[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 71 (Thursday, May 17, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E828-E829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




EXPRESSING SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTING IRAN FROM 
                 ACQUIRING A NUCLEAR WEAPONS CAPABILITY

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 15, 2012

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose H. Res. 568, a resolution 
``expressing the

[[Page E829]]

sense of the House of Representatives regarding the importance of 
preventing the Government of Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons 
capability.''
  Once again we see on the ``suspension'' calendar, which is 
customarily reserved for non-controversial legislation, a resolution 
designed to move the U.S. toward a military conflict with Iran. Sadly, 
it has become non-controversial for Congress to call for U.S. attacks 
on foreign countries that have neither attacked nor threatened the 
United States.
  We should not fool ourselves about the timing of this legislation. 
Next week, high-level talks between Iran and the five permanent U.N. 
Security Council members plus Germany, P5+1, will resume. Those who 
seek U.S. military action against Iran must fear that successful 
diplomacy will undermine their calls for war.
  Disturbingly, some of my colleagues have suggested this resolution 
can be read as a form of ersatz Congressional approval for the use of 
military force against Iran.
  The International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, has the authority to 
monitor the Iranian nuclear program to determine whether nuclear 
material is being diverted from civilian to military uses. The IAEA has 
never reported an Iranian violation. This legislation attempts to scare 
us into believing otherwise, but that fact remains. And the U.S. 
Intelligence Community agrees with IAEA conclusions on this matter.
  The most dangerous aspect of H. Res. 568 is that it dramatically 
lowers the threshold for conflict with Iran by replacing the 
prohibition against acquiring nuclear weapons to a prohibition against 
a ``capability'' to develop nuclear weapons.
  However, as former senior Bush administration official, Flynt 
Leverett, has stated:

       Iranian efforts to develop a ``nuclear weapons 
     capability''.  .  . may make American and Israeli elites 
     uncomfortable. But it is not a violation of the NPT. .  .  . 
     While the NPT prohibits non-nuclear-weapon states from 
     building atomic bombs, developing a nuclear weapons 
     capability is, [allowed] under the NPT . . . It is certainly 
     not a justification--strategically, legally, or morally--for 
     armed aggression against Iran.

  But this resolution states that the House ``rejects any United States 
policy that would rely on efforts to contain a nuclear weapons-capable 
Iran.'' That makes it very clear that the intent of the House is to 
authorize force against Iran not if it acquires a nuclear weapon, but 
if it has a ``capability'' to acquire them some time in the future. The 
term ``capability'' is left undefined, of course, leaving it open to 
very broad interpretations by this and future administrations.
  Mr. Speaker, this is incredibly dangerous legislation. I urge my 
colleagues in the strongest manner to reject this stealth authorization 
for war on Iran.

                          ____________________