H2616 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE March 15, 2007 b 1715 peace or stability in Iraq or Iran with- and the British), began running a similar op- out addressing the Palestinian-Israeli eration, aimed at avoiding congressional USING CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGE- scrutiny or public accountability of any sort, MENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST issue openly, honestly and urgently. The issues of the Middle East are in- out of Vice President Dick Cheney’s office. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. They dipped into ‘‘black pools of money’’, extricably interconnected, and no one possibly stolen from the billions of Iraqi oil BOYDA of Kansas). Under a previous understands that better than Speaker order of the House, the gentleman from dollars that have never been accounted for PELOSI. At a time when the White since the US occupation began. Washington (Mr. MCDERMOTT) is recog- House prefers to choose sides, our dis- Some of these funds, as well as Saudi ones, nized for 5 minutes. tinguished leader prefers to pursue were evidently funneled through the embat- Mr. MCDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, peace in the Middle East, demanding tled, Sunni-dominated Lebanese government you don’t negotiate with the barrel of diplomacy aimed at achieving peace of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to the sort a gun, but that seems to be the Presi- of Sunni jihadist groups (‘‘some sympathetic through social and economic justice for to al-Qaeda’’) whose members might nor- dent’s strategy with respect to Iran. all. That is why the House must legislate mally fear ending up in Guantanamo and to It is the kind of vision the whole a group, or groups, associated with the fun- to ensure that the President cannot world has passionately embraced before damentalist Muslim Brotherhood. unilaterally start another war in the when the world believed the United All of this was being done as part of a ‘‘sea Middle East, this time with Iran. States could stand taller than any change’’ in the Bush administration’s Middle The President has lost all credibility, problem and person in the region. East policies aimed at rallying friendly and the world worries that another war So one has to wonder, what were they Sunni regimes against Shi’ite Iran, as well will be waged in Iran in the name of re- as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Syrian govern- thinking the other day when some ment—and launching secret operations to gime change. It has been over a quarter Members of AIPAC, the American of a century since the U.S. tried con- undermine, roll back or destroy all of the Israeli Public Affairs Committee, rude- above. Despite the fact that the administra- structive engagement instead of de- ly booed during a keynote address as tion of President George W. Bush is structive isolationism in dealing with the Speaker spoke very plainly on this officia1ly at war with Sunni extremism in Iran. issue. She said the Iraq war has not Iraq (and in the more general ‘‘global war on Foreign policy under this President made America safer, has not made terror’’), despite its support for the largely has played a role in pushing Iran’s Israel safer, and has not made peace in Shi’ite government, allied to Iran, that it leaders to the fringe. The Iranian has brought to power in Iraq, and despite its the Middle East much easier to dislike for the Sunni-Shiite civil war in that President appears intransigent and achieve. willing to use strident rhetoric to drive country, some of its top officia1s may be cov- That is the truth. What is wrong with ertly encouraging a far greater Sunni-Shi’ite a wedge between the United States and speaking the truth? Leaders speak the rift in the region. other nations. What is our response? truth because they have a deep and Imagine. All this and much more was re- Showdown and confrontation are the abiding faith in the strength of people vealed, often in remarkable detail, just over diplomatic skills of this White House, a everywhere to see the truth for what it a week ago in ‘‘The redirection’’, a Seymour repeat of the spin cycle to foment a is and to use it to lay a foundation to Hersh piece in The New Yorker. Other rev- elations included news of US military border march to war against Iraq. Today it is build a better world. economic sanctions against Iran, but crossings into Iran, new preparations that Today, America has a Democratic would allow Bush to order a massive air at- what about tomorrow? leader willing to see the world as it is, tack on that land with only 24 hours’ notice, Presidential advisers like the Vice but unwilling to leave it that way. and a brief window this spring when the stag- President continue to encourage a pol- These are difficult times and we face gering power of four US aircraft-carrier bat- icy of aggression. The President says difficult decisions just ahead. We need tle groups might be available to Bush in the one thing, but the Vice President says a strong commitment to get our sol- Persian Gulf. all options are on the table. The Sec- Hersh, the man who first broke the My Lai diers out of Iraq and the strength to story in the Vietnam era, has never been off retary of State says one thing, but prevent another military misadventure then we read what is going on behind his game since. In recent years, from the in Iran. Abu Ghraib prison scandal on, he has con- the scenes from an investigative re- The path to peace should be littered sistently released explosive news about the porter, Seymour Hersch. The world is with pages and pages of negotiation, plans and acts of the Bush administration. weary over the war in Iraq, and the not booby trapped by inflammatory Imagine, in addition, that Hersh went on world is worried about the President’s rhetoric and people unwilling to listen. Democracy Now!, Fresh Air, Hardball with intentions regarding Iran. Madam Speaker, I include for the Chris Matthews and CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer and actually elaborated on these The other day the Asia Times raised RECORD the materials referred to ear- these concerns in the section entitled claims and revelations, some of which, on lier. the face of it, seem like potentially illegal ‘‘Dispatches From America.’’ The [From the Asia Times: Dispatches From and impeachable offenses, if they do indeed Times published an article by Tom America] reach up to the vice president or president. Engelhardt called ‘‘A Bombshell That A BOMBSHELL THAT NOBODY HEARD Now imagine the response: front-page Nobody Heard,’’ and I will enter it in headlines; editorials nationwide calling for (By Tom Engelhardt) the RECORD. The article considers the answers, congressional hearings, or even the troubling information revealed by Sey- Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Per- appointment of a special prosecutor to look haps two years ago, an ‘‘informal’’ meeting mour Hersch, especially the disclosure into some of the claims; a raft of op-ed-page of ‘‘veterans’’ of the 1980s Iran-Contra scan- pieces by the nation’s leading columnists of U.S. military planning for a first dal—holding positions in the Bush adminis- asking questions, demanding answers, re- strike capability targeting Iran, and tration—was convened by Deputy National minding us of the history of Iran-Contra; ready to go on one day’s notice. Security Adviser Elliott Abrams. Discussed bold reporters from recently freed media Despite official denials, we see and were the ‘‘lessons learned’’ from that lab- standing up in White House and Defense De- hear the Vice President chill the world yrinthine, secret and illegal arms-for-money- partment press briefings to demand more in- by saying a military option against for-arms deal involving the Israelis, the Ira- formation on Hersh’s various charges; calls Iran has not been ruled out. Having nians, the Saudis, and the Contras of Nica- in Congress for hearings and investigations ragua, among others—and meant to evade seen it before in this administration, into why the people’s representatives were the Boland Amendment, a congressionally left so totally out of this loop. one troubling thought comes to mind: passed attempt to outlaw US administration Uh . Bullets and bluster are more likely to assistance to the anti-communist Contras. All I can say is: if any of this happened, I produce bloodshed than peace. In terms of getting around Congress, the haven’t been able to discover it. As far as I That is why the House must exert its Iran-Contra vets concluded, the complex op- can tell, no one in the mainstream even constitutional duty when it comes to eration had been a success—and would have blinked on the Iran-Contra angle or the pos- the President’s intentions with respect worked far better if the Central Intelligence sibility that a vast, secret Middle Eastern to Iran. We have got to chart a new Agency (CIA) and the military had been kept operation is being run, possibly illegally and out of the loop and the whole thing had been based on stolen funds and Saudi money, out course in the Middle East, and it has to run out of the vice president’s office. of the US vice president’s office. be based on a commitment to stop the Subsequently, some of those conspirators, You can certainly find a few pieces on, or bloodshed, not guarantee the flow of once again with the financial support and reports about, ‘‘The redirection’’—all focused oil.