Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1828) to halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, stop its development of weapons of mass destruction, cease its illegal importation of Iraqi oil and…
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1828) to halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, stop its development of weapons of mass destruction, cease its illegal importation of Iraqi oil and illegal shipments of weapons and other military items to Iraq, and by so doing hold Syria accountable for the serious international security problems it has caused in the Middle East, and for other purposes, as amended.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that debate on the motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1828, as amended, be extended to 60 minutes, equally divided.
Mr. 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.R. 1828, as amended.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1828, as amended, a bill I introduced with my colleague the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), to hold Syria accountable for behavior and activities which threaten U.S. national security, our interests and our allies.
The Syrian regime has the blood of Americans on its hands, and we cannot, and we will not allow this to go unpunished. That is one of the primary reasons we are here today. And we would not have reached this point were it not for the commitment and unwavering support of a great American, our distinguished majority leader, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Delay), and we thank him for that support.
Mr. Speaker, following the deplorable terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush clearly articulated what would be the guiding principles of U.S. foreign policy. He said: ``Every Nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any Nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.''
The choice was clear, and Syria chose to be on the wrong side of history. Syria continues to harbor Hezballah, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the PFLP-GC, and Hamas, including permitting the operation of offices and terrorist camps in Syrian territory and in Syrian-occupied Lebanon.
These and other Syrian-sponsored groups have perpetrated acts of terrorism against Americans, most notably the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Syrian-occupied Lebanon in 1983, which killed 241 American Marines, and the attack on the Khobar Towers in 1996, where, with the assistance of Syria, the terrorists killed 19 American servicemen and injured scores of others.
The Syrian regime has continuously allowed Iranian transshipment of weapons to Hezballah and, in recent years, has also begun to supply Hezballah
militants with mortars, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other weapons.
The Syrians vehemently defend, as well as support, protect and harbor, the leaders of Hezballah. For example, Sheik Nasrallah, a terrorist, who proclaimed in a speech broadcast on Hezballah's TV station in late April of this year, he said, ``Death to America was, is, and will stay our slogan.''
The actions that have earned the Syrian regime the pariah status as a state sponsor of terror have been further highlighted in Iraq, where Syria has been complicit against our forces in Iraq, as repeatedly articulated by the Syrian foreign minister, when he said, ``Syria's interest is to see the invaders defeated in Iraq.''
Syria has encouraged thousands of so-called ``irregular forces'' and other ``volunteer'' terrorists to cross the Syrian border into Iraq to battle our coalition forces. When U.S. military forces captured a large group of Syrians, they reportedly confiscated 70 suicide jackets, each filled with 22 pounds of military grade C4 explosives and mercury detonators. U.S. soldiers also reportedly found several hundred thousand dollars on a bus that came from Syria, together with leaflets suggesting that Iraqis would be rewarded if they killed Americans.
Ambassador Paul Bremer, the Administrator of the Coalition Provision Authority in Iraq, testified before our Committee on International Relations just a few weeks ago, and he said that the largest number of third-country detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq are from Syria. Ambassador Bremer underscored: ``And we believe that there are rat lines, as they call them, from Syria into Iraq, where both fighters and, in many cases, terrorists are still coming in.''
Despite the Syrian regime's efforts at manipulation, the terrorists they support remove any question that Syria is facilitating the movement of fighters into Iraq to kill our men and women in the Armed Forces. In September 14, 2003, an interview was printed with the Sunday Times World where a member of the militant Islamic group Martyrs of Islam, identifying himself only as Jamal, revealed that he and many others had trained at a camp in Syria during the buildup to the recent war in Iraq.
According to Jamal, while at the Syrian camp, he was trained to make bombs, set booby traps and fire various small arms, including rocket- propelled grenade launchers. Jamal said, ``Our entire group was trained in Syria. Other groups were trained there after us. We are here to kill American soldiers.'' He claimed that his 15-member cell had carried out about 60 attacks against American forces in 3 months.
Syria also continues to occupy Lebanon, in direct contravention of the United Nations Security Council resolutions. Through its illegal occupation of Lebanon, the Syrian regime has imposed its will on the Lebanese people through electoral intimidation, through political persecution, through the stifling of free speech, assassination of opposition leaders, and, last but not least, through brute military force.
The Syrian regime has all but eliminated Lebanon from the international political map, denying the Lebanese people their right to self-determination. It hijacked the democracy process in Lebanon, converting Lebanon into a proxy of the dictatorship in Damascus, a proxy in much the same way that the former Soviet Union used Eastern Europe to propagate its ``evil empire.''
The Syrian regime has even tried to extend its repression of the Lebanese people to the U.S., to the hallowed halls of Congress. For example, for his testimony during a Congressional roundtable that I held on September 17 as chair of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, General Michel Aoun, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon and one of the leading opposition figures in Lebanon, faces prosecution on charges of tarnishing Lebanon's ties with Syria. His statements in support of the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act were viewed as an ``offense and he should be tried for it,'' said the authorities.
For all of the reasons I have articulated this afternoon, Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that we render our overwhelming support to H.R. 1828, as amended.
The Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, as reported, establishes a clear set of policies with respect to Syria. It calls for the imposition of sanctions intended to deny Syria resources to pursue its threatening behavior and limit its diplomatic legitimacy should it persist in pursuing these activities. If the Syrian regime does not alter its behavior, it will suffer the consequences.
The sanctions are to be imposed unless the President certifies that Syria is not providing support for terrorists; has stopped all support for terrorist activities inside of Iraq; has withdrawn all military, intelligence and other security personnel from Lebanon; is not involved in the production, development, deployment, acquisition or transfer of weapons of mass destruction and long-range ballistic missiles; has provided credible assurances that such behavior will not be undertaken in the future; and has agreed to allow United Nations and other international observers to verify such actions and assurances.
The imposition of some, but not all, of the sanctions may be waived by the President for a 6-month period if he determines that it is in the vital national security of the United States to do so and transmits a report to Congress on the reasons substantiating such a determination.
Mr. Speaker, diplomacy with the Syrian regime has failed miserably. It is time to reinforce our words with concrete, tangible and punitive measures. This bill provides the President with the tools and the overwhelming Congressional support he needs to hold the regime in Damascus accountable for choosing to side with the terrorists and engaging in activities threatening the American people and U.S. national security interests.
Syria cannot be allowed to continue to act with impunity. The game is over.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the majority leader who is responsible for this legislation moving quickly through the House.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the chief majority deputy whip, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor).
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to a new member of our Florida delegation, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown- Waite).
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole).
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley), a member of the Committee on International Relations.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Speaker how much time is remaining and if the gentleman from California has any other remaining speakers.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
It has been a delight for me to have worked with the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and the author of this legislation, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), and so many others in our Committee on International Relations, and I would like to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) for his strong leadership as always.
As has been pointed out, Mr. Speaker, this bill, as reported, clearly outlines congressional views of steps that the Syrian regime must undertake: ending support for terrorism; stopping support and the facilitation of terrorist attacks on our coalition forces in Iraq; halt its weapons of mass destruction efforts; withdraw from Lebanon, all of these.
It establishes a U.S. policy that Syria will be held accountable for these activities. It prohibits the exports of military and dual-use items, and then provides the President with a choice of six sanctions, from which the President is to impose at least two. And these sanctions, for example, are to prohibit the export of products from the United States other than food and medicine; to prohibit United States businesses from investing or operating in Syria; to restrict the travel of Syrian diplomats in Washington and in the U.N. in New York City; to prohibit aircraft of any air carrier owned or controlled by Syria to take off from, land in or overfly the United States; to reduce United States diplomatic contacts with Syria other than those required under this Act, and this could mean suspension of diplomatic relations altogether or a reduction of diplomatic representation or other actions. It also would block transaction in any property in which the government of Syria has any interest, by any person or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of here in the United States.
As we can see, there is strong support for this bill. We have almost 300 cosponsors. One of my colleagues raised concerns about the flexibility issue, and I would like to underscore that we provide the President with ample discretion in choosing which sanctions to impose.
Secondly, for anyone who believes that the Syrian regime has assisted the U.S. in any way to eradicate terrorism, I would like to note that the statements made on Thursday of last week by the State Department spokesman and he said, ``Frankly, the Syrians have done so little with regard to terrorism that we do not have much to work with.'' He added, ``There's not too much grounds for argument that Syria's done anything that would mean that this bill was a bad idea.'' This is coming from the ultimate diplomatic agency.
Mr. Speaker, this is the end of the line for the Syrian regime. Enough is enough. They have made a mockery of requests by our Secretary of State and by our congressional colleagues. The blood of Americans is on their hands, and for this, they must be called to task. They must be punished, and I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 1828.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1828, the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003. I am proud to cosponsor this important legislation for the 2nd straight Congress, and I look forward to supporting it today on the floor of the House.
I want to begin, Mr. Speaker, by noting that I do not normally support sanctions legislation. In fact, I believe that all too often, Congress and U.S. administrations place unrealistic expectations on the ability of sanctions to destabilize reckless regimes. We naively believe that placing economic sanctions on countries that, more times than not, are not dependent upon U.S. dollars and tourists, will somehow result in countries complying with our demands.
The truth of the matter is, sanctions rarely accomplish what we intend for them to accomplish. We need not look any further than Iraq to see the effect that long-term economic sanctions have on a regime. But what they do accomplish, in this instance, is a shift in U.S. foreign policy toward Syria, a nation that has long supported the efforts of terrorist organizations to attack Israel and the Western world. It is for this reason that I come to the floor today in support of this legislation.
I have long said that one of the true threats to peace and security in the Middle East is not Baghdad, but instead Damascus. While the Bush administration has focused its efforts on disarming Iraq, Syria has continued to fund and harbor terrorist cells living and training within its borders. Until today, the United States government has remained largely silent.
Realize, we should not expect Syria to change its ways simply because we apply new economic sanctions. But in passing this legislation today, we are sending a clear and strong message to the Syrian government that the United States will no longer stand idly by while countries masking as our allies work against us.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.