[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 58 (Thursday, April 10, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5158-S5159]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now 
be a period of morning business with Senators allowed to speak during 
that period for up to 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Louisiana.


                             POST-WAR IRAQ

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I would like to take just a few minutes 
to speak about the unfolding victory in Iraq and to speak about a 
specific point that I am going to be spending some time working on 
throughout the course of the next couple of days and as we spend some 
time, in a recess, traveling back to our States and visiting other 
places in the world that have been supportive in terms of our alliance 
in Iraq.
  I want to say, just before we break tonight, that the people of 
Louisiana have watched, with relief and exuberance and pride, the 
exploits and the work of our troops in Iraq. We have been proud of each 
and every soldier and the work they are performing under very difficult 
circumstances, but they are performing beautifully, exceptionally, as 
expected. We are very proud of their work, the Active Forces as well as 
the Reserve Forces.
  We know we have done many things right in Iraq. We know there are 
some weaknesses we will address. The military is always the first to 
say--which is why I enjoy working so closely with them--this is what we 
did right and we are proud of it and we are going to do it better. But 
we don't mind admitting there are some things we could do better next 
time. And lessons learned is something that our military goes through 
after each and every exercise, which is why they are so good, and why 
we get better and better and better. I am very proud of that kind of 
approach.
  So as we watch this victory unfold in Iraq, with every toppling of 
every statue, with the destruction of every image of Saddam Hussein, we 
can begin to build a new image, a new vision for the people of Iraq, 
one they so richly deserve and have waited decades and decades to 
arrive. And it is our pride and our great joy that America and Britain 
and our allies are helping to bring about this vision, as we speak 
tonight on the floor of the Senate.

  We have been involved today in many other important issues, but, of 
course, there is no issue more important to this Senate or to this 
Congress or to this country right now, or to the world, than what is 
unfolding in Iraq as we speak.
  I want to just make a note about one specific aspect of the 
postbattle plan for Iraq. I am going to be working closely with many 
committees in the Senate to help to fashion that plan, which, of 
course, will be broad and comprehensive. Hopefully, we will have 
bipartisan support.
  The President will submit many of his own ideas. The international 
community will contribute. I, for one, have felt very strongly that our 
military should continue to lead that effort. While they are soldiers 
first, and soldiers always, they have tremendous skills and abilities 
when it comes to postconflict periods, when the battle is actually over 
and the bullets stop flying and the construction and reconstruction 
begins. Not that our military would want to be engaged over a long 
period of time, but there are, most certainly, skills that our military 
can bring to establishing the, at least, early stages of that civil 
affairs network and framework.
  So I am pleased to see the House and the Senate moving back to the 
administration's original position, which was to allow our military to 
lead that effort and the Pentagon, as opposed to the State Department; 
most certainly for the U.S. to continue that leadership position as 
opposed to the U.N. The U.N. should be a partner, the international 
community should be a partner, but the U.S. should lead that effort.
  I think that is the way we are moving, and I most certainly support 
that. And I could venture to say, without seeing any polls, I know the 
people of Louisiana would want that kind of arrangement to be made.
  In one part of the post battle plan for Iraq, the reconstruction 
plan, I am hoping that we would strongly consider--and I will be filing 
a resolution in just a few days, as soon as we can get some of the 
details worked out, and, hopefully, file it in a bipartisan way--a 
resolution that would suggest that we help the people of Iraq establish 
a permanent trust fund for their long-term economic development, a 
trust fund based on the revenues received from the production of oil 
and gas.
  The reason I want to spend just a few minutes speaking about this 
idea is there have been several articles written. We have done, in our 
office, some research on this subject. And I have had a great deal of 
experience with the people of Louisiana with this concept. And we are 
not the only State that has created trust funds from the oil and gas 
reserves.
  Just like Iraq, although we are not a nation, Louisiana produces a 
tremendous amount of oil and gas and has some of the richest reserves 
in the United States.
  Texas is also a State that has tremendous resources and established, 
years ago, a permanent trust fund. The proceeds of that fund are 
directed to the support and maintenance and the strengthening of their 
two major universities in Texas. And the billions of dollars that have 
flowed into this trust fund have provided educational opportunities and 
research opportunities that have led to jobs creation and economic 
strength in the State of Texas.
  The State of Alaska probably has the largest of such a trust fund, 
called the Permanent Alaska Trust Fund. Not only have those resources 
been used to help Alaska strengthen its economy, but there are also, 
literally, rebates that go from that fund to each individual citizen of 
Alaska. There are only 500,000 people, but the fund has worked in many 
wonderful ways.

  I will suggest through this resolution that we in the Congress lay 
out an idea to create such a trust fund for the people of Iraq, run by 
the people of Iraq, to make sure of that diminishing resource, although 
they supply now 6 percent of the world's oil, and while I am convinced 
that our technology working with them will find more oil, and 
potentially gas reserves, that is a diminishing resource, just as in 
Louisiana

[[Page S5159]]

and Texas and Alaska. And beginning a plan now for that money to be 
used in appropriate ways for education, for health care, for economic 
development, for improving the infrastructure in Iraq and setting up in 
a way that protects those moneys so they can be used for the people of 
Iraq would serve as a great foundation or at least a significant part 
of a plan for reconstruction for Iraq.
  In conclusion, the people are talented and industrious, the 
infrastructure is there to be built on. With a few good and solid ideas 
like carving out a trust fund with specific funding from their oil and 
gas reserves, the people of Iraq can enjoy those reserves and benefit 
from them, not just in the next year but in many years to come.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________