Speech #1020027696

Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of the Emergency Supplemental Persian Gulf Refugee Assistance Act of 1991 which will authorize $400 million in aid to the refugees including the Kurdish population displaced by Saddam Hussein and his government. The administration. as well. is in strong support of this measure. At the Speakers behest. I had the privilege of joining my colleagues. the gentleman irom New York . the gentleman from Ohio . the gentleman from California . and the gentlewoman from New Jersey . on a 5day factfinding mission to assess the Iraqi refugee crisis and efforts underway to help the Kurdish people. Upon our return. in testimony before the Committee on Foreign Affairs and in meetings with Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger. we urged the Congress and the administration to proceed quickly on the request for additional humanitarian aid and to do so without diminishing the important work in our commitment to work with such refugee assistance in Africa and other parts of the world. and move quickly they have. as evidenced by this bill. Mr. Speaker. the explosion of displaced persons inside Iraq and the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing into Turkey and Iran is unprecedented in modern history. Within a span of 2 or 3 days in early April. hundreds of thousands of Iraqis fled their homes in a desperate attempt to escape the brutality of Saddam Hussein. I will point out that none of the experts in the international relief community anticipated the magnitude nor the rapidity of the exodus. All were caught off guard. Mr. Speaker. it became very clear to me during the visit that two events were instrumental in beginning to alleviate the suffering of Iraqi refugees. The first was Secretary of State Bakers trip to the area of April 7 and 8 which galvanized the administration and the world into according higher priority to the refugee situation. and the second was President Bushs decision to fly United States military forces to Turkey to take charge of the relief operations. These operations. as we saw firsthand. have proven to be absolutely essential in preventing a tragedy of even greater catastrophic proportions. Mr. Speaker. thousands would have died but for the U.S. militarys rapid response to the crisis. Mr. Speaker. the allied provision of security for the refugees in the north of Iraq and the withdrawal of Iraqi troops has clearly eased fears. and the refugees are beginning to return to their homes. Without the confidence of our security. however. and the need of that security. the refugees will understandably not be willing to endanger their families and venture back to their villages and their homes. Mr. Speaker. the crisis in the refugee camps that we visited in Cukurca cannot be overstated. At the refugee camp there and elsewhere. disease has been rampant. a circumstance that is especially chilling in light of the fact that over 50 percent of the refugee population is comprised of children under the age of 12. Officials of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported in their handouts to us in Geneva that there are 7 to 10 deaths each day for every 10.000 refugees. Thankfully the number has been mitigated. Many victims. I would point out. are children. and babies are especially vulnerable. Mr. Speaker. the troops that are engaged in the intensive and heroic mission to stabilize the refugee population ought to be congratulated by this body for their outstanding efforts. The initial results are no less spectacular than those achieved in Operation Desert Storm. Mr. Speaker. as the immediate efforts to stop the dying and suffering continue. the United States must be committed and is committed to its priority of relocating the refugees from their often inaccessible mountain campsites to the lower terrain where they can be adequately cared for and shielded from the elements. Providing the needed protection to encourage families to continue their return is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges of all. The refugees look to the United States and they look to our allied partners to be their guarantors against renewed savagery by Saddam Hussein. Mr. Speaker. the provision of refugee assistance contained in this bill ib absolutely necessary. and I hope we get a unanimous vote in favor of it. Finally. I would like to thank the gentleman from California for his responsiveness in helping to bring this legislation to the floor.