[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 21, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H6523-H6525]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONDEMNING ATTACK ON AMIA JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER IN BUENOS AIRES,
ARGENTINA, IN JULY 1994
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 469) condemning the attack on the
AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in July 1994
and expressing the concern of the United States regarding the
continuing, decade-long delay in the resolution of this case.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 469
Whereas on July 18, 1994, 85 innocent people were killed
and 300 were wounded when the Argentine Jewish Mutual
Association (AMIA) was bombed in Buenos Aires, Argentina;
Whereas that attack showed the same cowardice and utter
disregard for human life as the attacks on the United States
on September 11, 2001;
Whereas the United States welcomes Argentine President
Nestor Kirchner's political will to pursue the investigation
of the AMIA bombing, as demonstrated by his executive order
opening the archives of Argentina's Secretariat for State
Intelligence (SIDE), for raising the AMIA cause to national
status, and for emphasizing that there is no statute of
limitations on those responsible for this attack;
Whereas it is reported that considerable evidence links the
attacks to the terrorist group Hizballah, which is based in
Lebanon, supported by Syria, and sponsored by Iran;
Whereas the decade since the bombing has been marked by
efforts to minimize the international connection to this
terrorist attack;
Whereas in March 2003 an Argentine judge issued arrest
warrants for four Iranian government officials who are
believed to have been involved in planning or carrying out
the attack against AMIA and requested that the International
Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) apprehend them;
Whereas the four indicted Iranians are Ali Fallahian, a
former minister of security and intelligence; Mohsen Rabbani,
a former cultural attache at the Iranian Embassy in Buenos
Aires; Ali Balesh-Abadi, an Iranian diplomat; and Ali Akbar
Parvaresh, a former minister of education;
Whereas Hadi Soleimanpour, Iran's ambassador to Argentina
in the 1990's, also has an international arrest warrant
pending against him by Argentine authorities for his
suspected primary role in the AMIA bombing;
Whereas it is reported that suicide bomber Ibrahim Hussein
Berro, a Lebanese citizen, carried out the attack on AMIA;
Whereas it has been reported that contact was made by the
Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires to Ibrahim Hussein Berro, who
lived in a mosque in Canuelas, Argentina, in the days before
the AMIA bombing;
Whereas Argentine officials have acknowledged that there
was negligence in the initial phases of the investigation
into the 1994 bombing, including the destruction or
disappearance of material evidence;
Whereas the first major criminal trial regarding the
bombing did not begin until September 2001, and those who are
currently on trial are former policemen and civilians who are
accused of playing roles only in the procurement and delivery
of the vehicle which was used in the bombing attack;
Whereas the judge who had presided since 2001 over the
investigation and trial related to the AMIA bombing was
removed in December 2003 due to charges that he bribed a key
witness in the AMIA case;
Whereas the new trial judge, Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, deals
with many other important cases and has few supporting staff;
Whereas on March 17, 1992, terrorists bombed the Embassy of
Israel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 29 people and
injuring over 200, and the perpetrators of the attack also
remain at large;
Whereas the inability to extradite suspected Islamic
militants and Iranian officials has debilitated the efforts
of the Argentine government to prosecute masterminds and
planners of the 1994 AMIA bombing;
Whereas evidence indicates that the Tri-Border area where
the borders of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil meet is
suspected of harboring organizations which support terrorism,
engage in drug and arms smuggling and an assorted array of
other illicit, revenue-raising activities;
Whereas the Government of Argentina supports--
(1) the 1996 Declaration of Lima to Prevent, Combat and
Eliminate Terrorism, which refers to terrorism as a ``serious
form of organized and systematic violence that is intended to
generate chaos and fear among the population, results in
death and destruction, and is a reprehensible criminal
activity''; and
(2) the 1998 Commitment of Mar del Plata which calls
terrorist acts ``serious common crimes that erode peaceful
and civilized coexistence, affect the rule of law and the
exercise of democracy, and endanger the stability of
democratically elected constitutional governments and their
socioeconomic development of our countries'';
Whereas the Government of Argentina actively supports the
development of the ``Three Plus One'' (3+1) Counterterrorism
Dialogue with Brazil, Paraguay, and the United States;
Whereas the Government of Argentina was successful in
enacting a law on cooperation from defendants in terrorist
matters, a law that will be helpful in pursuing full
prosecution in this and other terrorist cases; and
Whereas the Second Specialized Conference on Terrorism held
in Mar del Plata, Argentina on November 23 and 24, 1998,
concluded with the adoption of the Commitment of Mar del
Plata, calling for the establishment within the Organization
of American States (OAS) of an Inter-American Committee
Against Terrorism (CICTE): Now, therefore, be it--
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That Congress--
(1) reiterates its strongest condemnation of the 1994
attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, and honors the victims of this heinous act;
(2) expresses its sympathy to the relatives of the victims,
who have waited ten years without justice for the loss of
their loved ones, and may have to wait even longer for
justice to be served;
(3) underscores the concern of the United States regarding
the continuing, decade-long delay in the proper resolution of
this case;
(4) strongly urges the Government of Argentina to continue
to dedicate and provide the resources necessary for its
judicial system and intelligence agencies to investigate all
areas of the AMIA case, including by implementing Argentine
President Nestor Kirchner's executive order mandating the
opening of the archives of Argentina's Secretariat for State
Intelligence (SIDE), and to prosecute with due haste those
who are responsible for the bombing;
(5) calls upon the international community to cooperate
fully with the investigation, including by making
information, witnesses, and suspects available for review and
questioning by the appropriate Argentine authorities;
(6) encourages the President to direct United States law
enforcement agencies to provide support and cooperation to
the Government of Argentina, if requested, for the purposes
of deepening and expanding the investigation into this
bombing and suspected activities in support of terrorism in
the Tri-Border area where the borders of Argentina, Paraguay,
and Brazil meet;
(7) encourages the President to direct the United States
Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS)
to--
(A) seek support from OAS member countries for the creation
of a special task force of the Inter-American Committee
Against Terrorism to assist, as requested by the Government
of Argentina, in the investigation of all aspects of the 1994
AMIA terrorist attack; and
(B) urge OAS member countries to designate Hizballah as a
terrorist organization if they have not already done so;
(8) stresses the need for international pressure on Iran
and Syria to extradite for trial individuals and government
officials who are accused of planning or perpetrating the
AMIA attack, and to immediately, unconditionally, and
permanently cease any and all assistance to terrorists; and
(9) desires a lasting, warm relationship between the United
States and Argentina which is built, in part, on mutual
abhorrence of terrorism and commitments to peace, stability,
and democracy in the Western Hemisphere.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Iowa (Mr. Leach) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach).
General Leave
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 469, the resolution
under consideration.
[[Page H6524]]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Iowa?
There was no objection.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this past Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of the
bombing of AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a
terrorist act which killed 85 innocent victims and wounded 300.
Though a decade has passed, the investigation into this brutal attack
has yet to yield one major conviction. It has failed to focus on the
credible evidence linking this heinous attack to the international
terrorist group Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, supported by
Syria and sponsored by Iran. This lack of accountability should not be
allowed to continue.
We must work together to ensure that all those responsible for this
horrific act are brought to justice, so that terrorists everywhere
understand they will be held accountable for their violence.
H. Con. Res. 469 is a bipartisan resolution which enjoys the support
of over 50 cosponsors. It was introduced by the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from California (Mr.
Lantos).
Among other provisions, this measure calls on the United States, the
Argentine government, and international community to provide and
utilize all necessary resources for a thorough, broad investigation of
the AMIA bombing and other related activities in the Western
Hemisphere.
It further asks the international community to assist in the
prosecution of the perpetrators of the AMIA bombing, including by
extraditing to Argentina those who are suspected of carrying out and
participating in the attack, as well as by providing access to
witnesses and other evidence related to this terrorist act.
H. Con. Res. 469, introduced by the Chair of the subcommittee and the
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), focuses on the international
connection to the attack, placing special emphasis on the role of
Islamic militants and Iranian officials as the masterminds and planners
of the AMIA bombing.
It calls for the creation of a special task force of the Inter-
American Committee Against Terrorism to assist in the AMIA
investigation and encourages all OAS member nations to designate
Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
In addition, it seeks multilateral cooperation in applying
international pressure on Iran and Syria to immediately and permanently
cease their affiliation with, and assistance to, global terrorists.
For the sake of the victims and survivors of the AMIA attack, for the
sake of hemispheric and global security, and for the sake of justice,
it is important that Congress recall what happened 10 years ago in this
hemisphere.
In this context, the staff of the committee has produced a chart. It
is a chart of names, and we present this to the Congress for the sake
of remembering that these are real people, with real histories and real
lives; and if we think about philosophies, as well as terrorism, it is
interesting to note that the first great philosophical tome on
terrorism by a Harvard philosopher named Hannah Arendt pointed out that
the great tragedy of the Holocaust was the effort by governments not
only to take people's lives but to make them into numbers, to make
people unknown in their own fates, to make them anonymous.
So it is important when people are subjected to terrorist kinds of
circumstances that it be understood that these are real people with
real histories, and this is a real tragedy.
It is always awkward in any sense of crime to think of statutes of
limitations; but when it comes to terrorism, there should be no statute
of limitation, and 10 years is a long time for no progress. It is the
obligation of civilized people to remember the people and to remember
that accountability is important.
It is for that reason that this resolution has been brought before
the House, and I urge its unanimous adoption.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I want to commend my good friend from Iowa for his thoughtful and
serious comments. I also want to thank my good friend, the gentleman
from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), the chairman of the Committee on
International Relations, and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen), the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and
Central Asia, for their invaluable work on behalf of this resolution. I
rise in strong support of the resolution.
Mr. Speaker, on the morning of July 18, 1994, life in downtown Buenos
Aires, Argentina, hummed along as it had on many previous mornings.
Students headed off to school, and an electrician repaired faulty
wiring on a building. Receptionists tapped at their typewriters, and
then, suddenly, a suicide bomber slammed an explosives-laden vehicle
into the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association building.
The explosion which followed mercilessly killed 85 innocent men,
women, and children and wounded over 300 others.
Little Sebastian Barreiro's life ended that day. The 5-year-old had
been holding his mother's hand as both of them had been walking in
front of the building of the Jewish Community Center when the bomb
ripped through that building.
In addition to the terrible loss of life, the 1994 terrorist attack
totally destroyed the seven-story building of the Jewish community in
Buenos Aires and heavily damaged surrounding buildings. With the
obliteration of the brick-and-mortar community center, a repository of
100-year-old historical archives documenting the history of the Jews in
Argentina, as well as the literary treasures of Argentinean Jewry and
the community's cemetery records were all irreplaceably lost.
Mr. Speaker, much like the horrific attacks on our own country just 3
years ago, the brutal bombing in Argentina in 1994 was an international
terrorist act. Among the 85 dead were six Bolivians, two Poles, and one
Chilean.
{time} 2000
The perpetrators are suspected of having received financial and
logistical support from terrorist individuals and groups operating in a
nefarious triborder region between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. And
the cowardly bomber himself was an accomplice of Hezbollah, a U.S.-
designated foreign terrorist organization headquartered in Syria.
In fact, just days after this brutal and cruel bombing, a Hezbollah-
based organization based in Lebanon claimed responsibility for this
heinous crime. Despite this claim of responsibility 10 years ago, the
families and friends of the victims and the entire Jewish community in
Argentina were left to ask when justice will finally be served.
Mr. Speaker, the initial phases of the investigation into the bombing
were botched by Argentinian authorities. A criminal trial of 20 alleged
local accomplices, finally begun in September 2001, over 6 years after
the commission of this horrific crime and the investigation,
unbelievably, is still ongoing.
In March 2003, the presiding judge issued arrest warrants for former
Iranian Government officials who are believed to have orchestrated the
terrorist bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, but
these Iranian officials have yet to be arrested and sent to Argentina
for trial.
Mr. Speaker, justice cannot wait any longer. The families of the
victims and the larger Jewish community in Argentina deserve to know,
after 10 agonizing years, who is responsible for this horrendous
terrorist act.
Our resolution, which I sponsored with my good friend and colleague,
the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and Asia, the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), urges the administration,
our administration, and the Government of Argentina, the Organization
of American States, and all of our allies, to pursue the international
culprits of this monstrous bombing, even if they are still hiding in
Iran.
Mr. Speaker, we have known for many years that Iran, working through
their Hezbollah stooges, commits wanton acts of violence against
civilized society; and we strongly suspect that the Iranian Government
was involved in this mass killing, just one of the many terrorist acts
perpetrated by the
[[Page H6525]]
ayatollahs in Tehran and their accomplices.
I thank all of my colleagues for their hard work on this important
resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
First, I would like to thank Yleem Poblete for her work on the
subcommittee on this resolution, and I want to reraise this plaque of
names. We are obligated to remember the victims of the AMIA bombing. We
are obligated to remember the men, the women and children whose names
are listed here, whose lives were abruptly ended by a terrorist assault
simply because of their beliefs. We have no choice except to
demonstrate our commitment to help bring murderers to justice.
I urge unanimous support of this resolution of the gentleman from
California (Mr. Lantos) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen).
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlemen for yielding me this
time.
I rise in support for H. Con. Res. 694 condemning the attack on the
AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in July, 1994,
and to express the concern of the United States regarding continuing,
decade-long delay in the resolution of this case.
I think it is important to remember that whenever we see injustice
anywhere, it is an attack on injustice everywhere. I think with the
horrendous act in July of 1994, and with the lack of support or urgency
of the Organization of American States, without the pushing of
international organizations, that we leave a message that people can do
what they feel like they want to do and get away with it. So I strongly
urge that organizations responsible for seeing that justice is done
worldwide would focus their attention on this.
It was 10 years ago that the genocide was going on in Rwanda. While
we celebrated 10 years of independence for South Africa, we looked
around with other terrible things happening.
Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) and the
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for this resolution. We must
continue to be vigilant because injustice anywhere is an insult to
justice everywhere.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, this past Sunday marked the tenth
anniversary of the deplorable terrorist attack against the AMIA Jewish
Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eighty-five innocent human
beings, including frail little girls and boys were killed, and 300 were
wounded, by elements linked to the global terrorist network. Today,
sorrow, despair and frustration still permeate the air, as justice
remains an elusive, abstract concept for the victims and survivors of
the AMIA bombing. This cannot and must not continue.
For this reason, the resolution I drafted with the Ranking Member of
the International Relations Committee, Mr. Lantos, renews and redirects
international attention to the AMIA bombing, in order to ensure that
justice is finally served--to ensure that the terrorists are held
accountable, and that they are no longer allowed to roam freely,
enjoying virtual impunity for this horrific act.
It was clear from the onset that the AMIA attack and the earlier one
on the Israeli Embassy, were part of a campaign of violence targeted at
the Jewish community in Argentina and throughout the world, by radical
militant groups in the Middle East. Considerable evidence now supports
this linkage, attributing the bombing to the terrorist group Hizballah,
based in Lebanon, supported by Syria, and sponsored by Iran.
Argentine authorities shave issued various arrest warrants for
Iranian government officials who are believed to have been involved in
planning or carrying out the attack against AMIA. Among these are the
former Iranian minister of security and intelligence; a former cultural
attache at the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aries; an Iranian diplomat; a
former minister of education; and the Iranian Ambassador to Argentina
during the 1990s. It is further reported that one of the suicide
bombers responsible for the murder and injuries of hundreds in the AMIA
attack, had contact with the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires in the
days prior to the bombing.
Additional evidence indicates that the tri-border area, where
Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet, was used to channel resources for
the purpose of carrying out this terrorist attack. We now understand
the importance of this critical piece of information, as the tri-border
area is today widely reported to be a cesspool of Islamist terrorist
activity. Yet, despite this growing evidentiary record, the decade
since the AMIA bombing has been marred by negligence in the initial
phases of the investigation, and by efforts to minimize the
international connection to this second attack by the global terrorist
network in our own Hemisphere.
The resolution we are considering today seeks to address this problem
by, among other things: (1) Urging the Government of Argentina to
dedicate the necessary resources for its judicial system and
intelligence agencies to fully investigate and prosecute the AMIA
case; (2) Calling upon the international community to cooperate fully
with the investigation, including making all parties and information
available to Argentine authorities, and, in particular, by honoring
extradition requests for former Iranian officials who are now in third
countries, such as Great Britain.
Notably, H. Con. Res. 469: (1) Encourages the President to direct
U.S. law enforcement agencies to provide support and cooperation, if
requested, to the Government of Argentina to ensure a resolution of the
AMIA case; (2) Calls for the creation of a special task force of the
Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism to assist Argentina in
investigating all aspects of the AMIA attack, particularly the
international connection; and (3) Urges OAS member nations to designate
Hizballah as a terrorist organization if they have not already done so.
My colleagues, the wounds will not begin to heal until the
investigation in to the AMIA bombing is pursued with vigor and
determination, and until effective action is taken by all to ensure
that justice is served. The scars will serve as a constant reminder of
the need for vigilance in our Hemisphere, of the need for democratic
countries to unite in condemning such horrid acts and work together to
protect the right of every citizen, in every society, to live in peace
and liberty free from the threat of terrorism.
This resolution is an important first step toward achieving that
goal. It is a call to action. It sends an unequivocal message to all
that the United States considers the resolution of this case to be a
priority, that it is prepared to take the necessary steps to ensure
this end, working both with regional neighbors, as well as with the
Argentine government.
Ten years have already passed. We cannot wait any longer. It is time
for the rule of law to be seen and to be heard in this important case.
We cannot allow justice to be held captive by inaction.
I thank the over 50 co-sponsors of this resolution for their support,
and would especially like to thank the House Leadership and Chairman
Hyde, for allowing this measure to move expeditiously to the Floor, and
ask my colleagues to render their overwhelming support by voting
``yes'' on H. Con. Res. 469.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hensarling). The question is on the
motion offered by the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res.
469.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
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