[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 159 (Wednesday, November 5, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2233-E2234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           THE KAY REPORT: RECOGNIZING AN EVER-PRESENT THREAT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 5, 2003

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, in recent days, Dr. David Kay, head of the 
Iraq Survey Group, has visited Washington to provide an interim report 
detailing what he has thus far uncovered regarding Iraqi weapons of 
mass destruction. Dr. Kay's initial findings make it clear that Saddam 
Hussein maintained a large, undeclared WMD infrastructure, much of 
which has escaped the attention of UN arms inspectors. So far, Dr. 
Kay's teams have uncovered dozens of WMD-related activity programs, a 
series of clandestine chemical/biological weapons labs, huge amounts of 
laboratory equipment suitable for WMD research and productions, and 
secret UAV production lines tailored for WMD delivery. As a recent 
editorial in the Omaha World-Herald correctly noted, ``the larger 
picture of these findings shows that Saddam Hussein was a threat to his 
neighbors, to his own people (just ask the Kurds) and potentially to 
anyone else on the planet whom he viewed as his enemies.''
  Mr. Speaker, this Member would ask to place into the Record an 
editorial entitled ``An ever-present threat'' from the October 11, 
2003, edition of the Omaha World-Herald. This Member commends these 
insightful remarks to his colleagues.

              [From the Omaha World-Herald, Oct. 11, 2003]

                         An Ever-Present Threat


  with or without wmd, iraq under saddam was violating u.n. sanctions 
                             left and right

       Much attention in recent days has been given--
     appropriately--to the fact that arms inspector David Kay and 
     his Iraq Survey Group thus far have uncovered no weapons of 
     mass destruction in that country. But that finding shouldn't 
     be allowed to obscure the fact that the team found abundant 
     evidence of obfuscation, concealment and destruction of 
     evidence.
       The Kay report (which, it should be remembered, is an 
     interim document) strongly suggests a scenario that 
     transcends the question of present-day existence of the 
     weapons. Perhaps the Saddam Hussein regime didn't have WMD by 
     the time liberation forces fought their way into the country. 
     But there's ample evidence that it was poised and eager to 
     buy or make such weapons, as soon as it felt the 
     international spotlight had turned away.
       Finding WMD, if they existed, was by no means the Kay 
     team's sole mission.
       It was equally tasked with determining whether the Saddam 
     regime was in violation of U.N. limitations imposed after the 
     Persian Gulf War and more particularly in violation of U.N. 
     Resolution 1441, passed last November. (That was Saddam's 
     supposed last chance to comply with inspection demands.)
       Here, the answer is an emphatic ``yes.''
       The report unambiguously shows that Iraq was trying to 
     extend the range of its ballistic missiles beyond limits set 
     by the United Nations; was trying to hide evidence of past 
     and potential weapons programs (burned files, destroyed 
     computer disk drives, meticulously scrubbed lab equipment); 
     had organisms hidden in a scientist's home. And more: Kay's 
     congressional statement about the report may be found on the 
     Internet at www.cia.gov/.

[[Page E2234]]

       In short, Saddam Hussein was preserving his options. And it 
     makes no sense to believe that his intentions were any less 
     malevolent than they had been throughout his sordid history.
       Perhaps inspection teams will not find weapons of mass 
     destruction in Iraq. First, as we have noted before, it's a 
     big and complex place. Second, perhaps there really was 
     nothing there to find. If that's the case, clearly there was 
     an intelligence debacle--so big that President Bush ought to 
     get to the bottom of it and act to forestall a recurrence.
       But even in that case, the larger picture of these findings 
     shows that Saddam Hussein was a threat to his neighbors, to 
     his own people (just ask the Kurds) and potentially to anyone 
     on the planet whom he viewed as his enemies. He was a human 
     time bomb, always poised to start ticking again when he 
     believed the time was right.
       Even if the effort to rebuild and stabilize Iraq is not 
     proceeding as tidily as had been hoped, the United States and 
     its allies removed a clear and terrible danger from the world 
     scene. About that, the world should have no second thoughts.

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