[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3701-3704]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           IRAN NEGOTIATIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Jenkins of West Virginia). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting these days to hear our 
current Secretary of State, someone who as a Congressman went to 
Central America and basically was negotiating a deal with a communist 
leader--corrupt--at the same time the Reagan administration was 
conducting negotiations.
  I am very proud of my Senate friends down at the other end of the 
Capitol who sent a letter to Iran, since the former constitutional law 
instructor--not professor, but instructor--from Chicago doesn't seem to 
realize he needs the Senate advice and consent in order to create a 
binding treaty with another country, especially one that actually has a 
major impact on the ability to continue to exist for Israel and the 
United States.
  If this President and Secretary of State get the deal that includes 
everything that we would want that this administration has not already 
taken off the table overtly, then it means nuclear proliferation in the 
Middle East.
  Our allies in the Middle East, so-called Saudi Arabia; Qatar; UAE; 
Egypt; and, in fact, most of the nations in the Middle East--Jordan, 
perhaps--are all going to need nuclear weapons to protect themselves.
  If this administration continues to persist with anything that does 
not require dismantling and stoppage of the spinning of the centrifuges 
in Iran that continue to develop nuclear material for bombs, then the 
whole world is going to be in trouble.
  In fact, the negotiations have become so desperate on the part of our 
own administration that then-Congressman John Kerry would try to sit 
down and negotiate with a communist criminal leader in Central America 
and undermine the efforts of the Reagan administration.
  Our friends down the hall--47 Senators--were completely aboveboard. 
They said nothing inappropriate. There was no crime, no treason. They 
were just advising people to the negotiations that here is what the 
U.S. Constitution says.
  Apparently, they had not been so advised by our constitutional law 
instructor Commander in Chief, so it is important that somebody did, 
and I am pleased that my colleague and friend Tom Cotton did just that.
  But here we are. I think this article from townhall.com by Katie 
Pavlich illustrates very clearly just how desperate this administration 
has gotten to get any kind of deal, just any kind of deal so they can 
say they got a deal.
  Yes, okay, Iran has an agreement that will allow Iran to continue to 
cheat, as they have been found to have done a number of times, so it 
doesn't actually allow them to have not just a nuke in 10 years, they 
could covertly develop a nuke within the year if they so wished.
  My friends Dana Rohrabacher and Steve King met with IAEA 
representatives who had been inspecting Iran, and

[[Page 3702]]

it left me extremely concerned about how quickly, easily, and covertly 
Iran could go ahead and move to the next step, even beyond 5 or 20 
percent enrichment, as Iran has gotten.
  Here is this article from Katie Pavlich from March 16. In part, she 
says:

       According to a report in The Times of Israel, the National 
     Intelligence Agency delivered a report to Congress that 
     scraps Iran and Hezbollah from the terrorism list, citing the 
     country's work against ISIS as one of the reasons why.

  Mr. Speaker, if this administration is scrapping--taking--Iran and 
Hezbollah off the terrorist list, then the last thing we need this 
administration doing is negotiating with these terrorists--this 
terrorist regime--trying to work out a deal because anybody that would 
say Iran and Hezbollah are not a terrorist country and terrorist 
organization should not be negotiating anything for the United States 
of America, where the vast bulk--thank God--of the American people do 
not want to support, lend credence to, or in any way help terrorist 
countries or a terrorist organization like Hezbollah.
  It goes ahead and quotes from the National Intelligence Agency report 
from The Times of Israel and then has Ms. Pavlich's question:

       Is ISIS a threat? Absolutely. Should we align ourselves 
     with or appease Iran because of their work against ISIS? 
     Absolutely not.
       As a reminder, Hezbollah, funded by Iran, is the largest 
     terror organization in the world. Before 9/11, Hezbollah, not 
     al Qaeda, was responsible for the majority of U.S. terrorism 
     deaths, including the 1983 bombings of U.S. Marine barracks 
     and U.S. Embassy in Beirut, in addition to a series of 
     attacks in the 1980s.
       Hezbollah is also responsible for countless attacks on 
     Israel. In 1992, Hezbollah, with help from Iran, bombed the 
     Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. In 1994, they bombed the 
     Jewish community center in the same South American city.
       Those are just a handful of examples that don't even 
     account for the thousands of rockets Hezbollah has launched 
     into Israel throughout the years.
       So what's going on here? Why strip Hezbollah and its 
     funding parent Iran from the terrorism label? Especially now? 
     It all points back to getting President Obama his deal with 
     Iran at all costs.
       This reclassification of Iran and Hezbollah without the 
     terrorism label is a certain warning sign the deal the White 
     House is working on to appease the rogue regime does not have 
     the best interests of the United States as a top priority.

  Since, apparently, this administration is not aware, I would hope, 
Mr. Speaker, our colleagues here in Congress would want to be aware of 
what the administration isn't. Maybe that comes from not reading the 
intelligence reports, but you don't even have to get an intelligence 
report from an intelligence agency.
  This, for example, comes from the Committee for Accuracy in Middle 
East Reporting in America, and it is a timeline for Hezbollah violence.

       1982, Israel invades Lebanon to drive out the PLO's 
     terrorist army, which had frequently attacked Israel from its 
     informal ``state within a state'' in southern Lebanon.
       Hezbollah, a Shiite group inspired by the teachings and 
     revolution of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, is created with the 
     assistance of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
       The group is called Hezbollah, or ``party of God'' after 
     initially taking responsibility for attacks under the name 
     ``Islamic jihad.''

  Some thought that was the Republican Party, but actually it is 
Hezbollah that is the party of God.

                              {time}  1830

       In July of 1982, the president of American University in 
     Beirut, Davis S. Dodge, is kidnapped. Hezbollah is believed 
     to be behind this and most of the other 30 Westerners 
     kidnapped over the next 10 years.
       April 18, 1983, Hezbollah attacks the U.S. Embassy in 
     Beirut with a car bomb, killing 63 people, 17 of whom were 
     American citizens.
       October 23, 1983, the group attacks a U.S. Marine barracks 
     with a truck bomb, killing 241 American military personnel 
     stationed in Beirut as part of the peacekeeping force. A 
     separate attack against the French military compound in 
     Beirut kills 58.

  Now, Mr. Speaker, I understand that, to the Obama administration, the 
killing of all these marines, the killing of all these American 
citizens in Beirut, and the kidnapping of Americans and other diplomats 
by Hezbollah would be considered workplace violence. I get that. But to 
most people in America, they understand these are acts of sheer 
terrorism, and they need to be called what they are.

       September of 1984, the group attacks the U.S. Embassy annex 
     in Beirut with a car bomb, killing two Americans and 22 
     others.

  More workplace violence.

       March of 1984, William F. Buckley, a CIA operative working 
     at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, is kidnapped and later 
     murdered.
       April of 1984, Hezbollah attacks a restaurant near the U.S. 
     Air Force Base in Spain. The bombing kills 18 U.S. 
     servicemen, injuries 83.
       December of '84, Hezbollah terrorists hijack a Kuwait 
     Airlines plane. Four passengers are murdered, including two 
     Americans.

  I don't see how this administration would be able to classify that 
hijacking and murders as workplace violence, but you never know.

       February 1985, Hezbollah publicizes its manifesto. It notes 
     that the group's struggle will continue until Israel is 
     destroyed and rejects any cease-fire or peace treaty with 
     Israel. The document also attacks the U.S. and France.
       June 1985, Hezbollah terrorists attack TWA Flight 847. The 
     hijackers severely beat passenger Robert Stethem, a U.S. Navy 
     diver, before killing him and dumping his body onto the 
     tarmac at the Beirut airport. Other passengers are held 
     hostage before being released on June 30.

  I am hoping, Mr. Speaker, that many Americans will remember these 
events and know how strongly we felt about the terrorism being carried 
out by Hezbollah, that this administration would like to call a peace-
seeking organization. Yeah, it is a peace-seeking organization, just 
like a heat-seeking missile is a peacekeeping missile. They will blow 
up anything that they can get ahold of that is American.

       December '86, under the alias of Organization of Oppressed 
     on Earth, Hezbollah announces it had kidnapped and murdered 
     three Lebanese Jews. The organization previously had taken 
     responsibility for killing four other Jews since 1984.
       February of '88, Hezbollah kidnaps Colonel William Higgins, 
     a U.S. Marine serving with a U.N. truce-monitoring group in 
     Lebanon, and murders him.
       October of '89, members of the dissolved Lebanese 
     Parliament ratify the Taif Agreement. Although the agreement 
     calls for the disbanding of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese 
     militias, Hezbollah remains active.
       February '92, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah takes over Hezbollah 
     after Israel kills the group's leader, Abbas Musawi.
       March of '92, with the help of Iranian intelligence, 
     Hezbollah bombs the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 
     29, injuring over 200.
       July 1994, Hezbollah bombs the Jewish Community Center in 
     Buenos Aires, again with Iranian help, killing 86 and 
     injuring over 200.
       November 1995, Hezbollah bombards towns in northern Israel 
     with volleys of Katyusha rockets in one of the group's 
     numerous attacks on Israeli civilians.
       March '96, Hezbollah fires 28 Katyusha rockets into 
     northern Israeli towns. A week later, the group fires 16 
     rockets, injuring 36 Israelis. Israel responds with a major 
     offensive known as the ``Grapes of Wrath'' operation to stop 
     Hezbollah rocket fire.
       August 1997, Hezbollah opened fire on northern Israel with 
     dozens of rockets in one of the group's numerous attacks on 
     Israeli civilians.
       October of '97, the United States lists Hezbollah as a 
     terrorist organization.

  And parenthetically, we might insert, this is October of 1997. This 
is the Clinton administration. This is the Clinton administration that 
heard cries of Muslims in other parts of the world, and it seemed that, 
despite the fact that the Clinton administration rushed, sent military 
to assist Muslims in other parts of the world, all the while, Islamic 
terrorists were plotting to blow up the World Trade Centers by sending 
planes crashing into them.
  Now, it would seem, if these were peace-seeking organizations, like 
Hezbollah, like the Nation of Iran, the administration of that nation, 
at least they would take note that, gee, the Clinton administration is 
reaching out every way they can to help Muslims in the world, and we 
should take note of that and ease up.
  But that was not happening, not by a terrorist group like Hezbollah. 
In fact, in May of 1999, Hezbollah opens fire on northern Israel with 
dozens of rockets in one of the group's numerous attacks on Israeli 
civilians.

       June of '99, Hezbollah opens fire on northern Israel, 
     killing two.
       May of 2000, Israel withdraws troops from Lebanon after 18 
     years of patrolling the ``security zone,'' a strip of land in 
     the south of

[[Page 3703]]

     the country. The security zone was set up to prevent attacks 
     on northern Israel.
       June of 2000, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan certifies 
     Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon. Shortly thereafter, the 
     U.N. Security Council endorses Annan's report. Hezbollah, 
     nonetheless, alleges Israel occupies Lebanon, claiming the 
     small Shebaa Farms area Israel captured from Syria during the 
     1967 war as Lebanese territory.

  It seems Hezbollah was so intent on being a terrorist organization, 
even when Israel handed over land that it was claiming, they still were 
not content. They wanted terrorism; and, actually, they want Israel and 
the United States eliminated.

       October of 2000, Hezbollah attacks Israel military posts 
     and raids Israel, kidnapping three Israeli soldiers.
       March 2001, the British Government adds Hezbollah's 
     ``military wing'' to its list of outlawed terrorist 
     organizations.
       April 2002, Hezbollah launches Katyushas into northern 
     Israeli town, and the assault comes amidst almost daily 
     Hezbollah attacks against Israeli troops in Shebaa Farms.
       December 2002, Canada lists Hezbollah as a terrorist 
     organization.
       August 2003, Hezbollah shells and kills 16-year-old Israeli 
     boy, wounds others.
       June 2003, Australia lists Hezbollah's ``military wing'' as 
     a terrorist organization.
       September 2004, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 calls 
     for the ``disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-
     Lebanese militias,'' a reference to Hezbollah.
       December 2004, both the United States and France bans 
     Hezbollah's satellite television network, Al-Manar. A U.S. 
     State Department spokesman notes the channel ``preaches 
     violence and hatred.''
       March 2005, the European Parliament overwhelmingly passes a 
     resolution stating: ``Parliament considers that clear 
     evidence exists of terrorist activities by Hezbollah. The 
     European Union Council should take all necessary steps to 
     curtail them.'' The European Union, nonetheless, refrains 
     from placing the group on its list of terrorist 
     organizations.
       July of 2006, Hezbollah attacks Israel with Katyushas, 
     crosses the border, kidnaps two Israeli soldiers. Three 
     Israeli soldiers are killed in the initial attack. Five more 
     soldiers are killed as Israel launches an operation to rescue 
     the soldiers and push Hezbollah from its border. And during 
     the ensuing war, Hezbollah launches rockets at civilian 
     targets.
       August 2006, the United Nations Security Council 
     unanimously adopts Resolution 1701, which calls for a 
     cessation of hostilities, the deployment of Lebanese and U.N. 
     forces into southern Lebanon, and the disarmament of armed 
     groups in Lebanon.

  So anybody in this administration here in the U.S. or elsewhere who 
thinks that Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization then clearly 
thinks that every place that Hezbollah has killed innocent people is 
just another workplace where violence occurred, a random act of 
violence or violence in the workplace, because it is insane to think 
that Iran is not a sponsor of terrorism, that Iran has not killed more 
Americans than any other country in the last 15 years. It is 
incredible. That is outside of 9/11, the killing of approximately 3,000 
Americans on 9/11 between the Pentagon and New York City.
  But as far as American servicemembers fighting in Iraq, it was Iran 
who was behind the killing of most of those American servicemembers. 
Iran has fought vehemently to eliminate the United States' presence 
from Iraq.
  I think if we could get to the bottom of why there was not a status 
of forces agreement, you would find that it is because the Ayatollah 
Khomeini, Ahmadinejad, President at the time, said they believed that 
the twelfth imam, the Mahdi, would come, would arise back to power, 
would come to power amidst chaos.
  As I understand their beliefs and their beliefs in prophecy, he would 
first come to reign from the town of Kufa, which the way the lines were 
drawn in the 20th century put Kufa in Iraq.
  Unfortunately, the State Department, the Justice Department, the 
intelligence agencies under the Obama administration have had their 
training materials regarding the beliefs of radical Islamists purged, 
so they are not allowed to learn exactly what our enemy believes and 
what they have believed, and so it is hard for them to anticipate what 
our enemies want to do. And perhaps all the purging has helped lead 
this administration to the idea that if we purge all the educational 
material about what radical Islamists believe, then maybe it won't be 
actual and factual.

                              {time}  1845

  Yet the New York Post says: ``ISIS Accepts Boko Haram's Pledge of 
Allegiance.''
  We had an article in the last recent weeks where a Catholic bishop 
from Nigeria had indicated that the Obama administration basically was 
indicating that if Nigeria did not amend their marriage laws to go 
against the laws of nature and nature's god, as Christians believe and 
as the Bible teaches, then the Obama administration would not help them 
at all against the terrorist activities of Boko Haram.
  I don't know what kind of blindness it takes or prejudice it takes to 
see the suffering in Africa, in a place like Nigeria, and hold the 
hands and weep with the parents of daughters who were kidnapped by Boko 
Haram, and understand the suffering being brought against Christians 
for their beliefs, these Christian girls that Boko Haram has kidnapped, 
forced into sexual slavery--what kind of callousness does it take to 
see that suffering and say, Oh, no, if you don't go against your 
religious beliefs in marriage between a man and a woman, we are not 
going to help you, and we are going to let Boko Haram continue to 
terrorize you and rape your women.
  You talk about a war against women.
  When I asked these mothers of the girls that were kidnapped there, 
Did they initially attack your daughters' school because it was a 
girls' school? they said, No, no. They hate girls. They consider them 
nothing. But they attacked the school because it is Christian.
  There is a report from Investor's Business Daily, March 13, that says 
Islamic State recruits could enter the United States via the Caribbean. 
Well, that is not really a news flash.
  Another story, written by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D., March 17: ``ISIS 
Kidnaps 20 Doctors and Nurses in Libya.''
  A story from Charles Spiering, 17 March: ``President Obama Blames 
Bush for Rise of ISIS.''
  Well, actually, if you want to talk about class, despite my 
disagreement with some of George W. Bush's policies and despite what 
some have said, he had enough class that after 9/11 he never pointed 
the finger at the Clinton administration. He knew that even though 9/11 
was being plotted and planned during the Clinton administration and 
there was an opportunity in the Clinton administration to take out 
Osama bin Laden that was not seized upon, that there were so many 
things that might have been stopped along the way, he didn't blame 
President Clinton because he had enough class to know that it was an 
attack by terrorists, and they should be made to pay.
  If you really want to point the finger, it would go clear back to the 
late seventies during the days I was in the United States Army and we 
had what was considered, under most everybody's version of 
international law, an act of war against the United States in Iran when 
our Embassy was attacked and our people were taken hostage. And we 
didn't help.
  You go back before that, to the Carter administration turning its 
back upon the shah of Iran--not a great guy, not a good man, from what 
we understand, but he was able to keep radical Islam contained. But 
after the Carter administration turned its back on the shah and 
encouraged his overthrow, you had the coming from exile of Ayatollah 
Khomeini, and President Carter welcomed him as a man of peace. As a 
result, radical Islam, once again, raised its ugly head, as it does 
from time to time.
  And it is only all-out war against radical Islam that puts it in a 
box--sometimes for 50 years, sometimes for 100 years. It depends on how 
staunch the fight is against them.
  But President Bush did not blame President Carter. There were 
mistakes all along the way.
  When the marine barracks in Beirut was hit, the Democrat-controlled 
Congress made clear that they were not going to fund any more U.S. 
peacekeeping troops in Beirut. Reagan brought them home. He should have 
taken them out and done whatever it took, but he didn't.

[[Page 3704]]

  Now this administration, in order to get any deal that is a terrible 
deal, is willing to turn its back on the fact that Iran and Hezbollah 
have terrorists in their lead, and they should not be recognized as 
anything but terrorists.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________