[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 163 (Thursday, October 25, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13453-S13456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ALLARD (for himself and Mr. Salazar):
  S. 2241. A bill to provide consistent enforcement authority to the 
Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the United States 
Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Forest Service to respond to 
violations of regulations regarding the management, use, and protection 
of public land under the jurisdiction of those agencies, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, I have just introduced a piece of 
legislation called the Public Land Fire Regulation Enforcement Act. I 
wish to spend a moment talking about that.
  Mother Nature possesses a beauty like no other; this beauty sometimes

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allows us to forget the ferocious might that she can bring to bear. The 
tragic fires in California provide an all too real reminder of this.
  My thoughts and prayers are with folks in California, because it was 
not so long ago that Colorado fund itself in a similar situation. Each 
year people out West live with the constant and growing threat of 
wildfire. In 2002, nearly 400,000 acres burned. Then Governor Bill 
Owens said that ``all of Colorado is burning''.
  Unfortunately, some folks--through ignorance, carelessness, or 
malice--ignore Federal guidelines and start fires during high risk 
times. In order to deter this action and provide an added measure of 
security Senator Salazar and I are introducing the Public Land Fire 
Regulations Enforcement Act. This bill will strengthen current law by 
increasing the penalties for individuals who disregard public safety 
and start fires during restricted times. It increases possible fines 
and doubles the maximum time violators could spend in jail.
  I hope that the fires burning in California are contained soon and 
that the damage is minimized as much as possible. I also hope that the 
legislation I introduce today will help prevent future catastrophic 
fires from being started.
                                  ____

      By Mr. SPECTER (for himself and Mr. Wyden):
  S. 2243. A bill to strongly encourage the Government of Saudi Arabia 
to end its support for institutions that fund, train, incite, 
encourage, or in any other way aid and abet terrorism, to secure full 
Saudi cooperation in the investigation of terrorist incidents, to 
denounce Saudi sponsorship of extremist Wahhabi ideology, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President. I have sought recognition to offer 
legislation to encourage Saudi Arabia to halt its support for 
institutions that fund, train, incite, encourage, or in any other way 
aid and abet terrorism, and to secure full Saudi cooperation in the 
investigation of terrorist incidents.
  I offer this bill on behalf of myself and Senator Wyden. 
  Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, evidence has emerged 
indicating that support for al-Qaeda, Ramas, and other organizations 
has come from Saudi Arabia.
  Testimony presented to several Congressional committees, including 
the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Judiciary Committee, and 
Intelligence committees in both houses, has indicated that Saudi Arabia 
is an epicenter for terrorist financing. These committees have also 
found the Saudi government's cooperation in investigations into the al-
Qaeda terrorist network has been lackluster.
  In the 108 Congress, as a member of the Governmental Affairs 
Committee and as a member of the Judiciary Committee, we worked to 
establish a basic point that anybody who knowingly contributes to a 
terrorist organization is an accessory before the fact to murder; so 
when people contribute to al-Qaeda or Hamas, knowing that both 
organizations employ suicide bombers, they are accessories to murder.
  United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373, adopted in 2001, 
mandates that all States ``refrain from providing any form of support, 
active or passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts,'' 
take ``the necessary steps to prevent the commission of terrorist 
acts,'' and ``deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support, or 
commit terrorist acts.'' There is mounting evidence that Saudi Arabia 
has not been compliant with this resolution.
  The 9/11 Commission interviewed numerous military officers and 
government officials who repeatedly listed Saudi Arabia as a prime 
place for terrorists to set up bases and found that ``Saudi Arabia's 
society was a place where al-Qaeda raised money directly from 
individuals through charities.''
  The Council on Foreign Relations concluded in a 2002 report that 
``for years, individuals and charities based in Saudi Arabia have been 
the most important source of funds for al-Qaeda, and for years, Saudi 
officials have turned a blind eye.''
  There are indications that, since the May 12, 2003, suicide bombings 
in Riyadh, the Government of Saudi Arabia is making a more serious 
effort to combat terrorism. That said, I would like to draw attention 
to the following findings recanted by organizations which have studied 
the record of the Saudis. 
  In a June 2004 report entitled ``Update on the Global Campaign 
Against Terrorist Financing,'' the Council on Foreign Relations 
reported that ``we find it regrettable and unacceptable that since 
September 11, 2001, we know of not a single Saudi donor of funds to 
terrorist groups who have been publicly punished.''
  A joint committee of the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 
Senate and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House 
of Representatives issued a report on July 24, 2003, that quotes 
various U.S. Government personnel who complained that the Saudis 
refused to cooperate in the investigation of Osama bin Laden and his 
network both before and after the September 11, 2001, terrorist 
attacks.
  My frustration with the Saudi government's lack of cooperation in 
international counterterrorism efforts goes back more than a decade. 
After the Khobar Towers were bombed in 1996--an attack which cost 19 
American airmen their lives and injured 400 more--I traveled to 
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to see the carnage firsthand. When I arrived, 
U.S. investigators were being denied the opportunity to interview the 
suspects apprehended by the Saudis. I personally met with Crown Prince 
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to request that the FBI be granted access to 
the prisoners. Crown Prince Abdullah said that the U.S. should not 
meddle in Saudi internal affairs; the murder of 19 airmen and the 
wounding of 400 more hardly qualifies as a Saudi internal affair.
  The Saudi government continues to drag its feet when it comes to 
cooperation in combating terrorism. The Iraq Study Group stated that 
Saudi Arabia has been ``passive and disengaged'' with regard to the 
situation in Iraq. Passive and disengaged is unacceptable when Saudi 
institutions are funding, training, inciting, and encouraging many 
terrorist actions in Iraq.
  On October 23, 2007, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz stated, ``The 
Kingdom is determined to continue its policy of fighting all forms of 
terrorism.''
  According to a July 27, 2007, New York Times article, ``Of an 
estimated 60 to 80 foreign fighters who enter Iraq each month, American 
military and intelligence officials say that nearly half are coming 
from Saudi Arabia and that the Saudis have not done enough to stem the 
flow.''
  On October 23, 2007, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz stated, 
``Saudi Arabia's view is that dealing with the phenomenon of terrorism 
should not be confined to the mere security aspect of it but it should 
also be at the intellectual level.''
  The Center for Religious Freedom, formerly affiliated with Freedom 
House, in a 2006 report entitled ``Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of 
Intolerience,'' stated that despite 2005 statements by the Saudi 
Foreign Minister that their educational curricula have been reformed, 
this is ``simply not the case.'' On the contrary, religious textbooks 
continue to advocate the destruction of any non-Wahhabi Muslim. Saudi 
Arabia has established Wahhabism, an extreme form of Islam, as the 
official state doctrine, and about 5,000,000 children are instructed 
each year in Islamic studies using Saudi Ministry of Education 
textbooks.
  A fall 2007 report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious 
Freedom stated that, ``Due to insufficient information provided by the 
Saudi government, the Commission could not verify that a formal 
mechanism exists within the Saudi government to review thoroughly and 
revise educational texts and other materials sent outside of Saudi 
Arabia. It appears that the Saudi government has made little or no 
progress on efforts to halt the exportation of extremist ideology 
outside the Kingdom.'' It is important to note that fifteen of the 
nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudis.
  In my judgment, the U.S. has been lenient with the Saudis out of 
deference to Saudi oil. It is really an open scandal that we have not 
taken action to secure some independence from our reliance on Saudi 
oil. A September 2005 Government Accountability Office report stated 
that, ``Saudi Arabia's multibillion-dollar petroleum industry, although 
largely owned by the government, has fostered the creation of large

[[Page S13455]]

private fortunes, enabling many wealthy Saudis to sponsor charities and 
educational foundations whose operations extend to many countries. U.S. 
Government and other expert reports have linked some Saudi donations to 
the global propagation of religious intolerance, hatred of Western 
values, and support of terrorist activities.''
  The 9/11 Commission recommended that the problems in our bilateral 
relationship with Saudi Arabia must be confronted openly--this 
legislation takes a step in that direction.
  The legislation expresses the sense of Congress that the Government 
of Saudi Arabia must immediately and unconditionally: 1. permanently 
close all organizations in Saudi Arabia that fund, train, incite, 
encourage, or in any way aid and abet terrorism anywhere in the World; 
2. end all funding for offshore terrorist organizations; 3. block all 
funding from private Saudi citizens and entities to Saudi-based or 
offshore terror organizations, and 4. provide complete, unrestricted, 
and unobstructed cooperation to the U.S. in the investigation of terror 
groups and individuals.
  The President should certify to Congress when the Government of Saudi 
Arabia is fully cooperating with the U.S. in the actions listed above.
  Two major objectives in the Global War on Terrorism are to deny 
terrorists safe haven and to eradicate the sources of terrorist 
financing. We cannot be successful in this war by ignoring the problem 
Saudi Arabia presents to our security. The government of Saudi Arabia 
can no longer remain idle while its citizenry continues to provide the 
wherewithal for terrorist groups with global reach nor can it continue 
to directly facilitate and support institutions that incite violence.
  President Bush stated that the U.S. ``will challenge the enemies of 
reform, confront the allies of terror, and expect a higher standard 
from our friends.'' To be successful in the global war on terrorism we 
need the proactive and full cooperation of all nations--especially 
those who consider themselves allies of the U.S.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2243

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Saudi Arabia Accountability 
     Act of 2007''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001) 
     mandates that all states ``refrain from providing any form of 
     support, active or passive, to entities or persons involved 
     in terrorist acts'', take ``the necessary steps to prevent 
     the commission of terrorist acts'', and ``deny safe haven to 
     those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist acts''.
       (2) In 2004, the Council on Foreign Relations reported that 
     it knew of ``not a single Saudi donor of funds to terrorist 
     groups who has been publicly punished''.
       (3) In his July 2005 testimony to the Committee on Banking, 
     Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate, Stewart Levey, the 
     Undersecretary for the Office of Terrorism and Financing 
     Intelligence of the Department of the Treasury, reported that 
     ``even today, we believe that Saudi donors may still be a 
     significant source of terrorist financing, including for the 
     insurgency in Iraq''. He added that Saudi financiers and 
     charities ``remain a key source for the promotion of 
     ideologies used by terrorists and violent extremists''.
       (4) According to a July 27, 2007 New York Times article, 
     ``Of an estimated 60 to 80 foreign fighters who enter Iraq 
     each month, American military and intelligence officials say 
     that nearly half are coming from Saudi Arabia and that the 
     Saudis have not done enough to stem the flow.''.
       (5) According to a July 15, 2007 Los Angeles Times article, 
     ``About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops 
     and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia 
     . . . according to official U.S. military figures made 
     available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of 
     the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are 
     Saudis, he said. Fighters from Saudi Arabia are thought to 
     have carried out more suicide bombings than those of any 
     other nationality, said the senior U.S. officer, who spoke on 
     condition of anonymity because of the subject's 
     sensitivity.''.
       (6) The Center for Religious Freedom, formerly affiliated 
     with Freedom House, in a 2006 report entitled ``Saudi 
     Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance'', stated that despite 
     2005 statements by the Saudi Foreign Minister that their 
     educational curricula have been reformed, this is ``simply 
     not the case''. Contrarily, religious textbooks continue to 
     advocate the destruction of any non-Wahhabi Muslim. Saudi 
     Arabia has established Wahhabism, an extreme form of Islam, 
     as the official state doctrine, and about 5,000,000 children 
     are instructed each year in Islamic studies using Saudi 
     Ministry of Education textbooks.
       (7) A Fall 2007 United States Commission on International 
     Religious Freedom report stated ``Due to insufficient 
     information provided by the Saudi government, the Commission 
     could not verify that a formal mechanism exists within the 
     Saudi government to review thoroughly and revise educational 
     texts and other materials sent outside of Saudi Arabia. It 
     appears that the Saudi government has made little or no 
     progress on efforts to halt the exportation of extremist 
     ideology outside the Kingdom.''.
       (8) A September 2005 Government Accountability Office 
     report stated that ``Saudi Arabia's multibillion-dollar 
     petroleum industry, although largely owned by the government, 
     has fostered the creation of large private fortunes, enabling 
     many wealthy Saudis to sponsor charities and educational 
     foundations whose operations extend to many countries. United 
     States Government and other expert reports have linked some 
     Saudi donations to the global propagation of religious 
     intolerance, hatred of Western values, and support of 
     terrorist activities''.
       (9) A June 2004 press release on the website of the Saudi 
     embassy, www.saudiembassy.net, discussed the creation of the 
     Saudi National Commission for Relief and Charity Work Abroad, 
     a nongovernmental body designed to ``take over all aspects of 
     private overseas aid operations and assume responsibility for 
     the distribution of private charitable donations from Saudi 
     Arabia'' in order to ``guard against money laundering and the 
     financing of terrorism''. As of late 2007, this Commission 
     had not been created.
       (10) In a February 2006 open Senate Select Committee on 
     Intelligence hearing on the ``World Wide Threat'', former 
     Director of National Intelligence and current Deputy 
     Secretary of State John Negroponte, stated that ``there are 
     private Saudi citizens who still engage in these kinds of 
     donations [in which money is transferred back door to 
     terrorists]''.
       (11) A March 2005 report by the Congressional Research 
     Service stated that at least 5 persons listed as 
     beneficiaries of the Saudi Committee for the Support of the 
     Al Quds Intifada were suspected suicide bombers.
       (12) During November 8, 2005 testimony on Saudi Arabia 
     before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and 
     Homeland Security of the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
     Senate, Steve Emerson, terrorism expert and Executive 
     Director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, stated 
     that despite repeated declarations by Saudi officials that 
     there has been substantial reform in education, progress 
     against terrorism, and movement toward transparency, a review 
     of other Saudi announcements shows that they have either 
     specifically failed to follow through or cannot be proven to 
     have followed through on their pledges. He also noted that 
     the Saudi government established the Saudi Committee for the 
     Support of the Al Quds Intifada, which was proven to provide 
     aid to Palestinian terrorist groups. During an Israeli raid 
     on a Hamas institution, they discovered a spreadsheet from 
     the aforementioned committee giving a detailed account about 
     how they received $545,000 from the committee to allocate to 
     102 families of so-called martyrs. The spreadsheet included 
     the names of 8 suicide bombers.
       (13) A January 2007 Congressional Research Service Report 
     on Saudi Arabia's terrorist-financing activities indicated 
     that although the records portion of the Committee for the 
     Support of the Al Quds Intifada was deactivated in March 
     2005, of the 1,300 listed beneficiaries, over 60 matched or 
     closely resembled the names of known Palestinian militants 
     who carried out attacks against Israel between October 2000 
     and March 2002.
       (14) The final report of the Presidentially-appointed Iraq 
     Study Group stated that ``funding for the Sunni insurgency in 
     Iraq comes from private donors in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf 
     states''.
       (15) A January 2005 report by the Center for Religious 
     Freedom found that Saudi Arabia was creating and 
     distributing, through its embassy in Washington, D.C., 
     material promoting hatred, intolerance, and violence at 
     mosques and Islamic centers in the United States.
       (16) On December 14, 2005, R. James Woolsey, former 
     Director of Central Intelligence wrote, ``Over the long run, 
     this movement [Wahhabism] is in many ways the most dangerous 
     of the ideological enemies we face.'' Mr. Woolsey also 
     explained that ``al Qaeda and the Wahhabis share essentially 
     the same underlying totalitarian theocratic ideology. It is 
     this common Salafist ideology that the Wahhabis have been 
     spreading widely--financed by $3-4 billion/year from the 
     Saudi government and wealthy individuals in the Middle East 
     over the last quarter century--to the madrassas of Pakistan, 
     the textbooks of Turkish children in Germany, and the mosques 
     of Europe and the U.S.''.
       (17) According to a May 2006 report by the Center for 
     Religious Freedom, official Saudi religious textbooks 
     continue to teach hatred of those who do not follow Wahhabi 
     Muslim doctrine and encourage jihad against such

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     ``infidels'' and ``the Saudi public school religious 
     curriculum continues to propagate an ideology of hate toward 
     the unbeliever . . . [A] text instructs students that it is a 
     religious obligation to do `battle' against infidels in order 
     to spread the faith''.
       (18) In May 2006, the Congressional Research Service 
     reported that ``Saudi Arabia has discussed increasing boycott 
     efforts against Israel, despite their WTO [World Trade 
     Organization] obligations''.

     SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) it is imperative that the Government of Saudi Arabia 
     immediately and unconditionally--
       (A) permanently close all charities, schools, or other 
     organizations or institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
     that fund, train, incite, encourage, or in any other way aid 
     and abet terrorism anywhere in the world (referred to in this 
     Act as ``Saudi-based terror organizations''), including by 
     means of providing support for the families of individuals 
     who have committed acts of terrorism;
       (B) end funding or other support by the Government of Saudi 
     Arabia for charities, schools, and any other organizations or 
     institutions outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that train, 
     incite, encourage, or in any other way aid and abet terrorism 
     anywhere in the world (referred to in this Act as ``offshore 
     terror organizations''), including by means of providing 
     support for the families of individuals who have committed 
     acts of terrorism;
       (C) block all funding from private Saudi citizens and 
     entities to any Saudi-based terror organization or offshore 
     terrorism organization; and
       (D) provide complete, unrestricted, and unobstructed 
     cooperation to the United States, including the unsolicited 
     sharing of relevant intelligence in a consistent and timely 
     fashion, in the investigation of groups and individuals that 
     are suspected of financing, supporting, plotting, or 
     committing an act of terror against United States citizens 
     anywhere in the world, including within the Kingdom of Saudi 
     Arabia; and
       (2) the President, in determining whether to make the 
     certification described in section 4, should judge whether 
     the Government of Saudi Arabia has continued and sufficiently 
     expanded its efforts to combat terrorism since the May 12, 
     2003 bombing in Riyadh.

     SEC. 4. PRESIDENTIAL CERTIFICATION.

       The President shall certify to the appropriate 
     congressional committees when the President determines that 
     the Government of Saudi Arabia--
       (1) is fully cooperating with the United States in 
     investigating and preventing terrorist attacks;
       (2) has permanently closed all Saudi-based Wahhabbist 
     organizations that fund Islamic extremism, internally and 
     abroad;
       (3) has exercised maximum efforts to block all funding from 
     private Saudi citizens, corporations, and entities, to 
     foreign Islamic extremist and terrorist movements; and
       (4) has stopped financing and disseminating materials, and 
     other forms of support, that encourage the spread of radical 
     Wahhabi ideology.

     SEC. 5. STATUS REPORT.

       (a) Requirement for Report.--Not later than 6 months after 
     the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 12 months 
     thereafter until the President makes the certification 
     described in section 4, the Secretary of State shall submit a 
     report to the appropriate congressional committees that 
     describes the progress made by the Government of Saudi Arabia 
     toward meeting the conditions described in paragraphs (1) 
     through (4) of section 4.
       (b) Form.--The report submitted under subsection (a) shall 
     be in unclassified form and may include a classified annex.

     SEC. 6. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

       In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional 
     committees'' means the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
     Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
     Representatives.
                                 ______