[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 83 (Wednesday, June 16, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6830-S6831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IRAQ AND THE UNITED NATIONS

  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, last week the G8 summit was held in my 
State of Georgia, and I had the honor of serving as one of the hosts, 
along with our Governor, the senior Senator from Georgia, Congressman 
Kingston, and Congressman Burns in greeting the other seven members of 
the G8. Together with President George W. Bush, we received the heads 
of state and government from Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, 
Japan, and Russia, along with a number of other leaders of countries 
from the Middle East who were specially invited to the G8 summit, 
including the new President of Iraq, Ghazi al-Yawer.
  I liked what I saw in the new President of Iraq. When I shook his 
hand, I shook the hand of a true Iraqi patriot who is determined to see 
his country become secure, stable, prosperous, and free. He insists on 
full sovereignty for the Iraqi people, and he is already an eloquent 
and tough defender of their interests.
  This is why he has publicly stated, not once or twice but at almost 
every opportunity he gets, that the Iraqi people are grateful for 
America's sacrifice in freeing them from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein.
  He also made it absolutely clear that his new government will 
continue to need the help of America and other coalition forces as it 
regains its strength and fends off efforts by terrorists, thugs, and 
foreign enemies to strangle Iraq's democracy in its cradle.
  President al-Yawer has a vision for Iraq, a nation with a history 
stretching back beyond the storied walls of Babylon to the mists of 
prehistory. He sees his nation gaining a position of leadership in the 
Middle East and forming an example of democracy, peace, progress, and 
prosperity for the entire region.
  He made it clear to me that Iraq very much sees the United States, 
the United Kingdom, and the other nations in the coalition as partners 
and friends that took risks to free his nation from the tyranny of 
Saddam Hussein and are now working together to help rebuild Iraq.
  President al-Yawer is a strong pragmatic leader who wants to put his 
government on a sound fiscal footing. When it was proposed to destroy 
the Abu Ghraib prison--and I was one, frankly, who advocated that 
following the prisoner scandal--and to replace it, he made a poignant 
observation about the symbols of Saddam's barbaric treatment of his own 
people.
  He told ABC's ``This Week'' that Saddam tortured people not just in 
prisons but in the basements of each and every government building, and 
it would not be prudent to destroy all government entities because of 
what happened in them. President al-Yawer said:

       We are people that need every single dollar we have in 
     order to rebuild our country, instead of demolishing and 
     rebuilding.

  This shows a practical approach to governance which is a very welcome 
change to the grandiosity and extravagance which, along with cruelty 
and aggression, marked the reign of Saddam Hussein.
  I know there is not one Senator in this Chamber who would begrudge 
Iraq, its people, and President al-Yawer the assistance needed to 
continue the transition of Iraq to full sovereignty and democracy.
  In my State, we know a real friend stays with you the whole way 
through difficult times and does not abandon you when the going gets 
tough. You do not lead someone halfway home and then abandon him to the 
wolves. And we know those wolves are baying at the door. Al-Qaida, the 
Baathists, and all the enemies of democracy are already stepping up 
their attacks to drive us from Iraq so they can rip apart this young 
democracy.
  Only the cowardly, only those without a vision for a newer, better 
Middle East would urge us to leave Iraq to its fate. History has left 
its inscriptions in Iraq from time immemorial, from cuneiform 
inscriptions on clay tablets to the stone pillar of Hammurabai. These 
judgments have been read and pondered by men in the centuries following 
their inscriptions.
  In the distant future, let no traveler see inscribed in weathered 
stone the withering judgment of history that the United States had an 
opportunity to help democracy take root in the Middle East but failed 
to see it through. Let him read instead: They defeated the forces of 
darkness so the people of Iraq could live in the light.
  The Senate will surely debate what our national policies and 
priorities should be as we seek to provide assistance for Iraq. We will 
debate the relative merits of the different ways we can help our 
friends in Iraq. In fact, this is our job, and it is our duty. But I, 
for one, will not entertain any policy option that would allow the 
people of Iraq, so recently freed from the horror of despotism, to be 
submerged again into the darkness by a different set of tyrants.
  Let me now touch on some international aspects of the Iraqi 
situation. In addition to the forces from the United States, there are 
14 other NATO allies with us in Iraq. Military forces from Bulgaria, 
the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, 
Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and the 
United Kingdom are all there with us. And we have great support from 
another 17 countries, such as Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South 
Korea, and the Ukraine. Now the international support helping to secure 
the future of Iraq is growing even more.
  At the G8 summit, President Bush gained the unanimous support of the 
member states to help Iraq. They agreed to form a ``Partnership for 
Progress and a Common Future with the Region of the Broader Middle East 
and North Africa'' to support political, social, and economic reform in 
this region. This builds on President Bush's ``forward strategy of 
freedom'' that he announced last November.

  President Bush also secured a U.N. Security Council resolution 
supporting the plan for handing sovereignty back to the Iraqi people. 
On June 8, the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1546 
which supports free elections and authorizes a multinational security 
force to help stabilize the security situation in Iraq.
  The U.N. has done exactly the right thing in passing Resolution 1546, 
and I applaud them for taking this important step. However, I would be 
remiss if I did not mention a subject which hinders the effectiveness 
of the United Nations, not only in Iraq but in its dealings around the 
world, and by this I mean the Oil-for-Food scandal.
  The Oil-for-Food Program, established in 1995, was designed to 
alleviate the impact of the economic embargo on the people of Iraq, 
while continuing restrictions on military and technology sales. It was 
a humanitarian program that was supported by the United States as a way 
to help average Iraqi citizens get basic food and medical supplies 
while Saddam Hussein was still in power.
  The Oil-for-Food Program was administered by the United Nations 
Assistant Secretary General Benon V. Sevan who oversaw sales of $111 
billion worth of Iraqi oil. While under U.N. auspices, the U.S. 
Government Accounting Office estimates that over $10 billion of that 
$111 billion was stolen from the Iraqi people by Saddam's regime. While 
children were dying for lack of medicine or food, Saddam was importing 
Mercedes limousines, weapons, and building his grand palaces. Skimming 
off this vast amount of money involved kickbacks and bribes to a wide 
variety of foreign officials and businessmen.
  When the new Iraqi oil ministry recently published a list of foreign 
officials receiving bribes, kickbacks, and

[[Page S6831]]

hidden oil allotments from Saddam, U.N. Assistant Secretary Sevan's 
name was on a list which included 11 French, 46 Russians, and many 
other names. These recipients of Saddam's largess were vocal opponents 
of freeing Iraq from Saddam's chokehold and also were bitter critics of 
the effects of the embargo on Saddam's regime.
  It is ironic that so many of the businessmen and officials who helped 
skim off the money designed to buy food and medicine for the Iraqi 
people came from countries that complained the loudest about the U.S.-
led effort to oust Saddam from power.
  It is imperative that we monitor the U.N. investigation of the Oil-
for-Food scandal to make sure it is thorough and transparent. 
Wrongdoers must be prosecuted, not simply bundled off to retirement. To 
do any less would greatly compromise the ability of the United Nations 
to operate future programs with the confidence of the world community. 
Paul Volcker, who was named by Secretary Kofi Annan to head the 
investigation into the Oil-for-Food scandal, must receive sufficient 
personnel, resources, and access to the relevant documents and U.N. 
officials to carry out his responsibility.
  A failed investigation will be a bitter indictment of the United 
Nations and it would put it on a path that would lead to total--total--
obsolescence and irrelevance. The United Nations can be a unifying 
force in the world, and its resolution on the future of Iraq passed 
last week is a positive example of this. However, it must also restore 
its credibility with the people of Iraq who were robbed of over $10 
billion in food and medicine while the Oil for Food Program was being 
administered by the U.N.
  It is a critical time for both the future of Iraq and the future of 
the U.N. In Iraq, it is time to pull together to make it a successful, 
stable, and democratic country. At the U.N., it is time to show the 
world that it can be a transparent, accountable, and efficient 
organization worthy of its noble charter.
  We have the unique opportunity to help democracy take root in the 
Middle East, and we are fortunate that President Bush, Prime Minister 
Blair, and others have the vision and the courage to recognize this and 
to do something about it.
  Likewise, the United Nations has an opportunity to restore our 
confidence in its ability to play a meaningful role on the world stage. 
I hope Secretary General Kofi Annan has the necessary courage to carry 
his investigation of the Oil for Food scandal to its necessary 
conclusion, regardless of how difficult it might be.
  Let future generations see that neither the United States, nor the 
United Nations, shirked from the challenges that face us today.
  Mr. President, the Oil for Food scandal cannot be taken lightly. We 
must take this issue seriously to restore credibility to the United 
Nations, which is headed down a path of total obsolescence if we do not 
act appropriately and if we do not get to the bottom of this particular 
and potentially devastating issue.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask the Presiding Officer to advise the 
Senate with regard to the standing order.

                          ____________________