Expressing the sense of Congress that the United Nations should remove the economic sanctions against Iraq completely and without condition.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 160) expressing the sense of Congress that the United Nations should remove the economic sanctions against Iraq completely and without condition, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 160, the legislation under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, this resolution calls on the United Nations to immediately and unconditionally lift the economic sanctions on Iraq. The U.N. sanctions were passed after Saddam Hussein, a totalitarian dictator, invaded Kuwait in 1990. That resolution was the first of 17 U.N. resolutions passed over the next 11 years trying to bring Saddam Hussein under control.

At the time then-President Bush organized a coalition that sent in the military, forced Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, and subsequently loosened the hold of this murderous tyrant over the Kurdish people in northern Iraq.

Madam Speaker, in September of 1991, the United Nations modified the sanctions to contain Saddam Hussein and allowed him to trade Iraq's oil for only humanitarian supplies through the so-called Oil for Food Program. These sanctions were meant to keep Saddam Hussein's military from developing more weapons and becoming a greater threat.

However, after an impressive military success, Iraq is now entering a new day and is no longer a threat. Coalition forces have freed the Iraqi people, and the U.N. sanctions which once strove to contain a murderous tyrant now contain the Iraqi people themselves. The Iraqi people have historically been one of the most highly educated, industrious, and entrepreneurial people in the Middle East. To rebuild their country, Iraq and the Iraqi people must be able to trade freely. Every additional day that these sanctions remain is an additional day that the people of Iraq are suffering from Saddam Hussein's tyranny.

The President has called on the United Nations to end these sanctions. I have introduced this resolution, and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), the chairman, and the ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) have moved it through the Committee on International Relations so members of the Security Council would understand that the United States Government speaks with a single voice in Iraq.

The coalition returned political freedom to the Iraqi people, but with these sanctions the U.N. is withholding the opportunity for economic freedom and recovery from Saddam Hussein's tyranny. I hope that Congress can send a strong message demanding that the United Nations immediately correct this mistake and lift the economic sanctions against Iraq.

Madam Speaker, let me briefly describe the resolution before us. This resolution recognizes that the United Nations sanctions were imposed on the regime of Saddam Hussein, not on Iraq or its people. Iraq had become a murderous toy for a totalitarian dictator. The Iraqi people did not choose to invade Kuwait. Their Arab neighbors and Saddam Hussein actually went and did it. The Iraqi people did not choose to go to war with Iran in the 1980s. Saddam Hussein did. The Iraqi people certainly did not decide to use chemical weapons against either Iranian soldiers or on Iraqi Kurds. Saddam Hussein did.

These sanctions were not imposed on the Iraqi people. They were imposed on the regime led by a crazy man who exploited the resources of Iraq for his own gains. And when this regime fell, so did the basis for his sanctions.

The resolution recognizes that the coalition freed the Iraqi people for a better future. It recognizes that at this time the coalition is providing for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people. The coalition is working as hard and as fast as it can to have Iraq standing on its own two feet, but restricting trade makes this very difficult.

Newspaper reports have said that after the Iran/Iraq war, it took 3 years for electric power to come back to some parts of Baghdad. The U.S. is pushing to get the people of Baghdad working and getting them electricity by this June.

The coalition is working with the United Nations and other organizations to provide as much as possible for the Iraqi people after the more than two decades of neglect of Iraq's infrastructure.

This resolution also recognizes that with the liberation of the Iraq, the effects of the sanctions have shifted. Sanctions were imposed, Madam Speaker, because the resources of Iraq were used to serve the dangerous interests of a single man. The sanctions help contain his ability to build an army and threaten Iraq's neighbors and the Iraqi people themselves.

Now that Saddam Hussein's regime has ended, the resources of Iraq can now serve the people of Iraq. When they seek to trade their goods for goods of others, it is in their own interest, not in those of a tyrant. The Iraqi people want to trade to rebuild their country, devastated by 30 years of misrule. Before Iraq was liberated, the sanctions contained Saddam Hussein. Now they contain the Iraqi people. The continuation of these sanctions has, in effect, equated the people of Iraq with their former dictator.

A majority of Iraqis have lived most of their adult lives under Saddam Hussein. The transition to a free enterprise economy will be difficult, impossible while trade sanctions continue.

Madam Speaker, I offer this resolution because some members of the Security Council have hesitated in ending these sanctions for what appear to be selfish reasons. In doing so they undermine the Iraqi people, and they continue to undermine their own credibility and that of the United Nations.

I know my colleagues in Congress will join me in calling on the United Nations to end the economic sanctions on Iraq.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would like to say in relation to the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) that our Committee on International Relations is looking carefully at these issues and looks forward to working with my colleague, and certainly in a bipartisan effort to deal with this possible legislation.

I would like to say also, Madam Speaker, that the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) is one of the outstanding Representatives in Congress that is both exceptionally capable and also a good friend. Concluding my comments, I again urge the United Nations to act swiftly. In the language of the resolution the United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 established sanctions as a result of Saddam Hussein's unprovoked illegal aggression against the sovereign Arab State of Kuwait. This resolution is expressing the sense of Congress that now the United Nations should remove the economic sanctions against Iraq completely and without condition.

It is the hope of the United States to have this resolution in the United Nations passed by June 3. It is my personal opinion that if the United Nations refuses to pass this resolution, the United States and the coalition should act aggressively to still allow oil and other products to be exported from Iraq to allow necessary supplies be purchased to go to Iraq for rebuilding.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Speaker, I want to thank and commend my good friend, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith), my colleague, for his authorship of this resolution. I certainly want to commend him for his leadership and his expertise not only as a member of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, but his firm understanding of the issues now at hand. I also want to commend the chairman of our Committee on International Relations, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), and our senior ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for their providing support of this legislation that is now before us.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution.

First, I would like to express my condolences to the families of all those who died in yesterday's suicide bombing attack in Saudi Arabia. I hope for the speedy recovery of those who were injured. This attack demonstrated that in the midst of the very crisis facing these countries, we need to maintain our focus on the war on terrorism and remain focused on protecting our homeland.

Madam Speaker, the resolution before us today calls for an end to sanctions against Iraq, an issue that holds the key to resolving virtually every major economic and social problem in newly liberated Iraq. Sanctions on Iraq, established by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 and reaffirmed in United Nations Security Council Resolution 687, have been in place for nearly 13 years since the August 1990 Iraq invasion of Kuwait.

These sanctions were intended to deprive Saddam Hussein insofar as it was possible of the means to carry out the most nefarious of his policies, threatening his neighbors and Iraq's own citizens, developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism.

Madam Speaker, clearly the need for United Nations sanctions on Iraq, indeed the very logic of sanctions, has now expired with the defeat and demise of Saddam Hussein's regime. Neither the coalition authorities nor the Iraqi people liberated from Saddam's tyranny pose any sort of threat to neighboring states. Nor, we can be certain, Madam Speaker, will the coalition authorities or a subsequent Iraqi regime support terrorism or develop weapons of mass destruction.

It is, therefore, time for the international community to decisively lift the sanctions and to allow the Iraqi people to resume a normal economic life and proceed with the reconstruction of their country, a crucial first step towards developing the healthy political and social environment in which democracy and social harmony can flourish.

Madam Speaker, I know that this matter is now being negotiated by our diplomats at the United Nations, and I have confidence that they will soon reach a satisfactory solution, I would certainly like to commend our Secretary of State, Colin Powell, for his outstanding leadership in this area.

This resolution strengthens our diplomats' hands by reinforcing the message that the world should support, and certainly not impede, economic development in liberated Iraq.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Con. Res. 160 and urge an end to anachronistic sanctions on Iraq.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr).

Madam Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.

I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 160, a bill to remove the economic sanctions against Iraq. For too long, the sanctions have drained the Iraqi society and its vital economic energy. In their wake, we find a country whose standard of living has declined significantly, its middle class has all but disappeared, and its infrastructure is in total disrepair.

Now that dictator Saddam Hussein, the inspiration for the sanctions regime, has been defeated, there no longer remains any justification for its continuation. I hope that the lifting of the sanctions will lead to a prosperous Iraq economy which will benefit the people and bring them back into the world of free and open commerce.

I think that this bill, which signals the commitment of the United States to reconstruction in Iraq, is a good step in the right direction. I trust that the United Nations will respond positively to this initiative.

The removal of sanctions, however, will not alone bring prosperity to Iraq. Before there is prosperity, there must first be security. It is my firm belief that the United States, by intervening militarily in Iraq, has assumed the responsibility for the safety and the security of the Iraqi people.

I applaud the gentleman from Michigan's initiative on the economic front. We must also pay attention to the security front.

As we continue to assist Iraq in its reconstruction, I think we need to establish here in Congress an institutional framework for postconflict resolutions and for postconflict operations. Part of that institutional framework would be to strengthen the U.S. Government's ability to respond to authority gaps left by failed or otherwise collapsed states.

I propose to draft legislation for the creation of an integrated security component in NATO, which would train and equip special units which would provide for the security of the civilian population serving as an interim police force.

I urge my colleagues today to support H. Con. Res. 160, and I look forward to working with the sponsor and other interested Members of Congress to develop this postconflict legislation to close the security and justice gaps so that Iraq and countries emerging from conflict can achieve the economic prosperity to which they, and we, aspire.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further action on H. Con. Res. 160 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution and preamble be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.