[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10544]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            FRANCE SHOWS NO FRIENDSHIP TO THE UNITED STATES

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, today in the Washington Times it was 
reported that France supplied Iraqi officials passports as they fled 
U.S. forces, this allegation coming on the heels of another report that 
French companies sold military spare parts to Iraq shortly before the 
war. These passports gave the Iraqis who originally fled into Syria the 
ability to move freely among 12 European Union countries. This means 
that France gave Hussein's regime officials a get-out-of-jail-free card 
to escape.
  I would like to remind my colleagues that these officials were part 
of a regime that is responsible for an estimated over 200,000 Iraqis 
having disappeared over the years, with many of them likely ending up 
in the secret mass graves that we continue to discover.
  In reality, this allegation should come as no surprise. Rather than 
joining in promoting a free Iraq, the sheer magnitude of France's 
opposition to coalition actions demonstrates an affinity for this 
despotic regime.
  As France seeks to repair its friendship with the United States, we 
should ask the question: With friends like that, who needs enemies?

                          ____________________