[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17367]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  DECLARING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, SUDAN

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 21, 2004

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this incredibly 
dangerous legislation. I hope my colleagues are not fooled by the title 
of this bill, ``Declaring genocide in Darfur, Sudan.'' This resolution 
is no statement of humanitarian concern for what may be happening in a 
country thousands of miles from the United States. Rather, it could 
well lead to war against the African country of Sudan. The resolution 
``urges the Bush Administration to seriously consider multilateral or 
even unilateral intervention to prevent genocide should the United 
Nations Security Council fail to act.'' We must realize the 
implications of urging the President to commit the United States to 
intervene in an ongoing civil war in a foreign land thousands of miles 
away?
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution was never marked up in the House 
International Relations Committee, on which I serve. Therefore, Members 
of that committee had no opportunity to amend it or express their views 
before it was sent to the Floor for a vote. Like too many highly 
controversial bills, it was rushed onto the suspension calendar (by 
House rules reserved for ``non-controversial'' legislation) at the last 
minute. Perhaps there was a concern that if Members had more time to 
consider the bill they would cringe at the resolution's call for U.S. 
military action in Sudan--particularly at a time when our military is 
stretched to the breaking point. The men and women of the United States 
Armed Forces risk their lives to protect and defend the United States. 
Can anyone tell me how sending thousands of American soldiers into 
harm's way in Sudan is by any stretch of the imagination in the U.S. 
national interest or in keeping with the Constitutional function of 
this country's military forces? I urge my colleagues in the strongest 
terms to reject this dangerous resolution.

                          ____________________