[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13065-13066]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   STATE DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDS AND GRANTS AGREEMENT ON QUESTIONABLE 
                     BOSNIAN AMBASSADOR APPOINTMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Marchant). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) is recognized for 5 
minutes.

[[Page 13066]]


  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, in April of this year, my office 
expressed a deep and sincere concern to the State Department over 
agreeing to the designation of Bisera Turkovic as the new Bosnian 
Ambassador to the United States. At that time, State was postured to 
recommend an agreement on this appointment.
  After several discussions, the State Department asked me not to go 
public with my concerns because there was a pending deal with the 
Bosnian government to send Bosnian troops to Iraq in July. In good 
faith, Mr. Speaker, my office agreed not to publicly raise our very 
grave and sincere concerns.
  But, Mr. Speaker, our office was surprised and profoundly 
disappointed when we learned this past Wednesday, after literally 
months, that the State Department had granted agreement on this 
outrageous appointment without contacting us or informing us in any 
way.
  Mr. Speaker, President Bush has repeatedly and strongly stated that 
in this fight against terrorism, that you are ``either with us or you 
are against us.'' Yet, I am beginning to wonder if our own State 
Department is with us.
  Bisera Turkovic is one of the founders of the radical Islamist Muslim 
SDA Party in Bosnia, a party that has had, since its foundation, strong 
links with al Qaeda, numerous other terrorist organizations, and even 
the intelligence mechanisms of Iran.
  In 1939, Bisera Turkovic's father and Alija Izetbegovic started a 
group called the Young Muslims. After World War II, they were 
prosecuted as Nazi war criminals and spent time in prison together. 
Over the years, Dr. Turkovic was promoted by Izetbegovic and then 
founded the SDA Party with him in 1990.
  Alija Izetbegovic was a close confidante of Iran's Ayatollah 
Khomeini. And when he became President Izetbegovic, he recirculated his 
1970 Islamic Declaration and openly espoused his view that ``there can 
be no peace or coexistence between Islamic faith and non-Islamic 
faith.''
  Mr. Speaker, soon after the beginning of the Bosnian civil war in 
1992, Dr. Turkovic was accredited as Bosnian ambassador to Zagreb. It 
was this post, coordinating with others, that was constantly used by 
the SDA and their leadership to provide Bosnian passports, visas, 
humanitarian worker status, and logistical support to radical Islamist 
mujahideen coming into Bosnia to fight their own jihad there. 
Individuals such as Anwar Sha'ban, the spiritual leader of al Qaeda in 
Bosnia and the cousin of Osama bin Laden, Abu al-Madani, who was killed 
fighting soldiers in Sarajevo, and even Osama bin Laden himself entered 
Bosnia through Zagreb.
  In violation of a U.S. embargo, the SDA also organized a massive flow 
of weapons from Iran through Croatia during Bisera Turkovic's time as 
ambassador.
  When my office raised these concerns, Mr. Speaker, we were told that 
the actions during the war were Bosnian government policy at that time 
and that it was a long time ago. But, Mr. Speaker, can it possibly be 
the position of our State Department that despite the fact that we know 
that Iranian weapons were smuggled into Bosnia in contradiction to a 
U.N. embargo, and that foreign mujahideen were given documentation to 
enter Bosnia to fight a jihad, often fronting as humanitarian workers, 
that that is not enough evidence to deny diplomatic status to someone 
who was centrally involved and who remains a senior level official for 
the party that instituted these very policies?
  My office has also raised issues of concern with regard to Bisera 
Turkovic's ethical fitness, Mr. Speaker; and the State Department has 
said that ``we can't deny appointees on the basis of being corrupt.''
  Mr. Speaker, these actions on the part of our State Department are a 
disservice to our President, they are a disgrace to the United States 
of America, and they are a betrayal to the cause of human freedom. It 
is past time that the State Department start acting like it represents 
the interests of America and the citizens of this Nation. The people of 
this Nation deserve better than to be served by a State Department that 
aids our enemies and then lies to cover its actions.

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