Condemning the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Argentina

Tuesday July 15, 2008

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 385, which condemns the attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in July 1994.

I led an official congressional delegation to Buenos Aires in February and visited the leaders of the Argentine Jewish community. I saw the site of the devastating July 18, 1994, bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association. I will never forget the sadness I felt laying a wreath of flowers on the memorial to the 85 victims of the terrorist attack and will always keep in the forefront of my mind the need to bring to justice the perpetrators of that horrible crime.

Mr. Speaker, overwhelming evidence links the attacks to the government of Iran, and the execution of the bombings to Hezbollah, a terrorist organization based in Lebanon. The state prosecutor of Argentina announced this conclusion on October 25, 2006, stating that the AMIA bombing was ``decided and organized by the highest leaders of the former government of Iran, whom, at the same time, entrusted its execution to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.' He specifically alleged that the attack was approved by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamene'i and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former leader of Iran and the current chairman of Iran's Assembly of Experts and Iran's Expediency Council.

On November 9, 2006, an Argentine judge issued an arrest warrant for Rafsanjani and others for their involvement in the AMIA bombing. One year later, the General Assembly of INTERPOL issued six Red Notices, circulating the Argentine warrants in an effort to extradite the indicted Iranians.

One of the perpetrators of the AMIA bombing was Hezbollah operative Imad Moughnieh. Moughnieh was not only responsible for the act of terror in Buenos Aires, he also carried out the dastardly attack on the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983. This brutal terrorist was reportedly killed in Syria on February 12, 2008. While I do not know who carried out the attack on Moughnieh, it seems that justice has been done.

It is unconscionable that the entire leadership of the government of Iran was involved with the terror campaign in Argentina. We must not let the world's lead sponsor of international terror continue to get away with its criminal deeds.

I stand with the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, and the government of Argentina, which has stepped up the pace of the AMIA investigation. The United States must continue to work with Argentina and provide any help it needs as it seeks to bring the terrorists to justice.

I stand with the peace-loving Jewish community of Argentina which, despite the horror which befell them 14 years ago, remains vital and strong. Their survival is a testament to the human spirit which will not succumb to the reprehensible designs of an evil few.

And I stand with the freedom-loving peoples around the world who know the horrors of terrorism and will not rest until the perpetrators have been apprehended and convicted in a court of law.

Again, I strongly support H. Con. Res. 385, a resolution of which I am a cosponsor, and urge my colleagues to do the same.