+ 4 F 76/1. L 52/16 LEGISLATION TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQI CHEMICAL USE MARKUP BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDREDTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H.R. 5337 SEPTEMBER 22, 1988 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ALVANIA S PENNSYLV WNIVERSITY JAN10 1989 DOCUMENT LECTION U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1988 90-437 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 90-437 - 88 - 1 IRAQ010 (a) UNITED NATIONS, --The Congress calls upon the 2 President-- (1) to bring immediately to the attention of the Secretary General of the United Nations, and to pursue before the Security Council of the United Nations, the matter of Iraq's use of poison gas against its own nationals, most of whom are defenseless civilians; and (2) to demand that, in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 620, appropriate and effective measures. be taken against Iraq for its repeated use of chemical weapons. (b) OTHER MULTILATERAL EFFORTS,--(1) The Congress calls 13 upon the President to seek multinational cooperation in 14 imposing sanctions and otherwise bringing pressure on Iraq in 15 order to obtain a cessation of Iraq's use of chemical 16 weapons. (2) The Congress also call upon the President to seek 18 multilateral cooperation in order to obtain Iraqi respect for 19 the internationally recognized human rights of the Kurdish 20 minority in Iraq. 21 . (3) It is the sense of the Congress that the United 22 States should cooperate with and, as appropriate, participate 23 in multilateral efforts to assist Kurdish refugees who are in 24 need of medical treatment and other humanitarian aid. 10 Chairman FASCELL. Without objection the statement of the rank- ing member of the committee, the distinguished member from Michigan, Mr. Broomfield, will be put in the record at this point. [The statement follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM S. BROOMFIELD The measure we have before us is a clear expression of our condemnation of the Government of Iraq for its use of chemical weapons against its Kurdish minorities. The recent reports from northern Iraq paint a gruesome picture of the use of chemi- cal weapons against innocent men, women and children. I believe that the Committee on Foreign Affairs should make a clear statement that we find the use of chemical weapons repugnant and that we are prepared to act decisively if chemical weapons use is not halted immediately. Our national policy is to achieve a negotiated total ban on chemical weapons. Chemical weapons proliferation in the Third World is one of the most serious prob- lems facing the global community today. Often described as the poor man's atomic bomb, chemical weapons use appears to be on the rise, and recent news reports sug- gest that this problem may be becoming even more serious. The bill we are presently considering offers a formula which is designed to get results. The sanction package before us is closer to the Administration's position than the Pell language passed by the Senate, yet it still retains tough, immediate sanctions designed to illustrate just how serious we are about stopping chemical weapons use now. Mr. Chairman, this bill is fashioned in a way which is designed to get results. It will give both the present Administration and the next President meaningful op- tions to stop the senseless use of chemical weapons by Iraq. I support this measure and urge its passage. Chairman FASCELL. Mr. Gilman? Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Chairman, since there are some discussions un- derway now with regard to this proposal would it be possible to recess consideration of this measure at this time until those discus- sions are completed? Chairman FASCELL. Why don't we just go forward with the dis- cussion, Mr. Gilman, and go as far as some of the other subject matters on here that are necessary, and then if it becomes desira- ble to seek a recess I will be guided by the wishes of the committee. Mr. GILMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman FASCELL. Mr. Lantos is an original sponsor of the legis- lation and I know he wants to talk on it, so the chair will recognize the gentleman from California. Mr. LANTOS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as you know, Senator Pell introduced legislation in the other body which was passed unanimously. It's a strong and powerful piece of legislation. It states that Iraq used poison gas, that we are outraged, and that we are prepared to impose a variety of sanctions on Iraq. We are inviting other like minded nations to join us. As you indicated, Mr. Chairman, I have introduced identical leg- islation in the House with my distinguished Republican Co-Chair- man of the Human Rights Caucus, Congressman Porter of Illinois. 1 I would be perfectly happy to vote on that piece of legislation which I am sure would receive equally strong support in the House. 1 The bill referred to appears in app. 2. 19 Mr. SOLARZ. Were they permitted to go to areas where refugees had reported chemical weapon attacks that they can place? Mr. BURLEIGH. To the best of my knowledge they were. They were allowed to travel widely in northern Iraq. Mr. SOLARZ. Do we know what they concluded? Mr. BURLEIGH. Well, I mean, there were many different journal- ists, but I believe they concluded that they had some indications of use from some of their interviews, but no conclusive evidence. Mr. SOLARZ. Finally, I have before me something labeled, Admin- istration Statement on the House Bill Imposing Sanctions on Iraq, which you seem to oppose. You say that if the results of our discussions with the govern- ment of Iraq are unsatisfactory or if there is evidence of further use by Iraq of chemical weapons we would reconsider this position. It's nice to know that you would reconsider it. But if in fact your discussions are unsatisfactory or if there is further evidence, would you then be prepared to support this legis- lation or are you not yet able or willing to say that even then you would support it? Mr. BURLEIGH, We would, as we say in the statement, certainly reconsider our position, and I think I can't go beyond that today. Mr. SOLARZ. Then I have to say, I support the legislation, but I do believe that if there is any merit to your argument it has to be based on an assumption that after you are given some more time, if it doesn't produce desired results, then we would move to the im- position of sanctions. If you're not even willing to indicate that, then a failure to enact this legislation would leave us in a position in which we could pre- sumably anticipate that there would be no sanctions even if our ef- forts to get cooperation from the Iraqis were unsuccessful. That's not a very persuasive position. Mr. BURLEIGH. I take your point, and you should not assume that there would not be support from the Administration in such a cir- cumstance in the future. Our efforts which are many faceted now are to try to reach an understanding with the government of Iraq which we would closely monitor to make sure that it is effective that the government of Iraq has foresworn future use of chemical warfare. Mr. SOLARZ. Why do you believe the enactment of this legislation would be counterproductive, given the extent to which you have al- ready imposed some administrative restrictions on exports to Iraq? Mr. BURLEIGH. We're in a process, a diplomatic process with the government of Iraq, and we take the Foreign Minister's statement of September 17th as an important statement. We are continuing to try to further clarify the government of Iraq's position. As we have said publicly here, we take the Foreign Minister's announcement to mean that Iraq has agreed to no further use, in- ternal or external, of chemical weapons. We think that is an impor- tant step and that's what our efforts are aimed at. I believe we have the same goal here, it's a question of means to get to that goal. Chairman FASCELL. Is there further discussion or are there any amendments? Mr. Lantos. May I ask a question of the Secretary? Aoooo]426638