[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5542-5546]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             FOREIGN POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, in this country, in this 
city, sometimes the American media just does not get it. Tonight I rise 
to lay in the Congressional Record and for the American people two 
stories that have not gotten the attention they deserve regarding 
foreign policy and regarding the actions of two nations in two regions 
that are extremely important to the security of America and the world.
  The first, Mr. Speaker, involves Serbia. Mr. Speaker, this nation 
went to war and for the first and only time convinced our NATO allies 
to use NATO as an offensive military entity to invade a non-NATO 
country in 1999 to remove a sitting head of state, Milosevic, from 
office for war crimes for which he is now being tried.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight not to question whether or not Milosevic 
committed war crimes. I am convinced that he did, that he committed 
ethnic cleansing and that he did unthinkable harm to individual people 
in the former Yugoslavia.
  He is now being held accountable for his actions in a trial that has 
been going on for several years; but, Mr. Speaker, we cannot have a 
double standard, and this is what we have today, Mr. Speaker.

                              {time}  2215

  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, when we invaded Serbia and 
we went in with our military and the NATO military, I did not support 
the President's actions, as did many of our colleagues in this body. 
Not because I felt support for Milosevic, but because I was convinced 
we had not allowed Russia to play the role that they could have and 
should have played in getting Milosevic to agree to the terms that the 
NATO and other nations wanted after the meetings at Rambouillet, and I 
said so publicly. It was not that those of us who opposed President 
Clinton supported Milosevic, but rather that we thought there was a 
better way that would have avoided the kind of atrocities that were 
committed by our own bombing in Belgrade and other cities in the former 
Yugoslavia. But the fact is that we did bomb that country, and we 
continued it for a matter of weeks.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, I was the one who assembled a delegation of 10 
of our colleagues and myself, five Democrats, all supporters of 
President Clinton, and five Republicans to travel to Vienna after 
having discussed with Strobe Talbot, the number two person at the State 
Department, the offer of the Russians to me to help Russia play a role 
in resolving the crisis in Yugoslavia on the terms that the U.S. and 
NATO wanted. I also, Mr. Speaker, had access to a memo that had been 
prepared secretly by Strobe Talbot, which was briefed to both Sandy 
Berger and Vice President Gore. So I knew what the policy of the U.S. 
was with regard to Russia's involvement. And I also knew full well that 
we were not giving Russia the opportunity to play the kind of 
constructive role that it could have and should have.
  Our meetings in Vienna with five Russian leaders and 11 American 
leaders resulted, over 2 days, in a framework that allowed the Russians 
and the Americans to come to an agreement and to agree concurrently 
that Milosevic had committed ethnic cleansing; that the armed Serbs 
should be withdrawn from Kosovo; that there should be a multinational 
force brought in. All of those conditions were what basically the 
Russians, when they were finally brought in several weeks later, were 
able to bring to the table to help us end that war.
  Now, we were told, Mr. Speaker, that the ending of the war would end 
the ethnic cleansing. And, boy, were we wrong. The media blasted 
headlines all over the world with Milosevic's actions, and they still 
blast the actions of this war criminal and his ethnic cleansing. Where 
is the media today, Mr. Speaker? Where are the front-page stories in 
our major newspapers about the ethnic cleansing that took place aimed 
specifically at Serbs in the last week?
  On the March 17, Mr. Speaker, a massive campaign of ethnic violence 
was carried out against Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanians that 
continued for several days. These efforts were carefully planned, 
orchestrated, and coordinated by the leadership structures of the 
Kosovo Albanians, and they are unacceptable. Mr. Speaker, the estimates 
are that tens of thousands of Kosovo Albanians participated in the 
pogrom which resulted in the destruction of 90 percent of Kosovo's 
remaining predominantly Serb areas.
  Mr. Speaker, 800-year-old churches and monasteries were destroyed. In 
total, 35 Christian holy sites were decimated. And even though they 
attempted to avoid personal atrocities against individuals, 31 Serbs 
were killed. Where is the outrage, Mr. Speaker? Where is the outrage 
that we saw from President Clinton in 1999 and Madeleine Albright? I 
have not seen former President Clinton or Madeleine Albright giving 
speeches today about the ethnic cleansing that was conducted against 
innocent Serbs, that were supposedly going to have their freedom and 
their own safety protected by the U.N. forces, including Americans 
working in Kosovo. In fact, Mr. Speaker, this entire incident needs the 
full attention of this Congress, this government and the United 
Nations, as well as NATO.

[[Page 5543]]

  There have been suggestions, Mr. Speaker, that there are ties between 
what occurred beginning on March 17 with al Qaeda, Hamas, the Albanian 
National Army, and Abu Bakr Sadik, among others. These ties need to be 
investigated fully. The campaign of ethnic cleansing that just took 
place against Serbs was conducted in such a way as to result in a 
little loss of life, although 31 people is significant, but with 
maximum material and psychological damage.
  Why would that take place, Mr. Speaker? Because at a time when 
America and the world's attention is focused on Iraq and Afghanistan 
and other parts of the world, there are those with the ties to the 
groups I just mentioned who saw an opportunity to ethnically cleanse 
Kosovo, so that at some point in time down the road the position could 
be made that this nation no longer really has a significant Serbian 
population.
  Mr. Speaker, where is the outrage from America? Where is the story 
from the American media about what happened in Serbia or in Kosovo last 
week? Are not the deaths of 31 innocent civilians, is not the burning 
of major religious institutions a story that deserves national focus in 
this country? We went to war, Mr. Speaker, in 1999. We went to war, and 
in fact we used NATO for the first and only time ever in an offensive 
military mode to remove Milosevic because of ethnic cleansing. Where is 
our outrage today with the ethnic cleansing that occurred last week 
against innocent Serbs? The attacks continued unabated for several 
days. In fact, in some cases they got worse as the attackers went in to 
all the Serbian enclaves.
  Where was the protection that these people were guaranteed when the 
war ended and President Clinton told us that we had been able to rid 
the world of a dictator who had committed ethnic cleansing? Where was 
the protection for the destruction not just of the churches but of the 
electrical grid system and the damage to the mobile phone relay 
stations? Where was the protection for the Serbs, the Kosovo Serbs who 
attempted to seek shelter in churches and monasteries, but were 
prevented from being able to do so because those very churches and 
monasteries were the explicit objects of attack?
  The estimates are, Mr. Speaker, that as many as 50,000 Kosovo 
Albanians were involved in this action. Is the world going to sit by 
and allow this kind of atrocity to occur? Is America going to pass some 
modest resolution that calls ethnic cleansing wrong? We did not do that 
in 1999, Mr. Speaker, when we had evidence there was ethnic cleansing. 
All of us spoke out against it. When we went to Vienna and met with our 
Russian counterparts, 11 of us, we had in-depth discussions that 
resulted in the Russian delegates from the major political factions 
agreeing with us that ethnic cleansing had occurred.
  Where is that same message today, Mr. Speaker? Why are our colleagues 
and why is the American media not demanding that the world do something 
about the ethnic cleansing that was perpetrated against innocent Serbs 
last week? And where are the investigations into the linkages of 
terrorist organizations that were allegedly involved in this activity?
  Mr. Speaker, the reputation of America, the U.N. and NATO are all on 
the line right now. We talked a good game in 1999. We stood together. 
Even though we disagreed on the method of removing Milosevic and the 
ethnic cleansing, we stood together as a Nation, Democrats and 
Republicans, and we said ethnic cleansing was wrong. Does the silence 
in this body today mean that ethnic cleansing is okay because it is not 
being led by one person like Milosevic?
  The Kosovo Albanians must be held accountable, Mr. Speaker. We must 
not let them off the hook. Ethnic cleansing is wrong, whether it is 
done by Serbs or whether it is done by Kosovo Albanians; and this 
Nation must stand up and shout out that message loud and clear. And if 
there was involvement by terrorist groups like Hamas and al Qaeda, then 
we need to know that.
  Mr. Speaker, many people around the world have spoken out on this 
violence. I want to quote a few, just so that my colleagues will 
understand that those closest to the situation fully understand what 
happened. This is not Congressman Curt Weldon alone making this claim.
  In fact, let me quote Admiral Gregory Johnson, CINSOUTH commander, 
United States Naval Forces, Europe. This was his quote: ``This kind of 
activity actually almost amounts to ethnic cleansing, and it cannot go 
on. That's why we came here in the first place.'' That is from our own 
Admiral Johnson, referring again to the term ``ethnic cleansing.''
  NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoo Scheffer: ``What happened last 
week, orchestrated and organized by extremist factions in the Albanian 
community, is unacceptable.''
  Javier Solana, General Secretary of the EU Council and High 
Representative for the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy: ``It's 
sad to see schools destroyed and children evacuated, people killed, and 
homes burnt. This is something which can't be tolerated. I'm shocked at 
the brutality, the destruction of schools, preventing children from 
being educated, the destruction of churches in which people only want 
to pray. Serbs are brave and must stay here. They must try to rebuild 
their homes, and we will help them with that. I'm leaving with a lot 
less optimism than when I came. I regret that tomorrow I will tell the 
EU Council of Ministers what I saw and heard here and that a huge 
amount of time was wasted here.''
  Mr. Speaker, this was last week, not 1999, when we went to war. 
Where's the outrage in America today over the ethnic cleansing and the 
killing that just occurred in Kosovo?
  Soloman Passy, OSCE Chairman-in-Office: ``This isn't about a chance 
happening, about Albanian extremist elements stirred up the violence.''
  Derek Chappell, UNMIK spokesman: ``There has been violence in Kosovo 
before, but this time it's coordinated action. The violence erupted in 
a number of places at the same time, which shows that it was planned in 
advance.''
  Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation: ``This is ethnic 
cleansing. Even our Western colleagues accept that this is nothing 
other than ethnic cleansing. It is essential that there be a 
responsibly strong reaction in order to protect the Kosovo Serbs.''
  Mr. Speaker, I led the delegation to Vienna to convince the leaders 
of the Russian factions that they should admit that Milosevic had been 
involved in ethnic cleansing. I will not stand by and allow now the 
Russians to see the hypocrisy in America when we will not call the same 
actions by the Kosovo Albanians ethnic cleansing. That is what it was. 
That is what it is, and it must be called; it must be called into play. 
There must be a full and complete investigation, and those individuals 
responsible and involved must be held accountable.
  I understand there are those making the rounds on the Hill this week 
and last week to try to cover up what occurred, to try to explain it 
away. You cannot explain away, Mr. Speaker, 31 deaths. You cannot 
explain away all the churches that were burned. You cannot explain away 
what the ultimate agenda was: to remove any presence of ethnic Serbs in 
Kosovo.

                              {time}  2230

  Mr. Speaker, the world needs to be consistent. The U.N., NATO, the 
U.S. and all of our allies must stand with the people of both Kosovo 
and Serbia for a consistent stand against ethnic cleansing, whoever may 
be the perpetrator. In this case, we have not done that, and it is 
wrong. An orchestrated campaign of ethnic cleansing must not be 
rewarded politically, and I will use my voice and will speak to our 
colleagues this week in encouraging a full and complete investigation 
of what occurred last week.
  I will also, Mr. Speaker, ask and demand that the commitments that we 
made in the former Yugoslavia be followed up. In my visits to Serbia, 
to Belgrade, we have not carried out the promises that we made as a 
Nation to the people once Milosevic was removed from office, and that 
is unacceptable.

[[Page 5544]]

  Mr. Speaker, I would hope that the media and Members of this body 
would focus on the plight of the innocent Serbian people who last week 
were dealt a very severe blow. Those Kosovo Serbs who were simply 
attempting to live in their enclaves were attacked, their institutions 
were destroyed and ethnic cleansing was done by those very people who 
cried ethnic cleansing back in 1999. This cannot be allowed to stand.
  Mr. Speaker, the second story that has not been fully covered by the 
American media except for perhaps one newspaper, the Washington Times, 
is what occurred in Libya less than 1 month ago. Mr. Speaker, the 
President of the United States deserves significant credit for a story 
that has largely gone unreported in the mainstream American media. I 
did not see headlines on our national newspapers about what happened in 
Libya. I did not see headlines about the 90-minute speech that Muammar 
Qaddafi gave to his people on March 2. And so tonight, Mr. Speaker, I 
also want to talk about the untold story of Libya.
  Mr. Speaker, approximately 8 months ago, after having helped form the 
International Energy Advisory Council made up of private energy 
corporations around the world, I was told by the representative of 
Libya, Abdul Majid Al -Mansouri, who is today here in Washington, that 
Libya was about ready to complete a major turnaround. I was intrigued. 
I asked to learn more. He told me that Qaddafi's son, Saif Islam Al-
Qaddafi, wanted to meet with me and that if I came to London in October 
for a meeting of the International Energy Advisory Council, I could 
listen to Saif Islam Al-Qaddafi tell me the story of the change that 
was about to occur in Libya.
  I could not make that trip in October, Mr. Speaker, but I did meet 
with Saif Islam Al-Qaddafi in January. We met for 3 hours and this 
young, 31-year-old, London-educated Ph.D. candidate in economics told 
me that his father was in the midst of a massive turnaround of this 
nation. Libya, which we have not had contact with for 29 years and 
which has been a major source of terrorism around the world, was about 
ready to change in a very dramatic way.
  I was intrigued when Saif Islam Al-Qaddafi told me the story in the 
meeting that we had, and I said I was interested in potentially taking 
a delegation of our colleagues to visit with Qaddafi himself. While 
meeting with Saif, he made a cellular phone call and came back and 
said, you're going to be invited into Tripoli within the next several 
days.
  Two days later, Mr. Speaker, a letter arrived from the Libyan 
parliament, the People's Congress, of what they call the Jamahiriya, 
their form of government, they call it a democracy, and that letter 
invited me to bring a delegation into Tripoli to visit.
  Working with the military and assembling a bipartisan delegation of 
our colleagues, as I always do, seven of us left Washington to visit 
Libya and then on to visit our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and 
spending a night at our military medical hospital at the military Air 
Force base in Ramstein, Germany. In fact, we brought 12 of our injured 
military personnel back home to America.
  We spent 2 days in Tripoli, Mr. Speaker, 14 meetings in two days. We 
visited all the top officials of the country: Prime Minister Ghanem, 
the foreign minister, the minister in charge of removing weapons of 
mass destruction from Libya. We met with the leadership of Al Fateh 
University, a university with 75,000 students. We met with the 
leadership of the Qaddafi Foundation, which is now settling the claims 
of the families of the victims of the Lockerbie downing, that terrible 
tragedy that occurred, killing over 100 American citizens; and we met 
with Qaddafi himself.
  We also traveled through the marketplace unannounced to gauge what 
the response of the Libyans would be to our visit. We had been told by 
officials at the National Security Council here in America that we 
would not be welcomed, the American flag would not be welcomed. Nothing 
could have been further from the truth. The reception was warm, and the 
attitude of every Libyan citizen that we met was positive. When they 
found out we were Americans, they put their hands out to shake our 
hands, they hugged us, and they thanked us for coming.
  Our meeting with Qaddafi was held in his tent, across the field 
filled with camels from his home that we had bombed in 1986. The home 
is still in the same shape that it was back then, with the furniture 
and the holes in the walls exactly as it was after the bombing, which, 
as we all know, killed his year-and-a-half-old daughter.
  The meeting with Qaddafi in the tent was a difficult one for those of 
us on the delegation because no one had met with Qaddafi from America. 
No one had been in Libya from America for 29 years. We were the first.
  When we met with Qaddafi, we told him that we were glad to be invited 
there. We were happy that his statements were such that he was 
renouncing terrorism and had pledged to give up his weapons of mass 
destruction and that we would judge him not by his words but by his 
actions.
  We also told him, Mr. Speaker, that we would never forgive and never 
forget what Qaddafi and the Libyans had done in helping to support 
terrorism around the world, especially the bombing of Pan Am 103 and 
the bombing in a Berlin nightclub that killed two young American GIs. 
But we told him that if he did what he said he was going to do in 
removing weapons of mass destruction, then our government would move 
quickly to establish a new direction in our relationship.
  Our trip was a successful trip, Mr. Speaker, so much so that as we 
left Libya that first trip back in early February I was invited to come 
back on March 2 and deliver a speech to the people of Libya at the 27th 
session of what they call the great Jamahiriya, the assemblage of the 
leadership of the governing bodies throughout the country. Again we 
assembled a bipartisan delegation, and this time I called Senator Joe 
Biden and asked him if he would join us to have both bodies and both 
parties involved. He agreed, Mr. Speaker, but could not be with us on 
our plane so was provided a separate plane by the White House and 
landed the day that we were leaving, although we waited to greet him at 
the airport terminal to give him a briefing on Qaddafi's speech.
  On our trip to Libya the second time, Mr. Speaker, we spent a day in 
Tripoli. We went back to Al Fateh University. We met with the students. 
We were in classrooms. We met with the faculty, the deans. We met with 
the Libyan Foundation. They told us about their plans for a massive 
human rights campaign. They explained to us their efforts to move Libya 
back into the family of nations. They talked about their efforts to 
deal with health care issues like AIDS. They talked about the Red 
Crescent and their attempt to bring Libya into the fold of the 
International Red Cross. They talked about Libya's efforts to deal with 
the human rights concerns of all Libyan people.
  We thanked them for their time and then moved on the next day to 
Sirte, the city where Qaddafi is from. In Sirte 2 days earlier, the 
leaders of the 53 African nations had assembled for meetings about the 
unity of Africa with Libya in a leadership role. When visiting Sirte, 
we were taken out to the site of one of the largest manmade 
construction projects in the world, the project that Libya has been 
undertaking for over 20 years, to build the largest manmade river on 
the face of the earth, some 7,000 kilometers. This manmade river, in 
concrete pipes that are 12 feet in diameter, is supplying water to 
areas of the desert to convert them into arable usage for agriculture 
and farming and for the people to live on.
  While we were there meeting with officials from all over the world, 
from the African nations, Europe, the Far East, China, South America, 
Central America, the Middle East, we prepared for the evening event, 
the opening session of the great Jamahiriya. We were ushered into the 
auditorium that probably seated 1,000 people, Mr. Speaker, and in that 
auditorium were 600 members of the elected bodies of the government of 
Libya, representing small

[[Page 5545]]

towns, large cities, trade groups, educators, and a diverse section of 
the Libyan population. Some were dressed in traditional attire. Others 
were dressed in western dress, all of them sitting waiting for the 
speakers to begin the opening session. Over 100 countries were there, 
Mr. Speaker, leaders of the foreign ministries, ambassadors, foreign 
ministers themselves and parliamentary heads.
  They brought our delegation in, Mr. Speaker, and placed the American 
Members of Congress in the front row for all to see. The session began 
with speeches by the Speaker of the Libyan parliament. That was 
followed by a speech from a female leader of the Libyan parliament who 
talked about women's issues in Libya. And then we had a speaker from 
the European parliament, the Egyptian government, the French parliament 
and several other countries from around the world.
  Within about 30 minutes, Mr. Speaker, I was introduced to speak on 
behalf of our delegation. I spoke for approximately 15 minutes, 
beginning and ending my comments with Arabic to show some sensitivity 
to these people who we had considered our enemy for 29 years.
  When I finished my speech and sat down, another speaker spoke for 2 
or 3 minutes, and then Colonel Qaddafi himself was introduced. Mr. 
Speaker, the fireside chat, because that is what it was, it was not 
really a speech, there were no notes, the fireside chat that Muammar 
Qaddafi gave on live TV throughout Libya that night carried by Al-
Jazeera but by no western media source, not one TV station, not CNN, 
not Fox, not ABC, NBC, CBS, none of them, but carried live throughout 
the Arab world, especially in Libya, was a speech that I equated with, 
at the end, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the event that 
eventful day in Moscow back in 1992 when President Boris Yeltsin stood 
atop the tank outside the Moscow White House surrounded by 100,000 
Russian people and he proclaimed that communism was dead, that the 
Soviet Union was no longer a nation.
  This speech was of equal importance because, for 90 minutes, Muammar 
Qaddafi, the symbol of terrorism throughout the world, the individual 
who funded the IRA in Ireland, who funded the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, 
who funded the radical Palestinians and who openly admitted that to his 
people that night, this speaker told his people that he had been wrong 
for 25 years. He sat there and he said, we supported all of these 
terrorist groups. We supported them with our money and with our 
efforts. And what did it get us? It got us isolation. It got us 
constant rebuke by nations of the West, Europe, America, and other 
nations around the world. It brought us sanctions by the U.N. and by 
America. It isolated us and our economy.
  He went on to say, we were a major supporter of Nelson Mandela in 
South Africa when he was imprisoned. But when Nelson Mandela came out 
of prison, he became a best friend of America.

                              {time}  2245

  He said, How can Nelson Mandela, the man we supported, be a best 
friend of America and we be America's enemy? He said, There is 
something wrong.
  As we sat there listening along with our European and other friends 
from around the world, our mouths were open. We could not believe the 
words he was saying to his own people. He referred to our delegation in 
the room at least five times; and he said, We are happy to have the 
Americans here for the first time in 3 decades. But he said, My speech 
and my decision is not because of the Americans alone. It is because we 
have decided that what is best for Libya and its people is to destroy 
and get rid of all of our weapons of mass destruction.
  And so to his people, after admitting that he had been wrong for 25 
years in supporting terrorism, Moammar Kadafi said, We no longer want 
any weapons of mass destruction; and we are giving it all up to the 
British, to the Americans, to the U.N.
  And, in fact, they have done that, Mr. Speaker. We brought back 
boatloads of materials, nuclear material down at Oakridge which 
Secretary Abraham showed off to the people of America just a week ago. 
Nuclear fuel rods back to Russia, chemical agents and precursors, 
mustard gas that we are now destroying. The material to build weapons 
of mass destruction were in the hands of Moammar Kadafi; and here he 
was telling his people, No longer do we need or do we want these kinds 
of materials.
  And then he went on to say, Mr. Speaker, in this amazing speech that 
America was never an enemy of Libya. He said, If America was our enemy, 
they would have taken us over. When we kicked them out of their 
military base in Tripoli, they would have stopped us and would have 
kept their position there, their troops there, and they would have 
attempted or would have successfully dominated our people and our 
country; but America did not do that.
  And so for 90 minutes, Mr. Speaker, in a speech that largely went 
unheard outside of Libya and the Middle East, which is a terrible 
tragedy, Moammar Kadafi did a 180 degree turnaround. Amazing, Mr. 
Speaker.
  But what was so disappointing is there were no headlines in the paper 
the next day. In fact, the only Washington reporter in the room that 
night was a reporter that I was able to get into the country, Ken 
Timmerman who writes for UPI and the Washington Times. Ken Timmerman on 
his own, because he could not fly with us on our plane, flew 36 hours 
and arrived in Libya at 4:00 a.m. in the morning. He went to all of our 
meetings. Nothing was closed. And I was able to get him a meeting 
personally with Colonel Kadafi. He asked all the tough questions, and 
he laid it all out in the Washington Times. But it was not in The 
Washington Post. It was not in New York Times. It was not in the 
Philadelphia Enquirer. It was not in the major newspapers of America, 
Mr. Speaker, this major change put forth by Moammar Kadafi. I would 
hope it was not because of bias, and I have really criticized the White 
House for not coming out and taking credit for this dramatic turnaround 
of our former enemy.
  The liberals left over from previous administrations are already 
starting to write their op-eds; it was not because of President Bush's 
policy. Let me tell the Members, Mr. Speaker, none of those who wrote 
those op-eds sat where I did for 2\1/2\ hours across the seat from 
Moammar Kadafi. So all of their rhetoric is just that, rhetoric. I sat 
across from Moammar Kadafi in his den, and I met with him for 45 
minutes alone with his interpreter; and I, Mr. Speaker, as much as 
anyone else on this planet know what was in Moammar Kadafi's mind when 
he made the decision. And for those pundits who are today suggesting 
that it had nothing to do with our activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, 
I would say, Mr. Speaker, they are full of you know what. They are 
simply attempting to politicize a result that was, to a large extent, 
caused by the foreign policy of our President.
  Mr. Speaker, I would grant to those colleagues assembled in our body 
here that that was not the only reason; but Moammar Kadafi himself told 
me that he realized that it was not worth the risk of having America 
come in and do to him what we did to Saddam Hussein. There were other 
issues. The influence of his 31-year-old son, Saif Islam Al Kadafi, had 
a major impact on his father. The need for a modernization of the 
Libyan economy had a major impact. But for someone to say, as various 
people have done in op-eds running around the country, that the foreign 
policy of this President had nothing to do with Moammar Kadafi's 
decision, they are just lying. They are naive. In fact, they are 
stupid. And I can say that, Mr. Speaker, because I am the only American 
that has sat across from Moammar Kadafi in the last 2 months, for 2 
hours and 45 minutes in one sitting and another hour in a second 
sitting. I understand what caused the decision.
  Mr. Speaker, after the speech there was a huge round of applause from 
the

[[Page 5546]]

assembled Libyan citizens in the auditorium and again the speech was 
carried live on Libyan TV; then they ushered our delegation back to the 
auditorium where they wanted us to greet Colonel Kadafi. 
Representatives from over 100 nations were following us all over the 
world. The Chinese had a delegation headed by the leader of their 
Parliament, the European Parliament, the French Parliament, all the 
African countries, the Middle Eastern countries, South America, Europe, 
Russia. They were all there. Even North Korea was there, Mr. Speaker.
  They put us up at the front of the line, the Americans. I walked up 
and put my hand out to shake Colonel Kadafi's hand; and I said, Your 
speech was extremely impressive. I think it will go down in history as 
a major event that will impact the world.
  He said, Congressman, I sat in the back in my office in the back of 
the auditorium and listened to your speech, and I enjoyed it very much.
  And I said, Would you do me the honor of signing my speech?
  So, Mr. Speaker, on that night of March 2, after 29 years, Colonel 
Kadafi, in front of our delegation and those with us from other 
nations, signed the speech. After he signed the speech, Mr. Speaker, he 
admired a pin that I had on my lapel. When we travel on CODELs, as all 
of our colleagues know, we wear the pin of our country and the pin of 
the flag of the country we are visiting. Our military escorts had given 
us pins with the American-Libyan flag interconnected. Kadafi admired 
the one on my lapel. I took it off, and I handed it to him. I said, 
Here, this is for you.
  He put it in his hand and thanked me. And his top assistant standing 
next to him, who is a personal friend of mine, looked at me and said, 
Congressman, put the pin on his lapel.
  So, Mr. Speaker, after 29 years of hatred between America and Libya, 
after bombings and killings that have killed innocent people, Moammar 
Kadafi wore the pin with the American flag and told us that he would 
follow through on each and every commitment that he had made to our 
State Department and to our President. In fact, it was amazing as all 
the delegations behind us, including the French, had to shake Kadafi's 
hand while the flag of America emblazoned his lapel.
  Our delegation, Mr. Speaker, was bipartisan; and our delegation 
consisted of Democrats and Republicans from throughout the country who 
were there for this historical evening and this historical speech.
  It is just a national tragedy, Mr. Speaker, an international tragedy, 
that the media throughout the world did not cover this event, did not 
have the photographs, did not have the text of what Moammar Kadafi told 
his people. But we will tell the story, Mr. Speaker, and we will go 
around and continue to support this administration in removing the 
weapons of mass destruction material that Kadafi has been giving us 
through his government.
  This week, Mr. Speaker, Majid Al-Mansouri is in America. He is 
visiting with our leaders. He is interacting with Members of Congress, 
and he is here as a private citizen but a close adviser to both Prime 
Minister Ghanem and Saif Islam Al Kadafi to establish contacts with 
Americans. So I will be calling upon our colleagues in this body to 
spend some time with Majid Al-Mansouri as he describes in detail the 
efforts now under way.
  Secretary Burns visited Libya last week and has begun the formal 
process of moving toward establishing an embassy in Tripoli and an 
embassy here in Washington.
  Mr. Speaker, this is an unbelievable story. I wish the White House 
would take more credit. Typically, politicians are always taking credit 
for things they had nothing to do with, and here is our President not 
even talking about the historical nature of Kadafi's turnaround. That 
is why I am here tonight, Mr. Speaker. I am here because the American 
media has not told the story except for the Washington Times and Ken 
Timmerman. And I am here to tell all those cynics that the turnaround 
is real. We must encourage this turnaround, continue to support the 
Lybians as the Kadafi Foundation fights for human rights, fights for 
the kind of health care needs, fights for the continuation of movement 
toward free and fair elections that we take for granted sometimes in 
this country.
  Two stories, Serbia and Libya, that need to be told in every 
newspaper in America.

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