[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 103 (Thursday, July 22, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S8653]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           OUR MIDEAST POLICY

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I recently wrote a column on Mideast 
Policy for the Post and Courier in Charleston, SC. I want to share it 
with my colleagues and ask unanimous consent the July 9 article be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

      Now We Know: It's Our Mideast Policy That's Creating Enemies

                        (By Ernest F. Hollings)

       Now we know: (A) That there are no weapons of mass 
     destruction in Iraq. (B) There was no al-Qaida in Iraq on 9/
     11. (C) From 1993 until we attacked in 2003--for 10 years--
     there was no terrorism by Saddam against the United States. 
     (D) Saddam was not involved in the 9/11 attack on the United 
     States. (E) Mideast people are generally of the Islam 
     religion and tribal in culture. The Islam religion is 
     strong--those who don't adhere are considered infidels. (F) 
     Mideast countries don't yearn for democracy--Kuwait, 
     liberated from Saddam, didn't opt for democracy. (G) In ``A 
     World Transformed,'' President ``Papa'' Bush warned, ``We 
     should not march into Baghdad . . . turning the whole Arab 
     world against us . . . assigning young soldiers . . . to 
     fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerrilla war.'' 
     (H) We went into Baghdad anyway. (I) As the CIA author of 
     ``Imperial Hubris'' wrote, ``There is nothing that bin Laden 
     could have hoped for more than the invasion and occupation of 
     Iraq.'' (J) Now we are the infidel. Our invasion has turned 
     Iraq into a shooting gallery and a recruitment center for al-
     Qaida. (K) The majority of the Iraqi people want us gone. (L) 
     Even with Saddam out, many feel it wasn't worth the lives of 
     900 killed, 5,000 maimed for life and $200 billion. (M) Now 
     most people of the United States think the invasion of Iraq 
     was a mistake.
       1. We also know that: (A) Terrorism did not start on 9/11. 
     Terrorism has been going on in Northern Ireland for 35 years. 
     Terrorism now persists between India and Pakistan and between 
     the Kurds and the Turks. (B) Terrorism is not a war but a 
     weapon. We don't call World War II the Blitzkrieg War or the 
     Battle of the Light Brigade the Cavalry War. (C) Terrorism 
     against the United States is based on our policy in the 
     Mideast. Osama bin Laden hit us because of our presence in 
     Saudi Arabia and policy in Israel/Palestine. (D) Everyone 
     knows that Israel is a U.S. commitment. (E) We have 
     maintained this commitment for 37 years with an evenhanded 
     policy between the Israelis and the Palestinians. (F) But 
     President Bush changed the policy of negotiations, confirming 
     Israeli settlements, and invading Iraq to secure Israel by 
     democratizing the Mideast. (G) U.S. News & World Report and 
     others keep parroting that terrorists hit us ``because of our 
     values'' and hate us ``because of who we are.'' Not so! It is 
     our Mideast policy they oppose.
       The way to win the ``war on terrorism'' is to (1) Seek out 
     al-Qaida and the Taliban and eliminate them. (2) Secure Iraq 
     so that democracy can work. (3) Publicly renounce pre-emptive 
     war. (4) Rather than invasion, use capitalism to spread 
     democracy, which is now working in China. (5) Return to the 
     evenhanded policy of negotiations with Israel and Palestine. 
     (6) Start rebuilding both Israel and Palestine.
       Everyone laments our predicament after just one year's 
     occupation of Iraq. Imagine 37 years' occupation of 
     Palestine. Anyone with get up and go has gotten up and gone. 
     Palestine is left with the hopeless and embittered. There is 
     no leadership, hardly anything to lead. But embittered 
     refugees from without lead with terrorism. A Palestinian 
     state must first be built in order to be recognized. It can't 
     be built while homes are bulldozed, settlements extended and 
     walls are constructed. Our hypocrisy is obvious. We hail 
     President Reagan for saying, ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this 
     wall,'' but now we say, ``Mr. Sharon, put up this wall.'' 
     There are 1 million Arabs in Israel's population of 6 
     million. For years the people of Israel and Palestine were 
     learning to live together. The Arab soccer team just won the 
     national championship of Israel. But the young of Israel and 
     Palestine are now learning to kill together rather than to 
     live together. This is creating terrorists big time, long 
     term.
       People the world around respect America for its stand for 
     freedom and individual rights. It's time to stop this wag of 
     people ``hating us'' and against us ``because of our 
     values.'' It's not our values or people, but our Mideast 
     policy they oppose. We need to return to evenhandedness and 
     active negotiations in the Mideast. Then we can begin to win 
     the ``war on terrorism'' and regain our moral authority in 
     the world.

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