[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 23628]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  (At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)

                       IRAN CONFERENCE RESOLUTION

 Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, next week the Iranian 
Government and its President, Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad, will convene a 2-day 
conference in Tehran on the Holocaust.
  The Iranians say their conference will bring together the vast array 
of ``opinions'' on the Holocaust. Allegedly more than 60 so-called 
scholars from 30 countries will participate.
  I can only imagine the hatred that will be on display.
  It is no secret that President Ahmadi-Nejad has a long history of 
distortion of the truth and hatred for the Jewish people. It is also 
shocking that he has called for the destruction of the sovereign, 
democratic State of Israel.
  But what is so revolting is how casually he tries to alter history 
and the memory of those who perished at the hands of the Nazis.
  To make matters worse, Iran is holding this conference on 
International Human Rights Day
  Last year at an Islamic conference in Saudi Arabia, the Iranian 
President told reporters that the Holocaust had been used as a tool of 
propaganda, stating that the scale of the Holocaust had been 
exaggerated. He also sent a 3,000-word letter to German Chancellor, 
Angela Merkel, outlining his arguments.
  Now, the Iranians are trying to assure the world that this conference 
will be free of anti-Semitism and that it will explore views of ``both 
sides.'' Both sides? It is clear that denial is one of the sides.
  The Holocaust is an undeniable fact of history, and the upcoming 
conference will serve only to perpetuate intolerance. Eleven million 
people in total, including six million Jews, were viciously murdered in 
Nazi death camps. No one living in the rational world denies this fact.
  The Iranian President has a clear track record of poisonous hatred. 
He has stated that ``Israel must be wiped off the map.'' He also said 
``Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic 
nations' fury.''
  Mr. President, I am pleased that the Senate is poised to take up and 
adopt a resolution that I have drafted--along with Senators Biden and 
Clinton--that condemns the Iranians and this sham conference. It is 
important that the Senate go on record condemning this hate and 
intolerance.

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