Extensions of Remarks

23926 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS September 11, 1990 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS HUSSEIN'S REPRESSIVE REGIME national agreements on rights but has no "The US government has ignored the POSES THREAT TO MILLIONS consistent record of abiding by them." known fact that, in addition to being a A Swede was also executed in Iraq July 11 sleazy character, this man is a megalomania because he was supposedly involved in intel personality," he says. HON. JOHN EDWARD PORTER ligence gathering, Mr. Graham says. Mr. Graham comments: "I believe there is OF ILLINOIS Richard Parker, director of the Center on a greater realization now that it is in the in IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES War and the Child, and Kay Castelle, direc terest of the US to pay greater attention to tor of the New York office of Defense for Tuesday, September 11, 1990 abuses in other countries, even if they don't Children International, both express espe affect us directly. The world is more and Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, we are all aware cial concern for the children held hostage in more a global community." of the threat to world economic stability posed Iraq since the August 2 invasion. Over the Korn also deplores US trade policy with by Iraq's illegal invasion of Kuwait. But past five years, hundreds of children are Iraq. Until the invasion of Kuwait, the US Saddam Hussein's repressive regime poses known to have been arrested, tortured, and was buying $3. 7 billion worth of oil a year in some cases killed in Iraq, according to from Iraq. To promise US farm and com an equally urgent threat to millions of human these two experts. lives in the Persian Gulf. mercial exports to Iraq, the US, until just Most are Kurdish children, and the this month, had been providing Iraq about Since Saddam Hussein came to power in motive for the brutality, Ms. Castelle says, $1 billion in credit guarantees per year, ac 1979, the Kurds, Iraq's largest minority, have has been to obtain information about mem cording to the State Department. US tax been brutally repressed for seeking recogni bership of parents and other relatives in payers will now have to pay any losses tion of their distinct ethnicity. Over the past 5 Kurdish resistance forces. under such programs, Korn says. years, hundreds of children, whose parents Considering Iraq's brutal treatment of so many children, these experts see great irony The State Department, however, defends were reportedly political activists have been in Saddam Hussein's appearance on Iraqi the recent US trade policy with Iraq. David arrested and tortured; hundreds of thousands TV Aug. 23 with a British child hostage, and Good, a spokesman in the office of John of Kurds have been relocated in efforts to di then with other hostages, reportedly at a Kelly, assistant secretary for Near Eastern minish a collective Kurdish presence; and "vital Iraqi installation." and South Asian affairs, says that the US hundreds of villages were destroyed, killing Korn is a former ambassador to Togo, and has made a "balanced effort" to encourage thousands, by a chemical offensive aimed his study, done for Human Rights Watch, Iraq to follow an increasingly responsible will be published by Yale University Press role. against Kurdish civilians. Any voice of dissent There were efforts in Congress over the has been violently suppressed. in November. Citizens of Iraq who oppose the police last year to embargo trade with Iraq be We must ignore Saddam's words, for the state, he writes in the conclusion of his cause of human rights abuses. truth means nothing to him, and look instead study, are regularly subjected to "forced re But Mr. Kelly stated to Congress in April at his deeds. In light of his dismal human location and deportation, arbitrary arrest that economic sanctions are truly effective rights record against his own children, it is our and detention, torture, disappearance, and "only when imposed on a multilateral duty to ensure the safety of both foreign na summary and political execution." basis." At that time, the US according to tionals held hostage in Kuwait, and the citi Human rights organizations have been the Kelly statement, saw no prospect for zens of Kuwait and neighboring countries. gathering data on such violations in Iraq for such a unified approach in the case of Iraq, The following articles outline Saddam Hus more than 10 years-ever since Saddam largely because of Iraq's $70 billion foreign Hussein came to power in 1979 and began to debt. sein's abysmal record on human rights and consolidate absolute control over his coun Nations that were owed money by Saddam how this accord may affect current events: try. Hussein wanted a chance to have their [From the Christian Science Monitor, Aug. Amnesty International's 1990 report lists money paid back, and trade sanctions make 28, 1990] some of these abuses. One passage reads: this next to impossible. Many of the loans EXPERTS FAMILIAR WITH NATION'S RECORD "Routine torture and ill-treatment of pris were made during the Iran-Iraq war. What EXPRESS CONCERN OVER WELFARE OF FOR oners reportedly continued. Information will now happen in regard to these loans is EIGN HOSTAGES was received during the year about the al highly uncertain. (By David Mutch) leged torture of children and others arrest The State Department, in defense of its ed in previous years for political reasons. Iraqi policy over the past few years, also Iraq's dismal human rights record bodes For example, eight school students aged be claims the US government has been vigilant ill for the thousands of foreigners caught in tween 13 and 16 were arrested.... They al in preventing Saddam from importing nu the invasion of Kuwait, say experts on legedly suffered . beatings with metal clear weapons material. human rights. cables while naked and suspended by the However, Iraq has successfully developed David Korn, a former top Middle East of wrists from the ceiling, burns with ciga a chemical-weapons industry, with consider ficial at the United States State Depart rettes, extraction of their fingernails and able help from the international communi ment and author of a significant new study eledric shocks." ty, including companies in West Germany. of Iraqi government human rights abuses, Similar reports on Iraq are quite exten says, "Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein, op sive, says Laurie Wiseberg, editor of Human erates an absolute police state that for years Rights Internet Reporter. There are more [From the Washington Post, Aug. 27, 1990] has tortured and murdered thousands of its than 100 nongovernmental human rights SUPPRESSED AT HOME AND DISMISSED ABROAD own citizens, including children." groups in the world that gather and publish Mr. Korn says he is greatly concerned for information on abuses in a number of coun <By Glenn Frankel) the welfare of the hostages. tries, in addition to many governmental LoNDON.-As much of the world is drawn James Graham, head of the Middle East groups. And those who know this field say into a crisis spawned by the actions of Iraqi coordinating group for Amnesty Interna they are concerned for the safety of hos President Saddam Hussein, one group feels tional in the US, agrees, and he says: "Iraq tages in Iraq. entitled to say, "We told you so": Iraq's has carried out wholesale abuses against its The HRI Reporter, in its Spring 1989 scattered and diverse political opposition. citizens. It also has executed foreign nation issue, published abstracts of reports on Iraq. Ruthlessly suppressed at home, ignored, als, including Farzad Bazoft [a journalist They noted, among other human rights denigrated and at times betrayed by the working for a British newspaper] this abuses, that at least 300 Kurdish children West, and hopelessly divided among them March. were tortured to death in 1985; and chemi selves, Saddam's opponents for years have "Saddam Hussein has executed some of cal weapons have been used in efforts to de issued unheeded warnings about the Iraqi his top generals who gained prominence in populate whole areas. leader's expansionist goals and willingness the war with Iran. It can be said that this Korn is critical of the US government for to use weapons of mass destruction and Ge man is cynical on the subject of human being associated with Saddam Hussein over stapo-style tactics against enemies foreign rights. Consider that Iraq has signed inter- the past 10 years. or domestic. e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. September 11, 1990 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 23927 Yet even with the Persian Gulf in crisis, with Baghdad, they gave Iraqi fundamental we're not going to be pawns again in other they remain prophets without honor. Many ists money, arms and encouragement. But people's wars," said Kurdish spokesman Western analysts and intelligence specialists since the 1988 cease-fire, analysts say, that Zebari. dismiss the opposition-much of which is support has waned and the Shiites have The other major opposition group consists based here-as too weak to play a signifi taken a lower profile. The new peace accord of secular Arab nationalists and pro-democ cant role in overthrowing the Iraqi presi offered by Iraq will only compound the racy dissidents, including former army offi dent or destabilizing his government. "We problem, they believe. cers and members of the government. Many don't see them as particularly effective," Shiism also divides the fundamentalists have been hounded from Iraq or killed, and said an official in the State Department, from Iraq's almost exclusively Sunni ruling they concede that their base inside the which this month rejected a meeting with elite.

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