[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5672]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, it's the end of the week. 
Another week has gone by, and the Middle East continues to be a 
tinderbox waiting to explode. Abraham Lincoln said, ``Let the people 
know the facts and the country will be saved.'' And one of the things 
that bothers me is it's hard for us to get the facts sometimes.
  The President of the United States, Mr. Obama, this week had a summit 
that was supposed to deal with nuclear proliferation. And they had 
leaders from all over the world there, and they were talking about how 
to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons from getting into 
countries that may cause a problem and weapons that might get into 
terrorists' hands that could destroy an awful lot of the human race.
  But he didn't talk about Iran. It almost never happens anymore. He 
doesn't talk about Iran. They say that there are going to be sanctions 
put on Iran that's going to stop them from developing their nuclear 
weapons program, but the sanctions never take place. We have been 
talking about sanctions, I know, now for at least 5 or 6 years, and 
Iran just keeps thumbing their nose at the rest of the world, the 
United Nations, the United States, and everybody, and they continue to 
build a nuclear weapons program. They say they're not, but they are, 
and I think everybody in the world knows it.
  Now, this week, the head of the Iranian Nuclear Commission--I think 
that's the title he has--said that the Bushehr nuclear power plant will 
be operational in just a couple of months, the production of nuclear 
fissionable material within a couple of months. And our military 
leaders say that Iran could have a nuclear weapon in as little as 1 
year, and some people say a lot quicker than that. Yet instead of doing 
something about it, we continue to fool around talking about putting 
sanctions on them week after week, month after month, year after year, 
and they continue to build a nuclear weapons program.
  And when the head of Israel comes here, Mr. Netanyahu, the Prime 
Minister. The President gives him the cold shoulder and starts telling 
him if he doesn't do certain things that we're not going to be 
supporting them, as we should be. And I think that's terrible. Our only 
real strong ally in the Middle East that has been with us through thick 
and thin is Israel, and we should be supporting them right now and 
doing everything we can to keep the Middle East from going up in smoke. 
Because if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, there's no question in my mind 
that they'll use it if they get an opportunity. Because Mr. 
Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, continues to say he wants, as his 
number one objective, to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. And I 
can tell you right now if I know Bibi Netanyahu, and I think I do, he's 
not going to let that happen. So because we are fooling around, we are 
still dealing with the possibility of a major conflagration over there.
  Now, how does that affect the Middle East? Well, Israel is in 
jeopardy, but if Iran gets nuclear weapons and we don't do something 
about it and Israel doesn't, then all those countries around there are 
going to be intimidated, and they are all going to start moving toward 
radical Islam. That's my view, anyhow. And that is something we can't 
allow to happen. We can't allow that whole area to go down that road.
  But in addition to that, we get about 30 percent or 40 percent of our 
energy from the Middle East, and if that happens, we are going to have 
trouble getting the oil that we need to keep our lights on, to keep the 
gasoline in our cars, and all the other things that we do with energy.
  So I would just like to say that, instead of holding these 
conferences, if I were talking to him, Mr. President, and I know I 
can't, but if I were, I would say quit fooling around. Get with the 
program. Let Ahmadinejad and the Iranians know that we are not going to 
stand by and let them become a nuclear power with nuclear weapons. 
Because if they do, if they continue down that path, we along with 
Israel will do whatever is necessary to stop them.
  They need to know that. As long as they know we're just talking and 
pushing papers around and talking about sanctions, they are not going 
to stop. They are only going to stop when they know we mean business. 
And, Mr. President, you are sure not giving them the right signal, in 
my opinion.

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