[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[House]
[Pages 28027-28028]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               DESERT RAT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the United Nations had an 
update on the government of the tiny tyrant in the desert of Iran. The 
U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, 
or the IAEA, has released their new report on Iran's nuclear site. This 
facility, called Fordo, is being built inside a mountain near the 
religious city Qom. The IAEA concluded the facility had no relevance to 
any alleged civilian power program.
  Western analysts say Fordo's small size will only allow enrichment of 
small amounts of uranium enough to make a nuclear bomb, but not enough 
to fuel a nuclear power station. Are we surprised with this finding.
  The IAEA said in its report that Iran was not able to convince them 
that they weren't hiding other nuclear sites. Well, imagine that.
  The Government of Iran sponsors acts of terrorism all over the world. 
Now this thuggish government seeks to threaten the world with nuclear 
holocaust. For 30 years, Iran has used terrorism, assassination squads, 
and hostages as their foreign policy.
  And, Mr. Speaker, just look at the way this government treats its own 
people. The people of Iran live in fear of their own government and 
their own President. Iranian state television yesterday reported that 
five Iranian citizens were sentenced to death for peaceably protesting 
the fraudulent Presidential elections in June. That's right. They got 
the death penalty for exercising the human right to peaceably assemble. 
And in this Third World country, the death penalty rules the day.
  Further, Mr. Speaker, the world witnessed earlier this year how the 
government even murdered its own people in the streets who peacefully 
protested the Presidential elections that were rigged by Ahmadinejad.

                              {time}  1615

  The cries of the murdered are from the blood of the Iranian freedom 
patriots who want freedom in their own country. More than 100 prominent 
opposition leaders in Iran are now being tried for peacefully 
protesting. Brave men and women of Iran who refuse to be trampled by 
the tiny tyrant, Ahmadinejad.
  The United States should stand with the people of Iran that oppose 
this illegitimate reign of terror by their government and by their 
president. The government of Iran is the threat to world peace, 
especially peace in the Middle East. The sanctions that have been 
imposed by the U.N. and other Nations on Iran have failed to get the 
attention of the desert rat, Ahmadinejad. He continues to build his 
nuclear weapons. He continues to build intercontinental ballistic 
missiles so that he can fire those nuclear weapons. He continues to 
finance terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. He continues to 
meddle in the lawful affairs of Iraq, including supporting assaults and 
assassinations against the Iranian people that are in Camp Ashraf.
  He sends aid and comfort to al Qaeda and to the Taliban in 
Afghanistan that war against American troops and NATO troops. The key 
to world peace and peace in Iran is a regime change sponsored by the 
freedom-loving citizens of Iran. Those noble citizens who have now 
become the enemy of their own government deserve our support and our 
encouragement here in America.
  Mr. Speaker, deep down in the soul of every person who ever has been 
or ever will be born is the spark for freedom. The sons of liberty and 
the daughters of democracy in Iran have in their hearts that spark for 
liberty, and they will not be quenched by the tiny tyrant of Iran.
  It is imperative that the United States recognize the true threat to 
world peace, Ahmadinejad, and that we

[[Page 28028]]

as a Nation and that we as a people stand shoulder to shoulder with the 
good folks of Iran, the citizens of Iran that want a change in their 
government.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________