[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 109 (Thursday, September 7, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9074-S9075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAN

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Madam President, I thank my colleagues for this 
opportunity to speak.
  Later today, President Khatami of Iran will be speaking at the 
National Cathedral. I hope he is asked and he answers a number of 
questions about what happened during his reign of terror in Iran.
  President Khatami was the President of Iran, the lead sponsor of 
terrorism around the world.
  President Khatami was President of Iran, a country that seeks to have 
the United States bow down in front of Iran and to Iran.
  President Khatami worsened the human rights record in Iran to its own 
people. As we speak right now, a press conference is going on at the 
National Press Club of Iranians who have somehow gotten out of that 
country who were tortured under President Khatami and President Ahmadi-
Nejad, the current President of Iran.
  I hope that as we deliberate the Department of Defense appropriations 
bill, we recognize this threat. This is a country, Iran, that seeks to 
destroy Israel, seeks to attack and destroy the West, seeks to have us 
bow down. I will read the quote from President Ahmadi-Nejad that he 
said in July. He called on America and the West to bow before Iran 
saying:

       If you would like to have good relations with the Iranian 
     nation in the future, bow down before the greatness of the 
     Iranian nation and surrender. If you don't accept to do this, 
     the Iranian nation will force you to surrender and bow down.

  Those are his words. We will not bow down. We are in a war on 
terrorism. We are in a war against Islamic fascism, which this is a 
statement of. I hope we recognize that. In the war on terrorism, 
terrorism is their tactic, and they use it through Hezbollah and Hamas, 
which Iran is supporting and operating. They direct it at us. We have 
to confront this and we have to confront this Islamic fascism. What 
they seek to establish is a militant dictatorship, an Islamic fascist 
dictatorship. This group has an object. They don't just wander around. 
Step 1 is to remove the United States from the Middle East. Step 2 is 
to establish an Islamic caliphate. This is an Islamic dictator over an 
entire region--a Shia crescent over an entire region of the world. 
These are his words. This is what they seek. They seek a nuclear weapon 
to be able to threaten the region, to be able to use in this region. 
Ayatollah Khamenei, the lead sponsor and organizer of the current 
Islamic Republic, in 1979, removing the Shah, came in and said if we 
destroy Israel, Allah will reward us. This is a governing theological 
philosophy that has not been walked away from by the current leadership 
in Iran. Let's listen to the words they say themselves.
  Former President Khatami is going to be speaking in Washington, DC, 
tonight. He said in October 2000:

       If we abide by the Koran, all of us should mobilize to 
     kill.

  This is October 2000. He should be asked, does he still believe that 
statement or support that statement.
  Today, I will be introducing the Iran Human Rights Act, legislation 
designed to focus our attention on the

[[Page S9075]]

human rights abuses taking place in Iran today and support the efforts 
of the Iranian people to enact peaceful, democratic reforms.
  While we have been focusing on the nuclear weapon development by the 
Iranians and on their support for terrorism, we should not forget about 
the plight of the Iranian people and their difficulties under this 
regime. The bill creates a special envoy to focus on human rights 
abuses in Iraq and to work with groups who support human rights and 
democracy in Iran.
  The bill provides financial supports to these groups supporting human 
rights and that are working toward democracy in Iran. Finally, it 
ensures that the United States broadcast into Iran emphasize U.S. 
support for the rights and well-being of the Iranian people. We need to 
focus on the nuclear weapons, and we also need to focus on the rights 
of the Iranian people being abused by this regime. It is also my hope 
that we will grant visas to this country to professors being kicked out 
of universities in Iran because they don't tow the line of the ruling 
clerics in that country. Currently, the universities are being purged 
in Iran of the dissident voices of these professors.
  We stand with the Iranian people. We stand against this Iranian 
tyrannical regime. I hope we can move this legislation forward to show 
our support for the suffering people. I ask the people who go to the 
meetings where President Khatami is speaking to ask these questions:
  Why did he support terrorism? Why did the human rights record get 
worse under his 8 years of leadership in Iran? Why do they persecute 
religious minorities and women? Why do they persecute those who have 
peaceful protests inside Iran? Why does Iran need to enrich uranium 
when they have plentiful oil and gas supplies? These are serious 
questions in serious times.
  I hope that as we consider this Department of Defense bill, we will 
consider what the words of those who have vowed to destroy us are and 
that we take appropriate action against them.
  I yield the floor.

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