 
     Germany slept soundly while the bombs fell on Kosovo without 
     United Nations approval. However, the historically peaceful 
     people of France are now roused to defend the sacred honor of 
     the Security Council, the very same Security Council whose 
     honor they flouted just five years ago. Convenience, not 
     principle, seems to be France's guiding compass. Your 
     constant opposition to America's effort to remove a regime 
     that has continually violated several, if not all of the 
     human rights provisions within the United Nations charter and 
     presents an increasing threat to democracies all over the 
     world is nothing short of appalling. The dictatorship in Iraq 
     far surpasses the practice of

[[Page H1696]]

     murder and oppression that ever existed in Yugoslavia. 
     Nevertheless, your country insists on turning a blind eye to 
     the atrocities and breeding ground for terrorism that fail to 
     occur near the borders of old Europe.
       France's continued indifference to the plight of the Iraqi 
     people, its neighbors and those who fall subject to Saddam 
     Hussein's evil rule defies explanation. The atrocities 
     perpetrated under Hussein's regime are well documented by 
     organizations such as Human Rights Watch, the International 
     Federation for Human Rights, Amnesty International, the 
     Coalition for International Justice and even the United 
     Nations. In fact, the former United Nations Special 
     Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iraq, Max Van der Stoel, 
     stated that ``the brutality of the Iraqi regime was of an 
     exceptionally grave character, so grave that it has few 
     parallels in the years that have passed sine the Second World 
     War. . . . It is to comparisons with the obscenity of the 
     Holocaust and Stalin's mass murders that observers are 
     inevitably drawn when confronted with the horrors of Saddam's 
     Iraq. . . This is a state that employs arbitrary execution, 
     imprisonment and torture on a comprehensive and routine 
     basis.''
       The vile methods of torture inflicted upon Coalition 
     prisoners of the Gulf War, Kuwaitis, Kurds, Sh'iit muslims, 
     Iranians, Turkomans, and anyone else who dares to live a life 
     contrary to the wishes of Saddam Hussein are well documented. 
     Primitive executions, dismemberment, castration, hangings by 
     barbed wire, the raping of women in front of family members 
     and children, burning flesh with acid, finger and toenail 
     extraction, boring holes into bodies with drills and the 
     ignition of gasoline pumped into various orifices of the 
     human body are routine measures employed by Hussein and his 
     henchmen.
       Yet France continues to make every effort to block 
     Hussein's removal and protect a despot whose country has the 
     highest number of disappearances and displaced persons in the 
     World. You callously refuse to acknowledge the documented 
     destruction of life and repeated offensive military actions 
     against surrounding countries since the 1970's. Your actions 
     condone the blatant disregard of United Nations resolutions 
     since 1991, and repeatedly make it clear that international 
     law should not be honored. The statements made today and your 
     acquiescence may forever undermine the peaceful objectives 
     that are the foundation of international law and serve to 
     entice future evils.
       America will not follow France's lead and remain content to 
     concern ourselves solely with problems that border our 
     country. We will not allow economic investments and resource 
     dependency to impede our future judgments to alleviate the 
     suffering of others. The American people and my colleagues in 
     Congress will not soon forget the rank hypocrisy and blatant 
     disloyalty displayed by your country today, and I am 
     confident that the free people of the world will also refuse 
     to follow your misguided lead.
           Sincerely,
                                                      Curt Weldon,
     Member of Congress.
                                  ____



                                     House of Representatives,

                                    Washington, DC, March 7, 2003.
     Chancellor Gerhard Schroder,
     Federal Republic of Germany, c/o Embassy of Germany, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Chancellor Schroder: As a long time friend of the 
     German people and a steadfast facilitator of inter-
     parliamentary cooperation between our nations, I am compelled 
     to contact you. Throughout my tenure in Congress, I have 
     hosted dozens of Bundestag members, served on the German 
     Caucus and U.S. Congress-German Bundestag Study Group, and 
     endeavored to strengthen the relations between our great 
     Nations. However, I was outraged today by your Foreign 
     Minister's statements before the United Nations opposing the 
     use of force to uphold the United Nations Charter and the 
     sixteen multilateral resolutions written after the Gulf War 
     cease-fire in 1991. Your government's words and actions have 
     done serious, if not permanent, damage to the once unshakable 
     foundations of the great transatlantic alliance that has 
     served our mutual interests for so long.
       Your continued opposition to the use of force to disarm 
     Iraq without the full support of the United Nations is 
     steeped in hypocrisy of such epic proportions, that your 
     sudden reverence for the inviolability of the United Nations 
     is laughable. When the dictator Milosevic threatened western 
     Europe's back door, Germany was entirely content to bypass 
     the United Nations Security Council and take military action. 
     History will forever judge your use of NATO--championing the 
     organization's first offensive action against a non-member--
     without any attempt to employ the global diplomacy of the 
     United Nations. The actions of your Foreign Minister opposing 
     the dedication of the United States stands in stark 
     contradiction to the practices and motivations of your 
     government in Yugoslavia. In fact, Minister Joschka Fischer 
     himself characterized the Serbian actions as a ``declaration 
     of war against the policy of European integration. It is not 
     only a question of morality or of human rights, it is a 
     question of security and stability in Europe.'' Your 
     opposition sends a disturbing message to future generations 
     that international interference is no longer desired to end 
     genocide, obstruct terrorism or aid a suffering people under 
     a demonic regime. Even more disturbing, is that the efforts 
     to remove the cancer of Slobodon Milosevic could not have 
     been accomplished without the vast majority of coalition 
     troops, air strikes and logistical support dedicated to your 
     effort by the United States. In fact, Germany went to great 
     lengths to have America commit our sons and daughters for 
     this moral purpose, and we dutifully obliged.
       I am quite sure that the Foreign Ministers of France and 
     Germany slept soundly while the bombs fell on Kosovo without 
     United Nations approval. Now, the people of Germany are 
     roused to defend the sacred honor of the Security Council, 
     the very same Security Council whose honor they flouted just 
     five years ago. Convenience, not principle, seems to be 
     Germany's guiding compass. Your constant opposition to 
     America's efforts to remove a regime that has continually 
     violated several, if not all of the human rights provisions 
     within the United Nations charter and presents an increasing 
     threat to democracies all over the world is nothing short of 
     appalling. The dictatorship in Iraq far surpasses the 
     practice of murder and oppression that ever existed in 
     Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, your country insists on turning a 
     blind eye to the atrocities and breeding ground for terrorism 
     that fail to occur near the borders of old Europe.
       Germany's continued indifference to the plight of the Iraqi 
     people, its neighbors and those who fall subject to Saddam 
     Hussein's evil rule defies explanation. The atrocities 
     perpetrated under Hussein's regime are well documented by 
     organizations such as Human Rights Watch, the International 
     Federation for Human Rights, Amnesty International, the 
     Coalition for International Justice and even the United 
     Nations. In fact, the former United Nations Special 
     Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iraq, Max Van der Stoel, 
     stated that ``the brutality of the Iraqi regime was of an 
     exceptionally grave character, so grave that it has few 
     parallels in the years that have passed since the Second 
     World War. . . . It is to comparisons with the obscenity of 
     the Holocaust and Stalin's mass murders that observers are 
     inevitably drawn when confronted with the horrors of Saddam's 
     Iraq. . . . This is a state that employs arbitrary execution, 
     imprisonment and torture on a comprehensive and routine 
     basis.''
       The vile methods of torture inflicted upon Coalition 
     prisoners of the Gulf War, Kuwaitis, Kurds, Sh'iit muslims, 
     Iranians, Turkomans, and anyone else who dares to live a life 
     contrary to the wishes of Saddam Hussein are well documented. 
     Primitive executions, dismemberment, castration, hangings by 
     barbed wire, the raping of women in front of family members 
     and children, burning flesh with acid, finger and toenail 
     extraction, boring holes into bodies with drills and the 
     ignition of gasoline pumped into various orifices of the 
     human body are routine measures employed by Hussein and his 
     henchmen.
       Yet your country continues to make every effort to block 
     Hussein's removal and protect a despot whose country has the 
     highest number of disappearances and displaced persons in the 
     World. You callously refuse to acknowledge the documented 
     destruction of life and repeated offensive military actions 
     against surrounding countries since the 1970's. Your actions 
     condone the blatant disregard of United Nations resolutions 
     since 1991, and repeatedly make it clear that international 
     law should not be honored. The statements made today and your 
     acquiescence may forever undermine the peaceful objectives 
     that are the foundation of international law and serve to 
     entice future evils.
       America will not follow Germany's lead and remain content 
     to concern ourselves solely with problems that border our 
     country. We will not allow economic investments and resource 
     dependency to impede our future judgments to alleviate the 
     suffering of others. The American people and my colleagues in 
     Congress will not soon forget the rank hypocrisy and blatant 
     disloyalty displayed by your country today, and I am 
     confident that the free people of the world will also refuse 
     to follow your misguided lead.
           Sincerely,
                                                      Curt Weldon,
     Member of Congress.

                          ____________________