[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 1, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H3573-H3574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INTELLIGENCE GATHERING IN A CONFUSING WORLD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida). Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, Newsweek magazine this week had a cover 
story calling Mr. Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress, the INC, our 
con man in Iraq. Newsweek claims the INC gave the U.S. poor information 
about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs despite millions in funds 
received from the U.S. Government, including the DIA and the Department 
of State. Stories say Chalabi is linked with Iran, and members of the 
INC have been engaged in fraud.
  First of all, we need to understand some basic concepts that people 
who provide intelligence to the U.S. from tyrannies and dictatorships 
often risk their lives. They are what we would call tainted, probably 
unsavory. It is not as if a number of the members of the Governing 
Council in Iraq are not connected to Iran. The Supreme Council for the 
Islamic Revolution in Iraq gets $1.2 million a month from the Iranian 
Revolutionary Guards whose head is Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, and he is on 
the Governing Council. The members of the Dawa Party and the Kurds also 
engage in commerce with Iran and are linked to the Iranian 
Revolutionary Guards.

[[Page H3574]]

  But let us look at the facts that differ from what the press tells us 
and what our friends on the other side of the aisle are saying. This is 
some of the help we have received from the INC. When we are being told 
that aluminum tubing was being procured that violated the sanctions, 
this turned out to be true. We were told that Saddam Hussein had buried 
much of his weapons programs or hidden them in dual-use facilities. 
This information from as early as 1991 and throughout the 1990s turned 
out to be true.
  We were told Saddam Hussein had unmanned drones that could deliver 
bio or chemical weapons, and this turned out to be true. We are told by 
the INC and others that weapons were being shipped to Syria; and Dave 
Kay confirms that he agrees with that assessment, although the exact 
nature and amount of the weapons that were shipped to Syria still have 
to be determined.
  The INC said that al Qaeda and its affiliated terrorist groups were 
being trained and harbored in Iraq, and this has been confirmed. We 
only have to review the terrorists caught recently in Jordan who 
admitted they fled Afghanistan to Iraq before the war to liberate 
Baghdad, and while in Iraq they received training and assistance in the 
use of poisons and bombs from Iraqi intelligence.
  The chairman of the Joint Chiefs said that the INC gave U.S. and 
coalition forces intelligence on a daily basis that saved American 
lives, stopped attacks, and deactivated roadside improvised explosives.
  There are examples in the past that have failed to be covered by our 
friends on the other side of the aisle or by the press; but I think if 
we take just a moment, we can see the difficult nature of providing 
help to other countries and to people in other countries.
  First of all, the U.S. Government provided hundreds of millions of 
dollars to the Taliban during the late 1990s in the hopes they would 
turn over Osama bin Laden. What did we get for our dollars at that 
point, and what did the Clinton administration explain to us?
  The U.S. Government and others provided between $3 billion to $5 
billion to the Aristide government in Haiti, and what did we get for 
our money? Haiti's gross domestic product declined by one-third, and 
crime and murder rates hit levels not seen since the Duvalier family 
ruled the country. Haiti became one of the major transshipment points 
for illicit drugs into this country, and now Aristide has left the 
country after robbing the treasury of every last dime.
  During this great Haitian robbery by Mr. Aristide, a former 
Democratic congressman received a retainer of $50,000 from the Haitian 
Government and Aristide to provide cover for this looting. The Haitian 
Parliament could not even meet during Aristide's rule for fear that he 
would have them killed.
  Mr. Speaker, what is this fight all about? For the past 25 years, 
there has been serious disagreement in the U.S. Government and amongst 
our allies about the nature of Islamic fascism and the terrorist means 
we face. This problem was accentuated when the Oslo Peace Process was 
begun. Particularly during the Clinton administration, it was assumed 
that terrorism directed against the U.S., the Trade Center in 1993, the 
Khobar Towers in 1995, the Kenyan and Tanzanian embassies in 1998, the 
USS Cole in 2000, it was assumed those attacks were the work of a loose 
band of terrorists unconnected to any state sponsor or government. The 
Clinton administration assumed, therefore, that this was a problem of 
law enforcement, a point reiterated by many leading Democrats today.
  The Peace Process was assumed to require the agreement of the Islamic 
regimes in the Middle East: Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Jordan. 
Mr. Speaker, these assumptions were proved incorrect. President Bush 
changed those assumptions into fighting the war against terror. Mr. 
Speaker, we need to have the facts.
  The assumption was that once Israel made an adequate offer to the 
PLO, that the PLO in turn would reign in the terrorist groups attacking 
Israel.
  General Zini, for example, in his latest book makes this very 
assumption that the PLO and Arafat were not responsible for the 
terrorist attacks against Israel in the first and second Intifadas. He 
says that once a peace deal is put on the table by Israel, Arafat will 
take care of the security issue.
  The assumption was that none of these Islamic/Arab governments were 
supporting terrorism against the United States and the terrorism would 
stop once a deal was made between Israel and the PLO.
  The Peace Process featured Secretary of State Christopher making some 
70 visits with President Assad of Syria to negotiate Syria's support 
for the ``Peace Plan''.
  The United States could not on the one hand be negotiating a peace 
deal with Syria and other Arab regimes, while at the same time holding 
them accountable for terrorism aimed at the United States and Israel.
  President Bush fundamentally changed this paradigm.
  In June 2002, the President said the PLO had to have new leadership 
that agreed that Israel had a right to exist as a sovereign country, 
something Arafat has never agreed to; just today, the Egyptian 
government is reportedly asking that Arafat resign and new PLO 
leadership be appointed.
  The President also drew a strong link between states such as Iran and 
Iraq that support al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
  The Wall Street Journal reported last week that new intelligence 
reveals that a Lt. Col. in the Iraqi intelligence service met with the 
pilots of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and 
Pentagon in Kuala Lampur in Malaysia in January 2000 where the 9/11 
plot was begun; additional evidence connects Mohammed Atta, one of the 
key conspirators and pilot of one of the planes on 9/11, met with Iraqi 
intelligence in Prague, the Czech Republic on April 8, 2001.
  If these states are training, financing and providing sanctuary, 
documents and weapons to these terrorist groups, then they have 
declared war on the United States. As National Security Adviser Rice 
has noted, ``they are war with the United States, but we were not at 
war with them.''
  Even as we fight to protect this country, we have bureaucrats 
fighting an internal, Inside the Beltway battle that is distracting 
from the larger and more important effort.

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