July 9, 1991 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 17467 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS SADDAM HUSSEIN'S THREATS OF Welcome to the "phony war" that has been of "face-to-face" communication, such as TERRORIST REPRISALS GO played out in numerous cities across the teleconferencing. Teleconference companies UNFULFILLED United States, and elsewhere around the were unable to keep up with demand. world, since the onset of Operation Desert Although it certainly made sense to avoid Storm. Each day brings new bomb threats travel to countries in the theater of conflict HON. ~.S. BROOMFH[D and terrorist scares. Someone has just seen and to Islamic nations where there was a OF MICHIGAN Abu Nidal at a popular shopping mall. There high possibility of anti-American demonstra­ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES is a suspicious box in the lobby of a federal tions or terrorist attacks, the drastic falloff Tuesday, July 9, 1991 building. "Iraqi agents" have been spotted of travel within the comtinental United casing the Alaskan pipeline. A caller identi­ States and to other areas of the world like Mr. BROOMFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I want to fying himself as "Saddam Hussein" has just Latin America and the Far East certainly commend the administration for effectively threatened to "burn down" Germantown, was not warranted. In February, to stimu­ dealing with the threat of Iraqi-backed terror­ Md. The mayor of Detroit has declared a late domestic travel, First Lady Barbara ism during the recent gulf crisis. Although state of emergency over the "terrorist Bush took a highly-publicized commercial Saddam Hussein's terrorist brigades may threat" and called on the governor to acti­ flight to Indianapolis. Nevertheless, it will strike against the United States and our coali­ vate the National Guard. take a long time for the travel and tourism tion partners in the future, the recent imple­ Despite the flood of threats and "sus­ industries to recover. picious-person" sightings, there were no sig­ mentation of President Bush's On 23 February, as coalition forces drove nificant terrorist incidents in or against the into Kuwait and Iraq, Saddam Hussein once counterterrorism policy has shown that Amer­ United States in the nearly seven months be­ more called on Arabs around the world to ica is ready and able to deal with the threat of tween the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait last Au­ strike at U.S. and other coalition targets. Iraqi-sponsored terrorism. gust and the onset of the ground campaign The U.S. State Department issued a new Iraq and its allies attempted a number of on 23 February. Although terrorist incidents worldwide alert to all U.S. missions and terrorist operations against the United States were up sharply around the world-number­ military bases advising them to be prepared during the conflict, a few of which succeeded. ing over 150 between 16 January and 23 Feb­ for terrorist attacks. But in the first days of Most attacks, however, were countered. Those ruary-only one was directly linked to Iraq. the land offensive, there were only scattered that were carried out were the work of local In that incident, a bomb being transported reports of violence, and none of major sig­ extremists, not terrorism's heavy hitters. The by two Iraqis to an American target in the nificance. Philippines detonated prematurely, killing Even if Iraq finally were able to launch the highly lethal attacks that have been the hall­ one of them. long-rumored "second front," the big ques­ mark of the professional Middle Eastern terror­ All of the other incidents appear to be tion remains: Where were Saddam Hussein's ist groups did not occur. "sympathetic" actions by terrorist groups terrorist legions in the first six weeks of the Our government undertook a number of indigenous to the countries where the inci­ war? There are several possible answers. It measures that proved to be highly effective dents occurred. Some were designed to show may be that he held them in reserve, waiting against Saddam Hussein's promises to launch solidarity with Iraqi, but most apparently to unleash them only after his Scud missiles a major terrorist campaign. In response to were efforts to grab headlines and to exploit were gone, when he had no other means of Iraqi threats, the administration made it clear the unusual amount of attention being de­ projecting power beyond his own borders. By that the United States would hold Saddam voted to any terrorist incident. The Irish Re­ the same token, it may be that the terrorist Hussein personally responsible for acts of ter­ publican Army (IRA) attacks in mid-Feb­ threat was overestimated from the begin­ ruary on the British prime minister's resi­ ning, and that many of the groups under rorism directed against the United States or its dence, Number 10 Downing Street, and on Baghdad's control or that supported Saddam coalition partners. two London train stations, according to Hussein possessed only marginal capabili­ United States and allied governments ex­ British investigators, probably had taken ties, or willingness, to carry out attacks on pelled over 200 Iraqi diplomats from their months to plan, and were simply part of the Iraq's behalf. countries and disrupted Iraq's command and ongoing war in Northern Ireland. The most likely answer, though, is that control systems in order to limit its ability to The absence of Iraqi-backed terrorist vio- . the steps taken by the United States and its coordinate terrorist attacks. The United States lence was in direct contrast to the pre­ allies to thwart and preempt terrorist oper­ also applied significant diplomatic pressure to dictions of many observers, who believed ations were enormously successful. Begin­ state sponsors of terrorism, which harbor and that the outbreak of war in the Gulf would ning with an unprecedently high level of in­ be accompanied by the opening of a so-called telligence and police cooperation between train terrorist groups. U.S. diplomatic posts terrorist "second front" by Saddam Hussein. coalition partners, the deliberately overseas tightened security, employed tough The apprehension over potential terrorist at­ underpublicized counterterrorist campaign countermeasures, and reduced staffs. Police tacks hit the airline industry particularly also included the tightening of visa and bor­ and intelligence information exchange with al­ hard, in both the United States and Western der controls, "hardening" many potential lied governments was augmented, and there Europe. Tourism dropped significantly. One targets and removing others from the "line was unprecedented cooperation between London hotel reported only four rooms occu­ of fire," the expulsion of Iraqi diplomats and Western counterterrorism agencies. Overall, pied shortly before the commencement of other suspected troublemakers, and the dis­ our counterterrorism efforts during the gulf cri­ the ground war. Some travel agencies said ruption of terrorist communications, travel business was off as much as 75 percent. In plans, and financial sources. The long delay sis were well conceived and managed. As a February, a U.S. jetliner bound for London from the onset of the crisis in August to the result, the United States is better prepared to reportedly departed with only one passenger actual commencement of hostilities in mid­ deal with international terrorism in the future. in the tourist cabin. January gave U.S. and coalition officials I commend to my colleagues the following By the time the ground war began, the time to plan and prepare for the worst. article by noted terrorism expert Neil C. Living­ State Department already had issued war-re­ The fact that two of the most prominent stone concerning Iraq's terrorist threat and our lated travel advisories for Indonesia, Peru, state sponsors of terrorism are hostile to Government's commendable efforts to counter Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Tanza­ Iraq also may have helped: Syria is a coali­ it. nia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Nigeria, tion partner and Iran is officially neutral. India, Israel, Sudan, Tunisia, Syria, Mauri­ Even Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, an­ [From Sea Power, April 1991] tania, Bangladesh, Djibouti, Yemen, Mo­ other prominent state sponsor of terrorism, WHERE WERE IRAQ'S TERRORISTS? rocco, and the United Arab Emirates and had has remained on the sidelines. He is said to (By Neil c. Livingstone) recommended that all non-essential travel to resent Saddam Hussein's personal promi­ The caller to the Smithsonian Institution these countries be deferred. Many American nence as well as his bid to seize the leader­ in Washington sounded ominous. "This is companies took the advice to heart and im­ ship of radical forces in the Arab world. Yasir Arafat," he said. "And I'm going to posed major restrictions on corporate travel. In the final analysis, the history of things blow up the National Zoo." One result was a boom in alternative means that don't happen is often the most difficult • 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. 17468 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS July 9, 1991 history to write. It's impossible to prove a while serving with them in defense of freedom. interview for the award, she filled out the a,:r negative. But this much is certain: Saddam Above all, however, there is an immense plication at the last minute as part of her 50th Hussein missed by many miles the oppor­ sense of pride in the unselfish dedication birthday resolution to answer all her mail. Ms. tunity to use terrorism effectively to coerce which all who served in Operations Desert and intimidate the coalition partners and to Sabala was chosen from among 600,000 a,:r influence their policies.