[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H10224]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE HUNT FOR BIN LADEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, 3 years ago Osama bin Laden was able to run 
his al Qaeda network freely, thanks to the protection of the Taliban 
regime. Today, he is on the run, frequently crossing the border between 
Afghanistan and Pakistan to elude coalition forces.
  Last January, I traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to determine how 
Osama bin Laden continues to avoid capture. When I traveled to the 
Kyber Agency, I was reminded that the State Department had run a very 
successful rewards program that had previously led to the arrest and 
capture of Mir Amal Kansi, a terrorist who had murdered two CIA 
employees and injured three others in a 1993 shooting outside CIA 
headquarters in Virginia. The promise of a significant monetary reward 
was enough for some Pakistanis to turn Kansi in to the proper 
authorities. The program worked before, and it could easily work again.
  When I returned, I talked to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), 
the chairman of the Committee on International Relations, and had help 
from the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), the ranking Democratic 
member, and we introduced legislation to increase the maximum reward 
this program could offer from 25 to $50 million for some of the world's 
most dangerous terrorists. It made sense that we increase the reward 
for information leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden. 
Additionally, our bill allowed the State Department to use non-cash 
awards, and in a rural community, the provision of a truck or feed or 
farm animals can mean a lot in a rural community which could provide 
information leading to the arrest of Osama bin Laden.
  I am pleased to report this legislation was included in the omnibus 
appropriations bill that was just passed by the House of 
Representatives. When the President signs this bill into law, he will 
give the State Department a new and powerful tool that can be used in 
the hunt for Osama bin Laden and his senior associates.
  Bottom line, with passage of this bill the reward for the arrest of 
Osama bin Laden can rise to $50 million. The passage of this bill could 
not come at a more critical moment, as earlier this week both the 
United Nations and the White House issued their latest estimate for the 
Afghan poppy harvest for the year. The estimate did not contain good 
news.
  This year, the crop yielded enough poppy to produce 4,950 metric tons 
of opium. This represented a 239 percent increase in the crop last 
year. Evidence suggests that Afghanistan is in danger of becoming a 
narcostate; and worse, we know that al Qaeda and the remnants of the 
Taliban are now primarily funded by the sale of heroin.
  Following the September 11 attack, the U.S. targeted bin Laden's 
Afghan sanctuary. We destroyed the Taliban's bases and bin Laden 
abandoned his terrorist training camps and also abandoned his foreign 
fund-raising efforts; but in their place, he and the Taliban have 
turned to the sale of heroin to finance terrorism. It appears that bin 
Laden and his patron, Mullah Omar, plan to rely more heavily on heroin 
profits than ever before.
  The international community wrongly praised the Taliban when Mullah 
Omar eradicated Afghanistan's poppy crop in 2001. They failed to see 
that the Taliban only destroyed poppies after it had stored tons of 
opium paste in its own warehouses. The purpose of Mullah Omar's touted 
eradication was an effort simply to corner the market on heroin for 
greater profits.
  During my mission to Afghanistan earlier this year, the brave new 
antinarcotics minister for Afghanistan, Mirwais Yassini, noted that one 
Afghan drug kingpin, Haji Bashir Noorzai, delivered 2,000 kilograms of 
heroin every 8 weeks to al Qaeda operatives. At the market price in 
Pakistan, this one supply chain alone would yield Osama bin Laden $28 
million a year. The 9/11 Commission estimated that the September 11 
attack cost only $500,000.
  Passage of this law shows that we are recognizing the growing 
connection between bin Laden's finances and the sale of heroin. During 
consideration of intelligence legislation, I offered an amendment 
calling for the administration to study the feasibility of bringing the 
Drug Enforcement Agency back in to the formal intelligence community. 
My amendment passed unanimously, underscoring how critical it is to 
recognize the connection between drug cartels and terrorism.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress has turned up the heat on bin Laden today. Our 
new law raises the top award to $50 million. We also allow for rewards 
to help in the arrest of drug kingpins who finance terror. We also give 
greater flexibility to paying awards in commodities, such as a truck or 
grain, that can mean a great deal to a rural family.
  I applaud the action of the Congress and urge the President to make 
full use of his new authority to offer a $50 million award for the 
arrest of Osama bin Laden.

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