COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS JESSE HELMS, North Carolina, Chairman RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut ROD GRAMS, Minnesota JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri BARBARA BOXER, California BILL FRIST, Tennessee ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey LINCOLN D. CHAFEE, Rhode Island STEPHEN E. BIEGUN, Staff Director EDWIN K. HALL, Minority Staff Director ries SUBCOMMITTEE ON NEAR EASTERN AND SOUTH ASIAN AFFAIRS SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas, Chairman JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey ROD GRAMS, Minnesota PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut Server (II) 2 sion of international support for isolating the Saddam Hussein re- gime. This is not a complex matter, but the Clinton administration has been unable to explain why it is imperative that sanctions remain on Iraq, failed to explain that. They have failed to remind the world at large that Saddam Hussein has killed tens of thousands of his own people, and that it is his choice, and his choice alone, whether sanctions are lifted. That is up to Saddam Hussein. They seem to forget that Saddam's devotion to amassing weapons of mass destruction is the only remaining obstacle to Iraq's rehabilita- tion. That is it. As far as the opposition is concerned, the administration has dis- bursed approximately $20,000, and I want to emphasize that. The administration has disbursed approximately $20,000 of the $97 million in available funds under the Iraq Liberation Act (ILA). I guess that is for a few fax machines, I am not sure. Of $10 million appropriated for the opposition and for the prosecution of war crimes in fiscal year 2000, nothing-nothing has been spent. On Monday, representatives from the Iraq National Congress, which we will hear from today, have advised President Gore. Mi- raculously, on Tuesday the administration announced that 140 Iraqi National Congress (INC) men would be trained under the ILA. Now, I am not sure trained for what. I hope we can hear a little bit about that today exactly whether it is going to be trained on how to use those fax machines, or if it is going to be on other things. They also announced they would support an amendment we have in this year's foreign operations appropriations bill giving $15 mil- lion to the INC for humanitarian deliveries into Iraq. This is the first time since the signature of the Iraq Liberation Act that we have seen someone in this administration galvanized to do some- thing for the opposition. The usual routine we hear in Congress is cannot do it, will not do it, do not want to do it, do not like them anyway. Most memo- rably, General Zinni, soon to be former Commander of CENTCOM, announced that the Congress was, quote, in his words “stupid to support the opposition.” Either Saddam is a long-term threat or he is not. If he is, then we must do something. Short of invading Iraq once again, we must support the opposition. The opposition is not a group of Boy Scouts, nor is it a group of Jeffersonian Democrats. It is an agglomeration of very different people and different groups who have been crushed under Saddam Hussein for decades. They are the people willing to work with the United States to overthrow Saddam Hus- sein. They are the people with the courage to come to us. They have been treated with complete contempt by this administration. To date, the Vice President has done nothing for this group. Maybe this meeting will mark a turning point. I hope so. Maybe it is just politics as usual. We will find out soon. I am pleased again to have both of you here. I hope we can get some further illumination from the meeting with the Vice Presi- dent, and some of your thoughts on this, Mr. Perle, as to what is taking place in the administration and what needs to take place, and what possibly might occur under future administrations. 14 Mr. AL-BATATT (as translated). There is no secret in what Sad- dam is doing inside Iraq as far as crimes against humanity and against the Iraqi people. There has been no outrage in history that has not been committed by Saddam, Saddam's crimes against hu- manity and ecology and everything that has been created in this world. He has committed crimes against his neighbors as well as against his people and against humanity. The draining of the marshes in Iraq caused destruction both to the ecology and to the animal and feed stock as well as the fish and the humans who live in the area. Senator BROWNBACK. Can I ask what is going on in opposition to Saddam in the south? Mr. AL-BATATT. All Iraqi peoples suffer from Saddam's actions. They are in opposition. We fight Saddam in the marshes of Iraq that have been drained but have been liberated, and the last battle was on 15 May of this year in the northern area near Basra. How- ever, we fought alone, and we did not get any aid to help us fight to destroy Saddam and his forces. I am sorry to say that the U.S. Government that has claimed support for human rights and humanity in the world and has taken upon itself the responsibilities-nobody forced it to—to pro- tect the Iraqi people and even the Iraq Liberation Act, unfortu- nately American aircraft fly over us, as with our being continuously bombarded by Saddam's forces, and that to us implies what is hap- pening is not reality. We are an uprising in Iraq and the whole Iraqi people are in op- position to Saddam, but we need weapons, and other support such as radio stations and food support. Senator BROWNBACK. Thank you very much for the updated in- formation of what is taking place. I appreciate that greatly. We have a vote on the floor, and I am going to have to go over to vote. I will be back in 10 minutes and will be able to walk over and back in that period of time, if you could stay with us for a few minutes. Mr. Perle, Dr. Chalabi, I have a number of questions, particu- larly Dr. Chalabi for how your meeting with the Vice President went, and whether he pledged any new assistance, direct U.S. as- sistance, whether he made any specific offers of assistance and any timetable in which those offers of assistance would be forthcoming, because I would like to know if there were any specifics that were promised at that meeting with the Vice President on Monday. So I will be back within 10 minutes. We will stand in recess for 10 minutes. [Recess.] Senator BROWNBACK. I will call the hearing back to order. We do have another vote scheduled shortly, so what I want to do is get through a couple of key questions for Dr. Chalabi about the meet- ing with the Vice President and for Mr. Perle, any thoughts he might have on the future administration, if it is a Řepublican ad- ministration, if it is a Bush administration, how might they deal with Iraq and the INC and the Iraq Liberation Act. Dr. Chalabi, would you please illuminate us on the specifics from the meeting with the Vice President and any particular pledges of assistance, and timetables for that assistance to the INC?